By Brent
Paul tells us in Romans 1:16 that the Gospel message is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek … . What Paul is saying in this passage is that wherever we go to proclaim the Gospel message, we are to actively seek out those Jewish people in that community and present to them the Gospel message first and then to the Greek (non Jewish).
Most Jewish people in Sydney are only culturally Jewish, and have an array of religious beliefs that may include atheism, humanism, Buddhism, mysticism, new age and others. There are also many observant Jewish people, who are committed to practicing the particulars of the modern Rabbinic and Talmudic faith. One of the few common threads for Jewish people around the world is their refusal to consider the truth of the New Testament and Messianic claims of Jesus. This makes Jewish people very difficult to reach with the Gospel; and yet we must continue trusting the Lord …
If the Gospel message is still today the power of God unto salvation then it goes without saying that it still must be presented to the Jew first…This is a wonderful truth that must be restored to the wider Church today, and if we can even catch a glimpse of Paul’s burden here, we will see even in this dispensation of grace a great harvest of Jewish souls grafted back into their own olive tree.
The Lord invites us all into the wonderful privilege of being a part of this great work and being an instrument in that plan, and if you accept that privilege – Praise the Lord, how purposeful and bountiful your life will be … . If you refuse and turn your back, that’s Ok, go ahead, but know this: that your denial won’t effect God’s plan. He will raise up a people somewhere and He will send them to where the work needs to be done – and those Jewish people will hear the Gospel message and respond – for His Glory.
But above all, we should remember that Salvation is a sovereign act of God and everything in the Divine / human relationship must be founded in the fact that God has pre-eminence … our focus in evangelism should always be on the Glory of God and a passion for that Glory, and the fact that because of sin, the fall and man’s rebellion there are people on earth and amongst Jewish people who aren’t worshipping Him and glorifying Him as they should. God commands all people to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour through faith in the Gospel message.
It is the Gospel that is the Power of God unto salvation … . If you want a Powerful Gospel, then strip away all the gimmicks – strip away all the demographic studies of how you’re supposed to approach a certain person or those from within a certain culture. Whether it is Jew or Gentile, we need to stand in love and preach this simple message of sin, of the holiness of God, and faith in Christ alone – we need to preach this and not depend on any other thing.
As we go out to share the Good News of the Gospel with the Jewish people, may we all concur in the words of those early Moravian missionaries as they set out on their journeys… “May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering”.
His words and promises will not fail… What more motivation do we need in sharing the Gospel with the Jewish people?… Shalom