For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
SUBJECT –YOU HAVE NOTHING COMING!!
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The message for this month, has to deal with an attitude that I would say a majority of people in this nation and maybe around the world have, and that is, whether they are saved, or not, the things that they do, every day, that are what God says that His children should be doing, is what really matters.
While Christians are mandated to, among other things, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give comfort to those that are hurting, and provide a place to stay for the homeless, no such mandate, is given to those that are outside of the family of God.
When a person becomes a Christian, they essentially make Christ their Lord, Savior, and Boss, so to speak. Therefore, their obligation to Him is to follow those things He says they need to follow, and do those things He says they need to do.
As a result of them being obedient to Him in those areas, He promises to bless them in every area of their lives. It is more or less their pay for doing their job.
If you have, or had a job, you know that when you got hired, you were given certain tasks to accomplish in order for you to get paid, and remain on that job. There was no room for you, as long as you were working for someone to do as you pleased on the job. If you wanted to do that, the best thing for you to do is start your own business. There is no way you are going to work for someone, and do what you feel like doing, unless the job description called for it, and I don't know of any that do that.
So essentially, a job makes you a servant to the person or company that hired you, to do whatever they tell you to do, so that your reward is to get paid.
For the Christian, our wages, so to speak are to be blessed by God, in this life, and, to spend eternity in Heaven with Him, after this life is over.
Now, if we look at the subject scripture, we see the phrase,
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law.'
What does this mean?
Well, the word Gentile, refers to any individual or group people that are not in the family of God, or Christians. These people can also be called, the ungodly, meaning they don't have any allegiance to God. And, consequently, He has no allegiance to them. As a result of their position, they are not obligated to do what He says for them to do. They are essentially working for themselves. And that means they have nothing coming from Him.
Any thing they do, they do because they feel like doing it.
There is a difference between doing something because you are being told to do it, and doing it because you feel like doing it.
When the scripture says
the Gentiles, which have not the law, it is saying they have no obligation to God, or His Direction, therefore, they are on their own.
Now, add on to that the next phrase which says the Gentiles, '
do by nature the things contained in the law.'
What we see here, is what I was alluding to and that is the idea that many individuals, who have no affiliation to Christ, actually endeavor to do those things that Christ says that Christians should be doing, and as a result, they feel that God, will bless them, the same way He blesses His children for doing the very same thing.
The flaw with this type of thinking is, they want what Christians are in line to get, without having to be Christians.
Let me explain it like this.
A certain individual, who is looking for a job, happens to see some people lined up at the gate of a factory, so he goes over and joins the group.
When the gate opens up, the people go in, and he along with them.
They all go to a certain area in a building and a little while later some foremen come in and pick certain of the group to come with them. This individual is picked, so he goes along with the foreman, who puts him on a job, and teaches him how to do it.
This person is so smart, he learns the job quickly and ends up being the best person the foreman has seen.
At the end of the day, the foreman tells this individual, to come back the next day, and come directly to this same job, which he does.
So, for the next week, the guy is on the job, and the foreman, is very well pleased with his work. He comes in every day on time, and doesn't leave until it is time. He doesn't goof off, or make trouble. He is the ideal employee.
Then comes payday.
The foreman comes around passing out the paychecks. But when he gets to this individual, there is no check for him. The foreman double checks with payroll, and they have no check for him.
So, the foreman comes back to the guy and asks him, did he remember who it was that he talked to when he was hired. The man tells him, no one. He said he just walked in with a group of people that were
standing at the gate, and when he got in, he followed them to the waiting area, and was picked to do a job.
At this point, the foreman, was dismayed because, here was a person that had all the qualifications of being an exceptional employee, doing an excellent job, but, because he was never actually hired by the company, the company had no obligation to pay him.
Now, in a case like this, they may give him something, or may even hire him, but, legally, they don't have to.
Well, this is the situation most people that are not Christians are in. They wrongly figure that they can do the work Christians are doing, without actually being a Christian, and that that qualifies them for the blessings that God promised His children.
Now, as far as this life is concerned, there are good things that will come to those that for whatever reason, have a mindset of following the
'Golden Rule' [Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you]. That is straight from the bible
[Mat 7:12].
This one principle, is the key to having a good relationship with others, and its benefits, can be seen in the lives of many of us. If you want respect, respect others first. If you want to have friends, then you must show yourself friendly. If you want others to bless you, then, you need to bless them.
Can you imagine how different the world would be if we all followed that one principle?? There is no telling how much more peaceful things would be amongst us.
Then we have the situation about the
'Good Samaritan!'
Here again, we have a biblical principle which simply put, shows the idea that a suffering/injured individual is laying in the street, and people see him, and do nothing. Amongst them, is what could be described as a Christian, and he does nothing. Then, along comes a person, who is what can best be described as an enemy of this individual. He sees him, helps him to an inn, pays for a room for him, and sees to it that the inn keeper takes care of him, and promised to reimburse the inn keeper for whatever money he spends, over what he gives him, caring for this individual.
Well, how much more can a person show compassion towards another, than what this 'Samaritan', did to someone that normally he would have nothing to do with??
Jesus, says that among other things, we should love our enemies, and pray for them.
Well these are only a few of the many things that Christ says we, as Christians should do. However, in a lot of instances, we find those that reject Christ, doing as much, if not more than a lot of Christians are doing, simply because as one person put it,
'It's the right thing to do!!'
People usually do things because they feel like doing them. It may be because they were trained to do them, for whatever reason, and they carried on with it out of tradition. Or maybe because they got a good feeling behind it. There are many different reasons why people do what they do. However, if you notice the scripture says, these people do by nature, the things contained in the law, it is telling us that it is part of their DNA, so to speak. They just automatically do them.
But then we get to the last part, where it says,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: This brings in the idea that they are doing these things, only because they feel like doing them, and not because they are being obedient to someone who has authority over
them.
We have heard people talking about being free to do as they very well please. That means no one can tell them what, and what not to do.
Just like the bible tells us to do good things, it also tells us to not do bad things, like killing another person. Actually the commandment talks along the lines of murder, versus killing, because, in the case of self defense, war, or protecting someone else, you might have to do it. However, many people refuse to kill another person because they feel it is wrong, or that they get no pleasure out of it, or feel bad about the idea of killing.
Once again, it is the nature of the person, that dictates their actions and not because they are following the direction of someone else. Quite simply put, people don't like being told what they can and can't do. They want to live by their own rules, hence the statement,
having not [rejecting]the law, are a law unto themselves[make up their own rules to live by]:
Well, just like the man in the factory above, he was doing all the right things, and was outstanding in it, but, because he didn't go through the proper procedure to actually get hired, officially, he had nothing coming.
Now you can see the reason why I say that all these people running around doing all sorts of good deeds, have nothing coming from God, IF they are not saved.
By the same token, doing all sorts of good deeds, doesn't get you saved. People want to believe that if they do all the things Christians are supposed to do, then, they will end up in Heaven, when they die.
I can't tell you how many times I have heard people talk about a deceased person's good deeds, at their funeral, and how they are now in Heaven, looking down on us, while in their lives, they not only professed a rejection of Christ, but demonstrated it, by what they did.
The only way you, or I, or anyone else is going to get in to Heaven, is through salvation through Jesus Christ, and Him alone.
There are people that, to be on the safe side, embrace many different religions meaning, they can claim they believe in whichever one is the one that will get them in to Heaven, or the next life, or whatever. Christianity, as far as I know, is the only one that makes it clear that you can't have faith in any other god or religion, but Jesus Christ!!
That is why so many of us reject Christ, because He wants all of our devotion, and will not share it with any one or anything else. And why should He?? He created the world and everything that is on, under and above it, so how is it you think He is going to allow us to worship something He created, while at the same time rejecting Him??
We have a bad habit of worshiping other people because of our perception of how good they are, based on what they have done, especially if it was for us. If you will notice a lot of TV personalities that have talk shows, have begun to shower their audiences with gifts, for the purpose of getting people to worship[follow,like] them. What this does is it makes it easier for them to get people to accept their lifestyles, or other religious beliefs, which all too often goes directly against what Christ says.
TV personalities, politicians, sports figures, preachers, and other religious institutions, take heed to this. You can do all the good that Christ says we should do, but, while you may see some good return for your efforts, it will usually come from man. But, as far as getting in to Heaven is concerned,
'you have nothing coming!!!'