Tikkun America RESTORE Magazine Kislev | December 2024 | Page 18

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Messianic congregations need more Gentiles of the Nations who are secure in their identity in Yeshua , who are living into the character and power of the Kingdom of the Heavens with a deep value for Jew and Gentile unity with distinction .
I feel that Messianic Jewish leaders are wise to encourage this more explicitly . In this reality of the Kingdom , Gentiles who are in Messianic Congregations need to be able to identify deeply in love for and service of the Jewish people , enjoy their culture , celebrate their God given calendar , enter corporately into praying the liturgy alongside them , and not lose their distinctive Gentile identity of the Nations .
For when redeemed Gentiles who have been made heirs with Israel ( not become Israel ; Eph . 3:6 ) lose their sense of identity as the Nations and they habitually act like and imitate Jews , the message they are giving to their children and grandchildren is harmful , even if unintentional .
While I have no desire to offend anyone with this , this is unintentionally telling our children and grandchildren of the Nations to devalue their own ethnic identity that God created as good , to devalue their ethnic identity that Messiah redeemed by His own blood , and to devalue the beauty and glory they bring as the Nations in love and service to the Jewish people .
So one way we show that Jewish identity matters , is in valuing our Gentile identity as an equal way of relating to ADONAI who is the one true living God of us all . We have a lot more work to do as Gentiles who have been grafted into Israel ’ s Olive Tree as wild branches . And we cannot effectively provoke Jewish people to their Messiah if we are trying to be something we are not . We need to walk in the deepest solidarity with Messianic Jews but in who we are as the Nations in Messiah , praying for and partnering in the salvation of all Israel ( Rom . 11:25-26 ).
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