I’m personally not into Messianic congregations, as I’m not a Jew (even though they welcome Gentiles). I think it’s good to have Messianic congregations, which accommodate Jewishness, while accepting Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, and as their personal savior.
I just looked up some information about Messianics and their congregations ... and this was one I saw ...
— Messianics observe traditional Jewish holidays such as Purim, Chanukah, etc. Christians do not.
— Messianics observe the biblical feasts of Vayikra (Leviticus) 23 such as Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Rosh HaShanah (Feast of Trumpets), Sukkot (Feast of Booths) and Passover. Christians do not.
— Messianics do not observe Christian holidays that were borrowed from paganism, such as Christmas and Lent or were simply concocted.
Messianics do not use Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, Christmas trees, etc., (which are part of Christian tradition in many parts of the world although they are not part of official Christian theology).
— Messianics worship on the biblical Sabbath, i.e., Friday evening till Saturday evening, not Sunday. HaShem says the Sabbath is an eternal covenant between Him and the descendants of Israel. (Sh’mot/Exodus 31:16).
— Messianics cant the Shema, and traditional Jewish blessings that most Christians have never heard of, e.g., the kiddush and the Aaronic benediction.
— Messianics cant the Torah portion in Hebrew at worship services.
— Messianic preaching is mainly from the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), although references to the B’rit Chadasha are common.
— Messianic Judaism emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and the Jewish people, whereas Protestantism and Catholicism hardly ever mention it.
— Messianic Judaism emphasizes Jewish traditions that do not conflict with the Bible, whereas Protestantism and Catholicism totally ignore those traditions.
— Messianic Judaism asserts that the Torah (literally, “teaching”) is still in effect (as modified by Yeshua). Christianity claims that once Jesus “fulfilled the Law” it no longer applies.
— Messianic Jews bar-mitzvah their sons and bat-mitzvah their daughters. Christians don’t.
— A Jewish person who converts to Protestantism is referred to as a Hebrew Christian, not a Messianic Jew.
— Messianic Judaism and Protestantism teach the biblical doctrine that salvation is a free gift from G-d, by faith in Yeshua.
Roman Catholicism teaches that Catholics can earn (”merit”) all the grace necessary for salvation, and that Moslems will also be saved, even though Islam denies the deity, death and resurrection of Yeshua.
— Messianics do not need to be proselytized into Christianity. We already know who Messiah is and what he did to provide salvation for his people.
— Messianics use the same scriptures as Protestants, including the common translations, e.g., NIV and New King James Version. Of course, it is much more common to find a Messianic who has studied biblical Hebrew than a Christian.
— Messianics only baptize believers, not babies, and only baptize by immersion, since the practice described in the B’rit Chadasha is actually derived from a mikvah, a Jewish ritual purification bath.
http://www.messianicworship.com/html/differences.html
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I don’t go along with some of what I see said here, but in general, it shows the differences - and since I’m not Jewish, they don’t fit me. But, it’s quite alright for those who are Jews. They do recognize Jesus as the Messiah of Israel and their personal savior.
Messianic keepers of the law are way off base, the way I see the book of Hebrews... it was written to Hebrew Roots, Messianic types, etc. The basic theme of Hebrews is that the one to whom everything in the law pointed to had come, the new covenant (Christ) had come, rendering the old covenant no longer valid, or “dead,” dead works of the law.
The basic doctrine of Christ, is repentance from dead works, repent of it, abandon the dead works of the law, Heb. 6:1. If they claim to be some sort of Hebrew Messianic, then that’s what they must do. The book of Hebrews was written to them. Second is to have faith towards God. Faith not the works of the law.
They, of course, either don’t care what Hebrews says, or they reinterpret it to fit their desire to Judaize. Most of them claiming we are disobedient sinners because we do not keep the sabbath, observe the feasts, and so on.
You have lots of misinformation there from a Jewabe site.
For the first two full centuries, every believer in Yeshua kept his sabbaths and feasts just as he and his apostles did.
There was neither Jew nor gentile, just as the epistles of Paul emphasize. Read the epistles carefully, and you will see the traditional worship perfectly kept. This is of course not surprising, as most of the body was Hebrews anyway, but that is definitely what was called for in Acts 15, where the council of Jerusalem stated that they expected that the new believers would learn ‘Moses’ by hearing him preached “every sabbath day” in their synagogue. (Acts 15:21)
Real messianic worship is not the Jewabe nonsense of keeping the Pharisee’s traditions that Yeshua rejected, but that is what is seen in many “messianic” congregations.