Today’s broad Messianic movement does adhere to some form of post-resurrection era validity to the Torah of Moses. At the very least, today’s Messianic people believe that the weekly Torah portions should be read and contemplated, as we let its accounts inform our understanding of how God works in history, and how we need the salvation of Yeshua the Messiah. By virtue of holding its main worship services on Shabbat or the seventh-day Sabbath, observing holidays and festivals not adhered to by most of today’s Messiah followers, and being concerned about clean and unclean meats—today’s Messianic people do inevitably have some conflict with a great deal of contemporary Christian thought and theology, which teaches that the Torah or Law of Moses has been abolished.
Messianic Lifestyle
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics addresses various difficulties and misunderstandings witnessed in parts of the Messianic community when the issue of protocol, specifically involving outward things, is in play.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics addresses much of the confusion that can be created by Hebrew Roots memes stressing a “Torah observant” Yeshua—which are deliberately meant to antagonize evangelical Christian people.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics addresses the difficulties that are witnessed across the broad Messianic spectrum in terms of “outward things.”
Over the past few years, I have become consciously aware that some serious challenges and tension are in store for the Messianic movement. We are going through some growing pains, and issues are on the horizon that too many are unprepared for. The world at large is certainly not getting any less complicated, and globalization and the mass market mean that old ways of doing things may not necessarily work any more in the Twenty-First Century. Both the Jewish Synagogue and Christian Church are beginning to recognize this—which means the responsibility for Messianics is twice as high as it is for your average Jew or Christian. We need to be a people stirred to action, and guided by the Holy Spirit as we prepare to enter into a new chapter of our development.
Mark and Margaret Huey, and John McKee, each talk about what it means for today’s Messianic movement to see itself as recapturing the First Century faith experience in the Twenty-First Century. (1) Mixed assemblies of Jewish and non-Jewish Believers; (2) a polytheistic and immoral Roman Empire; (3) small home fellowships of Believers.
Much of what is taking place today is paralleled from what we see of the growth of the early Messianic community in the Book of Acts, General Epistles, and Pauline Epistles.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics discusses some of significant challenges that non-Jewish Believers have, in entering and staying in the Messianic movement.
I have spent some time around “Messianic Believers,” and all they seem to be focused on is the Law of Moses—yet they tell me that they are trying to live “fully Biblical” lives. Is it true you just focus on the Torah in your Bible studies?
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics talks about how the Coronavirus crisis is going to change the lives of Messiah followers the world over.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics discusses how Jewish and non-Jewish Believers often find themselves in the Messianic movement, and the various dynamics that we see in many Messianic congregations and fellowships.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics discusses how today’s Messianic people approach various theological issues, today by addressing the effects of post-modernism.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics talks about some of his experience in dealing with prophecy over the years.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics talks about whether or not today’s Messianic community really has the ability to communicate to those of the Millennial generation.
I heard a Messianic Bible teacher say that Yeshua was the Torah made flesh. I do not understand this concept. Can you please explain?
It seems to me as though many Messianic Bible teachers rely on sensationalism. Can you explain why this might be the case?
What do you think about those who advocate a belief in Jews and Christians becoming “one new man”? This seems to be connected to groups who support Israel, but who consider the Torah to not be that important.
A Ruth calling upon non-Jewish Believers in the Messianic movement is quite severe in a time when anti-Zionism is on the rise.
There is a great deal of significance attached to this day in Jewish theology, as it is most often emphasized as a time when God looks down from Heaven and reconsiders where He stands with people. It is a time where we are to rejoice and celebrate, remembering His goodness to us, but also begin a sober examination of our humanity, and consider faults and sins that must be rectified.
The Day of Atonement for Messianics can equally be a challenge, because of a possible emphasis on celebration at Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShanah, instead of a serious attitude and call to reflection from the sounding of the shofar. Many Messianics likewise have difficulty reverently focusing on their relationship with the Lord, and in considering where they need to improve in their spiritual walk. For us, while recognizing that our ultimate forgiveness is indeed found in Yeshua, we still need to know that we are humans with a fallen sin nature, and that we need the Lord to empower us for good works. We need to be reminded that without Him, we are nothing, and we need to intercede for the salvation of others.
Many people in today’s Messianic community treat the seventh-day Sabbath as a kind of “Saturday church” more than as a time to rest from labor, focus on God and one’s brethren, and enter into something special.
If there is any area where today’s Messianic movement tends to absolutely excel, it is with integrating a wide selection of the mainline Jewish traditions and customs for observing the Sabbath. Regardless of their background before coming to Messiah faith, religious or secular, today’s Messianic Jews tend to remember Shabbat with the common elements of lighting candles, breaking challah, drinking wine, and attending synagogue services with traditional liturgy and Torah readings. Non-Jewish Believers who have been led by the Lord into the Messianic movement, seeking to embrace more of the Hebraic and Jewish Roots of their faith, have also taken a hold of Shabbat, the opportunity for rest it offers to the people of God, and many of the significant traditions that can make the Sabbath a very holy and sanctified time.
How the Messianic community is to properly keep Shabbat, or any Biblical commandment for that matter, is a mystery for many. There are many issues and questions that have to be weighed and taken into consideration when establishing a proper halachic orthopraxy for oneself, one’s congregation, and the movement as a whole. In the Jewish community, whether you are Orthodox or Conservative, keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is an important sign of who you are as a Jew. It is the sign that God gave the people of Israel from Mount Sinai to distinguish them from the world.
