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GRAFT ROMANS 11:1-24 Series: Roaming Through Romans - Part Nineteen Pastor Stephen Muncherian January 24, 2016 |
We are back
in Romans - chapter 11 - starting at verse 1. As we have
been Roaming Through Romans - since chapter 1 - one
truth that runs through everything that we’ve been
seeing in Paul’s letter is that God loves people - us. As messed up
as we are. As
sinfully depraved as we are. As totally
deserving eternity apart from God in forever punishment
for our sins as we are.
With all that God still loves people - us. For 8
chapters - chapters 1 to 8 - Paul has been explaining
God’s love for us.
God taking the initiative. God reaching
out to us. God’s
undeserved grace. His
unwarranted mercy. Then -
coming to chapter 9 - Paul takes on God’s sovereignty. Sovereignty
meaning that God is in complete control of everything. God has the
authority and power and right to do whatever God chooses
to do - period. And
especially with His creation - us. Paul has been
showing us that God in His sovereignty chooses to work
in His way to accomplish His purposes for His glory. Going with
that truth of God’s sovereignty - Paul wrote about God
choosing Israel to be His… chosen people. God choosing
to give Israel some amazingly unique promises and
blessings and a covenant relationship with God that was
all about God using Israel to tell the nations that God
loves them. And yet,
Israel - with everything that Israel had going it for it
- what God had chosen to bless Israel with - Israel
chooses to reject the very message they’ve been chosen
to proclaim. Israel
chooses to reject their Messiah Jesus. And in chapter
10 Paul taught us that God holds Israel accountable -
holds us accountable - for the choices we make. How we respond
to God’s love and God’s grace. Which might
seem unfair - unjust.
God being sovereign - in total control of
everything - including us - and yet God judging us based
on the choices we make.
Let’s be
clear. Within
the sovereignty of God is the free will of man. God in His
sovereignty choosing to allow us the freedom to choose
our response to His grace. How that
works… God only knows.
But He does.
Meaning that God - who in His sovereignty chooses
to be gracious to us - God holds us accountable for our
choice of how we respond to His gospel. We’re
together? That’s
a lot to process right off the bat. Isn’t it? Let’s try to
put some of that into the real time of where we live. Pop quiz. Going back to
what we looked at in chapter 10. “Creekside, have
you heard the term gospel?
If so, can you give a brief explanation of what
the gospel is?” A good starting point
- a good verse to focus on is... John 3:16 - a concise
explanation of the message of the Bible: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John
3:16 NASB) Good News: God loves you. We are the
world. Bad News: We’re
perishing. We
need to understand and agree with God that we sin. We’ve all -
each of us - has done what separates us from God. The holy God
is perfectly justified and sending us into eternity in
punishment forever without Him. Good News: God sent
Jesus. God
taking on the flesh and blood of our humanity - Jesus
dying on the cross in our place - Jesus took care of
everything that needs to be taken care of between us and
God. Which
really really is good news. Isn’t it? You Choose: “whoever
believes” - means that we need to individually choose to
respond to what the sovereign God by His grace has done. Your choice
is...? If any of us
- if you - agreeing with God about your sin - if you’ve
by faith - trusted God - welcomed what God - Jesus - has
done for you - made that choice - know that beyond any
doubt God makes right your relationship with Him. You are saved
from perishing. You
have the assurance of life with God today and forever. That is the
really really good news of the gospel. Yes?
Read with me
starting at verse 1:
I ask, then, has
God rejected His people?
By no means!
For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of
Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not
rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not
know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals
to God against Israel?
“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have
demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they
seek my life.” But
what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept
for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the
knew to Baal.” So
too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by
grace. But
if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of
works; otherwise grace would not longer be grace. First
question: Has God rejected His people? Meaning -
because God is sovereign - meaning that... God is in
complete control. If
God is in complete control of whatever there is to be in
control of - does Israel’s rejection of Jesus mean that
God is orchestrating - controlling - Israel’s rejection
of Jesus and therefore - bottom line - God has chosen to
reject Israel. Paul’s
answer: “By no means.” In the Greek it’s more emphatic. It reads in
Greek “Meh genoito.”
Try that with me.
“Meh genoito.”
It has the idea “May it never come
to be.” No how.
No way. Ain’t
done that way. Paul gives
us two examples. Here’s
how we know that it ain’t done that way. Two examples. Evidence that
God has never set aside - rejected - the Jews in regards
to His promises to them - their individual salvation. Example #1: Paul himself. Paul is
ethnically Jewish - an Israelite - descendant of Abraham
from the tribe of Benjamin. One of God’s
people that God foreknew - set aside by God to be God’s. We know
Paul’s testimony. In
Galatians Paul reminds us that God had chosen him before
he was even born. We
know how Paul as a Pharisee - blaspheming God - with
anger against the claims of Jesus and anger against the
followers of Jesus - how Paul persecuted - ravaged - the
church. And
yet God - foreknowing Paul - still drew Paul to Himself. Jesus met him
on the road to Damascus.
God changed Paul’s heart. Paul -
marveling at the grace of God - proclaims the gospel of
salvation. (Acts
22:3-21; Galatians 1:11-24; Philippians 3:4-6) Paul is one
example of millions of Jews that have come to believe in
Messiah Jesus. Example #2: The prophet
Elijah.
Paul’s point
comes in what comes next - 1 Kings 19. After the
prophets of Baal are routed - high fives and fist bumps
all around. Major
victory. Elijah
flees into the wilderness.
Runs in fear from Jezebel. Jezebel whose
sworn vengeance on Elijah.
So Elijah goes a day’s journey into the
wilderness - sits down under a tree - and asks God to
kill him. You ever
watch a game - football - basketball - whatever - and
wonder if the refs are watching the same game? How could they
possibly make that call?
Kinda wonder what contest between gods Elijah was
watching. Win
and hide. Strange. God comes to
Elijah whose hiding out and God asks Elijah, “Dude, what are
you doing here?” Elijah tells
God, “I have been very
jealous for the Lord the God of hosts. For the people
have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars,
and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I
only am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
What does
God tell Elijah? “I have kept for
Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knew to
Baal.” “I’m still working here. You may not
see it. But
you’re not alone. I’ve
got 7,000 others who haven’t bowed to Baal. A remnant
chosen by my grace - a smaller group set aside from the
nation as a whole - a spiritual remnant that’s still
trusting Me.” (1 Kings 19:10-18) What Elijah
forgot - and what we often forget - is that our
perspective of what’s happening is limited. We don’t see
it clearly. We
don’t have a clue as to all of what’s really going on. Most
importantly, we don’t even come close to seeing it as
God sees it. What Elijah
forgot was the unlimited power of the sovereign God. God is not
taken by surprise - overwhelmed - distracted - weak. The powers of
darkness haven’t somehow won the battle - pulled a fast
one on God. We may slip
into thinking that way.
But Scripture tells us over and over and over
again that God - in His sovereignty - is using all of
what we see from our perspective as unfolding disaster
and defeat - what often leads us into fear and despair -
loosing sleep - God can and will use all of that to
fulfill His promises - His plan - His purposes - for His
glory.
What we see
as a disaster is an opportunity for grace. Grace is God
at work. God
being gracious to us isn’t dependent on us. That’s works. Works is us at
work. Grace
is God at work. We somehow try to bring God down to our
level to work at the stuff of our life as if we were the
one’s working all that out. But we have
limited knowledge about how God does what God does and
why God does what God does. And God
doesn’t owe us an explanation. We do not
deserve anything better from God. If God is
going to call us and save us then that’s not going to
depend on what we do. Our choice? We welcome by
faith what God has already graciously done for us. Let’s be
careful. Even
that welcoming is a choice that is somehow and someplace
within the sovereignty of God - God gives us the freedom
to make to that choice. Are we
together? Hang
on to something. Looking at
Israel - or our lives - we may wonder what in God’s
creation God is doing with Israel that it seems like God
has rejected Israel.
But, we need to hang on to that God is still
sovereign and God is still doing what God says He will
do because God chooses to do whatever God wills to do
which has nothing to do with what we think God should do
or how we think God should do it but it has everything
to do with God who will accomplish His purposes - His
promises - without fail - to work His plan and purpose
of redemption in human history - even bringing salvation
to His people however He chooses to do that - regardless
of whether we “get it” or understand whatever it is that
God is doing. Coming to
verse 7: What then? Israel failed
to obtain what it was seeking. The elect
obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is
written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that
would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this
very day.” And
David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their
eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their
backs forever.” One huge
problem with living by our works is that we lose our
capacity to respond to God’s grace. Have you
noticed that a whole lot of people today have become so
addicted to fast food and what makes up most of the
American diet - with all its processed components and
high sugar and fat and sodium content - that when
they’re given a choice - way too often a whole lot of
people will reject the healthy food in favor of food
that’s slowly killing them. The healthy
food just doesn’t look and taste the same as what
they’ve grown addicted to. The table
that Paul and David are saying is a snare and a trap - a
stumbling block for God’s people - is the law. God’s people
trying to fulfill the law - working their own works at
trying to be righteous - to get right with God. To earn God’s
approval. They’re
working so hard at that food that they’re rejecting the
healthy food - the life giving food that God has offered
them in Messiah Jesus. The remnant
- by faith - receives what God offers them. The rest -
living on a diet of the law - they’ve lost their
capacity to respond to God’s grace. They’ve got
hardening of their spiritual arteries. Eyes no longer
see God’s truth. Ears
no longer hear the voice of God. God’s been
calling to them. They’ve
got His truth. But
they’ve failed to obtain what their seeking - like a
healthy satisfying meal - what deep down they really
need at the heart level - because they’re trying to deal
with their sin problem by their own works and not
relying on God’s grace.
So God says, “Have your way.” (pun intended) Has God
rejected His people.
No way. Ain’t
gonna happen. But
God - in His sovereignty - will hold us accountable for
the choices we make in response to His grace. Question #2: Did Israel stumble in order that they may
fall? Let’s read
together at verse 11:
So I ask, did they
stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through
their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as
to make Israel jealous.
Now if their trespass means riches for the world,
and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how
much more will their full inclusion mean! Remember the
commercial? “I’ve fallen, and
I can’t get up.” Has Israel fallen and there’s no way
they’re ever going to be able to recover? They’re down
for the count. Game
over. God’s
promises and His plan are just not gonna happen. Question #2 is really
a question about where God is going with all this. Listen to
how Chuck Swindoll illustrates Paul’s point: Imagine the best restaurant in the world
opened in your town.
They have everything you can think of, from
gourmet creations, prime rib, and seafood all the way
down to grilled cheese sandwiches and hamburgers. So you get a
table for your party of six or seven and, because you’re
short on money, all you can afford is a hotdog and a
basket of fries to share among you. At the table
next to you, a party of fourteen has ordered the best,
most expensive food on the menu. A team of
servers emerges from the kitchen and begins covering the
table with the most delectable dishes you can imagine. But as soon as
the culinary parade has concluded, the host suddenly
stands up and says to the owner, “Look, I’ll pay for the
meal, but nobody wants to eat this. This isn’t
really what we wanted,” and they all walk out. So, with a feast all prepared and paid for
with no one to enjoy it, the owner glances your way and
motions toward the abandoned table. He smiles as
he announces, “There’s nobody else in the restaurant and
we’re virtually closed.
If you don’t mind eating with some of the
busboys, the waiter staff, and me, you can have what the
other party rejected.”
Before he’s finished the last sentence, your feet
are under that other table and everyone is digging in. Now, imagine in the meantime, the other
part is halfway home when they say to one another,
“Wait! What
were we thinking? We’re
hungry… so, let’s go back!” But by the
time they arrive, the doors are locked and you’re just
enjoying the first course of that five-course meal. So, there they
stand, noses pressed to the window, watching you, your
friends, and the hired help enjoy what could have been
their feast. (1)
Reading
through what Paul writes - God is bringing good out of
what appears to be a train wreck - a disaster for
Israel. Israel’s
stumbling has opened the door for the Gentiles to come
to salvation by faith.
That Gentile salvation is going to be on such a
huge scale that Israel is going to be envious of the
riches of what the Gentiles are going to experience. That envy -
that jealousy - is ultimately going to contribute the
nation of Israel coming to her Messiah. (Acts
13:42-47) What God has
coming for Israel is blessings beyond comprehension. The
fulfillment of all that God has promised His chosen
people. What
God has coming for Israel is not a thin strip of land -
Mediterranean Sea on one side - ruthless enemies on the
other. On a day yet
to come the spiritual blindness - the deafness - is
coming to an end. God’s
people will turn to God.
The children of Abraham will lift up Messiah
Jesus who will reign - the King of kings and Lord of
lords - reigning from Jerusalem directing the course of
mankind. Satan
and his minions will be bound. God’s
righteousness will flood the earth. Crime,
disease, poverty, mourning, pollution, war, ecological
and sociological problems, death will be a long
forgotten thing of the past. Are we
together with Paul?
God hasn’t rejected Israel. No way. This is not
game over. God
is using Israel’s rejection to fulfill His promises. To bring the
Gentiles to salvation.
And, to bring the Jews to salvation. There’s
something here for us to hold on to. We may feel
like we’ve messed up so bad that we are beyond the point
that God is going step in and deal with whatever we’ve
gotten ourselves into.
But God isn’t like people. God never
quits on His promises.
God will keep his promises to the Jews. God will keep
His promises to us. Which brings
us to verse 13 - which is Paul’s warning to the Gentiles. Verse 13. Let’s read
together: Now I am speaking
to you Gentiles. Inasmuch
then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles I magnify my
ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews
jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their
rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what
will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? Let’s pause. Are we hearing
Paul? You
Gentiles are the expansion pack of God’s ministry for
me. God
sent me to the Jews.
First. Then
God sent me to you.
Which has expanded - multiplied - the scope of my
ministry. And
that expansion of Paul’s ministry God is using to
provoke a passionate response from the Jews - to bring
them to Messiah Jesus. Paul’s
point: Within
God’s plan and purpose is the saving of people from all
nations - even us here in Merced - within that plan and
purpose is the reality that God is still working to save
Israel. You
Gentiles need to be clear on this. God is using
you to bring Israel to Messiah Jesus - to eternal life
with God. Let’s go on. Verse 16: If the dough
offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump,
and if the root is holy, so are the branches. Let’s pause. Paul is
referring back to the offerings and sacrifices of the
Temple. For
the Firstfruits offering a lump of dough was made and
then someone would take a part of the whole lump of
dough and present the part to God. Paul is saying
that if the little part of dough is holy - acceptable to
God - then the whole lump of dough would also be
acceptable to God. Which Paul
is using as an example of Abraham. Point being
that Abraham is like the firstfruits. If Abraham was
accepted by God then Abraham’s descendants will also be
accepted by God. If
the root is holy - meaning Abraham and the patriarchs -
then the rest of the tree - the branches - are going to
be holy - acceptable to God as well. Together? Let’s go on - verse
17: But if some of the
branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive
shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in
the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be
arrogant toward the branches. If you are,
remember it is not you who support the root, but the
root supports you.
Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so
that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were
broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast
through faith. So
do not become proud, but fear. For if God did
not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare
you. Let’s pause
and look at Paul’s illustration. There’s an
olive tree. Planted
by God. Cultivated. The roots are
holy - Abraham and the patriarchs - God’s promises and
covenants. From
those roots grows up a natural olive tree with natural
cultivated branches - ethnic Israel - ready to produce
high quality olives - fruit - according to the plan of
the guy who planted and cultivated the tree - God. Then the
natural branches - ethnic Israel - are pruned away. Why? Because they
haven’t produced fruit that comes by faith. At this
point things get a tad weird. I’m not a
horticulturist. But
- from what I understand goes on with Olive trees in the
Middle East - it seems that wild olive branches tend to
produce only small, hard, nubs of fruit that contain
very little oil. Pretty
useless. So in an act
of horticultural madness that makes no sense from our
perspective of how one does Olive trees - but makes a
huge amount of sense if we’re focusing on the sovereign
God who is gracious - the wild worthless olive branches
are grafted in to the holy acceptable root system that
contains all the promise of producing some amazingly
wonderful fruit. Something
else we need to keep in mind. If we were to
graft a pear branch into a apple tree what kind of fruit
could we expect from the pear branch? Pears. The nature of
the branch - the fruit it produces - doesn’t change. In the same
way, wild olive branches produce wild olives even though
they’ve got perfectly good sap running through them. Grafting is
about the value of the root system - the strength - the
hardiness - the value of the promises - not the value of
the branch. Which -
following Paul’s point - which we Gentiles need to keep
in mind and not get arrogant about our position on the
trunk. Pretty
foolish of us to start feeling superior because natural
branches were removed and we got grafted in. Wild is wild. Natural is
natural. Roots
is roots. Paul’s point
is not that one kind of branch is superior to the other
kind of branch - more spiritual or more holy or more
useful. God’s
grafting us in is about God’s grace not what wonderful
branches we’re making ourselves out to be. So - Paul
warns us - we need to fear - to respect God. To keep
perspective on who God is and who we are. We don’t exist
unless God wills it.
We’re only saved by grace because God chooses it. God offering
us the opportunity to receive by faith what He’s done. Breaking off
and grafting in is according to what God wills. What God is
doing. We
need to see ourselves as a part of God’s plan and
purpose. It’s
the roots - God’s promises - that support us. Not the other
way around. Let’s go on
- verse 22: Note then the
kindness and the severity of God: severity
toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you,
provided you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you
too will be cut off.
And even they, if they do not continue in their
unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to
graft them in again.
For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild
olive tree, and grafted contrary to nature, into a
cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the
natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive
tree. Paul’s
illustration displays both the kindness and severity of
God. God’s
kindness in making faith in the gospel the only
requirement. God’s
severity in disqualifying anyone who refuses faith. God is kind
towards those who cast themselves on His mercy. God is severe
towards those who refuse His mercy. Anyone will be
cut off from the people of God for unbelief. Anyone can be
grafted in on the basis of faith. Jews - part
of a nation that’s rejected Messiah Jesus - cut off
ethnic Jews can be grafted in by faith. Gentiles -
coming by faith to Christ Jesus - Gentiles can be
grafted in. The
bottom line is... faith.
The choice of faith that is freely given to each
of us by the sovereign God. God who holds
us accountable for the choice we make. Processing all that - let’s be careful. Reading
through what Paul writes here a lot of people have
gotten hung up on the idea that it’s possible to be cut
off once one has been grafted or grown in. We need to be
careful to not read into Paul’s illustration more than
what Paul is illustrating.
Paul - here - is not saying that an individual
who’s a true member of the people of God - based on
faith - can then lose or forfeit his or her place on the
trunk - loosing or forfeiting our salvation. Paul is warning us. A
very strong warning not to be taken lightly. Warning us against spiritual arrogance. Paul - up to
chapter 11 has been warning the Jews about spiritual
arrogance based on their relationship to the roots. The Jews
hanging on to their ethnicity and history and having the
law and being the chosen people and expecting that that
was what it took to be in tight with God and His root
system. Paul is now
warning the Gentiles - us.
Today, there are number of people who think they
are part of God’s family - part of the Body of Christ -
the Church - and they are not. We all need a
spiritual reality check.
Often. Spiritual
arrogance comes when we’re more impressed by our
accomplishments than by what God by His grace has
accomplished. We
look at all the things we do and we impress ourselves
not realizing how empty and ordinary they are. All our
efforts at being Godly people - at being religious - at
being good Christians - strike us as being so amazing
and they’re nothing.
Not really.
None of that impresses God. Spiritual
arrogance comes when we confuse intimacy with God for
equality with God.
God reaching to us - God calling us to a
relationship with Him - God reaching to us is about God
reaching to us not about us - our great value and worth
and intellect and spiritual insight on things. It’s way too
common and way too easy for us to have some God given
inkling of who God is and turn that into our own brand
of spirituality or Christianity or what it means to get
right with God - or whatever deity is out there. Someone
said, “If God is your
co-pilot, switch seats.”
God is God.
We’re not equal to God. We’d have no
clue about anything spiritual if it wasn’t for God. And that
inkling is about God not us. Spiritual
arrogance comes when we devalue others because we esteem
ourselves so highly.
Israel did that.
They played the “Chosen People” card and looked
down on everyone else as being “less than”. Sometimes the
church assumes a position of spiritual arrogance because
we think we have an inside track with God. When we
loose sight of our own depravity we lose sight of God’s
grace. His
mercy. We
start thinking that we’re end users of all He’s blessed
us with. We
can become the Creekside Evangelical Free Club. Hanging with
our people. Doing
our thing. Living
our brand of casual Christianity. We loose sight
of God’s command - His purpose of using us to reach
others with His gospel. Marmeladov -
a character in Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”, is
a drunk. But
he knows God’s mercy.
At one point he’s ridiculed by patrons at a
tavern. Marmeladov
responds by telling them what he expects God to say at
the final judgment. “You too come forth,” He will say, “Come
forth, ye drunkards, come forth, ye weak ones, come
forth, ye children of shame!” And we shall
all come forth without shame and shall stand before Him…
and the wise ones and those of understanding will say,
“O Lord, why doest Thou receive these men?” And He will
say, “This is why I receive them, O ye wise, this is why
I receive them, O ye of understanding, that not one of
them believed himself to be worthy of this.” And He will
hold out His hands to us and we shall fall down before
Him… and we shall weep… and we shall understand things! Then we shall
understand all! (2) Humility is
huge when it comes to grace and faith. There is no
place in the Body of Christ for complacency with our
salvation. No
place for spiritual arrogance. No place for
us to assume our position based on our merit, value, or
worth. We
come by grace through faith alone. _________________________ 1. Charles R. Swindoll, “Insights on
Romans” - Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2010. 2. The Gospel in
Dostoyevsky, 1988 by Plough Publishing House,
Farmington, PA - cited by Scott Grant, “Mercy For All” - Romans 11
Additional
Reference: Steve Zeisler, "Roots" - Romans 11:1-31 Unless
otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The
Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a
publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All
rights reserved. |