Tag Archives: Gentiles

A PLACE FOR THE GENTILES

Bible Study, ,

A PLACE FOR THE GENTILES

“For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed and moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. As it is written:

‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.’

And again it says,

‘Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people.’

And again,

‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the people extol Him.’

And again, Isaiah says,

‘The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in Him the Gentiles will hope.’

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:8-13.

It’s all very well, Paul, for you to explain the intricacies of God’s righteousness but on what grounds do we Gentiles have the right to think that we also have a share in the mercy of God? After all, God is the God of the Jews. He chose them to be His people and we were not included in His covenant with Abraham.

Oh, really! Was that God’s intention? To have a little group of people whom He could mollycoddle and leave the rest to spend eternity in hell? Never! The whole purpose of His choice of Israel was for them to be a model for the Gentiles, so that they would see, mirrored in His people the nature of God and believe in Him as well. Once He had sent His Messiah to earth through His people, He would throw the door open for the whole world to believe in Him.

Paul’s triumphant declaration of hope for the Gentiles was based squarely on God’s eternal plan, begun with Abraham and fulfilled in Christ, so that the people of the world, not only the Jews, would be members of His family and citizens in His kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy.

Embedded in His covenant with Abraham was the promise that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. The promises of God extended far beyond Abraham and his descendants.

“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3.

Has God ever withdrawn His promise? On the contrary, Paul reassured his Romans readers:

“…For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.” Romans 11:29.

There is a warning for the nations today in God’s irrevocable promise to Abraham. The world is being polarised over the conflict between the Jews and the Palestinians in Israel. Most of the nations side with the Palestinians because they regard Israel as intruders with no right to be in the land of Israel. On the surface, without taking into consideration the promise of God, it may seem so, but from God’s perspective the land of Israel belongs to the Jews because He gave it to them forever.

“I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” Genesis 17:7, 8.

There is an extended prophecy in Zechariah 12:1-14; 13:1 that is yet to be fulfilled and seems on the brink of fulfilment even as I write. As the nations gather against Jerusalem, God will intervene to protect His people and destroy those who are trying to destroy them. The wars of the 1960’s bear witness to God’s protection and victory in the face of overwhelming odds.

Just as God promised His protection of His people, so He promised that the Gentiles would also have a place in His kingdom. And so, Paul could reassure all his Gentile readers, not only the Roman church then, but also every Gentile down the centuries, that our hope is based on the solid truth of God’s promise and Paul’s prayer:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE MYSTERY REVEALED

Christian life, ,

THE MYSTERY REVEALED

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that that you may not be conceited. Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full members of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;

He will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

And this is my covenant with them

When I take away their sins.” Romans 11:25-27

In the end they just can’t get away from God’s mercy!

Unlike the gods of human imagination who are mostly out to “get” their worshippers and are easily offended like their creators, the God of the Bible is big on mercy. No matter how Paul reasoned or argued, he always came out at the same place. Mercy! Unlike much of our erroneous ideas about God, He has no intention of destroying people if He does not have to.

The history and destiny of His people is inextricably tied up with the destiny of the Gentiles. Israel had no exclusive claim to God’s love. They were chosen to be His messengers and mouthpiece to the rest of the world. “For God so loved the world…” Why should He not love the world? Every human being of every nation is created in His image and for His glory, not just Israel, but He needed a specific group of people to model Him to the rest of mankind.

The fact that they failed does not cancel out their calling and God’s purpose for them. He did not “un-call” them because they failed just as no child can be “un-born” even if he disappoints his family. His parents may disown him but he is still a family member whether they acknowledge him or not.

Paul called it a mystery. There are many “mysteries” in Scripture – things we don’t understand because they are beyond human imagination or human experience; for example, the sovereignty of God. How can God carry out His will in our lives and yet, at the same time, hold us responsible for our choices? It’s a mystery!

However, Paul is not talking about this kind of “mystery”. In the Bible, God hid truths which could only be revealed when all the facts were in place. One of the big mysteries, which only came to light after Jesus died and rose again, was the relationship of Jew and Gentile in God’s big story. The Jews thought they were “it”, but God had a different agenda for them. Through them, He planned to bring the whole world into His story.

“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 3:6.

Unfortunately, because of their prejudice and bigotry, the Jews could not stomach the idea that God cared about the Gentiles as well but, in spite of their resistance, they were and will always be descendants of Abraham and God’s covenant people. And that makes them players in God’s story until the final chapter.

And what is the final chapter? They will take their place in the story, where they belong.

“As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake, but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.” Romans 11:28-32.

And how will it happen? Once again, in His own incomprehensible way, God will bring together His choices and man’s choices into perfect harmony to fulfil His will. The Jews, just like the Gentiles, will receive mercy through faith in God’s Son, when they finally recognise who He is.

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son…On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” Zechariah 12:10; 13:1.

“Amen!”

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

SENSUALITY AND GREED

Bible Study, ,

SENSUALITY AND GREED

So I tell you this, and insist on I in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed (Eph. 4: 17-19).

Paul used two words to sum up the lifestyle of the pagan Gentiles – sensuality and greed. The same description is applicable and apt for the godless world in which we live today. The human heart has not changed. Every generation, from the fall of Adam, lives for sin and self. Every society under the sun is in chaos and disarray for the same reasons – sensuality and greed.

As the unique and supreme creation of God (not some superior ape that has evolved from our monkey “cousins”) made in His image to reflect His glory, God has given us one overriding instruction which encapsulates everything we are to be.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deut. 6:5).

However, another master claims our allegiance. Satan tricked the first pair into believing his word over the word of their Creator and introduced them to a new trend – disobedience and rebellion in the place of loving obedience and submission to their Maker. They became lovers of self, not lovers of God. Sensual pleasures and greedy selfishness now dominates the human race.

By the way, I was amused to read, in a glossy woman’s magazine, the latest diagnosis for marital disharmony which used to be the outcome of selfishness. It is now called “post-romantic stress disorder”! Trust the psychiatrists to come up with a neat way for people to dodge responsibility and for them to make money. Just imagine how much more cash will flow into their coffers while they “counsel” their clients about their post-romantic stress disorder. How much better to teach them to grow up and stop living for themselves at the expense of their spouses!

Of course, like a leopard, we cannot change our “spots”. Only the Holy Spirit can transform our hearts through the forgiveness and new life Jesus came to give us. Ezekiel prophesied that God would do a miracle in the hearts of His people to transform them from stony-hearted, selfish and disobedient idolaters to loving and submissive children of God.

For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ez. 36: 24-27).

God fulfilled this promise through His Son. According to Paul,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here (2 Cor. 5: 17).

Since God has done the miracle of transformation, our responsibility is to put it into practice in our everyday lives. New hearts produce new attitudes and new behaviour. Jesus said that it is the fruit that reveals the nature of the root. If we are still living like we did before we began to follow Jesus, satisfying our sensual appetites and living only to provide for ourselves, a question hangs over the reality of our profession. Here is the test:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if, by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God (Rom. 8: 12-14).

If we do not produce the proof of a new heart, our profession means nothing. Paul urged his Ephesian readers to respond in faith to the transformation God had accomplished through the power of the gospel at work in them. According to him, they were no longer classified as “Gentiles” because together with the title came the expectation that they would behave like Gentiles, living sensual and greedy lives.

They had become part of a new culture and an alternative society, living under the title of “children of God”. They had stepped over from the realm of “lovers of self” to “lovers of God”, a love which replaced all other loves and changed their hearts from greed to generosity, from selfishness to selfless service because they were followers of Jesus and reflectors of His nature.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3, eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MYSTERY

Bible Study, ,

ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MYSTERY

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of His power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things (Eph. 3: 7-9).

How easy it would be to get lost in Paul’s long sentences and profound declarations. To understand what he was saying, we must go back to the basics of the gospel.

The mystery he was exposing was the simple fact that God’s intention was always to include the whole world in His offer of mercy. He began with the nation of Israel because He was preparing them to receive the Messiah through whom Hiss mercy would reach the world.

It was never God’s intention to exclude those who did not belong to Israel. He wanted His people to remain separate from the pagan nations so that He could nurture them in His ways. When He sent His Son into the world, He wanted His people to understand sin, sacrifice, covenant, mercy and grace through the types and shadows of the Old Covenant so that they would recognise Him and receive Him as their Messiah.

As Paul has already explained, the death of Jesus opened the door for the Gentiles to be reconciled to God and to be united with the Jews into one family of believers, with no barriers of colour, culture or language to separate them. Faith in Jesus as Lord overrode all other loyalties and created a new race of people who were citizens of God’s heavenly kingdom.

Paul saw himself as a custodian of this good news. While the other apostles took the message of Jesus to their own people, God assigned the task of preaching to the Gentiles to Paul. It was a costly commission. Paul suffered persecution at the hands of Jews and Gentiles but there was no price too high for obedience. Not only did he carry the message of Jesus to the Roman world at the risk of his life, but he also made it plain in his letters to the churches. Without these, we would still flounder in our understanding of the purpose and ramifications of the cross.

On the strength of His identity as the Son of God and in full view of the disgusting worship of the pagans at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus entrusted the responsibility of interpreting His yoke – His interpretation and application of the Torah (in which is the seed truths of the whole Bible)  to His disciples (Matt. 1619). Under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they would understand and explain the implications of His death to the people of the world. They would invite both Jew and Gentile into fellowship with the Father because of the forgiveness of sins He provided through the sacrifice of His Son.

Paul was well aware that his part in this commission was an act of God’s grace. Before he met Jesus on the Damascus road, he was an ardent supporter of Judaism, going as far as trying to eradicate the message of Jesus by eliminating His followers. It took a personal encounter with the risen Christ to change his mind and set his feet on this way – the way of Jesus to the Father.

He could do no other but obey this call and go to the ends of the earth with the message of grace that had rescued him from his fanatical unbelief, no matter how high the price because nothing could substitute for the mercy he had received in Christ Jesus. Not only had he received grace, but he had also been given the task of administering this grace to whoever would receive it regardless of who they were. Grace was God free gift to everyone through Christ. Paul wanted the whole world to know that the God who had extended grace to him would respond in mercy to anyone who would recognise and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

This confession, based on the conviction that Jesus is Lord – not some god of human imagination or the devil masquerading as God, is the door that opens the floodgates of God’s favour and blessing to whoever will receive Him. From a human perspective, all these words and promises don’t seem like much, but to those who have received Him and live in the glow of God’s love and favour, the difference that faith in Jesus makes is remarkable.

Jesus had given His followers the legacy of His love, His joy and His peace – priceless gifts in a world of uncertainty, insecurity and fear. In the midst of a collapsing world economy, a corrupt and evil society and crumbling relationships, He is the solid rock on which those who trust in Him stand. He backs His promises with His incorruptible and unchanging character. When the chips are down, He secures those who trust in Him with His strong right hand.

He did not promise His followers a trouble-free life, unending good health or a limitless supply of money. Unfortunately, some have lured desperate people into faith in Jesus for the wrong reasons. Being disciples is of far greater value – His unconditional love and His permanent presence and, with Him around, we cannot lose.

Keep free from the love of many and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Heb. 13: 5-6)

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

WITHOUT HOPE

Bible Study, ,

WITHOUT HOPE

Therefore, remember that formerly you who were Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men) – remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2: 11-12).

What does it mean to be without hope? I think it’s like being in a dangerous situation without any promise or possibility of rescue.

I have read many stories of slavery in America before their emancipation as a result of the Civil War. Cruel slave masters, who cared nothing for the wellbeing of their slaves, ripped families apart. Mothers screamed and wept when their children were dragged away from them. Husbands and wives were cruelly separated. Their masters owned them and treated them like property. They were a people without hope.

Then there are those who are ensnared by habits which they cannot break – substance abuse, sexual promiscuity, anger, bitterness, greed and selfishness – people without hope. The Ephesian recipients of Paul’s letter would well remember when they were part of an evil and debased religious system which offered them no hope. They were at the mercy of cruel and capricious gods who demanded from them but gave them nothing back.

What must it have been like for them to hear the truth from Paul’s mouth and to respond in faith to the invitation to submit their lives to one who offered them hope? Instead of an uncertain life and an unknown future, what Paul taught them made sense and attracted them towards a God they could trust and a life that was free from fear, guilt and shame. The moment they put their faith in Jesus and their lives under His authority, they experienced the peace in their hearts that had eluded them all their lives.

O, the utter relief of being free from the uncertainties and insecurities that had plagued them all their lives! The hope that held them steady was based on fulfilled prophecy, historical fact and the indisputable proof of the resurrection. No longer did they have to pin their hopes on myths and legends that had nothing to substantiate them.

Their faith was built on the history of a nation that God had called, led and molded for Himself in preparation for the coming of His Son into the world. This nation received God’s covenant and all the promises that offered them hope. The God they worshipped, who had introduced Himself to them as “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, forgiving sins . . .” had miraculously intervened to meet their needs and rescue them from their enemies, time and again.

The Jews thought that they had exclusive rights to this God until Jesus came, opened the door to the Gentiles and sent His disciples out to tell the world that there was hope for them, too. Fanatical Jews were incensed by this move and mercilessly persecuted those who dared to obey the Master. Time and again, Paul experienced the effects of their vicious hatred, but he was never daunted by their prejudice.

He wanted his beloved converts to know that they were just as entitled to God’s mercy and grace as were the Jews because the message of Jesus was for the whole world. Although they had once been cut off from God and had no part in the life and benefits of His chosen people, they were now part of God’s people with full rights to all the benefits of His covenant and His promises.

What was this hope of which Paul spoke which had made such a difference to their lives? Have you ever baked a cake or crafted something according to a design? You gather all the materials and follow the instructions because you have a picture, either in your mind or on paper, of the end result. If you follow the instructions carefully, you will produce a replica of the picture before you. The picture is your “hope”.

God has intervened in our lives when we were without hope. We had no idea where we were going and, subsequently, we had no idea how to get there. Jesus made a promise to us. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He also told us what to do. He said, “Follow me.” He promised that He would take us to the Father if we follow Him.

What is our hope? What will be the end result if we follow Him? He has promised us eternal life in the presence of the Father. Everything that had ruined and made our lives miserable will fall away. We will be perfected and we will have perfect and imperishable bodies, just like Jesus’ resurrected body, and we will live in perfect love, joy and peace with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit forever.

Is that not a hope worth having? There is nothing that can happen to us in this world that can destroy or take away that hope because God Himself has guaranteed and promised us that, if we follow Jesus, we will never perish but have eternal life.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com