The Mystery And The Struggle

"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

The Jews had long believed that as the Chosen Nation, if anyone who was not Jewish wanted to have a relationship with the Creator God, Jehovah - then they must embrace the Jewish faith and abandon their heritage, beliefs and practices. In fact, the disciples struggled with the idea that Gentiles might share in the Promise through faith in Jesus. Some required that the Gentile Christians practice the Jewish traditions even to the point of physical circumcision. It was Paul - a former Pharisee that showed them the error in their thinking. He even confronted Peter in the matter. Still Paul would go first to the Jew and then to the Gentile on his journeys. He wrote to the Church in Galatia ....

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:28

To the Church in Colossi he wrote ....

"You have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all." - Colossians 3:9-11

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23

All means all - it doesn't matter the race or religious leaning - we all need a Savior. Just like Jesus told Nicodemus - even Nicodemus needed to be born again by the Spirit. God does not favor one race or nation above others, although He may, from time to time, use a nation or race to accomplish His eternal plans.

"So I tell you this, and insist on it 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." - Ephesians 4:17-19

Peter struggled with wanting to go back to the practices of the Jewish faith - to what he had been raised in. Paul, writing to the Church in Ephesus, was encouraging them to not return to the secular life that they had been saved from. There is a song that goes, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Take my heart Lord. Take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above."

It is a struggle that we all face and will continue to struggle until we face Jesus. That is why we must be reminded of the dangers and the temptations to live as we once did.  What we read in the Bible are not stories about past generations but about every generation.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone