Romans 11:13-16

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Know Your Roots (11:13-16)

[1] from reason to reverence (v. 13)
[2] from resistance to redemption (v. 14)
[3] from rejection to reconciliation (v. 15-16)
[1] from reason to reverence (v. 13)
Romans 11:13–14“Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
[[13 Ὑμῖν δὲ λέγω τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· ἐφʼ ὅσον μὲν οὖν εἰμι ἐγὼ ἐθνῶν ἀπόστολος, τὴν διακονίαν μου δοξάζω, “To all of you, Gentiles, I am speaking. Inasmuch then that I myself am an apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry.”]]
Paul transitions from his pastoral plea to his brothers and sisters in Judaism to the Gentile audience. The primary thrust of Paul’s explanation to the Gentiles is humility. Do not be proud or boastful with regard to your salvation. Remember, just as the Jews received all the blessings of God through Abraham, Moses, and the prophets, you have also received these things. But like Israel, it is to be received by faith. To presume upon the nation of Israel that you were somehow more intelligent, wiser, or special based upon the grace of God, is to assume your work bought you.
The establishment of being saved by grace alone through faith continues to be at the heart of Paul’s argument. Do not boast in yourselves, nor in your salvation. Rather, boast in Jesus Christ as Lord of your lives.
Paul recognizes that God’s plan of redemption was accomplished through him as the apostle. This is at the very beginning of his letter to Rome in Romans 1:1 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” Paul is no longer a slave to works-righteous religion systems but a slave to Christ. To be a slave to Christ is far more freeing than enslaved to sin. And so Paul’s appeal to the Gentiles is related to his particular calling as an apostle.
In Acts 9:15, following the miraculous conversion of Paul, we are told, “But the Lord said to him [Ananias], “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.” This is verified elsewhere throughout the book of Acts. Acts 22:21 “And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”” Acts 26:17 “delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you”
Galatians 1:16 “was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;”
Galatians 2:2 “I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.”
Ephesians 3:8“To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,”
1 Timothy 2:7“For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”
Because of this extraordinary calling, Paul concludes to his Gentile brothers in Christ that he “magnifies his ministry.” The ministry Paul is referring to is where where we get the word “deacons” (διακονίαν). It is the ministry of service with reference to the preaching of the Gospel. Relates back to Paul’s primary mission as the apostle to the Gentiles. For Paul, ministry and service run parallel with one another (cf. Ac 21:19; Ro 11:13; 2 Cor 4:1; 6:3; Col 4:17; 2 Ti 4:5).
Truly Paul amplifies this concept as he closes his epistle to the church in Rome.
Romans 15:16–19 “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;”
And this very calling that Paul has been given becomes centered around his own praise. The word translated as “magnify” (δοξάζω) is the same root word we get for doxology, the part of the worship service where we praise God for the great salvation He has given to us. Therefore, here, it is as if Paul is saying, “I take pride in my ministry or I take my assignment seriously Ro 11:13.”
In a similar manner, it is a seriousness Paul undertakes by endeavoring to convert as many Gentiles as possible to Christ. The aim of Paul’s ministry is the glorification of God. The prayer and hope that he is taking pride, or praise, in his own ministry by operating along the lines of God’s redemptive plan of salvation.
Paul was called to a specific work and glorifies God because of it. Likewise, you have been called to a specific work by God. Not all are to be preachers or teachers or evangelists. Yet, all are called according to the purposes of God. Therefore, you ought to, like Paul, take your calling seriously. As the WSC 1 says we are to glorify God and enjoy Him forever as our own chief end. Are you glorifying God even in the mundane aspects of life? Are you glorifying God amidst your personal struggles and difficulties?
We glorify God in all situations because, as verses 11-12 have showed us, salvation means riches to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You may not experience temporal riches, or earthly riches. Your bank account may barely make it month to month. Yet you are completely rich in the Lord Jesus Christ who supplies you with all of your needs. Why desire anything else if you have Christ?
Here, we see the reality of the calling of Paul. He is obviously glorifying God for this very calling but also recognizing that his own hope is that the joyfulness in others will bring about joyfulness to the nation of Israel as well. Joy was at the center of Paul’s ministry. And this joy Paul had far exceeded the rampant abuses he received on behalf of the Gospel message, which typically came in the form of opposition from his own countrymen.
2 Corinthians 11:25–30 “Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”
Despite this, Paul persevered. And even though Paul received such chastisement from his brothers according to the flesh, he still set before him the joy of eternal life found only in Jesus Christ.
Joy is often very contagious. If you have been parenting a young child for any amount of time, they will do something that needs to be corrected but somehow are able to pull it off in a cute, laughing manner. Even though we can be fuming at the behavior, the second they start to smile or giggle, it is utterly contagious. Even secular institutions realize how profound merely forcing yourself to smile is. It activates the same neural response even though you may not be joyful. Nonetheless, it biologically forces you to be joyful.
Joy is contagious. Imagine the effect you have on unbelievers in your work place, in your school, or even in your own family when you are joyful around them when you ought not be. Some of the most blessed saints we have encountered in this life are joyful when the world says otherwise. As Puritan John Trapp writes, “in our sufferings for Christ, there is joy.”
Paul did not care about personal status. Rather, he became one who is weak in hopes that they too may be saved. Likewise, this is the very calling of the minister as well. As Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16 “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” This is identified by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:22 “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”
And so Paul’s ministry is the source of his own joy as he hopes it would stoke the fire of complacency into jealousy in order that Israelites may also be saved. We have already looked last week at what it means to be jealous. Both jealousy and zeal are of the same root word. Paul is hoping that, where previously the Jews had a zeal that was not in accordance with knowledge, perhaps they will find true zeal upon a true conversion. And how is Paul going about this? Paul is doing so through the means of grace, through the preaching of the Word in hopes that they would be saved.
[2] from resistance to redemption (v. 14)
Romans 11:14 “in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.”
[[14 εἴ πως παραζηλώσω μου τὴν σάρκα καὶ σώσω τινὰς ἐξ αὐτῶν. “If somehow I could provoke to jealousy my countrymen (acc to the flesh) and save some of them”]]
What length would you go to be the vessel of God for the salvation of the lost? Would you be like Jonah who was so prideful of the privilege he had to withhold the Gospel to those whom he despised? Or would you emulate Jesus who went at far greater lengths than any mere man, who sat at the table with sinners, who came not to glorify Himself, but to seek and save the lost? What length would you go?
As one who knew the price of the Cross, Paul would go headfirst into hostility in order to proclaim the Gospel with the very hope that some of them would respond. Like the prophets of the Old Testament who were called by God to preach the Good News knowing that it would be rejected, so also does Paul spend the rest of his life committed to proclaiming the Good News. If someone went at great lengths to share the Gospel with you, do you go at great lengths to share the Gospel with others?
Once again, we see a pastoral desire and deep-rooted conviction to proclaim the Gospel to Paul’s own kindred.
The word translated as “fellow Jews” is the same word for “flesh” (σάρκα) The typical use relates to the flesh, either the literally earthly body but also the flesh in term of the sinful desires of man in general. Here, Paul is using it in relation to human or ancestral connection, in the same way he does in Romans 9:3 “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.” It can refer to both kindred, Rom. 11:14 or lineage, Rom. 1:3; 9:3.
The aim of Paul is to provoke the Jews to jealousy through the preached Word of God. The object of Paul’s provoking, the objects of his flame-fanning ministry, are his own kindred, those born of Israel. But what is the purpose? Paul’s purpose and hope is that they will be saved.
Salvation here (σώσω) is a reference to his ministry in hopes of bringing them to saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. To save or preserve from transcendent danger or destruction, save/preserve from eternal death from judgment and from all that might lead to such death. Paul’s prerogative was not his own glory but the glory of God, knowing that the Father Himself will effectually call unto Himself the people whom Jesus Christ had died on behalf of.
Salvation encompasses all aspects of life, both in the present and in the life to come. First, salvation begins in this life. In this life we are delivered from error and corrupt notions. We receive deliverance from impurity in morals. We receive the benefits of a pardon of sin and the blessed peace of one who is reconciled to God.
Apart from God, we could not be saved. The magnitude of sin which encompasses every aspect of our being is on full display in our mother’s womb. We are born in Adam. Adam’s first transgression in the Garden, the explicit violation against the special revelation and communion from God damned the world.
Salvation comes from God alone. He is both the source and the substance. He is the source as He is the one who predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. He is the substance because Jesus Christ, God incarnate, paid the price. He redeemed us from the curse. He bought us with his own blood.
And the very hope Paul has in mind is that his brothers according to the flesh would come to such truth and knowledge. It is a present reality for a particular people.
And because of this present reality, we are to conform more and more to Christ. If you are a recipient of such grace and blessings, are you living a life as a walking example of this? Are you endeavouring day after day to conform to the image of Christ through His revealed Word? Are you freeing yourself from corruptive passions and pleasures? Do you count all earthly things as loss compared to the treasures of knowing Christ and Him crucified? Again, this is the very treasure Paul spoke of in Romans 11:12.
Not only is salvation a present reality but a future hope and manifestation. We know from our daily lives that we are not utterly free of sin and condemnation. We live in a Romans 7 tension. If you are in Christ, the Law of God inscribed upon your heart is a good thing.
Yet because of this newfound obedience and love for Him, you recognize that the very sinful actions you continue to do are what you ought not do. Yes, we can proclaim like Paul Romans 7:22“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,” Yet at the same time, we can relate in Romans 7:23“but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”
Hence Paul says in Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Even though you struggle, and sin, and fall short of the glory of God, you consider the struggles of the present time nothing compared to the eternal weight of glory that is to come. Christ alone is our hope. And we wait with eager longing the full manifestation of the glory that is to come. The salvation Paul is appealing to is both a present reality, and a future hope.
Are you hoping in the future? We can get so excited about our calendar and the things we long for. We long for vacation time. We long for the weekend. Yet even vacations, weekends, and other events in our lives are still embedded in sin and imperfection. But do we long for eternity and the hope that is to come? Do you long for the final casting away of sin? If you long for temporal rest and respite from the normal cares of this world, how much more should you long for the eternal glory that is yes and amen in Jesus Christ alone?
[3] from rejection to reconciliation (v. 15-16)
Romans 11:15–16 “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.”
15 εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἀποβολὴ αὐτῶν καταλλαγὴ κόσμου, τίς ἡ πρόσλημψις εἰ μὴ ζωὴ ἐκ νεκρῶν;
“For if their rejection leads to reconciliation of the world what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?”
Paul transitions from the idea of God rejecting His people from Romans 11:1-2, which of course, is not true, to Israel’s own rejection. God has not rejected His people but His people have rejected Him. Remember, to reject here means to cast off or to throw away. Israel has cast away or thrown away God as their Redeemer and King for the sake of their religious traditions.
Yet, there is still hope. And the hope comes by way of reconciliation. As with last week, the “world” here does not refer to all people without exception. Meaning God is not justifying, saving, or reconciling all people in a universalist manner. You must be saved as outlined in Romans 10:9-10. However, Paul is explaining the breadth of God’s saving plan to the world, that is all people without distinction, as noted in the context in reference to the Gentiles.
Even in Colossians 1:20–21 in relation to the work of Christ, Paul says, “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,” There is particularity in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
Reconciliation is an important term. It is a reestablishment of an interrupted or broken relationship. But the importance is that since humans are not active in this dispensation from God, they are said to receive reconciliation Ro 5:11. an exchange; reconciliation, restoration to favor, Rom. 5:11; 11:15; 2 Cor. 5:18, 19.
Reconciliation is an atonement word. It is related to the definitive, effectual, and complete work of Jesus Christ who died for His elect. Hence, Paul can look back and pull on Romans 5:11 “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Paul is in mind Romans 5 in that while we were enemies with God, while we were sinners before God, while we were separated from God, Jesus Christ has reconciled us.
2 Corinthians 5:18–19“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” Once again, Paul has in mind not a universal worldwide atonement contingent upon man’s choice. Paul is equating the world to the universal nature of to whom the Gospel is presented, both Jew and Gentile alike. Yet Christ’s atonement is on behalf of sinners.
Like the blessings of redemption found in the lives of Gentiles who did not reject the Messiah, so also will those who are of the nation of Israel be reconciled if they return to the Lord.
Acceptance has its root found in a similar word meaning to grasp, or to take hold of something. It has the idea of taking into one’s possession. Acceptance here is not in relation to unbelieving Jews’ actions. Paul is not saying that they are the author and founder of their own acceptance. Rather, it is an acceptance by God. God is taking hold and taking into position the very people who rejected him if they would repent and believe.
“Life from the dead” - obvious reference to the resurrection and being benefactors of this.
Scrip Ref: Romans 11:15 the casting: Rom 11:1, 2, 11, 12 the reconciling: Rom 5:10; Dan 9:24; 2 Cor 5:18–20; Eph 1:10; Col 1:20, 21 but: Ezek 37:1–14; Rev 11:11; 20:4–6 Reciprocal: Ps 75:7—he putteth; Ps 126:2—then said; Isa 6:12—a great; Isa 11:11—set his hand; Isa 12:1—O Lord; Jer 46:28—but I will not; Ezek 37:12—I will open; Ezek 37:28—the heathen; Dan 12:1—thy people; Dan 12:12—General; Hos 1:11—for; Hos 13:14—ransom; Rom 3:2—Much; Rom 11:31—believed; 2 Cor 5:19—reconciling; Rev 20:5—This
It should come of no surprise that Paul relates the concepts of redemption and ingrafting to Scripture. In verse 16, he implicitly references the common practice of Israel with regard to the harvest as outlined in Numbers 15:17–21 “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you and when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the Lord. Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a contribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. Some of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord as a contribution throughout your generations.”
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