Romans 11:1-36

"For God has imprisoned all people in their own disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone." Romans 11:32

In God's kingdom, there are no classification of people - no hierarchy or social status that divides them. Instead, there is a divine given equality where every person carries the same weight and importance in God's eyes. Verse 32 of chapter 11 is one of the all encompassing verses in the letter of Romans. The essence of what Paul has been writing about is encapsulated in this one verse. In order for God to have mercy, in his divine plan, imprisoned all humanity in its sin so that He could rescue them.


This picture is the monument erected in front of the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem as a tribute to all those who helped and assisted Jews during the Holocaust. A very moving experience for me in touring the museum [of which no pictures are allowed to be taken inside] was the hall of rememberance where the names of every Jew killed in the holocaust are recorded. A quote inscripted on the entrance from the journal of Benjamin Fondane who was murdered at Auschwitz in 1944 read as follows:

"Remember only that I was innocent and just like you, mortal on that day, I, too, had a face marked by rage, by pity and joy, quite simply, a human face!"

The terrible atrocity of the holocaust was that people believed that others were less human. This prejudice goes against the eternal value God has placed on every human being. In chapter 11, Paul brings to a close his argument concerning whether his own people - the Jews - will make it in the end. Paul encourages the Roman believers to remember that he - a Jew - is a follower of Christ, and like Elijah who lamented that there were no faithful prophets in the land, Paul reminds them as well that though hoards of Jews are not converting to Christianity it does not mean God has given up on them. In fact, in God's plan, the Jews were the instrument through which God reached out to the Gentiles [Paul says - case in point myself who am called to be an apostle to the Gentiles - 11:13]. In the end the Gentiles will return the favour to Israel and they too will convert to Christianity.

The picture on the right is a photo I shot on a kibbutz just outside Jerusalem. It's a teaching kibbutz with replicas of relics and sites from the biblical period. This statue of a rabbi rending his garment depicts the terrible regret of a Jew who spent all his life keeping Torah and finally finds out that Jesus is the Messiah and he has wasted all his life neglecting to follow him.

Paul says that the Jews will become jealous of what the Gentiles have, so much so, that they will turn to God and follow Jesus. Such is the hope that we are called to have for our Jewish brothers and sisters. They have left us a wonderful heritage that lead to our conversion and in the end we will also help them find their way to God.

"Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the Jews refused his mercy, God was merciful to you instead. And now, in the same way, the Jews are the rebels, and God's mercy has come to you. But someday they, too, will share in God's mercy." Rom. 11:30-31.

Questions:

1. Do some research to refresh your memory concerning the history of anti-semitism. Why was such cruelty poured out on to our Jewish brothers and sisters?

2. Work out for yourself what your attitude should be toward our Jewish neighbours?

3. What are some things we can do to build relationships with our Jewish friends?

Romans 10:1-21

"For they don't understand God's way of making people right with himself. Instead, they are clinging to their own way of getting right with God ..." Rom. 10:3

"Always the Queen's way!" - The Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland

I remember as a kid one of the 'bones of contention' when playing games in the school yard was who's rules we were going to abide by. I remember that there was always a particular way certain groups of kids would play games during recess. Learning the rules of the different groups was important to getting included in the game. Contesting the rules almost always happened and arguments occasionally led to the kid who owned the ball picking the ball up and leaving!

In the game of life, the rules of engagement evolve into the same contention for what rules we will play by in the work place, on the street, and in our own communities. Most of all, contention almost certainly arises in terms of who God is and how to engage in following Him. Paul the Apostle continues to expand his answer to the foreboding question, "Will Israel make it in the end?" by focusing on what it is that keeps the Jews out of the game of relationship with God. In his own estimation [which is quite accurate since he is a Jew by birth], the Jews stubbornly hold on to their way of being right with God which subsequently creates distance between them and God. Recalling Paul's own encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus [Acts chapter 9] and how Jesus challenged the way Paul was following God gives weight to Paul's critique of Jews in general and their approach to God. Jews were anchoring their being right with God according to their adherence to the Law. All along, in this letter, Paul has been re-orientating the Roman believers reminding them that being right with God has everything to do with what God has done for us and nothing to do with what we do for God.

For Paul, it wasn't a matter of being "zealous," for his own people have more than enough "zeal" in terms of their commitment to religion, but its a matter of focus: "What makes someone belong to the family of God?" Building on what he has already said in previous parts of the letter, Paul emphasizes that what makes one belong is their decision to believe in the way God has given to be right with Him. Confessing and believing that this is true and putting our trust in God's way of making us right with Him, [Rom. 10:9ff] we benefit from the Good News Paul has been preaching all along. This Good News tells us that the Father in heaven loves us and His desire is to draw us into His family by adopting us through Jesus and giving us His Spirit to help us live in this loving community.

In the verses that follow [Rom. 10:18 ff] Paul pulls scripture from the prophets who comment on the significance and history of Israel to show that Israel is very much a part of God's plan to rescue the world. The fact that Jesus comes as a Jew attests to the fact that Israel has a very important part in God's plan and God has preserved her throughout history so that His purposes will be fulfilled. Yes, Israel historically rejects God's ways time and time again, but God set them apart to be a light to the nations and whether they were with Him or not, He uses them to reach out to the other nations. These references from the prophets show that "God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning." [Rom. 11:2]. They still continue to be part of His plan and we will see in chapter 11 that Paul believes God's plan is that they will respond as a nation to Jesus and put their trust in Him!

Although Israel has walked away with the ball many times, there will be a day in the future when we will play together again in God's field enjoying the love and relationship that He desires for every human being!

Questions:

What is it that makes us right with God?

How can we build relationships with our Jewish brothers and sisters?

What is necessary for us to be counted as being in God's family?

Romans 9:1-29

Is it possible that God loves some people and not others?

This is the question that is answered in chapter 9 of Romans as Paul languishes over the distance of his own people [Israel] from the love and mercy of God. We see the incredible empathy Paul has for his own people as he wishes he himself could be "cursed forever" and separated from Christ if it meant that his people would draw near to Christ.

Chapters 9-11 of Romans address the issue of whether Israel will make it in the end? In beginning his rebuttal to this pending question, Paul focuses in chapter 9 on what causes us [both Jew and Gentile] to "receive God's promise." [verse 16] Underlying this argument is the other half of the conversation that we are not hearing. This other half is the discussion going on in the Roman churches. All along we have been pin pointing the strife between the Gentile and Jewish groups in the churches in Rome. Given Paul's focus on defining God's sovereignty [His freedom to do whatever He wants having to answer to no one] within God's character of love and mercy in chapter 9, the discussion going on in the Roman churches can be reconstructed to sound something like this: The Gentiles were arguing that God sovereignly chose them over the Jews as the receivers of grace forcing the Jews into a state of unbelief and eventual destruction. The Jewish rebuttal to this may have sounded something like this: God has not chosen us for destruction but historically has chosen us as His people who bear His law. [remember that this has been the argument from the beginning of the letter. Review chapter 3 especially for a refresher on this]

When you keep this conversation in mind, reading chapter 9 is less confusing. From verses 1-14, Paul argues for the fact that "election" [meaning God setting apart people for himself] is not based on blood lineage but rather on promise. This rings true in the beginning story of Israel, particularly in the life of Abraham and the birth of Isaac. God's election comes not because of following the law [and so Ishmael being the son who bears the inheritance] but of God's gift of Isaac. ["It is the children of the promise who are considered to be Abraham's children." verse 8b] In verse 16, you get a conclusion to the argument in vv.1-14 - "So receiving God's promise is not up to us. We can't get it by choosing it or working hard for it. God will show mercy to anyone he chooses."

Verse 16 transitions into Paul setting the argument of God's sovereignty within the argument of promise that I've described above. Paul says, "Yes - God is sovereign, and the amazing thing about God's sovereignty is that he chooses to "love everyone." The Gentiles probably used the story of God hardening Pharoah's heart as evidence that God does make some reject Him. Paul says don't use this as a pretext for understanding God's sovereignty. ["No, don't say that!" verse 20a] God's sovereignty must always be viewed in the context of how God comes to us. Yes God has every right to make some vessels for noble use and some vessels form ordinary use but - as Paul emphasizes starting verse 22b - "but he also has the right to be very patient with those who are objects of his judgment and are fit only for destruction. He also has the right to pour out the riches of his glory upon those he prepared to be the objects of his mercy - even upon us, who he selected, both from the Jews and the Gentiles."

From verses 25 - 29, Paul then refers to passages in the Old Testament that show how God had mercy on both groups [Gentiles and Jews]. Paul will describe later in Chapter 11:11 that the apparent rejection in Israel of God made room for the Gentiles to come close to God but this does not mean that God has rejected Israel forever. The Gentiles will return the favour to Israel and will be instrumental in drawing Israel close to God.

To answer the question I posed at the beginning, the answer is "NO." God does not choose some to love and others to hate and reject. God's plan is far more comprehensive and all embracing. In Paul's heart and mind, he is convinced that in the end God will receive both Gentiles and Jews and they will respond in hordes. The danger is when we say God works in a way that favours one group over the other. This is not God's heart and it is not what God has chosen [elected]. A reference back to chapter 3 emphasizes that "all have sinned" and in Christ, "all are saved."

Questions to consider:

1. What part does Israel play in God's plan of salvation?

2. Review the context in which God's sovereignty is to be viewed?

3. What is the nature of God's "choosing?"

Romans 8:17-39

"Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more!" Kansas

I wonder how many times all of us have said, one way or the other; "Is it worth it?" Is this life with its ills, disappointments and difficulties really worth the heart ache we experience - some of us on a daily basis?

One of the most encouraging places in scripture is chapter 8 of Romans. Its one of those passages that remind us why life is worth living. It reminds us that we are not alone in this world - that there is someone who actually cares and He just so happens to be the creator of the universe. In the particular passage we're looking at this week, we see that the redemption and restoring of humanity by God is also extended to the world as a whole. The earth and all that is in it is bound up in God's plan of salvation. Yes! God is interested in the well being of all that He created. [Suddenly Paul McCartney and Green Peace don't seem so strange after all!]

Paul uses some very interesting and revealing language to identify how the earth struggles in its present pain. He calls it "groaning;" Not general sounds of "groaning" but the particular sound of groaning during child birth. There are few things to notice in terms of the creation [all things created by God] that come alive because of the analogy Paul uses.

First, the groaning is the result of the present struggle between our present limitations as humans on earth and the life of Christ that has come alive in us now and will be fulfilled at the end of time. It is an "already but not yet" struggle of a sense of love and wholeness in us and yet a sense of sin and disjointedness in the social context of life. It's that "groaning" that we experience when we know that something can be better than it presently is. This could be such feelings we have of wanting the AIDS epidemic in Africa to be over so that the suffering is over for its people; Or it is knowing that most people love their children but there are a few that don't; Or, even closer to home, is knowing and wanting to do good and coming short of it in our actions and in our thoughts.

Paul says that the Holy Spirit helps us in such a struggle. The Spirit takes our pain and puts it in the path of hope so that suffering works toward the longing for what will be better in the future. Needless to say, the Spirit puts pain and suffering in the context of what will be, not in the context of present limitations. Paul clearly spells out in other passages that the Spirit is our 'inheritance' of what is to come. [Ephesians chapter 1] In that sense, the Spirit prays to the Father in our "groanings" from a position in the future! Looking at our suffering from the vantage point of where we will be in the future, [a place of no suffering] He is able to pray differently than we are. In a very real sense He prays with 20/20 hindsight. The Spirit has the knowledge of a positive outcome even though the outcome is not presently fulfilled in our lives.

This is such a comforting thing to know. All those decisions that are so difficult to make, the difficulties that are so difficult to live through because the future is unknown have a perspective of hope through the Spirit that prays through our sufferings on our behalf connecting us with the eternal life that the Father gives through Jesus life. I remember an analogy from a time when my oldest daughter was a toddler that explains this wonderful vantage point. My wife was in a mall with her one day and there was a crawling contest for toddlers going on with the prize being a Fisher Price easel. She thought she would give it a go with our daughter. So the mothers lined up these toddlers at a starting line and then ran to the finish line to cheer them on. As the toddlers started crawling towards their mothers, my wife held up my daughter's bottle and my daughter made a "B-Line" for the finish beating all the other toddlers! My daughter's eye on the bottle in my wife's hand was enough motivation for her to win the race. The Spirit is our motivation to endure the journey we are on with the hope that at the end we will get the prize of freedom from pain and suffering. Unfortunately, life at times is much more tumultuous than a simple race for a prize. Sometimes its like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark and his many precarious near death experiences.

Second, the creation [all things created by God] feels the same struggle. It's eyes - as Paul so personifies with the language he uses - are on us and what will happen. When humanity hits the finish line this will mean victory and fulfillment for the creation as well. The important point of Paul's analogy of childbirth is that because of the Spirit helping us, our pain is good pain, not bad pain. It's the kind of pain that when its endured it will result in something so wonderful that it takes your breath away. Like a mother in labour who finally delivers a baby, so will be the joy of enduring our pain and suffering in light of what it will lead to in the future! There will be a time when all is right with the world and all our inclinations are for good. There will be a time when evil, and so pain and suffering, will no longer exist.

The greatest thing of all is that there is nothing that can keep us from experiencing this. We are locked into relationship with God because of what Jesus has done both to us and for us. We are kept in relationship with God because of the never ending work of the Spirit to draw us ever closer to God the Father by making us more like Christ. Even death cannot keep us from experiencing this. God has swallowed up death and turned it into life. The hard part for us is believing that this is true, and yet, it is true!

Questions to ask this week:

1. What part does the world have in our relationship with God?

2. Why have we historically ignored the connection God has given us with the world [the creation]?

3. Take a difficulty that presently exists and run it through the "groaning" scenario that Paul mentions? What is God's perspective on that difficulty?

4. What is the best possible outcome you can imagine for the troubles and difficulties you may be facing right now? What is the outcome that God sees?