Untitled Sermon

Sermon

We have all, at one point, become familiar with Paul’s rhetoric of evangelism found in : No distinction between Jew or Greek, the Lord is Lord of all, and all who call shall be saved, and then a series of leading questions that proceed as such: “But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?”

A master rhetorician Paul was, and it should come at no surprise that this text has been used to encourage evangelism for Christians throughout history. However, unless I am limited in my experience, I am hard pressed to remember anyone treating the verses that follow with much regard. This has caused me some confusion, and I think that my confusion is not unwarranted.

Paul follows these questions by saying, “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’” (10:17-18) It is clear to Paul, and to most everyone at the time, that not everyone who has heard the gospel message has obeyed it. Paul is right to ask why—after all, the voice of the evangelists, the audience of the Scriptures, has gone out to all the earth. Paul here has compared the heavens of to the gospel in his context to make the case that ignorance cannot be a solution to the problem of disobedience, at least for those who have heard.

If not ignorance, perhaps misunderstanding, then? “Again I ask,” Paul says, “did Israel not understand? First Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.’ Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, ‘I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’ But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’” (vv. 19-21)

Paul seems to imply here that Israel is acting in disobedience to God because they have not only heard the gospel but have understood it, and still chooses to turn away! First, Paul quotes the song of Moses in . Here, Moses has been counting Israel’s blessings and rebuking them for idolatrous behavior, and makes reference to Israel’s jealousy at the hands of a “nation without understanding,” which Paul takes to refer to the Gentiles. As a result of Israel’s rejection of God, God intends to make Israel jealous of the Gentiles by their faith in a God of whom they have little understanding. For Paul, the very fact that the Gentiles have believed should have been a confirmation that the gospel is the word of God, as it has fulfilled the song’s prophecy.

If that was not to be enough for Israel, Paul then moves to Isaiah to make two profound points. First, God has revealed Godself to those people who did not intend to find God—the Gentiles, which Paul has already discussed earlier in . More importantly, however, God has continually held out God’s hands to Israel, and yet they continue to be disobedient. The steadfast welcome of God has been refused by Israel’s own created righteousness, and has cast aside the righteousness of God. Israel has not been rejected by God—God has been rejected by Israel.

As we in the Church of the Nazarene revive in us a fresh spirit of evangelism, we must be increasingly aware of how God has responded to Israel in this matter.