It’s Neil’s fault. It’s Neil’s fault. It’s always easier to blame someone who’s not here. It’s the American way.
All right, um, verse 11: I ask them, “Have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not. On the contrary, by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.” Now, if their transgressions, transgression brings riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring?
Now, I’m speaking to you, Gentiles. Insofar as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If I might somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them. For if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
Now, if the first fruits are holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Now, if some of the branches were broken off and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and would have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, do not boast that you are better than those branches. But if you do boast, you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. Then you will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. True enough, they were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith.
Do not be arrogant, but beware, because if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Therefore, consider God’s kindness and severity, severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, if you remain in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.
And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from your native wild olive tree and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
Anyone confused? It’s very wordy, and it’s very good. And we’re going to talk about this. There’s a lot in here. It’s a passage that is easy to read when you’re reading through Romans. And go, okay, great. God hasn’t given up on Israel. He’s grafted us in. Nice.
Moving on. But there’s much more to this that I think we can fathom and grasp. There’s a warning in this passage, and there’s comfort in this passage. It’s this idea of the weight of God’s mercy, but also the seriousness of unbelief. Not just for the Hebrews, but also for us. So… It’s an important passage, even though it’s wordy and a little bit tough to, I don’t know, slow down and understand.
So, page 82 starts with a good, fun question. When was the last time you received an unexpected invitation to something? Someone sent you an invite that you just did not expect. Or maybe you avoid invitations and try to not go. I avoid invitations. I’m kidding. Um. I don’t have FOMO, but I have NOMO. Oh. Double surprise. Actually, I think I’ve had that happen before, too. Like, the wrong email address, and I get an invite, and you’re like, I don’t know you. But it doesn’t happen very often anymore.
When you invited me to… Unexpected, yeah. I still appreciate it. I didn’t say that at the beginning. I still appreciate Bill helping us last week. So we could go camping in our camper. The kids always behave better somehow in the woods. We should just have… Yeah, we should have lived in the woods. Oh, gosh.
And everyone’s been through this. When you’re struggling to come up with a guest list and you’re trying to slim things down…
Last summer, one of my step cousins was getting married, and we’re probably the step cousins, well, we are, that are closest to that side of the family. But I also knew the bride’s side of the family, too, because her dad owns the Chick-fil-A over in Sunset Hills, actually, and Tesson now. And I’d had one of the daughters in class for years. I had known the dad long before because of Chick-fil-A, but also, weirdly, because of Cannecock. There were a lot of odd connections and overlap, which was funny and entertaining.
And I actually didn’t expect an invite because, you know, all the people they know. But then we got the invite. It was like, wait, was this was this a mistake? Are you sure? Just because it was, you know, it wasn’t a huge wedding, but it was sweet.
So when we look at this, that kind of frames some of this idea of God’s invitation and God’s. unexpectedness of expanding the family beyond just the Hebrews. And this is where it’s interesting. We can read the Old Testament, and we can see that this was part of God’s plan to include Gentiles.
But the Hebrews, in sometimes spiritual arrogance, assumed that they were still God’s chosen and no one else was to be grafted into this. So that’s some of the context where we’re coming at this.
But there’s a second question in 82 that I think is more important maybe. And it says, what has God shown you about his open invitation to everyone? And I would add to that question. What does that show us about God, about his character? I wrote down no one is beyond God’s love. No one. No one. Which is such a hard thing to remember when someone really makes us mad or we really disagree with them. But it’s an important reminder that there’s no one that’s beyond being grafted into God’s kingdom.
And it shows us in his character, he’s able to use all these things for his glory, both the temporary rejection of his people, the grafting in of the Gentiles, so that hopefully it will draw the Hebrews back to him. It’s an amazing thing.
I think when I read yesterday’s or today’s passage, when I read it yesterday a few times again, that’s what really stood out. But there’s this idea that God can use really hard circumstances for his glory. And this is neat because he’s using, there’s no way that didn’t break his heart. We know it did. For the Hebrews to continually reject him as their king over and over again, of course it broke his heart. But he’s able to use that brokenness and turn it into something good, which is a very neat section for us to study today.
There’s one last question. Have you ever felt excluded from things? Have you ever felt excluded? I don’t know when this switch happened for me, and I don’t know why I’m such a grouch now.
Some people really struggle with FOMO. That’s what the kids call it, like fear of missing out. They hate being left out.
I really don’t anymore, and I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like, poor Claire is like, stop being a grouch. But it’s… But that is a natural human thing most of the time, that you just feel a little bit left out. People get together without you. And sometimes it’s very innocent. It’s not purposeful.
It’s not like this week I heard the junior class girls, apparently, the bigger friend group. There’s not one. They’re very segmented this year. I don’t know why. But there’s a rift for some reason in the bigger girl friend group, and no one knows why. And they started new group texts. They don’t speak to one another. And it was just like… One day, everyone just decided we’re not, and it was bizarre. This isn’t like that. This isn’t that kind of FOMO where there’s this, that now there’s heartache.
This is a matter of, hopefully, God’s people will see Gentiles being brought into the fold, and they can look back and go, wait, I thought we were the chosen ones, and in effect, cause them to then investigate and understand better, which is where
When we read, we’re going to reread 11 through 16. The question I want to put in your head and we’ll come back to is when can rejection be a good thing? When can rejection actually be a good thing?
So let’s go ahead and read 11 through 16 again. And then we’ll think about that question. I say then, did they stumble so as to fall? May it never be. But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world, and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness be?
But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles, inasmuch then I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them, For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
And if the first piece of dough is holy, then the lump is also. And if the root is holy, the branches are too.
So we have this idea, and it’s a weird thought. I think that’s why this passage is easy to like. When you’re just reading through Romans, it’s easy to read it, and you see like, oh, yeah, God hasn’t totally rejected them, but he’s brought us in. Hopefully it works out in the end.
But there’s some depth to this that’s important. So think about that question. When can rejection be a really good thing? Yeah, sometimes it helps avoid sin. Bad situations. What’s that? Avoid jury duty. Avoid jury duty. That is true.
I think there are probably times all of us can think back in life that there was something we really wanted, whether it was like a job or something, and then it didn’t work out. And then later down the road you’re like, oh, I’m so glad that didn’t work out. At least hopefully there’s something we can think of.
I think that’s where unanswered prayers come in. You can be praying for something that you think you need right then, and then you don’t get it. Now I totally get why that didn’t work out. Yeah, I agree.
So when we read this, Paul’s really digging into this question of whether or not the Jews had gone too far in rejecting God. It’s a real question. And Paul thankfully answers and says, he asks it this way. I say then, did they stumble so as to fall? And he says, may it never be. But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. So it’s very decisive. It’s very clear. Absolutely not.
They did stumble over Jesus. They struggled to understand. They didn’t accept Jesus. They did not embrace Jesus. They didn’t like that he didn’t bring about the kingdom that they wanted to bring about.
But their rejection of Jesus then opened the door for the Gentiles to understand the gospel. Jesus tells us that. That he’s going to do that.
And Paul’s helping us understand that the hope was not just, there are multiple hopes. One, of course, that the kingdom would be open to the Gentiles, but also that it would make the Israelites jealous, the Jews jealous, and hopefully lead them back to God.
I mean, everyone’s had that feeling where you said no to something and then I don’t know, maybe it’s a job and the next person comes in and you’re like, man, and now they’re the boss’s favorite. Like it, I don’t know if that’s a good example, but it’s a relatable feeling. And the hope would be that that little bit of jealousy would cause them to want to be back.
You can think of every catty grade school, middle school girls, friendship group. There’s always going to be something like that where someone’s, someone gets mad and says no, so then another friend swoops in and now they’re the best friend, and then now I’m jealous because everyone’s seen it. Or if not, watch movies, because there’s plenty of those examples.
Um, jealousy is a driver at times, and this is a spot where even this too can be used for God’s glory, like making the Hebrews jealous, so instead, and the quarterly said this really well, I like this. Instead of pouring cold water on the fire of the gospel, Israel’s rejection of Christ fueled the blaze. Gentiles everywhere experienced reconciliation with God.
Paul pondered what would happen when the Jews actually returned to God, and he compared it to a resurrection where life is sparked from death. So he says in those verses, let’s see. Now, if their sin, the Hebrew sin, is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness be?
But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. And he goes on and he’s trying to help them understand when they come back, if their rejection of the gospel has sparked something amazing across the world, how much better is it going to be when they come back?
That’s a neat thought. Because God has not rejected Israel. If we had read the first 10 verses, there is that reminder that even though they struggled. There’s still a remnant. It even says in verse 8, In this way then, at the present time, a remnant according to God’s gracious choice has also come to be. But if it is by grace, it is no longer of works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace.
And he quotes a little bit back in the Old Testament. But this is important. And then he says on in verse 15, nope, 16. And if the first piece of dough, how does it say in the quarterly? 16… If the first fruits are holy, so is the whole batch. If the root is holy, so are the branches.
So there’s this unique mystery. And I’m stealing probably, there was somewhere I wrote in my notes. It’ll come back up later too.
There’s this really beautiful church in Jerusalem and it’s in the old city. So it’s within the city walls and it was attached originally to the British consulate in like, I want to say mid 1800s. And it was, they, what happened was.
The British officer that was there, the ambassador, there was nowhere for them to worship. There was no Protestant church in Israel or Palestine at the time. And their home was right there, and they were able to get permission to build a chapel next to their home, which was really funny because I think when they got approval for this chapel, it was envisioned that it would be like the size of this room, a nice, cute little chapel on the side of your palace.
And it’s this gorgeous Gothic church. I mean, beautiful church. And it’s right in… It’s near… I think it’s near the City of David part of the city. I could be wrong. But I used to have pictures. They’re probably online somewhere.
But in the church, though, it’s now a church for Messianic Jews. Or they have a large population that are Messianic Jews. So they believe the gospel. They believe in Jesus. But they’re historically Jewish.
And there’s this… Artwork, and I think it was in two spots. One was on the front of the altar, and then one was on the stained glass behind. And it was a menorah, and then it was growing. The branches grew into it.
I’ll have to find the picture. I’m sure we could Google it, and it would come up online. But it was this beautiful idea that the Messianic Jews, the Christians who worshipped there, came out of the… God’s chosen people. And it was really pretty.
And it’s a special church because they’re kind of the folks that people don’t like the most because they’re, what’s that called? Their ethnicity is Jewish, but they’re Christians. So they’re the ones that, cat sighting. Right there. There it is.
Do you remember seeing that church when you guys were there? Okay. I know I could find a picture somewhere, but it was beautiful.
And like, hearing that story was very special because when you think about this idea of first fruits and the roots, the roots are good roots. And when roots are healthy and strong, they produce good things, which is why this metaphor is really important. And Paul comes back to it multiple times in this passage of this idea of being grafted in and good roots and the healthy fruit that comes out of it.
But before we move on, page 85 asks, what might cause someone to reject the gospel? Yeah, our own desires get in the way. Yeah.
Not understanding God’s grace and mercy is massive because we like to do things on our own, which is silly, but we like to solve it and feel like we can fix this problem that we’ve created.
But then also… a total misunderstanding of what grace means and why we need grace because we don’t understand our sin. I mean, when we don’t understand sin, how can we possibly understand grace? We don’t need grace. If I don’t really have sin, why would I need grace?
So I think there’s many things, you know, and I think this is a struggle of We’ve lived through, like the 90s was the very seeker-sensitive season of American church. And it’s not bad to be sensitive to people that are seeking and understanding Jesus.
But we also talked so heavy about the love and grace that we kind of forgot to ever talk about it. You are sinful and you need love and grace. So after a while, it’s this really good message without the why behind the scenes that explains why the grace was so important to begin with.
Okay, there was something else. Roots, holy, branches. Okay, let’s go ahead and read 17 through 22. 17 through 22.
Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them, and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, do not boast that you are better than those branches. But if you do boast, you do not sustain the root. The root sustains you. Then you will say branches are broken off. So I might be crafted in true enough.
They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith to not be arrogant, but be aware because if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Therefore consider God’s kindness and severity, severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you. If you remain in his kindness, otherwise you too will be cut off.
So again, there’s a lot to unpack.
Were you ever the new kid somewhere growing up? Like moving? 25 times on my 25th birthday. 25 times? My lanta. Goodness. Half suitcase full of travel.
Who were you running from? My dad, usually. 25 times. I mean, being the new kid, is that easy? No. I can still vividly remember. It has been 20, almost 30 years. It’s been almost 30 years.
When we picked up and we moved to Texas. And being the new kid, in a small town in Texas, where everyone knew everybody. They had all been in the same farming community forever. Even at church.
It took years to, like, make friends and, like, kind of be accepted by the, you know, you didn’t have a draw. Like you didn’t, you didn’t say y’all enough. Um, and which is ironic because then we came back, I did say y’all and people were like, who are you? Um, couldn’t win. But like that was, I mean, being the new kid is, it takes so long to be
And then we moved back. And ironically, I remember us really wanting to, because we had lived in Lindbergh and Carrie and I were like, we really want to be back so we can see our friends. Well, it had been years. Our friends had different friends. We weren’t friends with them anymore. So you were the new kid all over again. In the same, like they knew your name kind of, but you were still the new kid again. Very weird.
Happened in college, happened at, you know, going to Westminster. Any time you go anywhere and you’re new, you’re the new kiddo. And it just takes time. And we all know it. We’re old enough now. It makes sense.
But think how hard it is when you’re younger or a little less confident to fit in. This is where you see another sad movie where the kid moves to a new town and can’t make friends. And so he gets in with the wrong crowd so that he can belong.
But the transitions are hard. Paul’s alluding to this idea and how hard that is when he starts talking about this idea of the branches being broken off and us being grafted in. And it says… And 17 again, but if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and a partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches.
It’s a delicate bounce. I don’t know anyone in this room who would walk up to a Jewish person and be like, we have the kingdom of God, and you don’t. No one would do that. And if you did, shame on you. That’s such a weird thing to do.
But it might, but it’s the heart behind what Paul’s trying to help us understand is not to accidentally grow into spiritual arrogance, and spiritual arrogance can look a lot of different ways. You know, this would, that would be the, the weird, like you need some social skills training if you’re, if you’re going to mock Jewish people for saying, but it’s easy for us to accidentally think at times, like, well, we have the gospel. Like, you know, they don’t. It’s true, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a reason to boast.
I think you could compare it to, like, I am firmly convinced that Baptist doctrine is very biblically sound doctrine. But it also means, like, teaching in a school where, like, well, it used to be very Presbyterian. It’s loosely Presbyterian now. It’s hard to hire only Presbyterians in a city this big.
But it’s easy at times to kind of I feel like, oh, well, did you know us Baptists really haven’t figured out? I don’t think that ever. But I sense it from some of the old school Presbyterians who don’t really know Presbyterian theology to know that Baptist theology and Presbyterian theology are almost identical except for a few differences.
But they sure will look down on you because you’re not one of the, what do they call it, the frozen chosen people. They joke about this themselves because they’re very stoic, the old school Presbyterians.
I say all of that. It’s an example of how it is easy for Christians to accidentally feel a little bit superior to others, whether it’s in the faith or those outside of the faith. It’s just easy.
But Paul calls us in verse 17 that we were wild olive branches. We were not the cultivated. We were not the chosen. We were not the ones that there was, you know, thousands of years of history. We were the wild ones. We were the ones outside of the chosen, like outside of the garden and brought in. We were grafted in among them to share in the rich root of the olive tree.
So I am not a – I have never grafted in things, at least that I can remember, maybe in science class. But that’s a big deal, Terry. Okay.
We were in the Garden of Gethsemane, and they tell you there, like, there’s no way to know for sure, like, that tree was here when Jesus was here, but there’s a very, very good chance it was, because, I mean, there… They’re beautiful. They’re crazy arms and stuff. I’m not doing a good job. But they’ll have stones stacked underneath the heavy branches to make sure that it doesn’t break off and damage it, which is incredible.
The other thing is when they graft a branch onto an olive tree, it can produce fruit in one to two years. So it’s very quick. And that was kind of the fetch.
I don’t know if I’ve ever grafted something in, maybe in science class, but grafting is a big deal because so quickly the health of that established plant passes into the new. And it’s why, like, the analogy is, there’s so many neat agriculture analogies in the Bible that for us people who go to Schnucks and Dearburgs are kind of ruins for us.
Like, I don’t grow my own olives, although I’ve seen this online and I kind of want one for my office at home. They have like cute little olive trees you can buy and like lemon trees and stuff that are like. I don’t know, petite little ones that, like, supposedly can just kind of keep growing indoors. And I’ve always been curious, but I’m like, eh, I’m not going to spend 80 bucks on a tree. But, like, it’s a cute idea to have your own little olive tree. I also don’t really like olives, so it doesn’t matter. Other people in my house do.
But, oh, gosh, focus. You have to find a pimento. That’s right. That’s right. I mean, it’s crazy. There’s so many hoops to jump through. It’s just not worth it.
I’ll go back to deer birds. That’s fine.
I will say, when I was in the Holy Land, I did eat olives because I felt like you’re here, you have to do it. I actually did like them there. I think I just don’t love the, like, you sat in a jar for four years and then I, I don’t know. What do I know?
But this is important, this idea of being grafted in, because it’s easy to… This is where some of that spiritual superiority complex can come in. It’s easy to look at and go, well, hey, you’ve been growing here for decades, and you’re just now producing fruit. Like, I got grafted in, and I’m producing fruit now. And that’s… without realizing it, without meaning to.
It’s not like going to a job, and someone who had the job before you that maybe they got promoted, they only made it 70% as far as, I said backwards. You’re able to do things they could never do just because they had different training and you had better training. I don’t know. And all of a sudden it’s like, oh, I replaced that guy, but did a way better job. I mean, we don’t mean to. It’s just easy to boost ourselves up.
And Paul’s warning deeply against that, that do not boast that you are better than those branches. He says that in 18. Do not boast that you are better than those branches.
Let’s see. If you do boast, you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. So it should, it’s a call to humility. Like you don’t get prideful that all of a sudden you’re producing fruit because you were brought into the kingdom. Be humble because you only produce fruit because you were grafted in. Like you were doing this quicker and maybe more effectively because the root is really good.
You did not do this, which is where when you read John 11, 15, which is one of my favorite chapters. It talks about the vine and the branches and abiding. That’s where this idea is so important. We don’t sustain ourselves.
A branch cut off, I mean, you’ve seen this. If you’re out in your yard and you trim a couple branches off of your redbud tree, they die. They’ll look kind of okay for a few days, and then they shrivel up, and they’re dry. They’re kindling at this point.
Only when they’re grafted in, and that has to be done well. I don’t know grafting technology. That’s the only thing that keeps them alive. The root is what gives them life. Jesus is what gives us life. So it’s an important moment that should push us back to humility. Um, let’s see.
But then there’s the warning. Be humble. But then in verse 20, um, let’s see. Do not be arrogant, but beware, 21, because if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Therefore, consider God’s kindness and severity, severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you if you remain in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.
That’s a heavy warning. Like stay humble. Remember where it comes from. Do not think that this is your own ability to grow fruit. It is because of the root. So important and deep and difficult.
And Paul, let’s see, there’s a note here. Oh, the quarterly said, it’s not about the branch, but about the root. We have to remember like, cause we’re branches. It’s really easy. Like the part of a tree we see is what? It’s the branches. Like the obvious part where like fruit and seeds and leaves and all the richness of it is shown up in the exposed part. But everybody knows if the roots aren’t healthy and strong, it’s not going to last.
We had a tree in our front yard. Man, we love this tree. It was a tulip poplar. And we got it. We planted it. I think it was after Bo died. And the kids wanted to do something special for Bo. So we planted a tree and called it the Bo tree. And all we can figure, because it grew strong and big at first.
But then there was one fall where it was just crazy warm and windy for like a month. And this was pre-fire. And it just zapped the tree. And the next year it didn’t come back. It was just dead.
And we kind of always wondered why. Was the root weak? Or they had dug up our, whatever that’s called, the American Water Company. They had redone the water meters and put in the electric one that they can use cellular to, I don’t know. We always wondered, did they mess up the root somehow?
But regardless, at first the tree looked so healthy and it grew big. And we were excited because our front yard needs trees. It’s a hot front yard. And then it died because the root, something happened.
And that’s the important reminder of this. It’s not about us, the branches. Just because the fruit shows up there, it’s only indicative of the root being strong. And we have to remain attached and humble and remembering that it comes from God. It comes from the root.
So there’s a question there in 88. And I like the second part better, but I’ll read the whole thing. When might we feel boastful of our spiritual blessings?
In the second part, how can we turn from spiritual pride to genuine care? I would say, how can we keep a humble heart? How can we humble ourselves every single day?
But what does, not necessarily you, but what does cause spiritual boastfulness in our hearts? Ignorance. Amen. Not understanding the nature of God. Yeah. That’s good. Yeah. Yep.
Like, look what I’ve done. Yeah. And it’s so easy to do that because we live in a world that that’s how we got raises and how we got good grades and how things worked. It’s like we did the work.
In God’s kingdom, though, it’s not about the branches. It’s about the root. And it’s an important thing that’s easy to forget.
So how do we, that second part, how do we go from potential pride to lasting humility? Read the book. Read the book. Over and over.
Think about how many times God’s chosen people said, “Oh, we got it figured out. We’re good.” Over and over again, over and over and over again. Yeah, I mean, painfully so.
When you—I’m done with Old Testament for this year now, but like, can you get into the all the minor prophets? You’re like, “I can’t believe these poor guys are still talking about this.” Um, but we are the same and so often need those reminders.
But I think that the the best tool God’s given us to fight against pride and to push us towards humility is being in the word over and over and over again.
Yeah, I think that, you know, we’re supposed to produce fruit. Well, I think the fruit is the witness and helping other people and creating Christians. Yeah. That’s the greatest fruit there is.
But, so wait, I mean, the fruit is that important, what’s the word, external fruit. That reflects the internal being made right. And it can only be made right through Jesus. It can only be made right through understanding that it comes from the root. Because the fruit’s impossible without a solid root. I mean, our bow tree died after a year because the root, whatever happened, it just wasn’t strong enough. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you’re fine. Yeah. Hmm.
Then you will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. Yeah. So you’re telling me you’re going to kick people out so I can come in? And maybe use this tree analogy a lot.
With trees and anything in these days, and you’ve been in that area, water is so scarce. So scarce. Isn’t it? If you’re not producing, you’re out. If the tree doesn’t produce, it’s got to be taken in. If that limb stops producing, cut it off. They’re saying here, cut it off and graft something that will work. But deal with it. No, it’s good.
With Israel… When your mindset and you’ve grown up and you’ve lived this life, what’s your lineage? Abraham. We are born into this. I mean, they knew their tribes. They knew their lineage.
And I’m supposed to have done things that kept the rules? Am I supposed to let him in without me? Doing things I did to get in.
But Paul deals with this a lot. A lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There is something about that effect, yeah.
Not all of Abraham’s offspring belong to Israel, but not all of Israel comes from Abraham’s offspring. Yeah. So, I mean, I think that shows you there that some of the Jews are going to go away from it and Gentiles are going to be coming into the family. It’s one of the prophets, I think. Yeah.
But it’s my quick little search doesn’t show me anything. Google would probably be better. Yeah. But it’s the hard reality.
And it’s, I hate, and we don’t have any Bushes anymore. Before fire, and we had ripped out all the landscaping. I mean, our house had big used margin. You could barely see out the windows. They were so overgrown. It took me forever to rip them out, dig the roots out. They were a mess.
And then some of the roots, I actually just left them and just chopped it off really low and was like, well, plant around the roots here. And it took years to finally. I mean, our hydrangea was as tall as that TV and as wide. It was great. And every year.
Some of you know my dad. He’s so annoying at trimming things back. He just loves to like… I mean, he’ll take this massive bush and it’s half the size and you’re like, dang it, Jeff! And he doesn’t tell you he’s coming. You’ll be at work. And then you come home and you’re like, Jeff was here. It’s so annoying. And you roll up with the kids and they’re like, did Pops come by today and trim? And you’re like, yes, Pops came by and trimmed.
But… As much as I hate it, he’s explained to me my whole life and it’s very annoying. The more you trim it back, the healthier it then grows. Like, you have to. Like, the big knockout roses we had, he would constantly trim it back, and then it would come back even more full and beautiful next year. The boxwoods, the hydrangea, I forget the other things.
He’s right. It’s really annoying. And he used to do it with our trees. And you’re like, Dad, the tree’s tiny. Leave it alone. And he was like, I just want it to grow better. And I’m like, grr.
Anyway, like, wait till fall when there’s not sun blazing on the house. Anyway. But he’s right. I’m glad you reminded us of that.
Especially in their context, if a tree was not producing, it had to be cut down. They couldn’t waste the resources on a tree that wasn’t producing fruit. And that’s not unlike farmers today. They know if that plant isn’t producing fruit, it’s got to go. I’ve got to get something in there that’s going to produce fruit because I have this amount of land and I need to produce as much as I can with it.
And when we think about God’s kingdom in terms of his kingdom, not our kingdom, it changes the perspective. When we think about us, the branches, it’s easy to get, why would you do that, God? Like kind of defensive, like why would you bust out a branch and stick another one in? Like that seems really harsh. Because in the end, he’s concerned more about the kingdom than that branch. The kingdom as a whole needs to produce fruit. And if those that aren’t producing fruit are not removed, the kingdom suffers.
Terry, you have a thought. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, they give you the tracts and the witness and all that. And nothing ever happened. And it took me a long time to learn I’m not responsible for the results. I’m responsible for the message. Yep. Amen. Amen. I may bear fruit down the road somewhere that I don’t even know about. It’s okay.
That was one of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a step-uncle. Who grew up in K-Life, when I went to work for K-Life, he was like, hey, you need to know going in right now, you may never see fruit from these kids. But your job is to plant seeds. Like, you might someday.
And we had a few that we were lucky enough to see fruit. But it was few and far between.
But now, like, they’re older. I mean, they’re not that much younger than I was when I was there. So some of them have kids. And, like, watching them, like, raise their kids in church and, like, they led Bible studies in college. You’re like, okay, God did something cool here. Like, it wasn’t me. He did the work. But it’s neat to see the seeds you planted actually take root.
Okay, we just keep going because I realize that clock is not moving. That clock is wrong. So let’s read the last two verses.
I kept looking at it. I’m like, oh, we’re great. Not so much. I guess the battery died. Yeah, the battery really didn’t make it.
23 and 24. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are of natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?
This is neat because if we’ve been bummed out by the fact that some branches were broken off to make room for us, this should give us enormous hope that God is able to graft them in again.
And think about, this is where we get back to the beginning when Paul was talking about through their disobedience, look how much good has come. But this is where he kind of wraps up that idea of like, just imagine if you were able to be so fruitful and you were from a wild olive tree, imagine how fruitful a cultivated branch put back into the cultivated tree is now going to be.
Which that should humble us again of like, yeah, that’s right, we are still Gentiles. I mean, we’re not God’s chosen people here. But he’s not trying to make one better than the other. He’s trying to say, look how much more can be done when God brings them back.
And this is where I think it’s really, really cool. Gosh, there’s so much. I wish I had paid attention to my actual watch for the time. Okay.
Think about how, have you ever seen God use someone else’s failure to bring blessing to someone else? I’ve seen it with like jobs sometimes, like people really plummeting and they’re let go and then someone slips in and it gives this. It’s sad, but it’s a huge blessing and opportunity for someone else to thrive and flourish and much fruit is produced.
I had a few good examples. I wrote these down. I’ve got to be fast with them, though, for the sake of time. So this idea, God using someone’s failure to bring about blessing and then using that blessing to bring that failure back to God.
Here’s some of those. I had a few. The best one is in Acts when John, Mark, and Paul have a disagreement. And we don’t have time to go read it, sadly. But there’s disagreement. They part ways. And then Paul does not want John, Mark to come back. He takes Silas instead. And then I think it’s Barnabas and John, Mark that go.
So in that moment, there’s brokenness, like there’s disagreement, there’s frustration. But now the ministry, because of that, grows even more because there’s two groups that are going out and teaching and doing missionary work. And then we know later they’re reconciled because later, I don’t remember exactly the verse, later in Acts, Paul mentions how valuable John Mark is to him in ministry. So there’s clearly reconciliation. So that’s one.
Spurgeon. Deeply struggled. He has multiple books, short and long, on the idea of depression. He really went through seasons of melancholy and really struggled. But because of that, he was able, in that struggle and frustration, to bring so many people to the hope of Jesus because he could speak about those things. Because he had lived through them and then again would restore them.
William Carey with missions in the East. John Newton, who was a horrible, I mean, he was like a slave trader, like not a godly guy. But yet we sing his beautiful hymns because God used the brokenness in his life to then and through… I’m sorry, through his failure, and then brought him back into the fold.
And then another more modern one, Joni Eareckson Tada. She was not always, oh my goodness, quadriplegic, yeah. She had an accident, and it changed everything. But look what it’s done for the world. Like her own brokenness, it wasn’t failure in that sense of the word, but brokenness in the world sense. And then that blessing, I’m sorry, and then the blessing that has been to so many people.
And the reason I ask those questions or throw these people out is because I think what we see, big picture here, is God’s able to use a really terrible thing, really sad, broken, sinful behavior to draw people back to himself over and over again. And it’s an amazing thing.
It’s in the end, like this idea of… God taking something that looks like failure and turning it into something that grows the kingdom is amazing. That should give us a lot of hope that, yes, failure is terrible, but God, which is one of the best sentences in the Bible, but God, but God is able to take failure and brokenness and mold it for his kingdom still.
So the wrap-up question, which we have six minutes. Where have you seen God take something like that, something that looked like failure? It could be your life, it could be someone else’s, it could be in the church, or it could be in the world. Where have you seen God take something that looked like failure and turning it into unexpected blessing?
I have a couple thoughts, but I want to see what you guys think first. I’ve got an example. Okay.
My sister’s son… married, and they had a child, a daughter. But it wasn’t a good match. He wanted the family to go to church, and she didn’t want to. And then they went to counseling, and they got divorced. Now, he’s single.
Now, it just so happens that the young lady in high school that he dated and were really close with, she married somebody else and fell in love. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Two branches cut off, so to speak, and now there’s a new grafting. It seemed to me a family that could give those kids hope. It’s good.
You guys have all heard Chuck Colson’s story, right? That he was like the… Was he with Nixon? He was with Nixon, yeah. I mean, he was the fix-it guy for Nixon. And then eventually went down because of all the behind-the-scenes turmoil.
And in prison, genuinely found the Lord. And the Chuck Colson Center is a really big deal. I mean, talk about someone’s massive, very public failure leading to tremendous blessing for the kingdom. I mean, it’s amazing.
Any others? I like redemption stories. This is why, like, usually those types of books and movies sell really well. People like those. I think that we like that because it reminds us of the kingdom. We may not even realize it, but it does. It points back to the kingdom.
So Romans 11 reminds us that God does not allow brokenness to have the final word, period. God does not allow. God is sovereign and above these things, so he does not have to allow brokenness to win. He doesn’t have to allow these things because nothing, even the most horrible situations, nothing is wasted in his hands. Nothing is wasted in his hands.
We can go back in all of the recorded history of the Old Testament. God has a long history of taking what looks like collapse, and turning it into something that bears fruit for the kingdom.
I mean, David is another great example. Yes, amen. And I would even argue Solomon. Solomon was a mess at the end. But when you read Ecclesiastes and the wisdom that just pours out of that book, and Proverbs too, like incredible, incredible wisdom. Out of brokenness and sin.
And we see it in prophets. We see it in Paul’s life. I mean, Paul was a great enemy of the church. We see it in Peter’s life. And over and over again, there’s these struggles that God is able to not allow the collapse and failure of man to have the final word. Um, over and over again, we see stories where brokenness leads to blessing, and blessing leads to restoration, and it’s amazing. So that’s the story.
Like, the call for us is pretty simple. When we read Romans 11, it calls us to humility, and it calls us to be grateful for the, the root, the place that we have in the kingdom. And it gives us a lot of hope, because also God’s people can still be grafted back in, because in His kingdom, there’s, there’s nothing that, that is wasted.
Um, so the question I have for us as we wrap up, and we’re almost out of time, and maybe this is one to ponder as you go home. What part of your story might God be reframing now? What part of your story is not actually wasted, but it’s somehow being woven into kingdom purposes?
I had a conversation with a friend the other night. It was about the counseling world, and I was like… I don’t know. I was like, some of the things I know that I could encounter in counseling situations someday, I have not experienced. I have not lived through some of the hard things you’re going to be counseling people through. That’s difficult.
And I think the place, I mean, I’ll probably wrestle this forever, but the place to kind of come back to is even in that brokenness, one, I’m not the one who can heal anything. That’s only something God can do. But two, I can still help people see how brokenness can lead to blessing and restoration, as hard as that is. Which really is the hope of the gospel. It’s the hope that has unfolded to us from beginning to end. There’s hope for restoration.
So, before we pray, any last thoughts? No one is beyond salvation. The hope is enormous. And I love that. And nothing is wasted in God’s kingdom. That’s a good place.
Okay, let’s pray. Father God, thank you for today. Thank you for time to wrestle through kind of a harder passage. This is wordy and there’s a lot of… a lot of back and forth and a lot of depth and nuance and context that we needed, but God, we’re still grateful.
Help us to remember that our fruit is only because of the root. It’s only because of you. It’s only because we have been brought into your family and grafted into the tree that’s healthy and flourishing. Help us hold fast to that. Help us not lose sight. Help us to be humble, knowing that it’s only because of you that we are able to do this and that there is no one who is beyond being grafted in. There is always hope. God, we are thankful for what you do for us. And we ask all this in your name. Amen.
All right, next week is chapter 12. I’m still a little annoyed at Jim that he said we had to cut 12 short next week. But 12 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. So we’ll see what we can do in 30 minutes next week.
It’s really sad. I know. I know.
