Know your place

To share the gospel with the world as evangelists, and to minister to the needs of the church as we are instructed to one another one another. How’s that going? Do you remember the things you’re supposed to be doing for each other?

How is loving one another going?

How are we doing at being faithful to one another?

What about using our gifts for one another?

If we want to see God glorified, we have a responsibility to provide care for one another as parts of the same body.

One another one another.

This morning we are going back to Romans. We spent the majority of last year studying this letter to the Christians in Rome and have to date reached the beginning of Chapter 11.

In this epistle we . . . find most abundantly the things that a Christian ought to know, namely, what is law, gospel, sin, punishment, grace, faith, righteousness, Christ, God, good works, love, hope, and the cross; and also how we are to conduct ourselves toward everyone, be he righteous or sinner, strong or weak, friend or foe-and even toward our own selves. Moreover, this all ably supported with Scripture and proved by St. Paul's own example and that of the prophets, so that one could not wish for anything more. Therefore it appears that he wanted in this one epistle to sum up briefly the whole Christian and evangelical doctrine, and to prepare an introduction to the entire Old Testament. For, without doubt whoever has this epistle well in his heart, has with him the light an power of the Old Testament. Therefore let every Christian be familiar with it and exercise himself in it continually. To this end may God give his grace. Amen. (Luther's Works, Vol. 35, 1960, p. 380)

He goes even further and says something that perhaps a few of you will follow:

The epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament, and is truly the purest gospel. It is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but also that he should occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. (Luther's Works, Vol. 35, 1960, p. 365)

I have entitled this mornings message - “Know your place”

Starting in Romans 9, Paul asserts that if he could - he would take the place of the nation of Israel, so that they could know the wonderful things he knows.

They could experience the God he has experienced. So Paul says, "For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

At the end of Chapter 10, Paul quotes Isaiah where God expresses his frustration with the nation of Israel. In that frustration, God says this:

Romans 10:21 CSB

But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

Israel has spent much of history rejecting her God. As a people, as a whole, they have rejected the Lord. There are a good number of Jewish people today who reject Jesus as messiah, and even more who have rejected God entirely.

And yet, the question has to be asked, if God is GOD, then why does he allow that? Why did he create Israel so that they would rebel. The answer is, so that he could include the rest of us. Jesus talks about this in Matthew chapter 22. He sent out invitations to the feast, and no one came… but the feast was prepared. So he sent some others, and they didn’t come then either. but the feast was ready. So he sent his servants out to find just whoever they could find… bring them in. Though he dealt harshly with the one who came with out honoring the place he was given. This brings us into chapter 11.

My message today is a little tough to get through. It feels wordy, and we might get lost in some weeds. Try to stay with me, because there are some things we need to understand here.

God Keeps a remnant.

God restores.

We praise him.

Romans 11 CSB

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he pleads with God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and they are trying to take my life! But what was God’s answer to him? I have left seven thousand for myself who have not bowed down to Baal. In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace. Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace. What then? Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened, as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day. And David says, Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually. I ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. Now if their transgression brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Insofar as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if I might somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them. For if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? Now if the firstfruits are holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, do not boast that you are better than those branches. But if you do boast—you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” True enough; they were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but beware, because if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Therefore, consider God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who have fallen but God’s kindness toward you—if you remain in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from your native wild olive tree and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these—the natural branches—be grafted into their own olive tree? I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs, since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable. As you once disobeyed God but now have received mercy through their disobedience, so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may have mercy on all. Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

Paul gets to the end of chapter 10, lays it all out there about Israel… Really sends the message home, God is tired and frustrated.

Has he rejected them?

They are supposed to be God’s chosen people. Has God rejected his promises to them?

And if he hasn’t kept his promises to them, who am I?

Am I Israel? Do I get their promises?

As we ask these questions, we tend to get a little presumptuous. And that is what Paul walks through here at the beginning of chapter 11. And he starts to answer those questions with the story of Elijah and the nation of israel in rebellion.

Rejecting Christ wasn’t their first go around with going against God. They were professionals.

Elijah has gone through a ton of stuff now, and believes himself to be the only one still following after God. And he gets a little whiny for it.

So Elijah says… I am the only one still serving you, and they are going to kill me.

God’s response to Elijah was this “Thats not true”

Elijah made claims… Theres no one else left.. .woe is me, blah blah blah...

And God said - no, thats not true. I have 7,000.

This is the same story where Elijah had to take a nap, and get a snack - in 1 Kings 19.

Elijah gets whiny - God says take a nap. I have 7000 people who have not bowed. You’re not alone.

What is God really saying ?

Elijah - You don’t know what’s going on.

Adam - you don’t know what’s really going on.

It looks like there aren’t many believers out there, even fewer that are of the nation of Israel. But even now, there is a remnant, chosen by Grace.

They didn’t earn it, just like you didn’t earn it. But the promises are being kept. For a remnant. A small group. Gathered up. For God.

As time goes on, there will only be a remnant of us - too. We see that promised in scripture.

We get to a place once in a while where we think we know best.

We get to judge God and the decisions that he makes.

We get to question things. We lose our place as creation.

And to some of that, yes.. We get to wonder, we get to ask and inquire.

We don’t get to put God on the stand, and call him to answer for his whys and why nots. We don’t get to assume we know, we don’t get to pass judgement on others.

Paul then uses the metaphor of an olive tree to explain the relationship between Israel and the Gentiles. He explains that the olive tree represents Israel, and that the Gentiles have been grafted into the tree as wild branches.

He calls us to a reverent love for the nation of Israel. If they weren’t, we couldn’t be. We aren’t better than they are. With out them, we couldn’t know Jesus.

And then, as a matter of fact, he reminds us that jut like they were pruned off, we can be also.

Romans 11:16-23 MSG Behind and underneath all this there is a holy, God-planted, God-tended root. If the primary root of the tree is holy, there's bound to be some holy fruit. Some of the tree's branches were pruned and you wild olive shoots were grafted in. Yet the fact that you are now fed by that rich and holy root gives you no cause to crow over the pruned branches. Remember, you aren't feeding the root; the root is feeding you. It's certainly possible to say, "Other branches were pruned so that I could be grafted in!" Well and good. But they were pruned because they were deadwood, no longer connected by belief and commitment to the root. The only reason you're on the tree is because your graft "took" when you believed, and because you're connected to that belief-nurturing root. So don't get cocky and strut your branch. Be humbly mindful of the root that keeps you lithe and green. If God didn't think twice about taking pruning shears to the natural branches, why would he hesitate over you? He wouldn't give it a second thought. Make sure you stay alert to these qualities of gentle kindness and ruthless severity that exist side by side in God — ruthless with the deadwood, gentle with the grafted shoot. But don't presume on this gentleness. The moment you become deadwood, you're out of there. And don't get to feeling superior to those pruned branches down on the ground. If they don't persist in remaining deadwood, they could very well get grafted back in. God can do that. He can perform miracle grafts.

All of that to say this.

Know your place.

You are chosen of God, and that makes you special.

You are not so special though, that you get to judge God.

The ancient man approached God . . . as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He [man] is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God's acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the Bench and God in the Dock.

~C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock

God intends to keep the promises he made to Israel - we should be thankful for them.

This is what we see in the Bible. God is sovereign; man is a responsible moral agent. God is free and never ultimately bound by forces or actions or wills outside himself. On the other hand, we are morally responsible. We are guilty for our sinfulness and deserving of retribution and punishment. Therefore, we sum up God's hardening work like this: God so arranges all reality, in his unsearchable wisdom, so that many indeed experience ongoing rebellion and hardness against God; but he does this, mysteriously, in such a way that he is never unjust or blameworthy in what comes to pass, and we never cease to be morally accountable. When he draws us to himself and opens our eyes so that we believe in him and trust him and love him and treasure him, it is owing to nothing in us, and we should be the humblest, most patient, kind, loving, tenderhearted, forgiving, courageous people on the earth. God has made us his own, and it was grace and grace alone that did it. And when he passes over others and leaves them to become hard and rebellious and unbelieving, he does them no injustice. We are as deserving of judgment as they. And it is sheer, undeserved grace that we stand justified in faith.

~John Piper, God’s Hardening Work

all of the moving around that God has done, hardening and mercy has been done to save more.

Romans 11:25 CSB

I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Romans 11:25 MSG I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what's going on and arrogantly assume that you're royalty and they're just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that's not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house.

Know your place.

Our place is this:

God chose Israel, and then he chose us.

You are special because God said so.

Israel - and whoever else God should choose, is special because God says so. We aren’t any better than they are - or anyone else is. We have grace.

We are receivers of unmeasurable mercy and grace, because God said so. Nothing we did.

Romans 11:28–32 CSB

Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs, since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable. As you once disobeyed God but now have received mercy through their disobedience, so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may have mercy on all.

So the chapter ends.

Putting us in place, and God in his. With us giving him praise.

Romans 11:33–36 CSB

Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

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Know your place

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