What is Happening in Israel?

MAOZ NEWS

An electronic periodical on the Jewish Christian scene in Israel, written from a Reformed point of view. News about events in Israel and the ministry in which the Maoz family is involved.

GRACE ABOUNDING TO THE CHIEF OF SINNERS: Grace is What We Need

Most folk know that grace is unmerited favour. But our foolish pride finds it hard to grasp the thought that "unmerited" really means "wholly unearned, undeserved and often unsought" favour. In the matter of grace there are, in fact, only two world religions: Christianity, and all the rest. All religions but Christianity insist that, however wonderful divine goodwill may be, man has to do something to deserve, achieve, enjoy or maintain it. Only Christianity, properly understood, is bold enough to say that God's good will toward man is divinely unilateral and that it is never within the reach of man to do anything that could put him within or beyond the reach of grace. In other words, Christianity is the only religion that acknowledges God to be Himself, free of any compulsion but that which is derived out of His own perfection, free of any obligation but that imposed by His nature.

Muslims and the followers of Bahai, worshippers of idols and sophisticated Roman Catholic philosophers all insist that man is ultimately responsible for his own salvation because he must work to obtain or maintain it. Christianity informs us that our salvation is the result of God's sheer goodwill, not contingent upon anything man might do to make it his own. Even faith, that means by which salvation is communicated to us, is not of ourselves but a gift from God (Eph. 2:8-9).
Such naked grace robs man of any grounds for boasting, leaving all the glory to God. It also secures God's freedom to admit into His kingdom whomever He wills, thus ensuring that the kingdom remains His and His alone, with no alternative authority, right or privilege intruding. But such grace is difficult for man to accept because it humbles him to the dust, renders him altogether indebted to God, empties him of any thought that he can control God's favour and leaves him dependent - whereas man aspires to be free of all and any. In this respect as well as others, man constantly repeats the pattern of that original sin in the Garden.

Dimitri's struggle and Triumph

It was Sabbath morning. The service had ended and, as often happens, a number of people wanted to speak with the Elders. We divided into two and met various congregants in different rooms. Some requested membership. One sought baptism. Another was a guest who wished to inquire about an aspect of our church life. Then Dimitri entered. Dimitri is in his mid-forties, a quiet and unassuming man from Russia whose wife is an unbeliever and has never been to church with him, though he attends regularly.
"I have sinned", he said, "and have come to confess." We listened with concern and sincere friendliness as he told the story of his moral mishap: he had misled his wife on some issue that had risen between them. "What have you done about it since you realised your sin?" we asked.

* "Oh, I confessed the whole thing to her and asked her forgiveness."
* "Yes?"
* " Of course, I also asked God to forgive me."
* "Yes?"
* "I don't know if He forgave. That is why I asked to speak with you."
* "Go on".
* "Well, I suppose that I have to confess my sin to you, then God will forgive me?"
* "And where did you get that idea?"
* "Well, I sinned, didn't I? I need to confess to my Elders, who can then pray for me so that I will be forgiven. I need to do what is right in order to be forgiven."
* "Dimitri. Jesus died for you to be forgiven. That is something none of us Elders could ever do because our death can never have such value. There is nothing further that you need to do but to sincerely repent.

You can't earn God's forgiveness by humiliating yourself before us. You can't be good enough to obtain forgiveness. You will never deserve it. The Bible promises us that, if we confess our sins, God is good and righteous to forgive us and to clean us from all unrighteousness. You need to trust God, not us nor your sincere efforts, Dimitri. Do you believe that Jesus died and rose again to secure a full salvation for all who come to Him?"

* "Of course I do!"
* "It does not seem so much a matter of course, Dimitri, if you think that you need to do something in order to be forgiven. Perhaps you are talking about the need to feel forgiven."
* "Well... I suppose so."
* "Then trust in God, not in us. The Elders are not a priesthood. We do not dispense forgiveness, nor can we convey a sense of forgiveness. Instead of coming to us, you should go to God in prayer, and persist in seeking Him and in trusting His mercy until your joyful relationship with Him is restored."
* "Really?! Then I do not need to tell you all about what I did?!!"
* "Not at all. You only need to tell God and your wife, and to leave off deceiving her."

A look of astonished relief spread over Dimitri's face. He left the room after a short word of prayer, thanking God for His magnificent grace.

REPORTS FROM ALEX FAIBISHENKO

Efforts in the USA
As most of our readers know, Alex Faibishenko serves Grace and Truth both as Elder and Evangelist. Following are excerpts from two of his more recent reports:

We give thanks to God for his grace, given us to serve and to remain faithful to Him. A short time ago I returned from Cleveland, where the grace of God accompanied us in the work of evangelism among the large Jewish community there (30,000). The Lord blessed the work, and people who had never heard the Gospel of Jesus received grace from the Lord to hear of His love and His salvation. People were amazed.

They questioned, argued, wept, and praised God. Those who repented and received Jesus in their hearts also asked to pray. The Garnliach family, Yulia and Bogdan, with whom I lived during my stay in the USA, now continue in the work of evangelism and we hope that they will be able to attach themselves to a solid church in the area to which we have referred them. They too are in need of prayer and help in the work they are carrying on.

Visitation in Israel

Since July 99 God has blessed us here in Israel with many good meetings with people who are hungry for the Word of God. Responses to newspaper ads and to brochures give us the opportunity to meet people in their homes and preach the gospel to them there. In this way, we visited four families in Ashkelon in the course of one day: In the first house, Raisa and her son received us warmly. They listened closely to the word and it was a blessing to see how the Holy Spirit, through the word, touched their hearts. They were deeply moved to hear of sin and what it has done to man and how, despite our sins and pride (a condition we cannot change by ourselves) God showed His grace through Jesus Christ. There were many questions about Jesus, and much doubt: could He really be the Messiah and Saviour? What does He have to do with the Jewish people? When we turned to the Old Testament and read from the prophecies which were fulfilled in Jesus, they acknowledged that Jesus must be the Messiah.

Finally, we prayed and asked for the Lord's blessing, that they might believe in Christ. These people rejoiced, wept and thanked the Lord for the chance to hear the Gospel.

Bila had been seeking the Lord but didn't know who He was. She thought that she could find Him in mysticism, in the heat she felt in her body, in emotions, and in that power she believed she had to heal. When she prayed the Lord's prayer with us, after we had witnessed to her, the Word of God rebuked her. She began to come to the church and heard the Word preached. Now she is a candidate for baptism.

Ashdod

Twice a week, on Wednesday and on Friday, Vitaly works with Alex in evangelism. Because there is much work to do and many homes to visit, at the moment he works on his own in Ashdod He brings the Bible and Christian literature to the homes, talks with the people and invites them to the services on Saturday and to the midweek Bible Study in his home in Ashdod. We give God thanks for Vitaly's important work.

Dima, from Ashdod, who visited the church services several times, has a strong desire to be in the church and to serve the Lord. On the 30th of February, 1999 he requested baptism. After discussion with him, the Elders rejoiced and praised God for Dima and admitted him to the pre-baptismal course.

Many of the people are having difficulties in adapting to life in Israel, to which they have recently immigrated; some are in poor spiritual condition, others have unbelieving spouses, some are old and sickly.

Please pray for them.

A NEW CAREER FOR BRACHA

As of January 2000, Bracha has terminated her work at HaGefen as Baruch's secretary, as which she has served for many years. There were times when CWI finances were so low that it was necessary to reduce staff. Bracha was always the first to go because we knew that she would continue serving in spite of her formal termination.

But now the time has come for her to move on into new fields of endeavour. Since October 1999 Bracha has been partly employed as a social worker, over- seeing sheltered housing for the mentally and socially handicapped. She now oversees seven such houses and expects to have under her care two more by the middle of this new year. I wish to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my dear wife for her years of faithful service, for being available whenever we needed her and for bringing such a good spirit into the tasks involved in assisting me. I will miss her special contribution to the work, although she will continue to contribute to it in other ways as my wife, advisor and confidante.

AND A NEW SECRETARY WORKING WITH BARUCH

Rivka Nessim has assumed the role of secretary for me. I will now ask her to introduce herself:

"Dear friends in Christ, I thank and praise the Lord for the opportunity given me to serve Him in this way. I dreamed years ago of working with HaGefen as a translator, and partly with that in mind, pursued a course of study of comparative literature and translation in university. However, a few seminars proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that my aspirations were rather too ambitious and unrealistic for one whose mother tongue was not Hebrew. I am glad now, to be able to use the abilities the Lord has given me, to serve Him in another capacity, and trust and pray He will be with me and give me the ability to contribute as much as possible to His work here in Israel as I attempt to fill Bracha's shoes.

I was born in England to Jewish Christian parents, who left family and friends behind and moved to Canada when the Lord called them to evangelism among the Jewish community of Vancouver. I was blessed to be taught the things of the Lord from babyhood both by word and by godly example, and gave my heart to Him as a young child. In my late teens an identity crisis, brought on by sin in my life and rebellion against God, turned me to Judaism and brought me to Israel where I thought I could be 'just Jewish' and serve God 'without Jesus'.
I thank and praise the Lord that despite my desperate efforts to shake Him off, He never left me for a moment and used every opportunity to convict me and remind me of my need for Him and His love for me. He brought me back to Himself, with renewed, deepened and more personal faith and the conviction that 'even if no one join me, still I will follow'. I say as Peter said: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." (John 6:68)
I seek now to raise my four young daughters (ages 9 through 16 months) in the Lord, here in Israel, and covet your prayers for them and for my husband and myself. I look forward to being in touch with all of you, brethren in Christ around the world, who share a love and prayerful concern for His lost people, Israel."
Baruch resumes here:

It is not something that I relished, leaving off working with my wife and handing over her work to a relative stranger. But I have been impressed with Rivka's ability to read a situation and describe it briefly, by her intelligence and by her ability to communicate. I am confident that you will all find her a competent and pleasant person with whom to work.

Henceforth, please refer all suitable matters to her at <maozsec@attglobal.net> and be assured that she and I will be working in close tandem. Any mail that you receive from her has been discussed and formulated by Rivka with me. In all matters which require my personal attention, be free to continue to write to me.

Paper on Eldership

Baruch is presently in England, having delivered a paper on the Church Eldership at the Carey Conference which was well received. An excerpt is given below. This paper will soon be made available at which time I shall be happy to provide information as to where it may be obtained. Any of our readers who wish to order Baruch's exposition of the book of Hosea, are invited to request the paper by writing to <maozsec@attglobal.net>.

The Purpose of the Eldership

"To present everyone perfect in Christ". Our task as Elders is to labour, to struggle with all of God's energy which is powerfully at work in us (Col. 1:29), at proclaiming, admonishing, and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ (Col.1: 28).

In other words, one of the important purposes of the Eldership is to assist every single individual within its reach in a process of ongoing sanctification which only God can initiate and only He can bring to completion, but in which every man must be engaged.

One of the most important questions relating to the Eldership is not the level of its authority but the purpose for which such authority was given. The Eldership is seldom called upon to exert authority but is always required to serve the church so as "to present everyone perfect in Christ". .... For the accomplishment of that goal we teach, we preach, we visit regularly, we advise and withhold advice, we constantly examine and reform our own lives, we labour, pray and plead at heaven's door with strong crying and with tears, we exhort, rebuke, compliment and encourage. But we never give up."