“Second Chances”

Scripture: Romans 11:22-32

In several passages from Romans, Paul seems to warn the Church about a weak faith that will lead to being cut off from the Lord. While it is true that a shallow faith may not bring a person to the glory of Jesus Christ, it does not mean that in our days of trial and struggle, when faith is tested nearly to the breaking point, that we, too, will become one of those “broken branches” that we read about last week (Romans 11:21). But a weakened faith that the Church does not care for, and does not strengthen, and does not restore, may result in the loss for future generations.

We come to the Lord by faith, and the way forward is also by faith, and anything short of full and faithful dependence on God will most certainly fail us. But even in that, there is still hope.

Read Romans 11:22-24

Paul writes of both the Lord’s “kindness” and his “sternness”. Some folks have a difficult time in accepting that these two drastic extremes could exist in the Lord at the same time – but they do. His kindness is shown to those who have been sinners in their past, but now wish to come to his mercy. God is welcoming of all who renounce their past sinfulness in favor of his love, and it is kindness, because in the forgiveness that he offers, he wipes the slate clean of our past indiscretions. And as often as we sin, and as often as we return to seek his forgiveness, his kindness toward us will reign.
But “sternness” is also present, and it raises its head when we refuse to set our sins aside, and continue in the worldly ways of human privilege, human pride, human worth, and trust in our human abilities. In verse 22, Paul writes that we will know God’s kindness, as long as we continue to live in his kindness.

Kindness doesn’t only reside in the great Heart of Goodness – it is paramount within the word of God. To live in divine kindness requires living within the authority and truth of God’s word. Kindness may forgive us for the sins we commit, but it can never ignore our sin. Kindness may bring incredible blessings to our lives, but it will never bless our sin. And Paul tells us that if sin continues unrepentantly, sternness will replace the Lord’s kindness.

In this passage, God is reminding Israel of their failure to accept him in Christ Jesus, but Paul reminds the gentiles that even as Israel may be cut off from his blessing, they, too, can suffer the same fate. But the Lord always holds out hope for the fallen. “IF they do not persist in unbelief”, meaning that they set their sins aside and return to his way, they will be welcomed back into his presence.

The point of these verses isn’t that the “sternness” of God can cut us off from his grace – it is all about his kindness that welcomes us back and embraces us. Our God is the God of second chances. Even sin cannot hold us, if we hold to the desire to return to the word and way of Jesus.

Read Romans 11:25-27

Again, Paul wants the gentiles to understand that salvation has come to them through the hardening of Israel’s heart. He says that this is a mystery (the Lord’s plan for their salvation that is), so don’t try to figure it out and don’t become proud over it.

Martin Luther wrote:
It is the worst kind of vice and the most demonic kind of pride for us to commend ourselves and pat ourselves on the back if we see or feel some special gift in ourselves. We do not thank God for it, but we become so proud and contemptuous of others and so preoccupied with it that we do not pay attention to whatever else we are doing, and imagine that we are in fine shape. We rob God of his glory this way, and we make ourselves an idol. ...

But when you go on to use your gift as a mirror in which to admire yourself, you spoil it completely and make this sublime ornament filthier than everybody else's faults. The richer your gifts, the more abominable the perversion if you make them an idol. Thus you replace God with yourself in your own heart. ... God did not give you your gifts for you to tickle yourself with them, but for you to help your neighbor with them when he needs it.

--Martin Luther, Commentary on "The Sermon on the Mount" (1532). LW 21, 216, 18.

Israel has been hardened until the full number of gentiles has come to know the Lord’s salvation. The New Interpreters’ Bible tells us this about hardening - “a hardening is what happens, through the (patience) of God, to those who do not accept the gospel. Hardening is what happens when otherwise immediate judgment is postponed but people do not avail themselves of the chance to repent and believe.” Israel will not, in general, accept the gospel message until the Lord’s return is imminent, and then their sin will be “removed”. Israel’s hardening is holding back the judgment until the Lord’s time arrives.

Israel will be saved, but the same cannot be said for the gentile world. It seems that Israel will, one day, come to know the Lord’s mercy, but gentiles who will not come to Jesus Christ will only know his wrath.

Read Romans 11:28-32

We may see Israel as an enemy of the gospel, but the Lord loves them dearly because of their ancestors and their history. Israel refused to accept the teachings of Jesus, but God’s promises and gifts and call can never be withdrawn. In other words, the Lord will never – can never – change his mind or his word. Once given, always true.

So Israel’s present situation was not their choice specifically, but was God’s way to allow you and me to come into his glory. No one is worthy – not the Jews and not the gentiles! But God has set two specific plans in progress to bring worthiness into the lives of both peoples. Israel’s salvation is by covenant, while the gentiles’ salvation is by God’s mercy in Jesus Christ.

The Lord’s plan of salvation is one of those heavenly mysteries that we will never unravel. The tapestry of God’s love for humanity is so intricately and precisely and tightly woven together, that we will never understand the process or the means. But then, we weren’t created to understand. The only call that the Lord has placed on both Israel and the gentile world is to see the beauty that exists within the plan of salvation, and not in how it was put together.

Personally, I’m thrilled that this is the way it is. I don’t want the Lord to be someone I can figure out – if he were, God would be on my level, and I would never want to acknowledge him as divine!
I want him to be so far above me, to have so much more intelligence than I do, to know so much more than I ever could, to be infinitely more powerful and majestic, to have mercy and grace beyond all of my reason, to be perfectly faithful to the Father’s plan and my needs, to be incomprehensible, inconceivable, infinitely loving and completely fair (not in my concept of fairness, though, but infinitely more so). (Isaiah 55:6-9) For if I could understand everything about the Lord and his ways, he would exist as I exist, and he wouldn’t be worthy of my praise or my allegiance.

But God has given us all that we need to know, and calls us to do what we are able to do, and he has done all the rest. He has given us just enough information, so that by faith and mercy, we can have a chance to put our human imperfections, our sins, behind us, and to live perfectly with him in eternity.

That is the God who we should want to worship, and the only God who can live up to his promises. Praise the Lord for who he is, and for what we can become through him.