Jesus For Jews – and Gentiles, Too!

           I was blessed to visit New York City in 1977 with my wife and a number of men and women who were fellow and sister students in a Bible college in West Virginia. We were involved in a door-knocking campaign with the Riverhead church of Christ 80 miles east of New York City. We spent several days in Riverhead going door to door and talking to anyone we could about our faith in Jesus Christ and about His church. One highlight of that trip was when I, with my wife Donna’s assistance, was blessed to teach and baptize into Christ a young woman who was pregnant with twins! One day Brother Jerry Hill and his lovely wife Fern took us to New York City on a sight-seeing tour. At one point, on a busy street corner among the hustling, bustling throngs of people, our little group was suddenly face to face with another group of young people who were handing out copies of a simple little tract / pamphlet. I took one of the tracts and the title instantly caught my eye and riveted my attention. Printed in bold letters on the upper front cover of the tract were these words: "Everything you always wanted to know about Jesus." Then in smaller but clear letters just under halfway down the page – *BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK* – then an inch further down and off to the right *Your rabbi*" The back of the tract identified the group as simply "JEWS and others FOR JESUS" and then an address and phone number. We were elated! There we were – several of us in our group from small, rural towns in Tennessee, and all of us Gentiles – talking face to face with a group of Jewish young people who were out, loud, proud and "taking it to the street" that Jesus was the long awaited Jewish Messiah! I will quote verbatim one paragraph from the tract before space runs out – "We say that the main thing you ought to know about Jesus is that you can and should believe in Him. He is the promised Jewish Messiah. He is the ultimate sacrifice by which men can be justified and through whom Jews and Gentiles can return to God." The encounter soon ended, but not before we left them with copies of a tract entitled "Steps to Heaven" that explained gospel obedience in terms of hearing, believing, repenting, confessing (Christ), and being baptized for forgiveness of sins.

I often think of that incident when I read words written by a man who was perhaps the ultimate Jew for Jesus – the apostle Paul! Long before my group encountered those Jews for Jesus in New York City, Paul lamented the fact many Jews were not for Jesus. He said in Romans 10:1-3 – "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Paul was indeed a Jew for Jesus. But his appeal for Jews to be for Jesus sprang from the gospel’s good news that Jesus was for Jews! And not only for Jews, for Gentiles, too! The gospel is "the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek" (Romans 1:16). Here’s the take home point – the cross where Jesus died proves Jesus is for you. The only issue that remains to be settled is, are you for Jesus, too? Think about it.

By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN