A growing number of Christians are coming to an appreciation of the Jewish roots of Christianity and a love for the Sabbath and biblical festivals. Who are they? What can we learn from them?
A great ecumenical wave is sweeping through the Christian world. Increasingly, Christians are joining together across denominational and racial lines to affirm the great truths they hold in common and rededicate themselves to lives of discipleship. For example, in a 1994 declaration entitled, ``Evangelicals and Catholics Together: the Christian Mission in the Third Millennium,'' a group of American Evangelical and Catholic leaders expressed their resolve that all Christians unite to promote their shared values in a world that so sorely needs those values.
In the Evangelical community, thousands find strength, inspiration, and renewal at rallies sponsored by organizations like Women of Faith , Acquire the Fire,and Promise Keepers. I have never attended a Promise Keepers rally, but last fall, I experienced an ecumenical event that to me was at least as thrilling. On October 2-3, 1998, the Sabbath immediately before the Feast of Tabernacles, I participated in a joyous Feast of Tabernacles celebration held at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kettering, Ohio. At this event, three hundred Christians from several denominations rejoiced, through songs and study of the Scriptures, in all the wonderful things that the Feast represents.
The celebration began with an inspirational Friday-night worship service. The excitement in the air brought back memories of services from the opening night of the Feast in years gone by. To my knowledge, though, I was the only one in attendance with any connection to the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).
The festivities continued the next morning with a stimulating Bible Study expounding the full context and meaning of Jesus' famous words from the Last Great Day of the Feast recorded in John 7:37-38. This study, delivered by Dwight A. Pryor, an elder of the Church of the Messiah (Dayton,Ohio), reminded me of some of the deep messages that I had heard at past WCG festivals and treasured through the years. The study was followed by a catered Israeli-style lunch, afternoon seminars, and a concluding worship service.
Events like this ecumenical festival gathering are far-from-isolated occurrences these days. A growing number of Christians are discovering the deep meanings of the Sabbath and annual festival days and the great joy and peace that can accompany their observance. These Christians join together to learn about and celebrate an important part of the common heritage of all Christians-the roots of Christianity in the biblical Judaism of our Jewish Messiah and His disciples. Together, they make up what has come to be known as the Hebrew Roots movement.
The Hebrew Roots movement is composed of a diverse variety of believers and ministries, united in the conviction that our understanding of the New Testament, our relationship with our Savior, and the mission of the Church can all be enhanced by a greater knowledge of the Jewish background of Christianity. These Christians and Messianic Jews hope to break down the barriers of mutual antagonism and ignorance that Christians and Jews have erected between themselves over the centuries, barriers that have exacted a high price for both groups. In particular, Christian antisemitism has led to intense persecution of the Jews through the centuries, placing a huge stumbling-block in the path of efforts to proclaim the true Messiah to the Jewish community. In addition, Christian ignorance of and hostility toward Judaism have often blurred Christian understanding of the teachings of Jesus and Paul.
A key scriptural passage for these believers is the eleventh chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. In this chapter, Paul describes Gentile Christians as “wild olive branches'' grafted into the cultivated olive tree of Israel to form one unified people of God. Of special note is v.18, in which Paul instructs Gentile Christians, ``... do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.'' (NIV) Christians in the Hebrew Roots movement take seriously this admonition from Paul to not take an arrogant attitude toward Jews or Judaism. They hope instead to be enriched by a greater knowledge of the Jewish roots of Christianity, and they pray for the time Paul speaks of in v. 26, when ``all Israel will be saved.''
Your article is an editorial from the Grace and Knowledge website..... which affiliated themselves with the Worldwide Church of God...WCG...why would I be at all interested in what they have to say about anything at all?
What is the differences between the Hebrew roots Movement and Messianic Jews?
The “Hebrew Roots movement “and “Messianic Jews and Messianic churches” are two different groups. A small percentage may lean toward the more exclusive teachings of the Hebrew roots (or the sacred name movement)
On one hand both still emphasize the law, though Messianic Jews will not say we are required to keep kosher or the Sabbath but choose to do so to keep their heritage. On the other hand, the Hebrew roots movement [HRM] (for the most part) insists that we must keep the Sabbath,we must to keep Moses law (or portions in it), which includes the Feast Days. There is no obligation to celebrate Hebrew Feast days.while it is beneficial to learn the Old testament from a Hebrew perspective, it is equally non beneficial to place non Jews and Jews under the laws that are not required. which is falling into the same Galatian heresy Paul addressed. It is good to understand how these feasts foreshadow and typify Christ, but again, they are not required to be kept. Yeshua died to break down (Colossians 3:11 & Ephesians 2:11-15). we are all spiritually one in Christ; which is not based on our natural birth but our Second spiritual Birth.
Their most ardent teaching is against using the name Jesus, which they consider pagan and even related to Zeus. So they combine a name from Yah for the Messiah, he is to be called Yahshua. Sacred name groups insist one must pronounce the name in Hebrew for salvation and prayer to be answered yet they cannot agree on the exact name 9Actually the correct pronunciation is Yeshua). Hebrew is a sacred language, the New Testament was not written in Greek
For the most part HRM does not believe Yashua (not pronounced Yeshua and certainly not Jesus) is God come in the flesh as the Bible teaches and they teach that all the laws are binding. Some reject the message of Paul and seem to not accept a new covenant, i.e through the gospel.
Messianic Jews do believe the gospel and that Jesus is God, but will often make certain parts of the law inclusive to living. They will meet on Shabbat and often have the 10 commandments displayed at the podium.There are Messianic Jews that confuse Talmudic Judaism with the Judaism of Moses, Some are also in the Hyper Charismania that has solidified itself in the church.
http://www.letusreason.org/Biblexp264.htm