The problem of Israel
How can churches achieve a balanced view without compromising the Gospel?
‘When I affirm my belief in the promises of God to Israel, someone always comes along to take away my freedom’. This was a confession made to me by a Pastor I was visiting. I spend quite a bit of my time speaking to church leaders about Israel and their churches. Many have a story about people in their church who have an unhealthy focus on Israel to the point of obsession. And for some pastors, parking the whole subject is the easiest option.
Take the pastor I quoted. He has no problem with the eternal covenantal promises to Israel, he can see it very clearly. But he has had trouble navigating what that means to him and to his church. Bringing together generic pastoral experiences, I have heard many pastors who have had it in the neck from those who claim to love Israel telling them which version of the Bible they should use, the necessity of Davidic dancing, the compulsory display of the Israeli flag, singing the Hatikvah, etc., etc., etc. All of which are permissible, but not obligatory.
But they have experienced people in their churches who say, effectively, if you understand this truth, if you see God’s covenants with Israel then you and your church must do this. There are two issues arising from this; firstly what these individuals are telling you to do and secondly the word ‘must’.
Playing games?
Soren Kierkegaard challenged the cultural Christianity of his day, which, he argued, was playing at Christianity. The word Kierkegaard used was Christendom, a system which offered recipients an easy path to discipleship. As believers, we are all prone to fall into the comfort of a system that we are happy with. And that is very much the same with Israel. What is the responsibility that we have to God’s covenant people? Is it just about attending a Night to honour Israel, subscribing to various newsletters and learning a bit of Hebrew, playing a few bars of Hava Nagila, a visit to Israel maybe and a picture of Jerusalem on the living room wall? I think all these things are very much in the Israel comfort zone.
Maybe I am making a presumption, but I think that most of the people reading this will share my belief in the covenant promises to Israel, the return of the Jewish people to Israel in this present age, and the unfolding of Biblical, and therefore World, redemptive history. Also, that the current World timeline is set to culminate in the promise of the return of the King of the Jews to Jerusalem. But what should we do about this? Well, I believe that we have a role to play and it’s so much more than adopting cultural practices and participating in a Passover meal. This is the discussion that I have with most leaders and this is after I get through the uncomfortable first conversations where the leader is trying to find out where I am coming from. Am I attempting to Judaize their church?
The lot of a pastor
I pastored for many years in a typical urban town of 70,000 people. I know many of the ups and downs. It’s a privilege and an honour to be called by God to serve His people. To be given the responsibility of being a shepherd is second to none. Now, as I travel around speaking at different churches I appreciate more than ever the burden of this role – at least, if it’s done properly. The week in and week out care of people is the most important role in the body of Messiah. It can be very rewarding, but it can also be very draining. People don’t stop being people, they don’t come without problems and needs and they look to their pastor to help them, because that’s what we are supposed to be doing. Some get the balance wrong, we are not superheroes with unlimited strength or perfect people with all the answers. In fact, we are often aware of that our imperfections are just as obvious as those we are seeking to help. I needed to learn to manage time and accept my limitations. I believe one of the biggest enemies of the average church pastor is bad time management.
When we are busy leading the church, we are constantly making decisions about how to allocate time. When we decide to do something we are effectively saying, I am giving time to this, so I’m not going to give time to that. When we are busy, there may be things we would like to get moving in the church but we know that if we start talking about it, we may end up with the proverbial ‘can of worms’. Israel is on that list for many busy leaders.
Kingdom first!
So where do we start? My answer would be – with the Kingdom. We are all part of the Kingdom of God and we have to align ourselves with God’s Kingdom purposes. The principle action of the Kingdom is to bring individual people into a relationship with Him. That was the same for Adam (where are you?) and for today (except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom). Personal faith in God has never changed and it is at the centre of God’s Heart and Being. He collects us up in this mission and delegates responsibility at a local level to believers and collections of believers (churches). This is the work of the Kingdom.
Each church journey is different, there is no one size fits all in the multiple contexts of church situations. As leaders, our primary responsibility is the Gospel – telling people about Jesus. Contextualisation is important, in the sense that we as leaders need to ‘do’ church where we are, to reach the culture of our location, without compromising the truth. It was the principle which led to the founding of the modern missionary movement through people like Carey and Hudson Taylor. They did what they needed to do to reach people and so do we. Is it really relevant to our culture and locality to have Davidic dancing in our services? Maybe it is, but probably for the average UK church, it isn’t.
To the Jew first!
What I find is that with every church, an expression of alignment with Israel is different. There is a wide spectrum of ministries engaged in Israel, which complement each other. For my organisation, Maoz, it is about reaching Israel with the Gospel. So, as we journey with churches on this, it may take a couple of years for them to identify where their emphasis is. It could be sponsoring Aliyah, or supporting humanitarian aid. For some it’s about reaching Jewish people in their locality, building a friendship with the local synagogue, or encouraging relationship building with the local Jewish community – if there is one. For many of our partner churches it’s actually about going. Visiting Israel not so much for tourism but for ministry and mission. Ministering to the body of Messiah there and also enabling mission through bringing encouragement in prayer, presence and finance.
We have one church that started with an elderly member who signed her pastor up for our free monthly newsletter. Four years down the road that church is fully committed to partnering in Israel, is just about to send their third team there and has a vibrant and fully committed project partner in Israel, reaching people with the Gospel. For one church it meant making a connection with the faltering synagogue in their town and blessing the few elderly members there. For another it was about entering into dialogue with their local Council of Christians and Jews and being active in encouraging their Jewish neighbours in these worrying political times.
Ultimately, I ask the question that, if we want to bless Israel but that blessing does not include telling them about their Messiah, then is it really a blessing at all? I believe it’s the most important question. In Luke 19:41-44 Jesus wept over Jerusalem because He knew what their refusal to accept Him would lead to. Then in Romans 9:1-5 Paul says that he could wish himself cursed from Messiah for the sake of his people, followed up by Romans 10:1, where he echoes this with his desire and prayer that Israel may be saved.
We all know that much of the UK Church does not have Israel on its radar, but should we abandon the Church? In truth, we can’t – we are all part of that body – and the Church is God’s only plan. It may seem flawed to some, but it is a Bride being prepared for Jesus and during this time it’s our responsibility to intentionally, gracefully and prayerfully commit ourselves to the collective mission of our local church. If we don’t, then we won’t have a voice to talk to them about Israel.
My heart is with the Church, I want the Church to understand the promises of God to Israel and be blessed. So I’m not giving up on Church, with its flaws (and mine).