“Holy Root, Holy Branches” TEXT: Romans 11:11-24 – Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee – March 6, 2005 REVIEW 1. Paul the Israelite: Clearly God has not rejected all of Israel, for Paul himself is an Israelite, and he has a true assurance of his own salvation. There is a remnant that God has saved. 2. The election of grace: But not all within the nation of Israel were saved. It is God’s choice that is the first cause of salvation. He has known us and loved us. Any other first cause works to the praise of someone or something other than God. Election from God works to God’s praise. TODAY’S PASSAGE: Romans 11:11-24 11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! 13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? Thessalonica and Berea As we return to Romans 11 this morning it may feel like we are walking into a room where some people are in the middle of an intense conversation that is not for our ears. But as we examine the words of the Apostle Paul, I think you will find that there is something here that we must attend to – something that affects the life of the church today throughout the world. To be sure Paul is speaking of events that are happening all around him in the course of his lifetime. We can see that his words, in the broadest sense, are about the whole history of God’s saving work, yet there is something here intensely personal. On the global scale, God is working out a most amazing plan. His judgment of Israel has led to the gospel being preached to all the nations of the world in such a manner that many descendants of Jacob will be jealous again for God and so will seek Him and find Him. Thus all the elect will be brought to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This has been happening over the last twenty centuries. But there is something here that is more particular to Paul and to his first century ministry that must not be missed – something that Paul lived every day of his life as a minister of God’s grace. Let’s look at an example. In Acts 17 we learn that Paul and his companions traveled to Thessalonica, a city of about 200,000 people that served as the provincial capital of Macedonia. As was his common missionary practice, when he came to a place where the gospel was not known, he went to the visible assembly of God’s old covenant people – that is to a synagogue of Jewish worshipers of God. The text tells us that this was his custom. For three Saturdays he reasoned with them from the Scriptures “explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preached to you is the Christ.’ ” This practice may seem somewhat unusual to us in American Presbyterian churches where our pulpits are very closely guarded. On my recent trip to Romania I was scheduled to preach once, but I ended up preaching six times and had two more offers that I had to turn down because of scheduling difficulties. In many parts of the world visiting ministers are recognized and encouraged to give some words of greeting to the assembled congregation, even when they are not known to church leaders. That was apparently the case for Paul, and it was a custom that he took full advantage of. Back to Thessalonica, after three Saturdays of speaking there were a number of Jews who were persuaded and a multitude of devout Greeks. These were uncircumcised gentiles who were regular observers of Jewish worship. Also we are told that a number of leading women joined those who believed Paul’s message. Of course, not everyone was persuaded. Some who became envious gathered a mob and began something of a riot. One Jewish sympathizer was beaten up. The new Thessalonian church sent Paul and his companions to the next town of Berea during the night. In some ways it would appear that this method of church planting was too controversial. Here’s the amazing thing. When they got to Berea, they employed the very same strategy. How does this all relate to Romans 11. Paul knew that God was not yet finished with all the descendants of Jacob. Though the Lord sent him out as an apostle to the gentiles, Paul’s understood from the Scriptures that it was God’s will to provoke many Jews to a productive jealousy so that some might yet be saved. They stumbled over Christ in handing over the Messiah to the Romans to be crucified. This meant that through the death and resurrection of Jesus that salvation had been accomplished and would even come to the gentiles – but that would lead to a jealousy which might in turn lead to the salvation of some more of Paul’s countrymen, the Jews. This was Paul’s daily experience as well as his prophesy for the future. The Root Beginning in verse 16 of Romans 11 Paul uses some important imagery about a tree with various branches and a sustaining root. In this imagery wild olive tree branches (repentant Gentile believers) and cultivated olive tree branches (repentant Jewish believers) are being grafted onto a cultivated olive tree. The key to all of this is the identity of the root of the tree. If there was anything right and true that was happening with any of the branches it was because the root of that olive tree was Jesus Christ, the firstfruits from the dead. Even if Paul is using the term “root” here to refer to the patriarchs like Abraham, we have to ask ourselves the question: If Abraham was a root of the elect people of God, who was Abraham’s root. The answer has to be Jesus Christ. What do I mean by this? During my time in the airport in Paris I met an Indian-born man. We were discussing the religions of the world. I eventually brought the discussion to the root of things – Jesus Christ. It is He who makes Christianity unique when compared with all the ethical and moral systems of the world. The reason is His unique person and work. In His person He is fully God and fully man. Because He is God and man, He alone could do the great work of our salvation that was His alone to do. He alone could fulfill the requirements of God’s Law without the corruption of original sin. Of every other man that ever lived after Genesis 3 it must be said, “In sin my mother conceived me.” But this could never be said about the One who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and is the Son of God made flesh. This one holy man gave the full obedience of one man’s life and then suffered death on the cross so that elect Jews and Gentiles might be declared holy. It is this substitution and the One who performs it that makes Christianity so unique. There can be no tree of the Old and New Testament church without the root of Christ. The Jews in Thessalonica did not know about the fulfillment of their faith in Christ until Christ was preached to them from the Scriptures through Paul. His challenge to them was to call them to see with clarity from the Bible that Christ is the necessary spiritual root for all who will believe. His goal was not to tear off Jewish branches from the elect olive tree of God, but to confirm the soundness of the branches through the proclamation of the root, who is Christ. The method that He used was to call Israel to be the true elect of God in Jesus Christ. Those who would reject Messiah would be shown to be branches that have been removed. But even then, how would it feel to have Greeks declared to be healthy branches connected to the root, while Jews were shown to be separated from their own God’s olive tree. Paul, in calling gentiles to be true “Jews,” was also enticing those who were Jews after the flesh to be Jews indeed after the Spirit. The goodness and severity of God Throughout the world we have a great tendency to ignore the root and to exalt our branch, as if our branch supported the root. We show this particularly when we would evidence a spirit of harsh judgment against others. This has led to much ill will in the church of Jesus Christ. If we will draw our strength again from the root, we will be filled with a Spirit who makes us quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. If we think that we support the root, we will be haughty. But if we know that we are supported lovingly and powerfully by the good root of Christ, then while we may be provocative in our evangelistic appeal to others, we will not be arrogant, for we will always be seeking to bless and not to curse. We know that if we are found to be without true faith, then we will be shown to be apart from the vine of life. And we also know that others who we might be tempted to despise, if they should be shown to have true faith, they could be grafted into the tree of the visible church again. Are the Orthodox “orthodox?” With that important note of humility before God, let me give some examples of appropriately provocative evangelism in the spirit of Paul’s appeal to Jews. The Romanian Orthodox Church, comprising over 80% of the population of their country, prides herself in the fact that she is not some new religion. She claims to come from original apostolic work. Groups like Baptists and Pentecostals are respectfully but derisively referred to as “Neo-protestants.” What’s in a name? Over 80% of a people claim to be “orthodox.” I met a Romanian-born American and her 8 year-old daughter on my way back to Boston. Our flight from Boston was delayed because of weather conditions. It became clear that we would not be allowed on the flight to Boston, the flight would not leave the ground for 90 minutes – a very frustrating experience. She began to cry at one point. I told her “Dumnezeu ştie” – “God, He knows,” and she immediately gained some composure and made a sign of the cross on herself three times. What happened there? I called her back to an orthodox idea. God – He knows. But I ask you again. What is in a name? Here’s the provocative question: How “orthodox” are the Orthodox? What is the meaning of the word “orthodox?” Historically to be orthodox is to be the opposite of a heretic. Can you be orthodox and have no vital connection to the root of the Romans 11 tree? Many act as if it is possible. I’m quite certain it is not. What about the word “catholic?” My father used to have trouble remembering the name “Presbyterian.” More than once he asked me, “Stephen, what is the name of your sect again.” To be catholic is to be contrasted from what is sectarian. The former is world-wide and connected as the church of God. The latter is divided and separated. But can you be truly “catholic” and yet not calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus, who is the root of the one Christian tree? Many think of themselves as catholic, but they really are not. “Evangelical” comes from a Greek root meaning the “gospel.” The gospel is the good news of the life and death of Jesus Christ as a substitute for sinners saved by God’s grace alone. How “evangelical” are the Evangelicals? And how “reformed” are the Reformed? Are they really dedicated to seeing the worship and doctrine of the church continually derived from the Scripture? That’s what the word means. Presbyterians get their name because they believe that church government is a matter of divine law. But how Presbyterian and Reformed are we if we stray from Jesus Christ, who is the King of the kingdom? You see, without Jesus, who is the root of the tree of the church, we have nothing. No other name will save us, no matter how proper it may sound. Yet we have wandered from Jesus. Where are we then? True faith in Jesus Christ is the answer for Jew and Gentile, and true faith TODAY always leads to faithfulness TODAY. That’s how you know that you are straying from the Lord. The Lord is looking for orthodoxy among all men, and I hope that it makes many who call themselves Orthodox jealous for Jesus. The Lord is looking for catholicism among all men, and I hope that it makes more Catholics jealous for Jesus. The Lord is gathering Christians among all men everywhere. Let us work together in His great enterprise. Let us seek for true Israelites among every tribe and tongue and nation, so that elect branches might be grafted into the tree whose root is Christ, to the eternal glory of our triune God.