But the modern church is not Jewish! And yet, we are reading and drawing out life lessons from this Jewish history book in churches all across the country every Sunday.

How did this happen? How is it that a non-Jewish (gentile) church can be built upon something that is so obviously Jewish in it’s origin?

It’s a question that I had as a new Christian. And if you’re reading through the Bible, which is highly recommended, the same question will probably dawn on you as well.

Jesus was Jewish. The Apostles were Jewish. Nearly all of the writers of the Bible were Jewish (or Israelites).

But I’m not Jewish! And if you’re reading this, there is a high probability that you aren’t Jewish either.

So how did we get here? How is it that me, a non-Jew, can be included in this movement? If this same question has never entered your mind, you probably haven’t read enough of the Bible.

Paul takes a pretty significant section of the book of Romans to deal with this question, and it starts here in chapter 9.

The human race was broken and separated from the God who had created us. And God chose one particular nation to send His promises through in order to unfold His plan to fix the human race and make it possible for them to reconnect with Him.

This nation was Abraham and his chosen descendants, who would eventually become Israel and later, the Jews.

But something happened to the Jews as the plan of God began to unfold that kept them from being able to benefit from the promises God was giving them.

What was it that changed the story from being Jewish into becoming a worldwide movement that was composed primarily of gentiles like you and me?

It was because the Jews thought that they could EARN the goodness of God. But gentiles, who had no history of following God, heard the message of Jesus and accepted that they could be made right with God simply by faith.

This had been the plan of God from the very beginning!

It is only possible to be a part of the kingdom of God through faith (believing in the righteousness that God, Himself, secured for us through the Savior that He sent. Jesus!

And sadly, the Jews as a whole rejected this plan. But many gentiles accepted this plan and so the church, the called out people of God, became primarily gentile in its makeup.

God will accept anyone who comes to Him by faith through Jesus.

But anyone who tries to earn their way into God’s blessing through their own performance will fail.

This is why the Jews are now separated and far from God. But it is why the gentile church is part of the kingdom.

Jesus became a stumbling block to the Jews because they refused to approach God by faith.

Is there a lesson here for you? Yes!

You too can only stand by faith. If you ever think you can earn the blessing of God by your good works, you will end up failing just as profoundly as the Jews did.