“Becoming a Holy Branch”

Scripture: Romans 11:1-21

For the past two weeks, we have read of Paul’s “fear” that Israel has placed all too much faith in the law, and not nearly enough in trust and love of the Lord. Faith must be in the salvation that comes by faith in Jesus, and not in how well they could live by doing all the right things. His writing tells us that the Jews, because of their refusal to accept Jesus as Messiah, have sacrificed their salvation, and that the gentiles have picked up the pieces that Israel has strewn all over the face of the earth.

Does this mean that God, in response to Israel’s rejection of him, has rejected them? Has the Lord decided that the Jews just aren’t worth caring for and about any longer? Has he withdrawn the title of “chosen” from the people who he chose to lead out of Egypt so many years before? As we read of the frustrations that Paul reveals, that would seem to be his struggle. But is our God the type of Being who changes his mind?

In Genesis 17:1-8, the Lord tells Abraham “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you, and your descendants after you, for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” (v.7) And yet in John 5:24, Jesus told us “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” Israel may believe in “the one who sent” Jesus, but have they truly “heard” his words? And in John 14:6, he told the people that “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Is the first covenant sufficient, or must Israel, in addition to the covenant, look to Jesus as the long awaited Messiah?

Let’s see what Paul tells us in Romans 11.

Read Romans 11:1-10

As this chapter begins, Paul asks the rhetorical question “Did God reject his people?” And he then answers his own question with the words “By no means!” So in Chapter 10:1, Paul implies that Israel is not saved, but here, he quotes a portion of 1 Samuel 12:20-22, and tells us that Israel has not been rejected by God! So we still don’t have a definitive answer to the question of Israel’s salvation, but we do know that for those Jews who have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Messiah, their salvation is assured. As for the rest, at least for me, the answer is still God’s to know, and ours to wonder!

But Israel’s salvation is not actually the focus of this passage, but rather the point found in verses 5 & 6, in that salvation comes by accepting God’s grace, and not by good works, which actually lessens the importance of adhering to the Law of Moses. Paul had always been a zealous man – first, as Saul the Pharisee, and now as the Paul the follower of Jesus Christ. Saul was more closely attuned to the “zeal” of Elijah that came as a terror directed against the prophets of Baal, but now, while he still is identifying with Elijah, Paul is seeing himself as the one who stands alone for the Lord as a true and persecuted prophet, the one who is praying and acting on behalf of his people Israel. He still holds out hope that God’s grace might still, somehow, save his brothers and sisters, and he sees the “hardening” of Israel’s heart, and the “darkening” of their eyes, as a means, not so much of rejection, as a way to open the door to glory for the rest of humanity.

Read Romans 11:11-16

Does the Lord work thought the lives of people to bring others into his salvation? Of course he does! He worked through the Persian King Cyrus to free the people from captivity in Babylon, and allowed them to return to their homeland to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem proper. (Ezra 1:1-4) He worked in the life of the ostracized Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well to bring many of the people in her village to Jesus. (John 4:1-42) And he changed the heart of Saul who hated the followers of Jesus, to the point that he became one of the greatest proponents of Christ as Messiah and Savior. (Acts 9:1-19)

Could the Lord have hardened Israel’s hearts, so that the gentile world could be brought into the family of God? Absolutely! And Paul says that their fall from grace did not take them beyond recovery from their fall – but the question is whether “recovery” will be by divine promise or by faith! But again, that is the Lord to answer, and not us.

So regardless of how or why the door to heaven was opened to the gentile world, no one any longer has an excuse for being closed out of the heavenly realm – except, that is, for their own foolish pride. And Paul writes that the hardening and darkening has brought great riches to all the people of earth, and because of this, Israel will also know the Lord’s bounty.

So now, he sees his task in reaching out to the gentiles as a means to reach his Israelite brothers and sisters. He sees this opportunity as one that may make Israel jealous, or envious, of the gentiles, and will, themselves, come to Jesus. And even today, there is that holy remnant, known as Messianic Jews, who do know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Perhaps Paul was right – that his reaching out to the part of the world that Israel saw as sinful and lost was the means for some to come to the Lord!

And he offers two analogies to describe the Holiness that will come to Israel – the first is that the offering of bread made to God will not only bring holiness to itself, but will make that entire bowl of dough holy as well. The second example is the root, and the branches that are fed from it. The lump of first-fruit dough may very well be describing the part that believing Jews – the first believers in Christ - will take in the salvation of Israel. And the “root” that he writes about is, certainly, God as evidenced in Jesus Christ. And God the Father will never stand for anything that God the Son and God the Holy Spirit would rebel against.

But is the entire batch of dough, as well as the branches that are supported by the holy root – are these Israel, or the entire world, including Israel and gentiles alike?

Read Romans 11:17-21

And now the unanswerable question may be addressed in both the branches that were broken off, and the branches that were grafted on. The Jews can no longer boast of their being chosen by God, and being made superior to the rest of the world, and the gentiles cannot boast that they have become members of the household of God, because they have come, not by their own means, but by God’s grace. Salvation is never gained by anything that we have ever done, except that we accept Jesus as the Redemption for our sinfulness, and the Savior or our souls.

Everyone must accept the fact that no one has any right to gloat over their position in life – not for being within God’s life and certainly for being outside of the holy existence - and the current epidemic of violent actions and rhetoric in our own nation is nothing less than a denial of this fact. Hatred, racial unrest, supremacist thought, political inaction and social denial – it is all about claiming a preferential position, in both society and in faith, over that of someone else. “I know better than you, and you are condemned!” Galatians 3:28-29 reminds us that no one is above anyone else – “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” And today, we must add a few more comparisons to this list – that God never plays any favorites – not for liberals or conservatives, rich or poor, Christian or not, sinner or righteous, black or white – the Lord offers his salvation to everyone, and desires to see us as one in him, and we had better do the same. No one is better than anyone else because of who they are – our position in faith is a gift of grace, and it has no bearing whatsoever on who we are as people of flesh. The riots and arrogant talk is nothing more than worldly attitudes taking precedence over the love of Christ, and we had better be working to overcome it, and not to contribute toward its growth.

Christians are not to stand in judgement over others; we are not to oppose or even question the salvation of others; we hold no place in the kingdom that has been earned or obtained – we are saved simply by accepting the gracious gift of God that comes by faith and acceptance of Jesus, and nothing else. Our only responsibility in this life is to present the face of God, the heart of God, to use the hands of God and the love of God to reach out to those who have yet to know the grace and glory of the Lord for themselves.

Paul was warning against the arrogance that seems to have existed on both sides – in the synagogues against Christ’s followers, as well as in the Church against the Jews - and he wanted them to know that it was a very un-God like attitude in both. Jesus brought us heavenly peace, even in the midst of the hatred and unbelief that was directed toward him, and that is how he wants the people of today to live.

Are we that kind of Christian – the kind who is welcoming and loving of all, regardless of how they view us? Maybe it’s time we all tried to do that very thing, maybe it’s time that we offered the Lord’s grace to all of the people of earth. Might that work better than arrogance and hostility and judgment? Maybe it’s time that we acted like a holy branch of the united family of God.

What do you think?

“Listen for the Message”

Scripture: Romans 10:16-21

Our passage last week ended with the words “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15) Isn’t it interesting that Paul didn’t say that the heart would be beautiful, or the voice would be beautiful, or even that the faith of the one who shares the good news would be beautiful. Most people never associate beauty with their feet, so why them? Why the feet?

There may be several reasons – first, it is our feet that carry us everywhere when we respond to the Lord’s call to share the good news with others. Second, the Psalms offer some thought regarding our feet – that they symbolize authority when we read that “You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet”. Being under someone’s feet means that you are subject to their authority (Psalm 8:5-8). And later, we read of firm feet as a sign of faithful service – “My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not slipped.” (Psalm 17:4-5)

The “beautiful feet” of Romans carry us throughout the world with the authority to faithfully share the Good News of Jesus Christ – that makes them beautiful! But we should note that we aren’t told to force this great news upon anyone, or even to make sure that everyone listens and accepts the message of Jesus Christ. By faith in the Lord Jesus, we are called to take the message, and to share it with anyone who will listen, and we are to let the Lord do the rest.

But what if the people don’t like the message, or don’t want to listen to it, or receive it, or learn from it?

Read Romans 10:16-18

Paul, a Jew, and a committed one at that, would discover that his mission wasn’t to save the Jews – he would be called to carry the Good News to the gentiles. Throughout the book of Acts, Paul proclaimed Jesus within the synagogues, and never backed away from his people, but his true calling was to the non-Hebrew world. Even so, he seems to lament the fact that he couldn’t reach more of his brothers and sisters, and he writes of Isaiah’s similar frustration.
Read Isaiah 52:13-53:1
In this passage, we read that the “suffering servant” will show great authority over the rulers of earth, and will reveal great things to the people, but in 53:1, the prophet cries out in anguish over the fact that while many have both seen and heard the truth, few have come to believe and trust in the powerful message of God.

That can be our own frustration at times, can’t it. We take up the call that the Lord places on us, and we follow the leading of the Spirit to the very ones who need to hear the Good News of Jesus, and at times, it seems that no one will respond to the Lord’s call on their lives! But Paul’s point is that it isn’t our job to convict them – we are only to go and share with them. If no one shares with them, they will never hear the Good News, and if they never hear the message of Jesus Christ, how could they possibly ever believe in him?

That is the call that is upon every single person who refers to themselves as “Christian”. And when we are inclined to ask “Didn’t anyone hear what I just said?”, Paul would tell us that if we tell others about Jesus, they will most certainly hear, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will respond. That is why once is never enough. Unfortunately, we sometimes look to evangelists like Bill Graham as an example of successful “message carrying”. But if we look carefully into the lives of those thousands of people who came forward at his one invitation, we would, nearly every time, discover that a friend has been a Christian witness for these new believers for years!

One attempt, one invitation, one offer of the message, is never enough. Faith will always come from hearing the message, but it is also dependent on receiving the message, and that is the difficult part. Different people receive through different means, and our responsibility is to find the one that speaks to them. And that requires diligence and perseverance and faithful trust on our part.

Never give up.

Read Romans 10:19-21

Paul poses 3 questions that we need to consider carefully. The first is attributed to Moses in Deuteronomy 32:19-21. Moses is telling the people that the Lord has been angered by their disobedience. They have turned their lives toward false gods, and the one true God will now turn his face toward other nations, and the love that he shows toward them will be taken away from Israel.
The Lord tried over and over for hundreds of years to convince Israel that his way was created simply to give them a founded hope in him. But few would ever come to him through Jesus. And quite honestly, I’m not sure that he has given up on Israel even now! It is just that they no longer have him exclusively – that salvation has now been opened up to every other nation, and it will come to all simply by faith in Christ.

And even though Israel still resists the message of eternal hope, and even though they have been given every opportunity to accept him, they are very unhappy that others are now being given hope in the Lord. They had it all, but refused to acknowledge the fullness of the one who offered it to them many years before.

The second and third questions are based in Isaiah’s prophecy. In Isaiah 65:1-5, the prophet offers these words from God – “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations”. This was initially a judgment on Israel, but think about all the people who the Lord has called during the last 2,000 years! It no longer matters who you are, or what you have done, or how long you have resisted God’s way, or who and what you have worshipped in the past – the only thing that matters is whether you accept the Lord for who he is, and for what he has taught and done for each of us.

The passage from Deuteronomy 32 also tells us that God is “jealous” of the fact that so many – Israel in the former days, and now most of the people of earth – refuse to accept the message that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we see jealousy as meaning distrustful or suspicious. But God’s jealousy is more along the lines of “hurt”. The Lord is ‘hurt” every time that we trust in our own judgment, in our own understanding, in our accepting of the ways of earth instead of following the way that has been created for us by God in Christ.

Every time someone turns a deaf ear and cold heart to Jesus, the Lord is “hurt”, but at the same time, there will be someone else who will hear the Lord say “Here I am! And I am here for you.” And what is the message that some seek and accept, while others impulsively deny? It is the basis for our faith.

The message is this – that we are to put our trust and faith in the cleansing blood of Calvary, and in the death that Christ accepted in our place, and in the resurrection that carried Jesus from the darkness of the tomb and into new life eternal - that by accepting this act of love, given by God to all who will believe, the death sentence that each of us so richly deserves will be destroyed.

That is the call that is upon every single person on earth, and as we grow in that call, and as our faith becomes stronger and surer, we discover that the life we live will also change in recognition of who Jesus is for us. This is the message that can change the world, if only someone will carry it, and share it, and encourage others to claim it.

Never get discouraged. Never give up. Never hesitate. Never change the message to make it more acceptable to the world. Never try to make our own way in the world. Never go in our own direction. And never decide that it just isn’t worth the effort! That is who the Lord’s messengers must be.

Will you be that kind of messenger for Jesus Christ?

“The Word and the Name”

Scripture: Romans 10:1-15

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that isn’t the end of our commitment – it is only the beginning of what it means for our lives. Jesus has set a new covenant in place – one that replaces the first one that was made many years before. The people had been promised that the Almighty would be their God, and that they would be his people (Exodus 6:7-8), but in Jeremiah 7:23, a caveat was added to the promise – that it would continue to be in effect, as long as they obeyed God! If they didn’t, Leviticus 26:14-33 says that all promises would be null and void, and calamity would reign in their lives.

The old covenant was totally based on adherence to God’s law, and through the ages, Israel added more and more requirements to the law in an attempt to ensure that it was never broken. Sacrifice would be used to seek forgiveness for their failures, but this would become a never ending requirement, even to the extent that it had to be made daily! The law became more and more difficult to keep, and Israel would slip further and further from the Lord’s will.

But there was a plan to set the covenant right. Christ would come to be the perfect sacrifice, made on our behalf, and in Luke 22:20, we read that the new covenant would no longer be based in the law, but in the shedding of Christ’s blood at Calvary. The new covenant would be received by faith in Christ, not by perfection in us, and the minutiae of legal detail in the law of Moses would be supplanted by Jesus’ teaching on the word of God.

So what is that word for each of us?

Read Romans 10:1-4

Paul had once been, by his own confession, the “ultimate” Jew (Philippians 3:4-6) – a man totally committed to following the law, as well as one who expected that same commitment from others. He zealously persecuted the followers of Jesus wherever he could find them - until, that is, the day that he finally met the Risen Lord on that road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-18). After that, he did his best to love those very ones who he had hated so much in the past, and he carried the word of God with him to share with all who would listen. But even as his mission has turned to the salvation of gentiles, he would never give up on praying that his fellow countrymen would also turn their lives back to God.

He readily acknowledges that the Jews have a great enthusiasm for the Lord, but that it is based in their own understanding, and not in the wisdom of God. Righteousness and faithfulness can never be defined by our own desires and ways, but must always be lived by following in the ways of Jesus. Depending on adherence to the law for salvation didn’t work in the past, and it will never work throughout eternity. But that doesn’t mean that God’s way is no longer important for our lives – we must still strive to follow the Godly steps of Christ as part of our Christian witness.

The law was given to Israel, and by the first covenant, Israel was offered God’s promise. But Christ, in overturning the law as a means to eternity, has also opened salvation up to all who believe, not just the Jews.

Read Romans 10:5-13

Our love of God is no longer evidenced by the things we do. Dedication to the law is a “head” submission to God; following the word of God in Christ Jesus is an obedience that comes from the heart. Paul offers a quotation from Deuteronomy 30:11-14, in which even Moses tells us that receiving the word of God is not so very difficult; that it isn’t confined to heaven where someone has to go up to claim it and bring it back to us, it isn’t so far away that someone will have to journey great distances and endure great hardships to discover it and then bring it back to us. No, he says, the word of God is perfectly near to us right now – it is “in our mouth and in our heart so we may obey it”.

Yes, it is true that we use our mind to read and study and learn about God’s word, but if that knowledge remains in our head, and never moves to our heart, the fullness of the Lord’s truth will continue to escape from our lives, and the world’s false wisdom will fill the void that hollow faith leaves behind.
And when the Word fills our heart, it will also settle on our tongue, and whenever we speak, the truth of God will be revealed to others. And those human words that then emanate from our heart will be both our confession and the evidence of our faith. Believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, and that he was crucified and risen into new life!

But what if our life’s testimony does not reflect the teachings that we have received from Jesus? It simply means that even though we may have heard the gospel message, we haven’t actually learned it and accepted it. That is what sin is – knowing, but still failing, and that is a burden that we all carry.

Paul continues with the thought that even though we may fall short, if we continue to trust in Christ and his word, we will never be put to shame. The intent here is that we will do our very best to never stumble over the word again. Isaiah 28:16 tells us that a cornerstone, the foundation and reference for our faith, has been set in place for us, and that the true believer will trust the substance of that “stone” against all that the world can ever bring against us.

Read Romans 10:14-15

Paul raises the question of how anyone might come to trust in the foundation of God’s word that resides in the life of Jesus Christ. And he offers four rhetorical, but self answering, questions that are to give us affirmation of what God would have us do - that first, can anyone trust in the Perfect Foundation if they have never believed in him; second, how can they ever believe, if they have never heard about the way and truth of Christ; third, how can they hear if no one has ever shared the gospel with them; and fourth, how can anyone share the Good News if they haven’t been called to do that very thing?

Each of these steps is predicated on a successful outcome from the previous one, and the truth is that each step can easily fail due to human will. The listener can decide that believing isn’t worth their time to learn and accept; the one who shares the gospel can decide that they would prefer to avoid witnessing to others, and refuses to respond to the call that the Lord places on their lives. Our ears hear, our mind processes, but it is our heart that believes and our tongue that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Jesus is my Lord; Jesus is my Savior. What do those words really mean for us? The prophet Joel (2:32) wrote that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, just as the Lord has called on all to become his people. But how do we call on that precious Name? Is it by rote or by obligation? If so, the words are still coming from our mind. But if we call by love and trust and recognition of Jesus for who he truly is, then his word has truly taken up residence in our heart, and will flow across our tongue.

Do we love the truth that comes from Almighty God Himself? Do we live the faith we have received? Every moment? Of every day? In every way possible?

How beautiful are your feet?