I was assigned this topic by the organizers of the CMI international conference held in Collaroy (Sydney's northern beaches area) at their "Until that day" 2020 conference. Here then is the talk I gave.
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Faith of the saints in the end times: A community response
A talk given at Collaroy Centre
By Bob Mendelsohn
At the CMI conference (Korean)
15 January 2020
Shalom to my friends here on the Northern Beaches, some of whom have only recently begun your first visit to Australia. We are honoured to have you with us. And thank you to Pastor Isaac and all those from our regular and ongoing prayer team in the Eastern suburbs who continue to lift up the ministries of outreach like the one with whom I work, Jews for Jesus, in your prayers almost daily. I’m a better man for those prayers. My work among the Jewish people is better for those prayers. God is honoured by those prayers. I’m a grateful man.
My assigned topic today is “Faith of the saints in the end times” and begs two questions. One is, “are you a saint?’ and the other is “are these the end times?” Then if those two questions are answered in the positive, we have to deal with “faith” as a topic beyond intellect and beyond “believism.” Then we will cover a significant amount of conversation about community, which is hinted in the plural of ‘saints’ and that which is a major answer for each of us going forward. So, this is my outline, 1) sainthood, 2) end times, 3) faith, and 4) community.
Let us pray. [prayer followed]
I. Are you a saint?
Sainthood sounds so noble and so unreal to us in 21st century Sydney. Maybe if we were Catholic or working in a place like Mother Teresa while she lived. Maybe from the outside, some of us look to others like we are saints, but the use of the word in modern language (perhaps it’s different in Hangul) makes a person sound completely holy and ‘other’ than what we know in our regular work at the office or in the neighbourhood. We talk of people who visit the sick in the hospital or who are carers for family members saying, “She’s such a saint” and all we really mean by that is that they are doing good works. We almost consider using the word for firemen who are continuing to give in a volunteer capacity during the hundreds of fires that remain in our country just now.
Of course, the word ‘saint’ used to be applied to every Christian. It’s not for a special superclass of believers. It’s a word that calls us to holy living. 8 times in the Older Testament, 6 of them in Daniel chapter 7, the word is used. It comes from the Hebrew root “K-D-SH” (think: Kadosh) and simply means ‘holy ones.’ Matthew alone among the Gospel writers uses the term (27:52) for the Older Testament believers who came out of tombs after Jesus died. Luke uses the term for believers gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 9:13) or Lydda (Acts 9:32) or even in prison (Acts 26.10). 5 dozen more times the word is used in the rest of the Newer Testament mostly by Paul and John.
For our purposes today, let’s rid ourselves of the notion that ‘saint’ means a superChristian, someone who is above the rest of us by some outward holiness or activity. Let’s embrace the biblical concept that ‘saint’ means someone who has been made righteous by the blood of Jesus. And that means any of us who testify that Jesus is Lord and that He alone is our salvation.
So, the question “are you a saint?” can be answered in the affirmative. Yes, I’m a saint. Hallelujah!
II. Are these the end times?
Now we turn our attention to the 2nd question. Are these the end times? I must use the biblical understanding again, and not one that has captivated the minds of many Christians in the 20th Century and is the reason so many Left Behind books and movies are so often sold in Christian bookshops in these days. In fact, in many of those stores you will find shelf after shelf of ear-tickling commentaries about Iran and the last days and even Donald Trump and the last days, but you will be hard-pressed to find anything about Jewish people and evangelism or mission in general.
When are the end times? The writers of the Older Testament had indicated that in the ‘last days’ certain events would occur: Isaiah (2.2), Jeremiah (23.20, 49.39), Ezekiel (38.16), Hosea (3.5) and Micah (4.1). Some of these men and other prophets used the term “The Day of the Lord” to reference the same ending of history. Therefore, there was a great longing in the Jewish people for those days to be upon them. They wanted God’s Kingdom and they wanted it to be visible and for them and their families to enjoy its benefits.
The apostle Peter indicated that those days had begun. He said in Acts chapter 2 in his famous Pentecost sermon, quoting Joel’s last days prophecy about pouring out his Spirit, saying, THIS IS THAT.” [Here’s the whole quotation:
but this is that which was spoken of through the prophet Joel: AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says,
THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy. AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW, BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME. AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’ (2.14-21)]
In other words, all the ‘that’ for which you were waiting is ‘this.’ Peter believes that the Last Days had begun. The Day of the Lord was at hand and what Jesus taught about The Kingdom was Now! No more waiting. If God poured out His Spirit, then everyone who called on the name of the Lord would be saved. And no one could be sure of that unless this were the Last Days. This is that!
The writer of Hebrews certainly thought the Last Days were on the world since the Son of God had been manifest and ushered them in. Since God’s final word had been spoken (1.2) through the Son, then the author called the times ‘these last days.’
However, there is a way to clarify what is happening in our days. Perhaps Peter and Hebrews would see that the 11th hour began when Jesus conducted his ministry on earth and poured out his Spirit, but that it’s now 11:59 just before midnight in the last of the Last Days. Maybe that’s what Paul meant when he said, “realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.” (2 Tim. 3.1), or Peter when he said, “in the last days mockers will come with their mocking.” (2 Peter 3.3) In other words, even though we are in the Last Days, there is an era which might better be labeled “the Last of the Last Days.”
All the characterizations of those last days are gloriously shown nightly on our television shows. Listen to this list:
For men will be mocking, and lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power”
I believe those characteristics of the last days are on us and even the blind can see the evidence.
So, question #2 is answered in the positive, yes, these are the Last Days.
III. What is faith?
Now we turn to the third question: what is faith? Biblically it is the ‘assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” (Heb 11.1) and practically it is putting our trust into Jesus for all he has done and said. When we use the term ‘believer’ or ‘saint’ we are saying that ‘faith’ is evident. Because this is a Christian gathering, I will not linger long on this question. However, I will add one quick thought not previously mentioned.
James the apostle said, “faith without works is dead.” (2.26) Faith must include actions and the next section of this talk will deal with significant actions and attitudes to maintain and carry out in our lives as saints.
Faith is more than mental assent or ticking a box on an examination. Faith is active and alive. Faith does stuff. Faith works. If you believe, it will be evident to outsiders.
IV. a community
Since the title of my talk is faith of the saints, in the plural, then I would like to major on the corporate nature of this assumption. I want us to ponder what it means to be a community. Until that day, what shall we do? Until that day, what kind of people should we be? Community: that’s my answer. Is the church merely a composite of individuals who only see each other now and then? What is our role together, if there is any such role?
I believe there are certain characteristics which have to be noticed, embraced and maintained in the world for a gathering or any entity for that matter, to be labelled community. These three are commonality, communication, and unity. I’m sure there are many others which you might speak about after the meeting today, but today let me focus on those three.
Arthur Katz who died in 2007, was a Jewish believer in Jesus, and a long-time friend. He wrote in his classic “True Fellowship: Church as Community” the need for the Body of Messiah to be real and honest in this regard. ( Book ) He said, “church as community is radically and excruciatingly demanding, and yet, in this environment, there is the glorious possibility for this kind of existential fellowship with believers.” (page 9) He was a challenge to all things status quo, and thus a challenge to me in my ministry. He insisted that the church, as a Sunday club, was insignificant and irrelevant if that were all she was. He eventually moved from any major city and along with a select group, formed a community that radically lived out everything they were learning. So, what he said in his books was written in the crucible of their life together, and I welcomed that.
You see, when I came to faith in Jesus in 1971 there was one model which I saw, and which made sense. I had been a hippie, striking on the campus of Washington University, an activist who was among those who burned down the ROTC building (the junior cadets building), and soon afterwards, left uni to find my own way. In May of 1971 I found Messiah or rather was found by Him and immediately was part of the Jesus movement as it was labeled. Our meetings were Sunday night in the basement of a Presbyterian church, where hundreds of us former hippies gathered to sing Bible verse choruses led by guitars with drums (that was new then), and regular meetings all week in homes and coffee shops. No one went to one meeting a week; we gathered seemingly everywhere.
We made fun of denominations since most of us got saved outside of those institutions. Jesus was all we wanted, oh, and the fellowship of the saints. We sang together; we prayed together; we believed God together for greater and greater things. And He didn’t disappoint us. Life was community.
Bowling Alone
I know I am going against the modern grain but everything I know about the Kingdom of God is upside down. It’s not the societal norm to follow a Jewish carpenter who lived 2,000 years ago and ended his personal preaching career with a small handful of followers watching him die, who then ran away after his crucifixion and hid away for fear of the same ending. In Australia, it’s not normal to be religious and maintain personal commitments to holy living in a city which is again going to tout its LGBTQ enthusiasm around Mardi Gras in the City. It’s not easy even to attend church on a regular basis in the 21st Century what with children’s birthday parties and internet holiday deals to Bali along with any sporting event or the latest David Jones half-yearly sale starting earlier on Sundays.
In his year 2000 book entitled “Bowling Alone,” Robert Putnam showcased the trends already evident then, with the beginnings of the internet and resultant loss of personal space and time, that people were less and less willing to join clubs. The title alone indicates the reality, that people would go to a bowling alley then, and bowl a few lines, but wouldn’t join a bowling league. That trend Putnam saw 20 years ago has only increased dramatically in our day. Social media has made us increasingly alone. The antidote to this is community.
So when I teach you today about the community nature of the people of God, I’m hopeful that you will listen with your spirit, and that our local churches will see significant growth in this area, and that the church in Sydney and the church in Pusan and Seoul and worldwide will move forward in this in 2020 and long beyond!
Commonality
First things first. The development of community requires commonality. That means we share common experiences, with common results, no matter from what background we come. The apostle Paul wanted the Ephesian believers to understand this. He said,
“But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall” (Ephesians 2.13) Jewish people like me and Gentiles like the abundance of the Ephesians, and dare I say the most of you here today, come from very different backgrounds, different views of God, different hopes and dreams, AND YET, we are One in Messiah. God has broken down the barriers and made us to share in the same life source. Because of Jesus, our commonality is fixed. Hallelujah!
We are “fellow citizens” and share as “the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” Fit together. Citizens together. Common experiences with the relationship to our Uncommon God and Saviour Jesus the Messiah.
Communication
Not only do we share common realities and the common relationship with our Messiah, we also have real communication. Again, from Art Katz,
“More often than not, there is an unspoken agreement between pastors and their flock: “You present a biblical message; we will pay the bill and have a Sunday service that will leave our lives free from any kind of demand.” He cites our school education systems which “are content with the mere verbalization of material.” (page 32)
When I say communication, I am talking about more than verbalization. Sharing our hearts with one another; sharing real hurts and real life, that’s how the Body of Messiah makes a difference in these days.
Philip Yancey wrote in the magazine Christianity Today 20 years ago about sharing life together and took lessons from the 12 step folks who were meeting in the basement of the church he attended in the USA.
“As an alcoholic once told me, "I have to publicly declare 'I am an alcoholic' whenever I introduce myself at the group. It is a statement of failure, of helplessness, and surrender. Take a room of a dozen or so people, all of whom admit helplessness and failure, and it's pretty easy to see how God then presents himself in that group." The historian of Alcoholics Anonymous titled his work Not-God because, he said, that stands as the most important hurdle an addicted person must surmount: to acknowledge, deep in the soul, not being God. No mastery of manipulation and control, at which alcoholics excel, can overcome the root problem; rather, the alcoholic must recognize individual helplessness and fall back in the arms of the Higher Power. "First of all, we had to quit playing God," concluded the founders of AA; and then allow God himself to "play God" in the addict's life, which involves daily, even moment-by-moment, surrender. Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, reached the unshakable conviction, now a canon of twelve-step groups, that an alcoholic must "hit bottom" in order to climb upward.”
The ram’s horn (the shofar) is blown on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah and other times during the year, not only to make us Jewish people aware of the time of events but often for us to gather. Some of you might remember when church bells would ring on Sunday morning at certain intervals, to call everyone to gather. These calls to worship are communication methods. And they invite us to communicate with God together and to listen to God together. And at least at morning tea, to communicate with one another. Communities are in communication with each other and listening, they respond to be with one another.
Unity
To be sure we all won’t agree on everything. Any of you in any relationship with a schoolteacher, with a spouse, with teenaged children or parents, knows that perfect agreement down the line is not the only way to be united. Real community is more like musical harmony rather than unison. One of the most recognizable and ancient sounds of the church is the Gregorian chant.
Gregorian chant is monophonic, or unison, liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, and used to accompany the text of the mass and the canonical hours, or divine office. Gregorian chant is named after St. Gregory I, during whose papacy (590–604) it was collected and codified.
In the church, in the Reformation, church music widened, and harmony replaced unison. Have you ever been in a significant, large gathering when the musical band stopped playing, but we kept singing? I was in the Superdome in New Orleans in 1987 and 30,000 people sang God’s praises at a major conference. At one point, the musicians stopped playing while the people kept singing. It was enormous and powerful. I imagined heaven. I experienced heaven that evening. Unity was demonstrated in four-part harmony. Powerful!
Paul wrote the Ephesians “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall”
You might remember the triad:
In Essentials Unity,
In Non-Essentials Liberty,
In All Things Charity
Unity is possible because of Jesus. Look, you may know that anti-Semitism has been increasing in the world the last few years, even here in Australia. Cemetery damaging, bus and train episodes of hostility, stabbings overseas in closed Jewish communities, and shootings in synagogues are on the rise. A natural reaction by people experiencing this hostility is to withdraw, to pull back from interaction with the ‘other.’ So, when you remember that Gentiles in Roman days were the bad guys to the Jewish people, then Paul’s OneNewMan concept is radical. His appeal for unity is outrageous. And yet, it’s not only possible; it’s required for a godly community.
Jewish community
For Jewish people, the idea of the Jewish community starts with birth and circumcision when a little Jewish boy is welcomed into the community and it never ends even after his burial. We use a prayer shawl at both services; we read prayers from a prayer book, and everyone can know on what page we are reading. Everyone is included, at Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations, and at weddings and funerals. The identification of a Jewish person in life and death is labeled clearly, from a boy’s 8th day through to the rocks and Hebrew writing on the gravestone. A quorum (the term in Hebrew is a minyan) is required to pray certain prayers, in Orthodox Jewish circles, that’s 10 men. A knocker is sent around neighbourhoods if only 8 or 9 men are gathering. We need 10. A person needs to be supported by the community; 4 or 7 people simply will not do.
Of course, Yeshua, our Messiah had this comment about the minyan. “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18.20) He is not saying He won’t listen if you only have one of you; He’s answering the minyan difficulty, saying a community can be two or three; you don’t need 10 men. You can have 10 ladies. You can have 2 ladies; God will see community in what you are doing, in a gathering, in shared life together.
So What?
I’m telling you all this and I’m telling me this. I’m a student of this sermon today as well. God is speaking to me about what matters in these last days. He is asking me to care and to speak with and to be common with those in my community. He is calling us to be humble and receive each other, to accept one another, to serve one another. What the world is looking for in these fire-stormed days is a community of hope and love which extends itself in service to those outside, and which welcomes former outsiders into their fold. Each one of you who like me was not born a Christian and who is now joined in fellowship here, each of you experienced some of this commonality and unity; you share in communication about these things with others. You were welcomed early on in your visiting the church. And the real test of your loyalty is your involvement with the newcomers and helping them be folded into this self-same community.
Faith of the saints in the Last Days: We believe, we live it out, and we live it out together. Amen?
One final component of my talk.
Jews for Jesus
You know that I’m here also representing the missionary organization Jews for Jesus. And we are not only an agency, we are a community as well. And we long to fold others, especially Jewish people, into relationships with us and with the Lord Himself. The Apostle in Ephesians highlights the Lord as the One who performed this initially, in verses 4-8.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Messiah (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Jesus.”
Here we read that the Lord saved us, He made us alive together with Messiah. All because He loved us. Even when we were dead! Hallelujah.
And we are seeing Jewish people come to that same conclusion in these days. Whether in Budapest or Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in New York City and Moscow. Even here in Sydney, and our community of faith is living and growing. Your prayers for us will help. Your financial support will help. We are hoping in 2020 to take on one more staff member, and need to do so, without their raising their own support. The need to meet up with more Jewish people who are really interested in the Gospel is now. So, I ask the churches, even Korean churches to support us, one by one, to facilitate that. You can use this square to donate up the back, or to buy products, like this book by Art Katz I mentioned. Down at our book shop in Bondi Junction we have over 800 products, but I brought some you can pick up today. Let’s keep talking. Let’s share together our commonality, our communication, our unity in Messiah.
And let us exalt his name together! (Psalm 34.4)
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