Sermon Tone Analysis

Arrogance

I recently watched the documentary series called the Last Dance.

Despite the name, it has nothing to do with dancing, rather it is a series that looked at Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, the player and team that many people consider the greatest ever.

Now, without a doubt, Michael Jordan was an absolutely extraordinary basketball player.

He had the ability to lift the play at the critical points, when his team most needed it.

But one thing that I took from the documentary, Michael Jordan was in many ways, a very arrogant person.

Now, you may argue, as many do, that when you’ve got the talent to back up your arrogance, then good on you.

But it does beg the question, can we justify our arrogance when we’ve got the ability to match our words with action?

In the case of Michael Jordan, you could argue that it was his attitude that dragged his team into contention of being considered the best team ever.

Well, there’s one argument that sports lovers might have, but as well as recently watching this documentary, I’ve also recently finished listening to a podcast called the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.

This podcast details the rise and fall of a church led by Pastor Mark Driscoll.

Now it did receive some criticism on the basis that its not appropriate to air all the failings of a particular individual, however, the creators of the podcast defended that because there are some important lessons to learn.

You see, in some ways, you could describe Mark Driscoll as the Michael Jordan of Pastors.

He saw extraordinary growth in his church.

He had enormous impact on many lives.

Unfortunately, he also had the arrogance to go with it, and to simplify a very complicated story, his arrogance led to a spectacular collapse.

Particularly before the collapse, it was often asked: could we justify his arrogance because of his results?

And many answered yes.

Now, the good news is, I’m no Mark Driscoll.

I’m hardly leading a mega church here, so thankfully, I’m not tempted with the same level of arrogance that we see elsewhere.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not immune from boastful thoughts.

I might not be a world beater in any field, but yet, it’s hard not to become conceited when you achieve things that other can’t do.

It’s not too much longer before any success is attributed to skill and expertise.

What’s the problem with this?

Well, any skill or expertise you have, is only yours because God gave it to you.

With all the skill and expertise you could possibly hope to have, there is a bigger picture of what God is doing.

This morning, my main aim is to try and bring us to a point where we see any blessings we have in our life as being blessings from God alone, and not because we’ve somehow deserved it.

If you’re involved in some successful operation - good on you, but you really need to recognise God’s sovereign hand in it all.

Link to Romans 11

This morning, I’m completing this little mini-series on Romans 9-11.

It’s this interlude in Paul’s letter to the Romans, where he puts into focus the Israelites.

The big issue that is being addressed is the question of why Israel as a whole has not accepted the gospel.

Over the last few weeks we’ve considered a number of different aspects including God’s sovereign election, the Israelites hardened hearts, their focus on the law, and even their envy of other people.

But as Paul concludes this interlude, he essentially asks the question: well what now?

What do we make of all of this?

And it is in this chapter that we start to get a glimpse of what is actually happening.

We see that God is actually doing something special and that as a result, we are actually going to see a greater blessing.

Now I’m going to go through this chapter and show how this is going to come about, but there is something that I believe Paul is going to maintain throughout.

This special blessing has nothing to do with anyones special ability.

Rather it is all through God’s masterful plan.

And so my hope is that this chapter will fill us with both hope and humility as we see God in all his glory.

Remnant

Well, as Paul opens the chapter, there is one matter that he is keen to clear up.

That is, all of the discussion that Israel has not accepted the gospel is not to say that everyone of the Jews has rejected it.

Paul for one is a proud Jew.

But Paul also hooks this into a recurring theme that occurs throughout the entire Biblical narrative, namely, the theme of the remnant.

You see, throughout the Old Testament, we often witness Israel going a bit wayward, but God always reserves a remnant, and he uses that remnant to keep things in line.

Actually, I might add that even after the New Testament, when we move into Church History, we actually still often see this idea of the remnant.

The church goes off the rails, but God’s reserved remnant bring it back.

In Romans 11, Paul draws our attention specifically to the time of Elijah - a time that was noted as a bit of a low point in Israel’s history.

But even during this lowest point, God kept people for himself - in fact, we’re even told that it was seven thousand people.

So it’s not that all of Israel has rejected the Gospel - something that is still very true today, in particular with people we refer to as Messianic Jews.

Greater Riches

Well, this takes us to verse 11, and as Paul continues his exploration of this issue it’s almost like we uncover some surprises.

He asks the questions again: did the Israelites fall beyond recovery?

He’s of course not talking about the remnant.

We can accept that a remnant will exist.

But what about the others.

Are they beyond recovery?

The answer is an emphatic: “Not at all!”

And from this, Paul shows us a very interesting progression that will take place.

So let me start by stating the pattern in the most simplistic fashion.

God’s blessing flows first through the Jews, then to the Gentiles, then back to the Jews, then back to the Gentiles.

Even more simply - it goes: Jews - Gentiles - Jews - Gentiles.

So let’s just dig into that pattern a bit more.

First to Jews

The first two parts, that is, first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles, is actually quite simple.

It’s a refrain that Paul has used on a few occasions.

God first chose the Jews.

The Jews were the chosen vessel to carry God’s blessing and his revelation of himself to the whole world.

We can actually trace this all the way back to Abraham (or Abram as he was first known when the promise was first given to him).

You see, way back in Genesis 12, God chooses Abraham, and gives him a remarkable promise.

He is to be the father of a great nation, and through him, the whole world will be blessed.

In some ways, you could say that the entire biblical narrative from this point is to see God fulfil this promise.

For most of the Old Testament, the focus is on fulfilling the part of blessing Abarham and the chosen nation from him, that is to say, Israel.

But in saying that, even in the Old Testament, time after time we see these little glimpses of blessings flow to other nations.

When Jesus comes, again, his primary focus is first to the Jews.

But even with him, we see this quite frequent glimpses of the blessing moving to the nations.

Then to the Gentiles

But it isn’t really until we get to the book of Acts, and for that matter, till about the tenth chapter of Acts, that it is no longer just a glimpse of a blessing to the other nations, but rather a full on torrent.

In the thirteenth chapter of Acts, Paul begins his missionary journeys, and it is here that we see a significant awakening of the Gentiles.

Interestingly however, Paul maintains the pattern of first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles.

If you follow his missionary journeys, his regular pattern is to first visit the Jewish synagogue, but it is interesting that it is because of their rejection of the good news, that Paul then turns to the Gentiles where he finds a much greater amount of acceptance.

Jews awake

So this first part of the pattern is easily understood.

The extension of the pattern however is something that might feel a little more foreign to you.

It’s largely foreign because it’s something that is still yet to happen.

You see, Paul anticipates in this chapter, not just a remnant of Jews turning to Christ, but a full scale revival among them.

We see this in a few of the verses in this section.

At the end of verse 12 he talks about their full inclusion.

In verse 15 he refers to their acceptance, with the implication in that verse that again, we’re not just talking about the remnant, we’re talking about the whole people group.

It’s perhaps most clearly stated, however, in verse 26, when Paul says, “and in this way, all Israel will be saved”.

So, how in the world do we go from just a small remnant, to a whole nation?

Well, I can tell you one thing.

It’s not going to be just by our clever strategy.

We are now some 2000 odd years after Jesus, and while we might be able to point to some movement among Messianic Jews, that is to say, Jews that have turned to Jesus, I think it’s fair to say that they still remain a remnant of the Jewish nation.

By all means, we should support endeavours of sharing the gospel with them, but for a whole sale change, something bigger needs to happen.

So what does this passage tell us about this process?

Envy

Actually one of the first things that Paul points to is something you might not immediately think about.