Jesus made several statements

Transcription

1 Harsh words by David Brickner, executive director Jesus made several statements that are hard to hear; many have been used by opponents of the gospel to undermine faith in Messiah. Possibly the one most often quoted for that purpose is, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34). experienced at the most intimate of levels in our lives. Or how about the Lord s statement: Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53). Today most of us hear these words in the context of Jesus had, in one fell swoop, offended a whole lot of His followers. Many left. Does anyone believe He made a mistake in telling them that hard saying? These are only a couple of examples of many harsh words He spoke during His public ministry. And by harsh, I don t mean Jesus intended to hurt people; I mean He expressed painful realities without hedging or smoothing them over. So what are the implications for us today? The gospel stands out as the only hope for humanity. I m not suggesting any of us should go around spouting harsh words, thinking that to do so is the way to follow Jesus example. But neither should we shy away from declaring Well-known Jewish anti-missionary Gerald Segal comments on this verse, saying, Jesus proudly avows that his is a mission which will cause discord and disturb the universal peace, and bring war to the world. * Segal and many others fail to understand the difference between the purpose of Jesus coming and the responses He quite accurately predicted. Jesus intended to bring peace and He did bring it. He told his disciples, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you... (John 14:27). But Jesus also wanted His followers then and now to understand there is a cost to identifying with Him that is inevitable, painful and likely to be what we know about Holy Communion, rather than actually partaking in Jesus sufferings as we identify with Him. Were Jesus words a simple spiritual metaphor for His followers to believe and join themselves to Him? Look at how His words impacted His immediate hearers: Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can understand it? (John 6:60). Jesus knew that many were offended (verse 61) and made it easy for those who were offended to leave: From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more (v. 66). In this edition July 2014 David Brickner's thoughts on hard-to-hear truths Prayer prompters, onlinextras and cartoon Bits from our branches in London, Geneva, Budapest and Israel European director says the results are worth the risks So what? How can these articles affect your life and witness? Jews for Jesus opens new outpost in Israel!

2 truth to people because it s hard to hear, or they might be offended by it. There are multiple considerations to balance. Paul instructs us: Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one (Colossians 4:6). Peter admonishes us to always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15). And the Scriptures remind us that, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). We need to weigh our words carefully yet also realize that many people will react negatively, not because of what we say or how we say it, but because the gospel itself provokes people and often results in that reaction. This fact was writ large for Jews for Jesus in April when we promoted (through social media) a controversial short film titled, That Jew Died For You. The film shows Jesus carrying His cross through the gates of Auschwitz and being sentenced to the gas chambers as just another Jew by the Nazis. Viewers then see the message, That Jew died for you as the words of Isaiah 53 scroll down the screen. This shocking yet profound juxtaposition received some 1.5 million views on the Internet. Some were intrigued while many others were offended. We knew that this was likely to happen, yet our mission was not to offend. Most who were offended stated in some way that the Holocaust should never be a subject for a gospel communication, and that included some Christians. Very few will mention the gospel in the context of the Holocaust, believing it just too sensitive a subject. Jesus and His teachings have been blamed for the Holocaust by so many people, and especially Jewish people in large part because of the ghastly way that Jesus name has been used and abused to make hateful statements about Jewish people. The video cannot undo decades of tragic and untrue correlation between Jesus and the hatred that made the Holocaust possible, but we believe the film presents a much needed counter perspective. Not only that, but if the gospel cannot speak to this heinous human tragedy, how is that same gospel to save us from our sin and its awful power to forever separate us from God? Indeed, in view of such a horrific demonstration of what sin can do, the gospel stands out as the only hope for humanity. Have you ever tried to share the gospel with someone who is furious with God because of a personal tragedy? I have heard these words: How dare you speak to me of a loving God when He allowed my child to suffer and die such a cruel death before my very eyes? For that parent, this is a personal and private holocaust. So what do we do? We weep with those who weep. We don t force the issue. But neither do we dare to desist from offering Jesus, the only hope, to people who are in such great pain. In the midst of the heated reactions we received to That Jew Died For You, Susan Perlman received a call from Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg, a son of Holocaust survivors and the former chairman of the New York Board of Rabbis Commission on the Holocaust. Rabbi Rosenberg was calling to thank us for producing what he called, a film made from compassion. (You can see the Rabbi s full response online at: j4j.co/rabbitjdfy). Rabbi Rosenberg states unequivocally that he is not a believer in Jesus, and yet he took the risk of offending people by stating that Jesus, a Jew, was not responsible for the Holocaust. Who knows how many people will question the false linkage of Jesus to the Holocaust because of this rabbi s courageous words? The purpose of truth-telling is not to offend, but that doesn t mean that those conditioned to disbelieve won t be offended. Paul said it best when he wrote: For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:15-16). Who indeed? For more on this topic, read Pastor Lon Solomon s article, The Offense of the Cross at j4j.co/ocross *quoted from Segal s website. We exist to make the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide. Jews for Jesus international headquarters: 60 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA ; jfj@jewsforjesus.org; web: jewsforjesus.org; also working in: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom; editor: Ruth Rosen; art director: Paige Saunders; design and illustration: David Yapp; ISSN Volume 11:5774, July 2014; 2014

3 onlinextras Check out the expanded edition of our newsletter at j4j.co/xtras0714 to find: bonus photos and info that space does not permit us to show in the enclosed prayer calendar this month s Hello Israel Holy Land factoid hyperlinks so you can jump to articles that relate to this month s newsletter an audio message from Jews for Jesus founder, Moishe Rosen; David Brickner especially wanted you to hear it, in tandem with his own article this month prayer prompters Please pray for: wisdom to know when and where to say the hard things for the sake of the gospel (p. 1, 2) salvation for Elsie, Richard and Nancy (London), (p. 4, 5) grace and strength for new believers Lisa (London), Anita and Lajos (Budapest), Benjamin, Moshe and Jonas (Israel) (p. 4, 5) courage to stand for Jesus while also caring for those who oppose us (p. 6, 7) Oded and Bimini as they transition to Beer Sheva, and for all those they have been ministering to and will be ministering to various summer outreaches (see prayer calendar) Sarah Ascher, leader of this year's NYC Summer Witnessing Campaign Be sure to grab and hang on to the summer outreach prayer calendar that came with this month s newsletter. Don t miss the opportunity to team up with us in prayer for outreaches in cities like New York, Budapest and Berlin! preparation for our next Behold Your God Israel campaign effective mentoring and life sharing as we invest in the next generation of Jews for Jesus This month's banner photo is Bimini Cohen who serves on our Israel team. 35

4 London Julia Pascoe reports, Elsie* is an elderly Jewish lady introduced to us by Christian friends some years ago. She is still not a believer, but a couple of years ago she introduced us to Richard* and Nancy,* a Jewish couple also living in North London. Richard asked lots of questions and was intrigued to know why I believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Yet he couldn t seem to grasp that there are Jews who believe in Jesus. Kata Tar Nothing spiritually significant seemed to be happening. But during my last visit, to my surprise and delight, Richard and Nancy told me that they ve started attending a church lunch club! Trying hard to control my excitement, I replied, That s great! And what do you talk about? Richard replied, All sorts of interesting things. You should come along sometime. Please pray that as I join them, God will open up deeper opportunities to discuss Yeshua. Alison Barnett reports, Lisa is a Jewish woman in her 30s who has been searching for meaning in various religions. As we studied Luke s Gospel, Lisa was moved by the angel s announcements of the miraculous pregnancies to both Zechariah and Mary. Zechariah, though religious and a priest, had doubted the angel, while young Mary, far less schooled in religion, had obediently accepted Gabriel s message. Lisa could also see how God had directed world events right from Jesus birth and how He orchestrated the fulfillment of various prophecies, including His sacrificial death to atone for our sins. She told me that she did not feel worthy of what Jesus did. I agreed that none of us is worthy, but God loves us so much that He made the ultimate sacrifice. We prayed together as Lisa confessed her sin and surrendered her heart to Jesus. Praise God for Lisa! Geneva Stephen Pacht reports, Rabbi David,* whom I ve written about in the past, (see our March 2014 Bits from the Branches) had returned from an Orthodox rabbis conference and made a point to fly in via Geneva because he wanted to meet my family. This was the first time an Orthodox rabbi had visited our home. He was dressed in a traditional black suit with tzitzit (fringes) hanging from his tallit katan (Orthodox undergarment) under his impeccably white shirt. He took off his large black hat, tucked his peyot (side curls) behind his ears, adjusted his kippa (skullcap) and flopped down onto the sofa. He and our children chatted comfortably over a vegetarian supper, prepared by my wife Deborah to avoid offending his kosher sensibility. The following morning, David and I sat down and pored over a couple of Bible texts. The arguments and texts did not seem to penetrate. David referred to Buddha and, as he has done in our past conversations, he also referred to Mohammed. He wants to believe that all roads lead bits from the BRANCHES to Rome that all paths lead to God but perhaps realizes that some roads are rockier and their destinations uncertain. After David left, he texted me to say how much he had enjoyed his time with our family. A couple of days later he texted again. Could I remind him of the title of a book I d recommended about Mohammed? I was discouraged and puzzled. What could I possibly have recommended about Mohammed? Then I remembered; it was a book called Jesus and Mohammed, a wonderful testimony by a former imam, Marc Gabriel. I sent him the reference. The same day he replied: the book was on order. Could it be that the story of a former Muslim cleric from Egypt will be a steppingstone to an Orthodox rabbi turning to Jesus? Please pray for Rabbi David. Budapest From Kata Tar, I am an atheist, the red-haired Jewish lady in her mid-50s calmly announced to me. I see. And what made you contact us Jews for Jesus? I like to meet other Jewish people, Anita* answered. I too used to be an atheist and was raised by Communist parents. As I told my story, Anita listened carefully. And when I suggested, Maybe we can meet again to look at some relevant passages from the Bible? she replied, Why not? Since then we have been meeting regularly and Anita s husband has joined us. Lajos is from a Catholic family and served as an officer in the Communist era. At our last visit I asked them very directly: So, Anita and Lajos, where are you right now with Yeshua? Are you ready to repent and recognize Him as Lord over your lives? Anita replied, I still don t feel anything and Lajos added, Back in my youth the Catholics wanted me to repent, but I decided not to. Anita, you don t need to feel anything in order to repent. If you are convinced that the gospel is true, and that you are a sinner and need forgiveness, that is enough reason to repent. Emotions will follow your decision. Lajos, what repentance have you said no to? I don t exactly know, Lajos admitted which gave a platform to explain the gospel once again. This time tears filled Anita s eyes. As she prayed, her voice faltered. God gave her the emotions she had been missing! Lajos then prayed to receive Jesus into his life as well. All this happened on April 4, the very day when, in 1945, the second World War came to an end in Hungary and the Communist era began. Sixty-nine years later these two children of Communism entered the Kingdom of God! Please keep them in your prayers. Israel Alex Bearshtein reports, I was making follow-up calls to people who d expressed an interest in knowing more about Yeshua. Between my outgoing calls I received a call from Benjamin.* Was he returning my call? No, his name was not on my outgoing call list. This was a brand new call. Benjamin said to me, Tell me about Yeshua. I explained God s plan of salvation and after an hour and a half of questions and answers Benjamin told me, I believe that. What do I need to do? I read to him the parable of the pearl of great price and explained his need to give up everything to live for Yeshua. He understood, and I asked him, Do you want to pray to receive Yeshua as your Lord and Savior? He agreed and we prayed together. He asked me for my private phone number because he wanted me to talk to his brother, Jonas. Then we finished the call. Within a couple of minutes I received another call from a man named Moshe.* Without even saying hello he dove right in: What s this? Your Facebook page says that Yeshua was born of a virgin? I immediately started from Genesis 3:15 and explained to him how God prophesied from the beginning about the seed of the woman. Moshe understood and agreed. I asked him to open his Bible and read to me Isaiah 53, which he did. He was shocked but did not fully understand, so I explained the gospel and that the only way into God s kingdom is through the blood of Yeshua. We talked about the high priest and the sacrificial system. After over an hour of questions and answers, like Benjamin, Moshe also prayed with me to receive Yeshua. I sent him a copy of the New Testament. Moshe told me he was from a Hasidic home and that all of his life he knew something was true about Yeshua. The following day, Jonas called me and asked a lot of questions about Yeshua and I gave him answers from the Word of God. After a long conversation, he told me, I want to pray like my brother prayed yesterday. And we did! I got together with the two brothers (both in their 30s), and we began looking into the Word of God. We plan to get together on a weekly basis. A Jewish man sent me a message through Facebook apologizing that he had cursed us on Facebook. Daniel* said he wanted to know more about Yeshua, but when his friends saw him talking to us on Facebook, he hid his interest. He has been attracted to Jesus for a long time. I explained the gospel, asked if he believed that Jesus is the Messiah and if he wanted to start fresh with God, and he answered yes. Alex Bearshtein Please pray for Benjamin, Jonas, Moshe and Daniel, that they will grow in their faith and persevere through the persecution from their families. *Not their real names 4 *not his real name 55

5 results risks the are worth the by Avi Snyder, European director A re you Jewish? the young man asked me. He d been watching me hand out my tracts in the Konkova metro station in Moscow during our Life from the Dead campaign.* Yes, I am. Aren t you afraid to be here? No, I said with a shrug. Then I offered him one of my tracts. He shook his head. I m a Nazi, he said. Take it anyway, I suggested. It s about Jesus. No, thanks, he said with a politeness that seemed a little eerie, maybe even menacing. I went back to handing out my tracts. But I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he was making a call on his mobile phone. It s not unusual for those who wish to intimidate us to call for reinforcements and I had no way of knowing if that s what this young man was doing. Then he left. I suppose I could have found a nearby spot to finish handing out my tracts, but I did not want a Nazi to determine where, when or how I would offer the gospel. A few minutes later, I felt a tap on my shoulder from behind. I half expected to look into the faces of the young Nazi s friends. Instead, I met the gaze of an older Jewish man. He introduced himself as Semyon, and asked to see what I was handing out. As I gave him a tract, I asked my standard question. What do you think about Jesus? to explain the gospel message. When I offered to send him more free information, he gladly gave me his full name, address and telephone number. What about the young Nazi? He never came back. Are the dangers that we Jews for Jesus face real? Sometimes. All of us have had the privilege of sharing in His sufferings in some form or another. So why do we take the risks and make ourselves vulnerable? Because it s what Jesus did, and He s commanded us to follow His lead. We d be hard pressed to find evidence in the Scripture that suggests that God only sends His messengers into fields that are safe. There are two reasons for this. First of all, the burning issue isn t the safety of the messenger, but the salvation of the lost. If Jesus had played it safe, then all of us would still be destined for an eternity separated from God. The second reason is this: we are safe, whether we live or die, because we belong to Him. He has His hold upon our lives, whether in life or in death, whether in peace or in tribulation. Like King David, we can exclaim with perfect confidence, The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1b). God blessed the 2013 Moscow outreach with wonderful results, despite occasional police detentions and some minor, sporadic physical assaults. By the end of the campaign, the team of 25 people had handed out over 250,000 gospel tracts; they d gathered the names and address of 558 Jewish and 361 non-jewish people for follow up; and 38 Jewish people and 33 non-jews had prayed to receive the Lord. What should I think? he asked rhetorically. My parents kept some of the Jewish traditions, but I was raised as a Communist and an atheist, like everyone else. I believe He s our Messiah, promised to us by Moses and the prophets, I began. He listened carefully as I went on The results are always worth the risks. *We ve just finished another Moscow campaign that you can read about in our June edition of RealTime at j4j.co/junert Find out more about Avi at j4j.co/aspage 6

6 David Brickner s article has me grappling with an ongoing challenge: people are going to be offended by certain things that actually need to be said. He gives our That Jew Died For You video as an example of a message that some found terribly offensive but others found very positive, or challenging in a good way. One friend and supporter of our ministry wondered if the video was effective enough to warrant offending many for the sake of those who responded positively. I take that to mean, Was it necessary? Here s how I see it, and hang on, because I promise to get to how all this might relate to you. The already unimaginable catastrophe of the Holocaust has been compounded into an even greater evil by the perception that Jesus and His teachings were behind the hatred and the horrors. If by chance there is any sense of twisted pleasure to be had in Hell, I m sure Hitler enjoys knowing that his atrocities have helped prevent so many Jewish people from hearing, and so many Christians from telling, the gospel. For me, the underlying message of our video is, Don t let Nazis make up your mind about Jesus. Don t give them that power. If you don t know Jesus, look at who He is and make up your mind from there. If you do know Him, don t let the Nazis keep you from telling Jewish people or anyone else about Him. So, speaking for myself, the truth of that message is worth the risk of offending. The Holocaust has been compounded into an even greater evil by the perception that Jesus and His teachings were behind the hatred and the horrors. Nazis as opposed to fear of being beat up by Nazis? In either case, to give way means to forfeit the conversation with the Jewish seeker. So what does all this have to do with you? Aren t there moments when you know the Lord would have you speak up for Him, and you pause because you know... someone will be offended? Or you agonize over the fact that if you say what you know is true, you ll be labeled and categorized in a way that is untrue and hurtful? I think we ve all been in those situations. I m not saying we have to blurt out every true thought that comes into our heads. But there are times, we all know there are, when it s not right to leave a false notion unchallenged. It takes a lot of prayer and sensitivity to know when to keep silent and when to speak up. Sometimes God s still, small voice tells us, I want you to take a stand for Me now and other times, it s, Don t worry, this one is not your battle. But how will we hear that still small voice if we are tuned in so intently to those who are taking offense? Can we be compassionate to people without allowing their offenses to regulate us? Genuinely hear others concerns without being constrained by them? Can we truly care for others without handing them the power to say when we should speak or be silent? Through Jesus, and by the power of His spirit, we can! Similarly, Avi s refusal to be scared off by the young Nazi, with the fruitful conversation with a Jewish man immediately following, strikes me as a metaphor (see p. 6). I say it s a metaphor because yeah, we ve occasionally been literally threatened by modern-day Nazis but even worse, we ve been denounced by some of our own people who really do see our evangelistic efforts as a wholesale attempt to destroy our Jewish people. Will we be moved, deterred by that? Would it make a difference if we gave way to fear of being compared to Ruth Rosen, editor Find out more about Ruth at j4j.co/rrpage Note: We don t normally feature So what? in our print edition, but it is a regular feature in the online edition of our newsletter: every month you can explore how our newsletter articles might apply to your own life and witness. 7

7 You might remember that during our Behold Your God Israel campaign in the southern region (Negev/Beer Sheva) last November, 858 Jewish seekers gave their contact information to hear more about Jesus. It took a big team effort to do the initial follow up, and we had a praise report about that in the January edition of RealTime. Interest continued, so Oded and Bimini Cohen began spending half their time continuing to follow up with our contacts down south. But then, as Bimini explains, So many people in the south wanted to meet with us regularly that we could no longer fit all the visits into a half-time schedule. We asked to move to Beer Sheva so we could minister to our contacts there fulltime. Our God, in His bountiful provision, provided a home for us in record time within three days of our hearing the move was approved! Our new home even has a bomb shelter! (It may sound strange in the U.S., but it s a blessing here since the south has been hit with a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip.) We are very excited and would especially ask you to pray for the precious fledglings (new believers) we are ministering to in Israel, including Rotem, Miki, Noam, * and others. Like most of the Jews for Jesus missionaries, we were away for a Christ in the Passover tour for part of March and April, sharing in churches in the United States. Rotem, who prayed with Oded to receive the Lord just a few months ago, has grown so much in his faith and listens to the mp3 New Testament for hours each day. While we were on tour, he wrote to us: I m reading and studying a lot about Yeshua s way and I also met with and (names withheld, a couple that leads a Bible study in his home town). I m also writing to you because I am missing you a lot. Thank you that you showed me the way of truth and that you prayed for me. Thank you very much. While we were gone, we also missed our other fledglings in Israel, including Miki (who prayed with Oded to receive the Lord in December) and her teenage son Noam (who I am now teaching the Bible to). During our last visit, we also met Miki s mom and brother (who has already read a book about Jesus and loved it). When we shared with them the happy news that we were moving south, Noam happily responded, We will be neighbors. Can you come every day? We ve made our move and are on Sabbatical for a good part of the summer, so we ll officially begin our full-time ministry here in September. Please pray for God to continue working in the hearts and lives of those we are ministering to in this region. *Not their real names Right: Bimini and Oded