The church is succeeding and will continue to succeed. Her inauguration by God demands success in every way that his performance plans indicate. If God gives something to mankind that is blest and eternal, and assumptions mean anything, that gift must have favorable conclusion. Christ has promised to be with his Church. The Revelation, written by the Apostle John, points to the ultimate success of the Church. If there is failure identified with the church, as noted in the narrative of the seven churches in Revelation, it is the failure of the persons within, not the failure of the Church as the Lord cares for and redeems it. We differentiate between the visible church, with fallible members, and the spiritual Church which omits much of that which is based in human perceptions. Genuine Christians, biblically defined, belong to the Church not made with hands. They should belong also to the visible church, even though the visible church is flawed. Evidence of success as measured by mankind, may or may not be helpful. We overreach ourselves when we measure success by even relevant human standards. These are useful for some purposes but not the ultimate measure. Mankind’s approval is not the measure of what God does or approves.
God loves even those persons who do not commit themselves to Him. He speaks well enough of the Gentiles, by human standards. He commanded that aliens be welcome in Israel – one of the effective factors of King David’s relationship with neighboring nations. He got on well with Hiram and Sheba. Solomon also proved that international prowess. Scripture uses the concept of aliens in a strange land as an analogy of His meaning for His people in the World. As ambassadors of heaven, the God believers are to conduct themselves as representatives of their ultimate citizenship. Christians in the nations of their birth, or citizenship certification, are to be gracious in places they visit, adapting themselves to whatever is the legal process there and adjust to nations as represented in their laws and culture. Christians have a serious social obligation to non-Christians, and that is to try to be appealing to present God’s purpose for all. That appeal is for the purpose of showing that the true God is attractive in relationships, and to be welcomed in the life contexts of all persons. God is somewhat adaptable to cultures. This is demonstrated in the accumulation of wives by some men. Jesus noted that: in the beginning it was not so. Most modern cultures have corrected the ancient and accumulated violations, and are making new ones.
Gentile was not meant to be used in a derogatory way. The word pagan was not, at first, a symbol of evil. A Gentile to Israelites was simply a person who was not a Jew. The identification was helpful. The Gentile, or pagan, or alien was to be treated well, as a welcome friend. The ugliness that arose in both camps (orthodox and other) was due to the failure to apply the patterns of friendship and respect between neighbors. So Gentile (non-Jew, likely unbeliever in the God of the Jews) and Jew evolved into opprobrium words. In the beginning it was not so. Scripture is clear about treatment of any persons of good will. Social graces apply to all people, no matter their religion, form of government, culture, or whatever. This is not to say that everything is equal. To be civil in human affairs is, for God’s children, not to confer God’s benediction on one another, but to find a respectful way to witness Christ so that spiritual truth will emerge, and God will be honored in caring ministry. That is done when there is righteousness and meekness in the contexts of advocates. To counter the ill-will engendered by some terms of language requires attention to both denotations and connotations. It also means concern for God’s respect for the good of all persons. Acceptance does not mean approval. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020