Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 11:17-24 (NLT)

But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree — some of the people of Israel — have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.

“Well,” you may say, “those branches were broken off to make room for me.” Yes, but remember — those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t spare you either.

Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. You, by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong.
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Reflection: Romans 11:17-24  (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The plan of God for Jews and Gentiles: (Romans 9–11)

The dominant theme [of these three chapters] is Jewish unbelief, together with the problems which it raised…. Each chapter handles a different aspect of God’s relation to Israel, past, present and future:

1. Israel’s fall (9: 1– 33): God’s purpose of election
2. Israel’s fault (10: 1– 21): God’s dismay over her disobedience
3. Israel’s future (11: 1– 32): God’s long-term design
4. Doxology (11: 33– 36): God’s wisdom and generosity

Israel’s future: God’s long-term design (11:1–32)

The future prospect (11:11-32)

Israel… has not stumbled so as to fall beyond recovery, but rather to rise, and in that rise both to experience, and to cause Gentiles to experience, greater blessings than would have been the case if they had not fallen in the first place.

The allegory of the olive tree (17–24)

The warning to the believing Gentiles is clear. The olive has experienced both a pruning and a grafting. Some branches have been cut out of the cultivated tree. That is, some Jews have been rejected. And in their place a wild shoot has been grafted in. That is, some Gentiles have believed and been welcomed into God’s covenant people.

Do not boast over those branches. This is the warning, which Paul corroborates with a number of arguments.

First, remember your dependence on the root, for branches have no life in themselves.

Second, reflect that your stability is due to your faith alone…. Your position is decidedly vulnerable.

Third, do not be arrogant, but be afraid…. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either, for you do not naturally belong.

Fourth, constantly meditate on the character of God. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God, sternness in judgment upon those who fell, the apostate Jews, but kindness to you, believing Gentiles, who have been incorporated by his sheer grace alone, provided that you continue in his kindness.

Continuance or perseverance is the hallmark of God’s authentic children.
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My Soul’s Been Anchored In The Lord

In the Lord. My soul’s been anchored, Hallelujah, my soul’s been anchored in the Lord.

Before I’d stay in hell one day I’d sing and pray my self away. In the Lord. My soul’s been anchored, Hallelujah, in the Lord.

Gonna shout and pray and never stop until I reach the mountain top. In the Lord. My soul’s been anchored, Hallelujah, in the Lord.

Do you love him? God Almighty? Are you anchored? My soul’s been anchored in the Lord. Will you serve him? God Almighty? Are you anchored? My soul’s been anchored in the Lord. Hallelujah, will you praise him? God almighty?

Are you anchored? My soul’s been anchored in the Lord. Lord I’m anchored, Lord I love you, yes I’ll serve you, Lord I praise you. Hallelujah! My soul’s been anchored in the Lord.
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Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
__________

A reading from Romans: Romans 11:11-16 (NLT)

Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.

I am saying all this especially for you Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. I stress this, for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have, so I might save some of them. For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead! And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy — just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.
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Reflection: Romans 11:11-16  (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The plan of God for Jews and Gentiles: (Romans 9–11)

The dominant theme [of these three chapters] is Jewish unbelief, together with the problems which it raised…. Each chapter handles a different aspect of God’s relation to Israel, past, present and future:

1. Israel’s fall (9: 1– 33): God’s purpose of election
2. Israel’s fault (10: 1– 21): God’s dismay over her disobedience
3. Israel’s future (11: 1– 32): God’s long-term design
4. Doxology (11: 33– 36): God’s wisdom and generosity

Israel’s future: God’s long-term design (11:1–32)

The future prospect (11:11-32)

Israel’s fall, which in the first paragraph he has proved to be not total, is not final either. On the contrary, far from their being on a downward spiral, the spiral is upwards. They have not stumbled so as to fall beyond recovery, but rather to rise, and in that rise both to experience, and to cause Gentiles to experience, greater blessings than would have been the case if they had not fallen in the first place. Such is God’s merciful providence.

A chain of blessing (11–16)

It is essential to grasp Paul’s sequence of thought in this paragraph, since it recurs with modifications throughout the chapter. It is like a chain with three links.

First, already through Israel’s fall salvation has come to the Gentiles…. The Jews had rejected the gospel and the Gentiles had accepted it…. God thus overruled the sin of Israel for the salvation of the Gentiles.

Second, this Gentile salvation will make Israel envious and so lead to her restoration or ‘fullness’…. When Israel sees the blessings of salvation being enjoyed by believing Gentiles (their reconciliation to God and to each other, their forgiveness, their love, joy and peace through the Spirit), they will covet these blessings for themselves and, it is implied, will repent and believe in Jesus in order to secure them. Thus provoked to envy, they will be led to conversion.

Third, Israel’s fullness will bring yet much greater riches to the world…. As for the Gentiles… the blessing which they will receive through Israel’s fullness is called much greater riches, i.e. ‘the reconciliation of the world’, surely because Christ ‘has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility’ both between them and God and between them and the Jews.

Thus the blessing ricochets from Israel to the Gentiles, from the Gentiles back to Israel, and from Israel to the Gentiles again.
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Return Back to Me, My Love Israel

Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
__________

A reading from Romans: Romans 11:1-10 (NLT)

I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said, “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

And do you remember God’s reply? He said, “No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!”

It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace — his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is — free and undeserved.

So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have — the ones God has chosen — but the hearts of the rest were hardened. As the Scriptures say,

“God has put them into a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear.”

Likewise, David said,

“Let their bountiful table become a snare, a trap that makes them think all is well. Let their blessings cause them to stumble, and let them get what they deserve. Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and let their backs be bent forever.”

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Reflection: Romans 11:1-10  (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The plan of God for Jews and Gentiles: (Romans 9–11)

The dominant theme [of these three chapters] is Jewish unbelief, together with the problems which it raised…. Each chapter handles a different aspect of God’s relation to Israel, past, present and future:

1. Israel’s fall (9: 1– 33): God’s purpose of election
2. Israel’s fault (10: 1– 21): God’s dismay over her disobedience
3. Israel’s future (11: 1– 32): God’s long-term design
4. Doxology (11: 33– 36): God’s wisdom and generosity

Israel’s future: God’s long-term design (11:1–32)

The present situation (11:1-10)

God did not reject his people…. and [Paul] brings forward four pieces of evidence to back it up.

The first is personal: he himself as a Jew was proof that God had not rejected his people, not even him, the blasphemer and persecutor ‘who with all his strength had contended against God’.

The second is theological: he describes [the people of the covenant] as God’s people, whom he foreknew (foreloved)…. Foreknowledge and rejection are mutually incompatible.

The third is biblical: God said: ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal’…. Although the doctrine of the remnant was not developed until Isaiah’s time, the faithful remnant itself already existed during the prophetic ministry of Elijah at least a century earlier.

The fourth was contemporary: in Paul’s day, there is a remnant…. The chief characteristic of this remnant was that it had been chosen by grace… Literally, it had come into existence ‘according to the election of grace’…. ‘Grace’ emphasizes that God has called the remnant into being…. For grace is God’s gracious kindness to the undeserving….

How does Paul apply this remnant theology to the facts of his own day and experience? It obliges him to stop generalizing about ‘Israel’ and to make a division. For what Israel sought so earnestly (presumably the righteousness of 9: 31) it did not obtain, at least not as a whole; but the elect did, namely those who were chosen by grace (5) and so justified by faith. The others, the unbelieving Israelite majority, were hardened (7).
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By Grace Alone

Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
__________

A reading from Romans: Romans 10:16-21 (NLT)

But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?” So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have:

“The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world.”

But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand? Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said,

“I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation. I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.”

And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God, saying,

“I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.”

But regarding Israel, God said,

“All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.”

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Reflection: Romans 10:16-21  (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The plan of God for Jews and Gentiles: (Romans 9–11)

The dominant theme [of these three chapters] is Jewish unbelief, together with the problems which it raised…. Each chapter handles a different aspect of God’s relation to Israel, past, present and future:

1. Israel’s fall (9: 1– 33): God’s purpose of election
2. Israel’s fault (10: 1– 21): God’s dismay over her disobedience
3. Israel’s future (11: 1– 32): God’s long-term design
4. Doxology (11: 33– 36): God’s wisdom and generosity

Israel’s fault: God’s dismay over her disobedience (10:1–21)

(10:16-21) The reason for Israel’s unbelief

God’s initiative to Israel is even more pronounced [than to the Gentiles]. He does not simply allow himself to be found; he actively holds out his hands to them. Like a parent inviting a child to come home, offering a hug and a kiss, and promising a welcome, so God has opened and stretched out his arms to his people, and has kept them continuously outstretched, all day long, pleading with them to return. But he has received no response. They do not even give him the neutral response of the Gentiles, who decline either to ask or to seek. No, their response is negative, resistant, recalcitrant, dismissive. They are determined to remain a disobedient and obstinate people. We feel God’s dismay, his grief.
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Hear O Israel & Come People of the Risen King

Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen