Romans 11:11-16 Shine Your Light!

Romans 11:11-16  Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?  Not at all!  Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.  But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!  I am talking to you Gentiles.  In as much as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envying save some of them.  For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?  If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

If the first fruit of a harvest is holy, then the whole harvest is blessed by God.  The acceptance of God as the creator and reverence towards him as Lord is the first step to salvation.  With this acceptance, we recognize God as the tree of life.  All life comes from the roots of this tree.  Abraham believed this reality: he believed in God’s work, God’s words.  Consequently, the Bible tells us his faith in God’s realm was counted to him as righteousness.  He heard God’s words and placed his faith in them.  Because of his faith in God, he was honored as the father of many nations.  Also, he must have understood eternal life would be his inheritance.  Jesus confirmed this fact when he told the Sadducees that the patriarchs were presently with God.  But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."   He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.  (Luke 20:37-38)  Abraham’s faith in God’s words and work brought great favor to his descendants who received the law and regulations to protect them from God’s wrath on sin.  The children of Israel lived in great light: the law.  God was pleased with their intentions to obey him, but because the Israelites operated in the flesh and were not born again, they could not be faithful to God’s laws and regulations.  Their transgressions, their lack of fidelity to the Lord, caused them to be put aside for a while.  Their fleshly nature deceived them.  As with all men, the flesh with all its flaws will never be obedient to God.  Although men do not recognized this fact of their nature, God knew they would always be disobedient to his will and nature.  Their rebellion and need to control their own lives would defeat their intentions to obey the living God.  God illustrates this nature of rebellion by choosing the Israelites to carry out his will on earth, telling them to follow his laws and regulations.  Even though his laws were righteous and his regulations would protect them from God’s wrath, the Israelites did not follow the will of God.  The chosen Israelites failed; the outcast Gentiles failed.  All of humankind fail in following the will of God.  Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.  For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.  (Romans 11:30-32)  What then is the hope of salvation?  What is the first fruit?  Where is blessing from God?  What will make the whole batch holy?  God has had a plan from before the world was formed: All who place their faith in the first fruit, Jesus Christ, will be saved!   But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)

Paul worked hard to deliver some of his brethren, the Jews, from the darkness in their hearts.  However, most of them had ears that were stopped.  They could not hear the message of grace and mercy.  They were overcome with the need to protect their religion of laws and regulations, their way to salvation.  Paul in his teaching referred them back to Abraham and to the fact that Abraham received God’s validation of righteousness long before the law was given, some 400 hundred years.  God gave Abraham right relationship with him on the basis of Abraham’s faith in him as God and creator.  Abraham was willing to follow God’s words, his will and not his own.  He was willing even to sacrifice his son Isaac, the child of the promise.  This is the faith God has asked all of us to possess, a belief in the eternal One and his works.  This is the faith of the great people in Israel, the ones who relied on God’s words and works, and not their own.  In Hebrews 11 we see many of their names mentioned as people of faith: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, Samson, David, and the like.  All these people were still living by faith when they died.  They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.  (Hebrews 11:13)  The born again soul comes only to those who place their total trust in God’s righteousness.  God’s work is capsulated in his Son, who gave himself for the salvation of many.  Jesus did not hold back his life for himself, but gave himself up completely for the plan God had conceived for humankind.  He meant to redeem man.  Man could not be saved as long as he held the belief that in himself was goodness, and he could please God through his own good works.  The Jews failed at this attempt to be good even though God gave them the righteous law.  Although the law revealed light, the will of God, they could not please God, for they were born out of Adam’s fleshly desires to be in control of their own lives, their own desires to rule and reign.  They would not conform to the dictates of the law or its regulations.  The Israelites were lost in their own self-will.  Jesus struggled with the elite of the Jewish religion, for He knew they were as the blind leading the blind.  The leaders knew what the law said, but their hearts were far from God.  Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.  What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”  Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”  He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.  Leave them; they are blind guides.  If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”  (Matthew 15:10-14)  Jesus knew people needed spiritual eyes to see the Lord in their midst and spiritual ears to hear the voice of God.

Paul looked forward to the time when the Jews would accept the Good News that Jesus is the Messiah, when they would understand that through him comes reconciliation with God.  The gift of this right relationship with God is eternal life.  For if their rejection of the Good News brought reconciliation to the rest of the world, what would their acceptance be but life from the dead for God’s people?  Praise God, all who accept the Lord as Savior will have a right relationship with God.  Our lives should be lived in a way that everyone will know that Jesus Christ is alive and that God is on his throne.  Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  (Matthew 5:16)  In the Old Testament, we see Daniel threatened by a law that would surely bring about his death.  The law said that no one should pray to any god for a whole month.  If anyone was caught praying to another deity than the king, he would be killed by throwing him into the lions’ den.  When Daniel heard this law, a law he knew was pointed at him, he went home, threw up his windows that faced Jerusalem, and prayed as he had always prayed, three times a day.  Of course, the people who hated him because he was a favorite of the king and had great power, spied him out.  When they heard Daniel pray, they quickly went to the king and told of Daniel’s failure to obey the king’s decree.  In those days, a decree could not be changed; the king’s words could not be altered.  Even though King Darius had great love for Daniel, he had to carry out the law, so Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den.  At dawn after Daniel was in the den overnight, the king came, asking him if his god has protected him.  Daniel answered, My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions.  They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.  (Daniel 6:22)  Daniel did not shirk from his duty to praise the Lord.  He opened up his windows and through his prayers proclaimed there is a living God who deserves to be praised and followed.  He paid a price for that boldness: he was thrown into the lions’ den.  Are we that bold or are we afraid of the consequences of being bold?  The lions’ mouths were stopped for Daniel, but many more believers as in the Hebrews 11 account, lacking a way of escape, have faced horrible persecution and even death.  In certain countries today, people face grievous trials for proclaiming Christ.  Dear friends, we ask you to throw open your windows and to pray loudly to the God of the universe, to display Abraham’s faith and the faith of the saints of all the ages that God lives and He deserves our praises.  Glory to God in the highest!