I do feel the obligation though to publicize what scriptures say about the sabbath and the feast days as part of that invitation...to have information ready when the one who God calls is ready to come to the party.
What I like to do is invite: I'll happily challenge every Christian I meet to keep the Feasts for a year as a way of educating and edifying themselves, and direct them to resources to help them do just that. But if someone doesn't bite or their understanding of Scripture is that this would somehow be detrimental to their walk with the Lord, I may cheerfully argue with them if they're the sort to enjoy it, but it doesn't mean that they're not my brother.
But you can see it's an uphill struggle to share that viewpoint.
It is. What do you think it's dealing with, out of curiosity?
No, it's all good though I don't consider that gentiles keeping the feasts of the Lord as being judaizing but rather as what God intended.
Ultimately, I agree, and have quoted Isa. 66 and Zec. 14 in support of that view. But since a) the Apostles did not emphasize the Feasts for the Gentile disciples (though neither did they disinvite them), b) Christians do generally have reasonable arguments for their particular practices in this regard that show their loyalty to the Author of Scripture, c) we're saved by trust in and loyalty towards a person, not a set of commandments or creeds, and d) I've found the invitation approach to be more fruitful, I go with that over attacking my Sunday-brethren's practices.
Frankly, given the state of the world right now, I don't see the fruit of the Spirit in--or any practical purpose for--brethren forming circular firing squads over this debate. I do see the need for continued reasoned debate, but I also realize that we're looking at a generational process to change some long-standing errors in the Church. Therefore, I see the first step is to get Christians of all stripes and practices to acknowledge the basic right of Jews to be saved as Jews and be encouraged to remain Jewish.
Once you get that acknowledgement, a lot of the grace vs. law issue automatically becomes reframed in such a way that a theological barrier is removed and a Christian can genuinely enjoy accepting an invitation to, say, Passover. We've been seeing the fruit of this "live and let live" approach for over a generation now. We've seen the result of taking a hard-line stance too: It just puts people's backs up and hardens them against enjoying the Feasts with the thought, "He's trying to take away the grace of God and put me under the law!"
Besides, Hashem was very gracious to me during the several years between the time Matthew 5:17-19 first smacked me between the eyes and when I first started keeping Torah. I needed that time to reconsider and re-evaluate the whole theology and tradition I'd been raised in, and to overcome the intellectual and emotional barriers. Had I gotten a hardline Messianic hammering away at me during that time, I'd probably have rejected it. Why should I not be equally gracious and let the Spirit work in someone who may just be starting down a new and difficult road?
Shalom
I agree...I see in scripture God's desire to save as many as possible and to my way of thinking that's going to be most of mankind..if not in this world then in the world to come. But either way I try to remember that almost everyone I run into is a Christian or at least a future Christian. God is going to win.
But you can see it's an uphill struggle to share that viewpoint. It is. What do you think it's dealing with, out of curiosity?
In traditional Christianity today it's mostly tradition as you pointed out in one of your posts above. Satanic deception plays a large part in some of though. Not sure what the messianic position is on demons and such but I think there's an ongoing battle to smear and demean such things as the holy days of the Lord, the Lords food prohibitions, righteous behavior, repentance, attaining to the holiness of Christ, etc. etc.
I totally "get" if I'm public in promoting the holy days that people will react negatively. Your post 514 sums it up...there wasn't much, if anything, biblical about not observing the feast days. Protestants take that as a challenge. Most Catholics on the other hand accept it and recognize that the change is validated because of tradition, the church, and not necessarily on scriptural grounds. There's no debating Catholics on that. I can't debate tradition.
Had I gotten a hardline Messianic hammering away at me during that time, I'd probably have rejected it. Why should I not be equally gracious and let the Spirit work in someone who may just be starting down a new and difficult road?
There's certainly a line there. I'm not always successful but teaching and presenting the whole bible requires a certain amount of standing our ground when teaching biblical truths. That can easily be misconstrued as badgering. In forums such as this I'm rarely trying to convert or push the person I'm debating with. Rather it's an attempt to put a witness out there for someone who may stumble across the debate or come across it later. The challenge is to do it in a way that reflects Christ and the teaching of the first disciples.
2Ti 2:23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.
2Ti 2:24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,
2Ti 2:25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,
2Ti 2:26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
The trick for me is walking the line between foolish and ignorant disputes and patient teaching.
I did want to expand on this a bit. I think it was normative and expected that they (gentiles)would keep the sabbath and the holy days. There's no controversy at all about it in scripture. By comparison circumcision of gentiles was a huge issue in the early church. The detractors of early Christianity would surely have eviscerated Paul or any other disciple for even suggesting that it was "ok" for gentiles not to observe the 4th commandment or the feast of the Lord. Everyone knew this was a teaching of God in scripture.
That's how I see it.... it's like how today everyone "knows" that you go to church on Sunday and observe Christmas and Easter if you're a Christian.