Romans 3:1-4 // What Point Is There In Growing Up In The Church

Based on Romans 3:1-4

1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. 3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

If being Jewish - or a Gentile that became a Jew before becoming a Christian - does not give you credit with God for salvation; why did God set the Jews apart in the first place? In the modern context; what advantage is there to being a member of God's organised remnant church? Neither of these things save you by virtue of membership, so what use are they? Are they useless?
They are not useless. They are very useful. Being a Jew in the first century was mostly advantageous because you would have access to and familiarity with the writings of the true prophets of God. Being a member of God's remnant world church in the twenty-first century is mostly advantageous because you have access to and familiarity with the writings of the true prophets of God. In both cases these are fairly small and privileged groups. Knowing all this information makes it easier to be saved, and if you know it you ought to share it. If you don't know it I am happy to tell you about it.
But there is the problem that the Gentiles were becoming more interested in the gospel than the Jews were, - and there may be modern analogy to this too - so how does God explain that? After all these privileges the Jews still did not believe the full implications (about the Messiah) of the scriptures, does that mean that God was bad at his job? Does it mean that God did not know how to save the Jews, and that the scriptures are ineffective? Do we need to use more "relevant" methods and books to help God do his job of saving humanity?
No, no! (=God forbid) The only safe path in our reasoning is to assume that God is right even if everybody on Earth must be regarded as a liar (or a dingbat). When we come to God's testimonies for counsel we must trust that he knew what he was doing when he gave them, I have an analogy for this I have been thinking over lately.

Imagine two great empires covering the Earth in the late 2000s (this is not a prophecy but an analogy, in case you forgot). One empire (Alpha Empire) gained and maintains its control by force, and by force keeps peace, prosperity and efficiency within the empire. Alpha Empire has a mighty army equipped with the latest technology, well trained officers and a massive arsenal of nuclear weapons. It is a democratic capitalist system that gives abundant freedom to its citizens, like in many "developed" countries today. But there are many secret police and any rebellion or crime is met with swift punishment. The citizens take pride in their army, and quote slogans like "power is freedom", "fight for right" and "never surrender".
Now imagine Beta Empire, which is much smaller, and has a different ideology. Beta Empire has never had an army or an armed police officer, but has a strict set of laws that reach every aspect of the lives of its citizens. Constitutionally, even the smallest crime is punished by banishment, but the king of the empire, who is also its religious leader has acquired the ability to forgive any crime under certain conditions. There is only one soldier in Beta Empire, and that is its priest-king, who has great and mysterious powers and is the only person in the empire who is allowed to kill. Beta Empire has slogans like "love your enemies" and "sell what you have and give to others" and its citizens love to talk about their king.
The parliament of Alpha Empire claims that Beta Empire is an evil dictatorship, the king of Beta Empire claims that Alpha Empire is violent and oppressive, and appeals to the citizens of Alpha Empire to switch sides. The two empires are in a cold war, both compete against each other but neither invades; why not?
Because the government of Alpha Empire knows that the priest-king will destroy their whole invasion force and the priest-king will not invade because he wants to have the Alpha citizens himself. For Beta Empire to raise an army with guns and tanks would be pointless, against their values and damaging to their cause of having the Alpha citizens change sides (by killing these same citizens). Yet many people in the Beta Empire advocate doing this, because they fear that their king may not be powerful enough to protect them and to win over the Alpha citizens. The Alpha government wants Beta citizens too, and tries to win them over by making them resent having to always obey the king, the Alpha citizens are almost unanimously supportive of their government, but some are influenced by the priest-king's special agents. There are always citizens from both empires crossing the border, there are strongholds on the Alpha side that shoot at anyone trying to cross, but the priest-king often destroys these strongholds.

Think about this; if the citizens of Beta Empire try to defeat Alpha Empire using their own methods they will fail miserably. Not only that, they will earn themselves banishment and become citizens of Alpha Empire themselves. Beta citizens must depend on their king and obey him in everything.

Beta Empire is the church, and Alpha Empire is the world (society). If the church uses force and manipulation: politics, financial pressure, peer pressure, emotion, music, threats or actual violence as its primary mode for achieving the goals God has set for it, it will cease to be the church and become just another selfish worldly organisation. The (true) church has an ideology that Jesus fights for us and that we must love each other and even our enemies, we are trying to demonstrate the character of Jesus. To use these worldly methods of force and manipulation works against this purpose and demonstrates that we do not believe in our own ideology. The church must be careful to follow God's directions for how the world should be reached and not depend on other methods. The world's methods work, but to adopt them would glorify Satan who made them, not God. Be careful not to find yourself fighting against God when you are sincerely trying to serve him. It happened to Saul (Paul) and it can happen to you.
God is able to make the way for people to come over from the world into his church, he is able to give you power to overcome habits and addictions (strongholds) that you cannot overcome. Turn to Jesus, read his word, pray to him. The Holy Spirit and the angels (special agents) are working hard to bring you to Jesus; today if you hear his voice speaking to you by the written word do not harden your heart.

Don't try to take anything away from the parable that isn't stated in the last paragraph, unless you have a clear Biblical reason that you know it is true. Parables are illustrations, not sources of truth.