In looking at things to solidify what we actually believe, we will be looking at the church for the next several devotions. This devotion looks at the opposite of God’s church – the Gentile church.
Nuggets
- As the church is a body of believers in Jesus Christ, the Gentile Church would be those who do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior of the world.
- Gentile church members belong to the race of sinners.
- The Gentile church is under the rule of Satan.
This year, we are looking at self-discipline. We are using Vincent’s The Lesson of Ripeness sermon to look at the need to grow in our relationship with God. We morphed learning enough to be a teacher into determining some areas we need to grow so we can be mature disciples.
Resource
We have been looking at solidifying what we believe. When we witness, we need to be prepared to explain what we believe and why we believe it. We looked at the Scriptures, the Trinity (God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit), man, salvation, and grace. Now, we are going to look at the church.
The Unbelieving State of the Gentile Church
God’s Adopted Church
The Foundation of the Church
The Perfection of the Church
The Design of the Temple
I found a really good sermon by Baker that we are going to as the foundation of this series. It will mostly provide headings and some verses. Baker started out describing the opposite of God’s church — the Gentile church.
Let's Put It into Context
Church, according to the Holman Bible Dictionary, is “the term used in the New Testament most frequently to describe a group of persons professing trust in Jesus Christ, meeting together to worship Him, and seeking to enlist others to become His followers.”
Strangers to God
“At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2: 12 CSB)
As the church is a body of believers in Jesus Christ, the Gentile Church would be those who do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior of the world. They do not believe in the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
In this passage that starts in Ephesians 2: 11, Paul was wanting his readers to remember the time before their conversion. One of his points was we were all in the same unredeemed boat as, in the spiritual sense, we are all uncircumcised Gentiles.
Paul’s point was, if we are not “in Christ,” we are “without Christ.” The Gentile church is without Christ.
One reason the Gentile Church is strangers to God is that they are strangers to His Word. “I have seen the disloyal and feel disgust because they do not keep your word” (Ps. 119: 158 CSB).
Scriptures paint a good picture of Who God is. As we read the Scriptures, we learn of His character and how He wants us to live.
Members of the Gentile Church are also strangers to God’s church. “See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children — and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him” (I Jn. 3: 1 CSB). We are not a child of God just because we were made in His image.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
Determination of whether we are in the Gentile’s church or God’s church all boils down to the answer to this question: have you admitted your sins, believed in Jesus as Savior and Redeemer, and confessed God as Sovereign Lord. We must make a conscious decision to submit to God to switch churches.
Differences of Members
“For I was born a sinner — yes, from the moment my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51: 5 NLT)
Baker wrote that Gentile church members are “naturally of another race.” That race is the race of sinners. Sinners are people who sin. Sin is when we disobey God and break one of His laws and commandments.
We all have a sinful nature. “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin” (Rom. 7: 14 CSB). We are all “of the flesh.”
The flesh is our human nature. It is considered naturally corrupt because it pursues what is pleasing, not necessarily what God commands.
Armitage wrote that sin “is seen not with the eyes in the head, but with those of the heart.” God uses the insights that He puts in our hearts through our observations so we can use that, rather than our own understanding, to determine what He is telling us.
According to Baker, this race of sinners has its own language. “These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way” (Ps. 58: 3 NLT).
We are born sinners at birth because we are born spiritually dead. For salvation, God isn’t looking at whether we didn’t do the do’s and did the don’ts. He is looking at whether is Jesus our Savior and have we submitted our lives to Him.
Under Another’s Rule
“Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God” (II Cor. 4: 4 NLT)
The Gentile church is under the rule of Satan. He is presently in control of this world.
Because they are following Satan instead of God, the Gentile church members are not seeking God’s interests. “For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 2: 21 ESV).
Unfortunately, members of the Gentile church do not get the same benefits as members of God’s church. Gentile church members are still spiritually dead and slaves to their sin.
Making the Connections
“But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2: 13 NLT)
Being a member of the Gentile church puts us far away from God. Wilson described what that meant.
Wilson wrote, “We are all naturally far from God, not as being out of His reach, or out of His sight, or out of His presence, but as differing from Him, as being out of sympathy with Him — as forgetting or not thinking about Him — as disobeying Him, and disliking Him, and thus having incurred His displeasure.”
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
We’ve been asking these questions all along so we can prepare for when we are asked. Here is the worksheet again. What would you say are the detriments of being a member of the Gentile church?
- What does the Scriptures say?
- What do I believe?
- Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
- What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Loving Heavenly Father. We are born far from You. Even though we are Your creations made in Your image, our nature is different from Yours. It is different — until we admit our sins, believe Jesus as our Savior, confess You as Sovereign God, and demonstrate that change in nature by obeying Your laws and commandments. Lord, help us show others Your saving love. Amen.
What do you think?
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