Through Jewish Eyes
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Turn to Acts 11:19-26.
How many of you have eaten lobster before? I ate lobster one time at a restaurant right on the water not far from Plymouth, Massachusetts.
I’ve eaten lobster, but one life that I cannot relate to and that probably none of us can relate to, is the life of a lobsterman. A lobsterman is someone who makes a living trapping lobster and selling them on the market.
I recently read a few stories about a day in the life of a lobsterman.
Peak lobster season in Maine runs from about June to October. During that time the lobster boats will be running nearly every day because that is when the lobstermen earn the bulk of their living for the year. Most boats leave the dock 3:30 - 5:00 every morning. Once its loaded up with fuel and bait, a boat will make its way to the 200-300 traps that were set the day before.
For the next 10 hours or so, they do the same thing over and over again. Haul up the traps, measure and keep the lobster that are within the regulations, rebait the traps, and throw them back in the ocean. It’s hard work - one that’s often wet and cold, but no guarantee of success. It’s a life on the water that we have a hard time relating to and understanding.
In much the same way, we 21st century Christians sometimes have a hard time relating to the cultures and the times that we read about in the Bible. This series, “Through Jewish Eyes” is intended to address that need.
Our purpose for this series is to better understand and appreciate the Jewishness of the Bible.
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“Biblical Christianity is Jewish [in its origin]. The Bible, including the New Testament, was written almost entirely by Jews, to Jews, about Jewish things.” - Dr. Craig Hartman
Now that statement may surprise you a bit because we don’t usually think of the Bible that way, but that is a true statement. Modern Christianity in America is predominantly Gentile, but our Bible is very Jewish. It is dominated by Jewish culture and references.
Old Testament
Romans 3:1–2 “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.”
The book of Acts and the early church - was exclusively Jewish people. It’s not until later in the book that we find the first Gentile converts.
Water baptism - a Jewish practice long before Christ instituted the church
Lord’s Supper - based on the Jewish Passover meal
Pauline epistles - many were written to refute the doctrines of the Judaizers. The Judaizers were trying to make these new Christians go back to Jewish teachings and practices.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
The Bible is full of references to Jewish culture and ideas that we may not know or understand. This is not an exhaustive study of those things, rather, this study is to help broaden your perspective and to help you see the Scriptures through Jewish eyes. Also, this study will help prepare us for the Sunday morning series that we will start in January, 2024.
There’s two terms that we need to define: Jewish, and Christian. You are familiar with both of these words, but you may not know the depth of meaning that each word has.
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What does it mean to be Jewish?
What is a Jewish person and where did the term come from?
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“Judaism is a faith, yet it is also a people.” - Dr. Craig Hartman
Judaism as a people:
There were no Jewish people when Adam lived
There were no Jewish people when Noah lived
There were no Jewish people when Abraham lived
God made a covenant with Abraham, and then eventually with Isaac and with Jacob, whom God began to call “Israel”. Jacob had twelve sons, and from that family came the twelve tribes that came up out of slavery in Egypt, through the Exodus, and into the land of Canaan which was promised to Abraham hundreds of years earlier.
Of those twelve tribes, the largest was the tribe of Judah. Because of its numbers and importance as a tribe, the region in which this tribe settled came to be called the region of Judea and the people were called “Judeans.”
The word “Jew” is derived “from the first syllable of the term Judean.”
That explains how a Jewish person is Jewish by birth, but what about the Jewish religion?
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“Judaism is a faith, yet it is also a people.” - Dr. Craig Hartman
Judaism as a religion:
A Jewish person can also be someone who is a convert to the religion of Judaism. There’s different flavors:
Reformed Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
An individual can be a convert to Judaism and thus be Jewish even if they are not Jewish by ancestry.
How does Dr. Hartman define someone who is Jewish?
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“A Jewish person is someone who is a descendant of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and the twelve sons of Jacob or a convert to [the religion of] Judaism.” - Dr. Craig Hartman
Now that we have considered the term, “Jewish”, I want you to pay attention to the contrast that we are going to see as we consider the word, “Christian.”
start here on Wednesday 11/1/23.
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What does it mean to be a Christian?
Read Acts 11:19-26
This is the first use of the term “Christian” in the Bible. Anytime something appears for the first time in the Bible it is worth extra study.
The word “Christian” is found two other times in Scripture: Acts 26:28 and 1 Peter 4:16.
The book of Acts is a history book that documents the changes that happened in the early church.
At first, the only people being saved are Jewish, and they are sharing the Gospel with Jews only (Acts 11:19). It is important to recognize that, at first, the church in Jerusalem was exclusively Jewish and they took the Gospel only to the Jews.
But, something began to happen, something that we see in Acts chapter ten.
Read Acts 10:45.
Here we find the first Gentile converts! What was the reaction of Jewish believers to Gentiles getting saved?
This came as a surprise to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. The Gentiles could be saved and they could have the gift of the Holy Spirit also! This was incredible!
News from the Jewish believers abroad continues to filter back to Jerusalem. More people are being saved! In Acts 11:22, Barnabas is sent out to meet these new converts. In verse 23, he meets them and encourages them “that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.”
Cleave: to remain with, to continue with someone
Barnabas encouraged them to remain with and to continue with the Lord! We know that they did just that! Because it is here in Antioch that they began to be called “Christians.”
Were called: to take and bear a title or name, to be called [something]
Here in Antioch, the community began to call these people Χριστιανούς.
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Χριστιανούς: Χριστός + ανούς = “Christ” + “to belong to…to be of”
Why do you think the people of Antioch began calling these people Christians?
Because they lived like it! They were different! They were continuing to walk with the Lord.
The community in which they were living saw how they lived and called them “Christ-followers.” They were called Christians because they belonged to Christ; they were of Christ. More than anything else, Jesus Christ was their identity.
Application: what is your identity? People shouldn’t know me as a pastor first. They should know me as a Christian first.
What is a “Christian”?
The term “Christian” does not always mean the same thing to everyone. You can ask ten people on the street what a Christian is and you might get ten different responses.
Christian: Someone who has made the decision to trust in Christ alone to save them from their sins.
A person cannot be a Christian by birth. A person cannot be a Christian by church attendance. A person becomes a Christian by choice.
Final questions:
How can someone be Jewish?
How can someone be a Christian?
Application: Biblically, a person is a Christian because of a choice that they made. How is this choice being reflected in your life?