Jealousy & Arrogance Romans 11:11-24 September 16, 2018

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1 Jealousy & Arrogance Romans 11:11-24 September 16, 2018 Introduction: A common story arc in movies and books related to teenagers is what happens when childhood friends enter high school and begin to take different paths. It usually goes something like this: two girls meet the first day of school in kindergarten and instantly become friends. They jump rope at recess together, play with their Barbie dolls during weekend sleepovers, and spend the summer riding bikes and going to the same camp. They re the best of friends all throughout grade school, but then something unexpected happens once they reach high school. As social cliques begin to form, one girl finds herself accepted into the popular crowd while the other is not. Suddenly, these once inseparable friends find themselves moving in vastly different social spheres. This of course eventually leads to strife. The unpopular friend becomes jealous of the social success of her old friend, envious that her friend is now invited to parties and is welcomed into a group of attractive and athletic peers while she s left out. The popular friend on the other hand begins to be puffed up by her newly acquired social position, and before long she joins with her new friends in looking down on those who aren t as popular or cool as they are. Her attitude becomes arrogant and condescending towards her old friend, and before long she refuses to even say Hi to her in the hallway anymore. I imagine this situation is familiar to you, either from movies or perhaps because you ve experienced it yourself. The displacement of one person into a position of prestige can lead to jealousy for the one left behind and arrogance for the one who is privileged. In our passage today, we re going to talk about something similar that has happened, but not between two individuals, but rather two people groups: Jews and Gentiles. Things have changed in regard to salvation history. Whereas the Jews were once center stage, now the Gentiles have become the focus of God s saving grace. Israel has fallen and the Gentiles have risen, and this in turn has potential to lead to both jealousy and arrogance. So let s take a look at how both jealousy and arrogance are addressed in our passage today by opening your Bibles to Romans 11. We re going to give our attention to v , which can be found on pg. 947 of the hardcover pew Bibles, which I d encourage you to use if you don t have you own personal Bible with you. As you turn there, let me remind you of the big issue that s been the focus of the apostle Paul s over the past few chapters. He s been wrestling with the fact that the Gentiles have on a whole been streaming into the church by believing in Christ while the Jews have not. So the question has been, and continues to be in our passage this morning, is God done with ethnic Israel? How do we understand what God is doing with ethnic Israel in light of the fact that the Jews have rejected their Messiah and the Gentiles are responding to Christ in faith? So then, Paul s going to address a couple of different aspects of this concern in today s passage and the first half of what he has to say forms the first point we need to consider this morning and that is 1

2 1. The salvation of the Gentiles is a cause for jealousy (v ) Please follow along as I read v of Romans 11. Paul writes, So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 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. Let s first define our pronouns. Paul asks, Did they stumble in order that they might fall? Who is they? For that answer, we need to look back to v. 7. It says, What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it but the rest were hardened. So the question in v. 11 refers to ethnic Israel. Paul is asking, Did ethnic Israel stumble in order that they might fall into a permanent condition of hardness and lostness? In light of the OT passages quoted right before this, one might conclude that God is finished with the Jews, that it s game over for them. Plus, back in Romans 9:3 Paul said they were accused and cut off from Christ. So is that the case? Has God washed his hands of Israel once and for all? Paul says, By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. God is not through with Israel, but for a time their sin has resulted in God bringing the good news of the kingdom to the Gentiles. Jesus spoke of this. In Matthew 8, Jesus said this, I tell you, many will come from east and west [referring to the Gentiles] and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom [referring to Israel] will be thrown into the outer darkness. This situation happened repeatedly throughout the book of Acts. For example in Acts 13:46, it says, "Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, 'It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. So we need to understand that the trespass of Israel in rejecting Christ which in turn leads to salvation for the Gentiles is not a surprise to God. It s part of his divine plan from the beginning. God in his inscrutable wisdom has worked out history so that the sin of Israel would cause the gospel to bear fruits among the Gentiles. But this judicial hardening upon Israel is not permanent. We ll talk about this quite a bit more next week, but Paul gives hints of it in this passage. Look at v. 12 for a moment. He says, Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! While the trespass of Israel has resulted in the riches of the gospel coming to the Gentiles, there s a future full inclusion awaiting them. Look also at v. 15. Paul says, For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? The rejection of Christ by the Jews 2

3 brought reconciliation to the world, meaning the gospel has now gone out to the Gentiles and they re finding peace with God through faith in Christ. But Paul alludes to one day their acceptance will lead to life from the dead. Paul is hinting at here what he ll make more explicit in the passage we ll be looking at next week, but let me briefly call your attention to it now. Look a few verse ahead to v. 25. Paul writes, Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved So going back to the original question in v. 11, Did they stumble in order that they might fall? Answer: no, because though there s a temporary hardening upon ethnic Israel for a time, there s still a future hope for them, after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. We ll address what that all means for the future of Israel next week, but for this morning our focus is going to be on the present, on the current situation of salvation history and that focus concerns the Gentiles. Now you might have noticed a very curious thing Paul said twice already: he talked about making the Jews jealous. In v. 11 he said, salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous and then in v. 14 Paul says he magnifies his ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. So what does this mean? Normally we consider jealousy to be a bad thing, but it s not always. For example, if a waiter was flirting with my wife at a restaurant, I would be jealous. She s my wife, not his. No man has any right to intrude on my unique covenant relationship with Karen. That s a righteous jealousy. I think a similar idea is at work here. Israel had a unique covenant relationship with God. To the Jews came the law and the promises and Christ himself. Israel should have received those but instead they rejected them. So now God is wooing the Gentiles by having the gospel proclaimed to them and they re responding to it in faith. As a result, Israel should be like a jealous husband in response. The Jews should witness the Gentiles enjoying the blessing of salvation and say, Hey, that s supposed to be for me. At this time in salvation history, God in his wisdom is pouring out blessings on Gentiles in order that the Jews might be made righteously jealous and respond in faith. So then, besides a future hope for Israel, the door is still open to them right now. Even though God has hardened them, they re not all hardened such that no ethnic Jew will believe. Paul did, and part of his ministry to the Gentiles had an eyes towards his fellow kinsmen to provoke them to jealousy so that they might repent and believe. So then, I think there s a couple of good points of application for us here. The first is that as Gentiles, we shouldn t be quick to give up on the Jews. Our relationship with God that comes through faith in Christ is something that we should hope and pray will make our Jewish friends and neighbors jealous. But second, and even more broadly, we should be living our lives in such as way that we would make anyone jealous of us, whether they are Jewish or not. People should look at our lives and say, Wow! I wish I had whatever it is she s got. 3

4 I know this isn t the usual way we think about evangelism, but might I make a quick case for jealousy evangelism? Grace Fellowship Church, live in such a way that others are jealous of you, not an unrighteous jealousy, but one that causes people to look at their own lives compared to yours and wish they could swap shoes with you. The effects of being saved in Christ shouldn t be a private matter: it should be seen by others in what you say and do. It s something your co-workers should notice when it comes to how you do your job. Your attitude about the trials and struggles of life should make your friends envious of the peaceful confidence in God you have. The way your home life is, in terms of the kind of loving, respectful relationship you have with your spouse or how you interact with your kids, should be an example your neighbors see and want to have for themselves. It s as Peter said in his letter, In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have (1 Peter 3:15). Live in the freedom you ve been given by having trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior and then expect that people will sit up and take notice. They ll want to know, What makes you so different? How do I get what you have? That s your opportunity to tell them about the hope of salvation you have in Christ. While evangelism must of necessity include verbally communicating who Jesus is and what he s done for us, you can begin opening the door for witnessing by making people envious of what they see in you. So that the first thing we need to see about the salvation of Gentiles: it can be used by God to make Israel (and by extension other unbelievers) jealous and through it, possibly save some. But next, Paul s going to address the Gentiles directly and warn them of a potential dangerous attitude that can creep into minds as a result of their newly received position in the kingdom of God. So our second point is this 2. The salvation of the Gentiles is not a cause for arrogance (v ) Look back in your Bibles as Paul now introduces a horticultural example of grafting in branches as an illustration of what has happened to the Gentiles. Starting at v. 17 Paul says this, But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. 4

5 So let s talk about grafting for a moment. I m not into plants so this isn t something I m super-familiar with but the long and short of it is that grafting involves taking part of one plant, such as branches, and attaching it to another plant so it grows by benefit of the new root system its attached to. Now Paul takes this practice and uses it to illustrate the relationship between the Jews and Gentiles. The Jews are the original tree and their roots go back to the promises God made to the patriarchs, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But now, some of the branches were broken off referring to the Jews of Paul s day. But God has grafted in a wild olive shoot into the tree of God s people, referring to the Gentiles. Previously the only way to be connected to the root of what made someone part of the people of God was by being Jewish. But now salvation is open to anyone, including Gentiles, and so they have become part of the tree of the people of God, as God has grafted them in by faith in Christ. The problem is the Gentiles have become arrogant towards the Jews as a result. Much like we can become arrogant when we feel we ve made our way into an elite group, so it was for the Gentiles. It was easy to mistakenly think more highly of themselves because they were receiving all of the blessing promised by God instead of the Jews. So Paul had to step in here and rebuke their over-weaning pride. He does this by reminding them of two things: first, he reminds them of Israel s foundational role as the people of God and second, the kindness and severity of God. Let s consider each of those. First, Paul says in v. 18. Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. We have no reason to be proud or arrogant in our position as the people of God, especially towards the Jews. We stand on their shoulders. Our faith has, at its roots, an entirely Jewish foundation. As Christians, we look back to Jewish patriarchs. We have a Bible that was written for and entrusted to Jewish people. God s promises were originally made to those who were ethnically Jewish. The Messiah we love, who gave himself up for us, was a Jew. The apostles God entrusted with laying the foundation of the church were all Jewish men. We dare not be dismissive of the Jews because it s through them that God began to lay the road to salvation that we re walking upon. So in light of that, don t treat Jewish people with disrespect. There s been no shortage or anti-semitism throughout history, sometimes perpetuated by Christians, and if anything this passage warns us any such approach to Jewish people is wrong. We owe them a debt of gratitude. So it s out of line for us to make racially-insensitive jokes about Jews or use the term jew as a verb for something derogatory. Don t lay at their feet the entire blame for Christ s death what they did as a people is the same as what Romans or Babylonians or Assyrians or any other people group would have done, including us. Instead, our behavior towards Jewish people should be one of respect: thank them for their Scriptures and their heritage and how that has been an important part of helping you come to know God. But it also means we need to show them how their Scripture points them to their Messiah who they have yet to embrace. Evangelism is part of how we should love them, pointing them to the fulfillment of what their faith ultimately points to. Like Paul said earlier, we should strive to make them jealous, not in a mean-spirited manner, but in order to help them see that Christ really is the fulfillment of their law. We 5

6 should humbly seek to demonstrate to them that God s promised blessing can be their if they turn in faith to Christ. So then, we dare not be arrogant: Gods work or redemption began through the Jews, not the Gentiles, and so we ought to be humbled that God in his grace has chosen to graft us into the people of God that started with the Jews. Moving on now, the second thing Paul reminds them of is found in v He goes on to say, Then you will say, Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. We re told to take note of both the kindness and the severity of God. God grafted the Gentile branches in through faith that s God s kindness. But the Jewish branches were broken off because of their unbelief that s God s severity. We re not to take our privilege lightly, and certainly not regard it with prideful arrogance. Faith is a gift of God, made ours through God s sovereign choice to set his lovingkindness upon us in eternity past. God s election totally undercut any pride or boasting we might have because our place in the people of God has nothing to do with anything in us we could boast about. But what then of this warning here? Paul says, If God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you, and then at the end of v. 22 he warns that we need to continue in his kindness otherwise you too will be cut off. So what is Paul saying here? Is he saying that we can lose our salvation? How does this fit with the doctrine of eternity security? What about the promises in Romans 8 that there is not longer any condemnation for us and that nothing whatsoever will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? What s going on here? Let me answer that by saying, No, Paul is not teaching that a genuine, regenerate believer in Christ can lose their salvation. But let me also add that when addressing the visible church, where there can be both wheat and tares, both true believers and false believers, this warning is real and necessarily. Now, let me unpack both of those. God promises that all those whom he predestines, he calls, he justifies, and he will glorify. Paul said in Philippians 1:6, That he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. All true believers will preserve to the end. They may have times of doubt and struggle with sin, but God will preserve them and not lose one of those sheep that he has chosen. But one of the ways God keeps us is through these warnings. We see how God cut off the unbelieving Jews and so we stand in fear. We tremble at the thought that we might fall from grace and feel the urgency to prove the genuineness of our faith by producing the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. The warnings in Scripture are what help to preserve us in our faith. But there are also people who profess faith in Christ, who attend our churches (or sometimes don t but still claim to be believers), but don t tremble at these warnings. They re happy to continue in their hypocrisy of sin, their false pretentions, their own 6

7 selfish arrogance, their outwardly religious words and actions, but don t really fear God. They like the kindness of God, but don t pay any heed to the severity of God. It is for those false believers that these warnings carry weight. The apostle John warns us that some people will seem to be believers at first but they will eventually walk away, which demonstrates they weren t truly saved to begin with. 1 John 2:19 says, They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. So then, there can be people in the church who are baptized, who take communion, who serve in ministries, and who behave morally on the outside, but who aren t truly born again. It s not they were saved and then lost their salvation; their failure to persevere make it evident they were never saved to begin with. So then, I say to you, Grace Fellowship, do not be arrogant. Do not take the kindness of God lightly by forgetting his severity. You ve been ingrafted into the people of God by grace. But if you continue in sin and unbelief, God will cut you off, not that you will lose your salvation but because it will be evident that you never possessed it to begin with. This warning is meant to keep those who are true believers in the faith because you take it seriously and fear the possibility of being cut off from Christ. But this warning is also meant to startle those who are pseudo-christians into the need for true repentance and faith. Many Jews thought they were members of the people of God by virtue of their birth or their piety. Some of you may think the same: that because you grew up in the church, or your parents were Christians, or because you view yourself to be a fairly virtuous person who votes for the right candidate and doesn t smoke, chew, or go with girls that do, that God must be pleased with you. This passage calls out to you to learn from the Jews and don t think the same thing can t happen to you. Examine yourself to see that you are indeed in the faith, that you truly are resting in the kindness of God and wisely fearing his severity as well. Conclusion Now I need to wrap this up and to do so, I need to close with a look towards the topic of next week s sermon. Look back in your Bible on last time at v Referring to the Jews, Paul finishes this paragraph saying this, And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. The hardening that has come upon Israel for their unbelief isn t the final word. They can be grafted back into the people of God because God has the power to graft them in again. Not all Jews since the time of Christ have persisted in unbelief. Paul himself was a prime example of how God could still graft Jews in. And even today, we have what are known as Messianic Jews those who are ethnically Jewish who have come to trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior. So God hasn t wiped his hand clean of the Jews. There s 7

8 still hope for them. They haven t been cut off such that they can never return. There s more to the story yet, but what Paul has to tell us about that will need to remain until we return again next week as Paul reveals for us an amazing mystery concerning God s plan for ethnic Israel. But lest I steal my own thunder from next Sunday, please join me now in closing our time together with a word of prayer. Let s pray. This sermon was addressed originally to the people at Grace Fellowship of Waterloo, IA by Pastor Rob Borkowitz. Copyright