POSTED 18 JANUARY, 2010

A Place Where Everyone Can Belong

by J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net

reproduced from the McHuey Blog

It is not every day (or month) when one gets to experience a change in decade. While each new calendar year can be approached with a sense of newness and anticipation, the completion of ten years, and looking ahead to another ten years, is definitely something to pause and reflect upon. This is especially true if you are a part of today’s Messianic community, a relatively young and still-developing spiritual movement, which is still very much trying to figure out what it is to become.

The past two years (2008-2009) have really been an important season for me, because I have not at all hidden the fact that much of what I have witnessed in the Messianic movement throughout the 2000s, I have often been displeased with. Sensationalism, fundamentalism, a sub-standard level of Biblical engagement, to just general fleecing of the flock have been present far too frequently. But these things are present in parts of the Christian Church as well (just turn on Christian television), so we should not be too surprised. Yet as the last two years of the 2000s took shape, I got to see what the real battle for our faith community is going to be about. It is not going to be about the latest (re)calcuated date for the Second Coming, whether it is “okay” for Believers to examine Jewish mysticism, or even how the Torah is relevant for all of God’s people. The battle for the 2010s is going to be about how every Believer can be included in the Messianic movement.

Our family has been in the Messianic community since 1995: fifteen years (as of 2010). In this period of time, we have always had to “do our own thing.” While we have been a part of different congregational fellowships, and in ministry have been a part of associations with other ministries at times—I know that I have not really found a place to date where I have truly felt that my needs have been met. When in Messianic Judaism, the emphasis was how non-Jewish Believers were there to serve the needs of the Jewish Believers. When being a part of different Two-House alliances, too much time was spent trying to squelch some of the false teachings circulating. When interacting with people labeling themselves as One Law, you encounter a high degree of Torah rigidity and legalism that makes you feel uncomfortable. After a while you wonder: Where can born again Believers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, find a place where Messiah followers can be properly ministered to? Where is that Messianic movement where all can be encouraged in the Lord to use their gifts and talents to the fullest extent, and be all they can be?

If you would like to know where such a Messianic movement exists—then you are not alone. Each one of us who stayed Messianic throughout the 2000s, in spite of the various issues that have dragged us down, has exhibited a huge amount of faith. We have stayed in—regardless of some of the side show clowns out there—because we know that if our problems can be rectified, we possess the potential to make a concentrated, substantially positive difference for the Kingdom of God. We know the power of the Passover sedar, in getting both Jews and Christians to consider why Yeshua came into the world to be sacrificed, and even the multi-layered aspects of what the Exodus communicates to God’s people about seeing the oppressed freed from bondage (in far more ways than just bondage from sin). We know that a consistent regimen of Torah study can really motivate people to greater holiness. We know that it is time to give all of the Bible its due, and not be selective in our readings. In our hearts, we see so much going in our favor, that we really are devastated when we see the sacred trust the Lord has given us trampled by many who claim to be “leaders.”

I believe that the key to us getting beyond some of the negative issues of the 2000s will be found in what it really means for us to all be working together as the people of God. Nowhere does the Bible support the idea that there are to be assemblies of Jewish Messiah followers and assemblies of everyone else, and that we are all to just be extended relatives or cousins of one another. The community of Messiah followers is to be a mixed group of people—“brothers and sisters” in fact—where all can be ministered to. The modern Messianic movement is not supposed to just be a Jewish renewal movement, and neither it is to only be the completion of the Protestant Reformation. It will, in fact, develop into something where Jewish Believers can have their unique needs met—where believing in Yeshua does not mean giving up one’s Jewish heritage. And, it will develop into something where evangelical Believers can embrace their Hebraic Roots, but can feel like they can have something to contribute to the well being of the ekklēsia.

One of the things that I found so appealing about the Two-House teaching in the early 2000s was not so much the emphasis on Israel’s restoration, but that—on paper at least—it really did desire to see Jews and Christians come together as equals in a Messianic environment. Messianic non-Jews would not just have to sit in a congregation where a Messianic Jewish leader would berate some of the ills of historic Christianity. Messianic non-Jews could stand up and assertively say, “You are only describing one part of the Church…” and not take the abuse. When an insecure Messianic Jewish leader would accuse all Christians of putting his relatives into Hitler’s death camps, that belief could now be directly challenged because it was by no means true. In fact, not only did many Christians—including German Christians—stand up against Hitler, but today’s Messianic movement needed to recognize that it has a Christian spiritual and theological heritage from which it directly benefits. Sadly, much of the Two-House community of the 2000s became riddled with even more ungodly rhetoric against the Christian Church than I witnessed in the Messianic Judaism of the late 1990s (not to mention a variety of other urban legends).

So where is that place where any of us can belong and work together? A few people have thought that these negative trends are an indication that the Messianic movement really is not of God. I say perish the thought! We have so much potential—and the enemy knows it—that he has tried his best to get us off course. Those of us who know this need to be able to stick it out, and let time naturally take care of the problems—giving people the space that they need to change for the better. Yet in order for this to occur, those of us who want to see Messianic congregations and fellowships arise (as safe places) where all Believers are welcomed and engulfed by the love of Yeshua, need to be considering a few things.

I think it is all safe for us to agree that if sectors of the greater Messianic movement have been a bit off kilter, that it could very easily be a reflection of how individuals and families are a bit off kilter. Likewise, if a family is in proper order, then congregations and the greater Body of Messiah will be in proper order. And the Scriptures tell us what the proper order is: “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Messiah” (Ephesians 5:21, RSV). Both husbands and wives are to serve one another as co-leaders of the home, raising their children in the fear of God. On a wider scale, the diverse groups that make up the internal demographics of the local assembly are to subject themselves to one another—considering how the others’ needs are more important than their own:

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

In all of my years in the Messianic movement, I have seldom heard either of these passages quoted from. The instruction of Ephesians 5:22-33 following is not read with Ephesians 5:21 as the controlling principle. I have never really heard a Messianic Jew say that his non-Jewish congregants’ needs will be considered, and I have never seen a Two-House advocate (even though such a view is supposed to bring Jews and whoever scattered “Ephraim” is together) really emphasize the legitimate needs of Messianic Jews. More than anything else, I think the vast majority of our problems are rooted in the reverse of Philippians 2:3-4: “I have been looking out for my own needs, ignoring the needs of others.”

Every one of us has personal needs, but they should not override the requirement for us to consider those of our fellow brothers and sisters. The mutual submission ideology, of husbands and wives working together, and everyone within the local congregation working together—God’s people living in subjection to one another—is something that almost every sector of the Messianic world does not speak about. In fact, when I have interjected it into conversations with various leaders, it has been frequently dismissed—and I have actually been accused of being a “liberal.” Yet if a mutual submission ideology were dominant in the Messianic world, everyone would have a place of true belonging. Yes, congregations and groupings of Believers are supposed to have leaders and qualified teachers, but the voice of the people by no means is to be drowned out. Leaders are to be there to coordinate every person employing his or her spiritual gifts.

The Messianic movement of the 2010s is going to be much different than that of the 2000s—at least if I have anything to say about it! (grin) Outreach Israel Ministries and TNN Online may sit alone on the frontier for a little while, working toward that Messianic community where all—Jewish and non-Jewish Believers, and men and women—can all feel like their needs are being met. We recently added a section to our Statement of Faith on Human Equality, which includes a major guiding principle for this new decade before us:

...We will promote a mutual submission ideology where our shared Jewish and Christian spiritual heritages are honored and respected, and we remember how the needs of others are more important than our own (Philippians 2:3-4)…

May we all work toward seeing this goal reached!

J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan Biblical Languages Award for Greek. He is author of numerous books, dealing with a wide range of topics that are important for today’s Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on theological issues, and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries of various books of the Bible.