Introduction
As little as ten years ago, drone
technology was pretty-well unheard of. Now, it is a global industry worth an
estimated $130 billion. Small, portable drones are used now in retail
deliveries, conservation, agriculture, defence, surveillance, humanitarian and
disaster relief, architectural surveys, and in dozens of other sectors. When we
can’t see the wood for the trees, they lift our gaze to we can see the wood.
Last week’s and this week’s talks on Romans are what I call
drone preaching; looking down with a wide-angle perspective to get the overall
shape and flow of God’s word, instead of the more usual step-by-step approach
we’re used to.
We covered the first 8 chapters of Romans in half an hour last
week. Today, I’m going to attempt an overview of chapters 9-11. These three
chapters are all about the most spiritually pressing issue of the day. And it’s
this; how do you explain all God’s promises to Israel in the Old Testament now
that the Jews are mostly rejecting Jesus as their Messiah?
Basically, the answer goes like this: 1) God’s promise never applied
to all Jews, but only those whom God had chosen, whether Jews or Gentiles. 2) God’s
continuing faithfulness to Israel is shown in the large minority of Jews, like
Paul, who have responded to the gospel and 3) God’s faithfulness will one day be
seen when all Israel will be saved.
Chapter 9 is about the past failure of Israel. Chapter 10 is
about the present appeal to Israel. And chapter 11 is about the future
restoration of Israel. It’s the history of the Jewish people in a nutshell.
But what possible relevance could this have for a church in
Italy, 2,200 miles away from the Promised Land, or indeed for us, probably none
of whom are ethnic Jews? (I’m one eighth Jewish, and had an aunt who converted
when she married a Jew, but that doesn’t count).
To complicate things more, this part of the letter also contains
some of the most contested and controversial teaching in the whole New
Testament; about predestination, which comes in chapter 9. It raises the
uncomfortable question; is everything, down to the last detail of our lives,
predetermined?
It does seem to say here that our eternal destiny was fixed and
decided before creation. And we can do nothing to change it. We’ll come back to
that in a minute.
Background
But first, I
have a confession to make. I was bottom of the class at history in school and
failed every history exam I sat. All those kings and queens and battles and
dates. I hated it.
Some people like history though. A friend
told me the other day they read a book about the history of pigs. It was quite
predictable until the last chapter - when there was a twist in the tail...
That’s as light as this sermon’s going to
get. I'm afraid I need to give you some historical background now. Hopefully, it’ll
give you a key to help unlock this letter.
So here we go: On the day of Pentecost, in
Acts 2, you might remember that amongst the crowd present, there were “visitors
from Rome.” 3,000 people were converted that day, and it is almost certain,
therefore, that some of those converts were Jewish pilgrims from Rome.
They were just visiting, so they will have gone
back home afterwards. These must have been the people who formed the first Christian
fellowship in Rome.
It seems likely that the church will have
grown, perhaps most naturally through Jews leading fellow Jews to Christ, and
perhaps a few travelling Gentile believers joining them, as the years went by.
History books (outside
the Bible) tell us that, about 20 years later, Emperor Claudius threw all Jews
out of Rome. Acts 18.2 mentions that incident, saying a married couple called
Aquilla and Priscilla were among those who were banished, ending up in Corinth and
meeting a tent-making evangelist called Paul.
So now, according to this reconstruction, overnight,
the church in Rome will have changed from being large and predominantly Jewish one
to much smaller, and entirely Gentile.
Why did Claudius expel the Jews? Secular
sources tell us that there was a riot in the Jewish community at that time almost
certainly sparked by a controversy about Jesus. The Emperor didn't want any troublemakers,
so he just ordered them all out.
When Claudius
died in AD 54, his successor Nero reversed that policy and invited all the Jews
back.
The thing is, by this time, the Gentiles had
been doing quite a good job of leading the church without the Jews, thank you
very much. The church had continued to grow and, as always happens, changes had
been introduced. New leaders had been appointed. New ways of doing things had formed.
But now, the old guard is back in town. We
know that because Aquilla and Priscilla are now in the list of names Paul says
hello to at the end of the letter. But they return to find that everything has
changed.
So now who’s in charge?
“We are! We were here first!”
“Excuse me, but you left years ago! We're
leading the church now.”
“Look, we only left because we were thrown
out. This is our church!”
“It was your church; but that was then
- we've moved on.”
Are you getting a feel for the pastoral crisis
that was growing? Two different ways of doing church and they are totally at
odds. People are getting hurt.
Who would be
the best person to sort out such a thorny problem? Someone entirely neutral,
who’s not part of that church. How about a Jewish Apostle to the Gentiles, and also
a Roman citizen? This is why Paul wrote this letter.
And you can tell this reconstruction is right
because all the way through, it compares Jews and Gentiles, "under the
law" and "without the law", "circumcised" and
"uncircumcised", “Greeks and non-Greeks”, "those who keep one
day as holy" and "those who have no special day."
From beginning to end, Romans helps hurt
Christians with different backgrounds to get it together in the power of the
Holy Spirit.
In chapter 1, Paul says, you both needed the
gospel, which is the power of God for all who believe, first for the Jew and then
for the Gentile.
In chapter 2, he says, "You're passing judgement
on each other, but you condemn yourselves because both Jews and Gentiles are guilty
of sin."
In chapter 3, he says, "You are both
made right with God exactly the same way, by faith alone, it makes no
difference whether you're a Jew or a Gentile."
In chapter 4, he says, "You're both
children of Abraham, not just the Jews, because he is the father of all who
believe."
He sums up the letter, in the last chapter, as
we’ll see, with these words; "Accept one another then just as Christ
accepted you... Christ has become a servant of the Jews... so that the Gentiles
may glorify God for his mercy."
What has this got to do with us? Well, the church, in every age,
including this one, is called to live in love for the sake of the gospel. “This
is how the world will know that you are my disciples,” says Jesus, “by the love
you have for one another.”
I know there are passionate convictions in All Saints’ over
politics; some of us are on the left, others are on the right. In the world it
is fashionable to demonise the opposite view. So how are we going to model the
unity of the Holy Spirit to a watching world?
We could split the church today, right down the middle over
Leave or Remain. Or over “No deal” or “Any deal.” “People’s vote” or “People
have already voted.” With differences of opinion so far apart, what will it look
like to love one another so well that the world says, “Look, followers of Jesus!
That’s how you unify a divided country.”
We have different views about baptism; for believers only. There
are sincerely held differing convictions over creation and evolution. The end
times. The right church leadership structure. And so on…
All those things are important; but God calls us to purity, to love
and to unity.
Romans 12.18: “If it is possible,
as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
Romans 14.19: “Let us… make every
effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
Chapter 9
Right, I’m half way through my talk and I’ve hardly started. Chapter
8 finished with the glorious revelation that, since God called us, foreknew us,
and predestined us, nothing can separate us from his love.
But just as you’re revelling in
that amazing truth, someone asks some awkward questions in chapter 9. What
about the Jews, then? Didn’t God call and choose them? Aren’t they God’s elect?
And haven’t the Jews now been discarded by God for rejecting Jesus as their
Messiah?
The answers come in v6-33. It says, not all on the inside will
be saved, and not all on the outside will be lost.
It explains how God chooses those who
belong to him. Some are chosen, some are not. But God doesn’t just look at a
crowd and take one over the other based on ability (like picking teams for a
football game). It is not a matter of performance; it is a matter of position!
From one perspective, this is a very precious
truth. If you are a Christian, it means your story with God goes right back… not
just to when you were converted, or small, but actually to before you were
born, before time even began, before the universe, before creation, to a point
when only God was.
It was then that God chose you. He had it in
his heart, even then, because he loves you, that he would be glad to adopt you
into his family, knowing - like everyone else - that you would turn out a
sinner, knowing you could never really deserve it. All this was in his plan
from the start.
And he wants us to enjoy this truth as confident
and loved children, fully persuaded that he will finish off what has started
and will deliver on his promises.
But this obviously raises a big problem; what
about those who are not chosen? Isn’t that unfair? And Paul knows this is a
problem, so he asks in v14, “What shall we say? Is God unjust?” And he replies
to his own question, “Not at all!”
Then he says, “Look. There’s a story in the
Bible about this.” Remember in Exodus when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart? God
did that to set free a nation of oppressed and ill-treated slaves from that
evil man who thought nothing of murdering baby boys on an industrial scale.
Was God fair to freeze Pharaoh’s heart? Read
Exodus carefully; you’ll see that Pharaoh hardened his own heart seven times
before God finally hardened it beyond the point of softening again.
So, does God predestine our lives? Or is the
future shaped by our free will? Answer: yes. It’s both-and. Does it have to be
one or the other?
Scientists say that light is both a wave and
a particle. Logically, it has to be one or the other. But the evidence is that
it’s both, even though it’s irrational.
In the same way, scripture teaches that God
predestines all things in his irresistible sovereignty, and also God graciously
allows us to make free choices that are real and sometimes cause him to change
his plans.
I see predestination and free will as a bit
like game of chess. The moves are all real; they all affect the run of the game
and how all the pieces interact. But the moves don’t really determine the
ultimate outcome because the game is between a novice like me and the World
Champion.
I can maybe think three of four moves ahead.
But God is the Grand Master who sees an infinite number of permutations into
the future.
Like all illustrations, it’s not perfect, but
it’s good enough for us to understand that the ultimate outcome is beyond doubt,
even if the route we take to get there is genuinely open.
Chapter 10
Chapter 10 says exactly that.
Look at v9. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Don’t be fatalistic about predestination. History is not a pre-programmed
closed system. The outcome of your life is not inevitable. The Bible teaches
that God changes his mind. It says that faith brings to life things that are
not. It says that prayer can affect the natural course of events.
So, though chapter 9 says that God has hardened Israel, chapter
10 opens with a prayer that they may still be saved. Not by keeping the commandments;
that never works, but by putting their faith in their Messiah. By declaring
with their mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in their heart that God raised
him from the dead.
Verse 12: “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile… Everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Someone once said, “The world is divided into two kinds of
people. Those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don't!”
This little church in Rome saw the world in binary; Jewish and non-Jewish.
Romans 10 says, “Yes, the world is fundamentally divided into
two groups but it’s not Jew and Gentile.” You can be a Jew but lost and a
Gentile but saved. Or vice versa. The two categories that really divide
humankind are saved and lost.
Jesus says it; either you’re on the broad highway that leads to
destruction, or you’re on the narrow path that leads to life. It’s the wheat or
the tares, the sheep or the goats. Either Jesus is Lord of all, or he is not
Lord at all.
Do you know today which group you’re in? Not sure? Don’t waver
any longer. Settle the matter today as to whether Christ is Lord of your life
or not.
Declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.
That sounds straightforward doesn’t it? If
you can genuinely say “Jesus is Lord” [that means, he’s in charge, he’s the
boss, not me, and I am placing my life under his authority] and, v9 says, if
deep down you believe that Jesus really is alive today… well, then you will be
saved from an eternity of being cast out of God’s presence.
Chapter 11
If chapter 9 is about the Jews’
past rejection of their Messiah, and chapter 10 is about their present invitation
to believe the gospel, chapter 11 tells us all about their future destiny.
Romans 11 asks three questions.
1.
Have the Jews been rejected?
Answer:
Yes and no. Yes, many never got over on the stumbling block of a suffering
Messiah, so tragically their hearts became hardened. But no, there is a faithful
remnant - Messianic Jews. There are now between 150 and 200 Messianic Jewish congregations
in Israel and the number increases every year. Worldwide, most Messianic Jews
live outside Israel.
2.
Are the Jews being replaced?
Answer:
No. It’s not like an old tree burned down and a completely new seed planted. Instead,
God is joining us Gentiles to his ancient people just like a branch is grafted
onto a tree.
3.
Will the Jews one day be restored?
Answer:
Yes. One day in the future, God’s purposes will come to a completion. Verse 25
looks forward to a time when the full number of the Gentiles has come in – when
the gospel has reached every nation, tribe and tongue – and then, in a great
revival, all Israel will be saved.
Some
Christians see the restoration of a Jewish state in
Israel in 1948 as a sovereign move of God in readiness for that revival amongst
Jewish people. Others do not. For the record, I do. God never breaks his
covenants. And v29 says his gifts and calling are irrevocable.
Ending
So there we have it. Having laid
out the plan of salvation - the gospel of grace - in chapters 1-8, and having explained
how God’s sovereign purposes apply to his chosen people, to whom we have been
added through faith, we’re now just about ready for all the practical workings
out in the life of the local church, which is the teaching of chapters 12-16.
But before we do, let’s stand and exalt and magnify God’s
greatness in the final words of praise at the end of chapter 11. I’m going to read
from The Message version:
Is
there anyone around who can explain God?
Anyone
smart enough to tell him what to do?
Anyone
who has done him such a huge favour
that
God has to ask his advice?
Everything
comes from him;
Everything
happens through him;
Everything
ends up in him.
Always
glory! Always praise!
Yes.
Yes. Yes.
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 30 June 2019
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