Are you so desperate for even numbers you are shooting for the hundreds? ;-)
BRINGING BACK THE ARK - A BIBLICAL NETWORKING PARADIGM By John D. Garr, Ph.D.
The renewed interest in the Hebrew roots of Christian faith is one of the greatest and most universal works that the Holy Spirit is producing in the church in this generation. After being marred for nearly two millennia by Judaeophobia and anti-Semitism, Christianity is experiencing what is only the beginning of a re-awakening that has scholars, ministers, leaders, and laymen in virtually every denomination of the body of Christ engaged in the quest to reclaim the church’s Judaic heritage.
This reawakening is changing the way many Christians think about themselves and about the world around them. The traditional dualistic world view that the church inherited from the Greco-Roman mindset is gradually being replaced by the holistic world view of Judaism by which Jesus and the apostles lived and expressed their faith. This is affecting the way growing numbers of Christians throughout the world are thinking and acting about their families, their community life, their church relationships, and–most importantly–their relationship with the God of the Bible.
The reawakening that is occurring independently in lives of believers throughout the world is a sovereign work of God, for its universal manifestation in isolated places cannot be traced to any single identifiable human source. The Holy Spirit is at work leading individuals, Bible study groups, and even organizational structures into various elements of restoration truth. The wave of spiritual renewal that has swept through virtually every denomination has prepared the hearts of God’s people for the final restoration, the restoration of the church to its Biblical heritage in preparation for the coming of Messiah Yeshua.
The question that confronts those who have a burning passion for the restoration of Christianity’s Jewish roots is this: How can we promote and sustain this growing phenomenon? Or, put another way, How can we keep this work from becoming another passing fancy of a fad-conscious society and see to it that it makes a profound and lasting impact upon the lifestyle of a large segment of the Christian community and changes forever their thinking with regard to Israel, the Jewish people, and Judaism?
A Biblical Example of Restoration I believe that the answer to these questions is found in the strategy which King David employed in restoring the ark of the covenant to a place of prominence and honor among Israel. Listen to I Chronicles 13: 1-5’s account of this event: “Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader. And David said to all the assembly of Israel, If it seems good to you, and if it is from the Lord our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they may meet with us; and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.”The parallel between the restoration of the ark to Israel and the restoration of the Judaic heritage to the church is striking, indeed. And, there are profound lessons which we can learn from a comparison.
First, when Israel chose Saul as king, they abandoned God’s system in favor of a man of their own choosing. “They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them,” God told Samuel (I Samuel 8:7). The ark of the covenant and its attendant service were abandoned in favor of a cult of personality worship, and Israel became like every other nation. Could the parallel with the church be more obvious! Concurrent with its rejection of its Jewish roots, the church also abandoned its spirituality in favor of a cult of personality and power. Instead of a living experience, religion became a ritualistic performance for the masses. Finally, in the Middle Ages, as the church’s Judaic heritage was largely obliterated, it became a Gentile institution governed more by Hellenic philosophy than by Biblical faith.
The Protestant Reformation and the counter reformation within the Roman Catholic Church made significant steps in the direction of restoration; however, they stopped far short of fully restoring the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3). Progressively over the ensuing centuries, however, God has continued his restoration work. Now, in the twentieth century, this work has been accelerated, with significant numbers of people around the world committed to restoring the foundations of Christian faith that were laid by Jesus and the apostles on the bedrock of Biblical Judaic teaching.
The spirit of Messiah is calling the leaders of the universal church to consider whether or not it is appropriate to restore the New Testament order of God’s Judaic system of praise, worship, and service. This is the inspiration that we are receiving in Restoration Foundation, in which leaders from various denominations and fellowships are hearing the call to come together for dialogue about the foundations of our faith. This is a call to leaders of every background, from priests and pastors, to educators and writers, to captains of industry and political leaders. Restoration Foundation’s call says, “If it seems good to you, and if it is from the Lord our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen . . . that they may meet with us,” and let us collectively discover and restore the Judaeo-Christianity that the apostles practiced. We are asking leaders everywhere to give consideration in prayer and Bible study to the degree to which God would have them bring restoration of the church’s Judaic heritage to their constituencies.
Interactive Ministry on Leadership Level We recognize that the work which God is doing is too great for any one man or any single organization; therefore, we believe that it is vital that we serve as a catalyst for interactive ministry on a leadership level. Again, David’s strategy was to bring leaders together to analyze the challenge for restoration in his day to see if it was from God and pleasing to the leaders of God’s people.
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We must daily affirm our unity in Christ, seeking by example to fulfill our Savior's prayer that we all may be one.
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We understand that networking is the focus of God’s designs for the nineties and beyond. Leaders must abandon their proclivities toward self aggrandizement and turf protection to become mutually submitted to one another in the fear of the Lord and for the welfare of the body of Christ. We must learn to work together as a team with each member’s talents and otherness respected and honored. We must stop trying to build up our own ministries and concentrate on helping one another build up the kingdom of God. We must abandon what produces division in the body of Christ, stop fighting one another in fratricidal confrontation, and destroy forever spirits of elitism and exclusivity. We must affirm daily our unity in the Messiah, seeking by example and word to bring to completion our Lord’s prayer that we “all may be one.” We must also affirm our mutual depen dence upon one another for the success of Christian ministry.
The Servant Leadership Model One means of achieving this goal is byadopting a true servant leadership model. Again, David is the prime example. Knowing that his authority came from God, David neither fought to gain power nor struggled to maintain power. While Saul became insane trying to protect his power and Absalom lost his life trying to seize it, David was content to be a servant of God and of the people and to leave the question of who was in authority over the people in the hand of God. For this reason, he was a man after God’s own heart, a shepherd and a servant of Israel.
Jesus said, “He that is greatest among you, let him be your servant.” Servanthood is the model for New Testament leadership. God is not looking for lords, but he is looking for servants. This concept runs cross current with traditional ideas of leadership employed throughout the world of the Gentiles, where power is grabbed by the heaviest hand and maintained with murderous efficiency. Our model must be the yeshivas of the rabbis, where every man was “greenlighted” to express his own views on every issue but where all issues were decided in the “multitude of counsellors” (Proverbs 11:14; 24:6).
Unity in Diversity
Because of its emphasis on orthodoxy and credalism, Christianity has sought to establish unity through uniformity. If some could not subscribe to the majority’s belief system, they were anathematized, excommunicated, and ostracized. This approach to the issue of unity has produced a fragmented Christianity more often than not engaged in internecine carnage with more energies expended upon exchanges of polemic pyrotechnics than upon engaging the enemy of men’s souls. Denomination-alism’s quest for purity of doctrine has produced impurity of the soul in far too many of its adherents. As Pogo in the comics said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!”
The Judaic model of unity, on the other hand, is one of unity in diversity, with each person’s distinctives respected. Regardless as to what their views may be, the total Jewishness of each person is affirmed. Christians could well learn from this Jewish idea. We can affirm our total brotherhood either in Adam or in Christ, a concept that can help us with the Christ-mandated task of loving all mankind. We can honor the diversity in the body of Christ and not seek to make every member a hand or an eye (I Corinthians 12). We can be our brother’s brother regardless as to his ethnicity, race, culture, nationality, or denominational background. We can place greater attention on the Judaic concept of orthopraxy rather than on our Christian concepts of orthodoxy. Someone has said that many Jews do not believe anything but they do everything that their scriptures require while Christians believe everything and do nothing. Perhaps this statement is a bit extreme; however, it does illustrate a point. Christians are far too concerned about beliefs and ideas (a Greek concept) and give too little attention to practicing their faith (a Jewish concept).
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The Judaic model is one of unity in diversity, in which each person is fully affirmed. Christians could well learn from this Jewish idea.
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Together We Can If the cause of restoring the church’s Judaic heritage is to succeed in changing the face of Christianity in this generation, it will do so only because those who have this burden come together in truly Judaic fashion to promote and sustain this cause. We must reach out with compassion to all of our fellow citizens of the kingdom of God to invite their involvement in the research, analysis, and development of the concepts of restoration. We must dare to be inclusive. When others draw a circle that excludes us, we must have the wit and wisdom to draw a bigger circle that includes them. Though it may seem idealistic, it is my belief that if we present this message with the proper attitude of love and inclusion, it will be accepted for the truth that it is and for the blessing that it will bring the body of Christ. It will be said that “the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.”
Messiah Jesus (David, our king) is calling for restoration of his New Testament system of praise, worship, and service. Let’s network ourselves together and go to work researching, developing, and promoting this restoration!