We conclude week 5 in Romans 9-10. Notes follow:
Romans 9:1-4 (NIV)
1I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit — 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4the people of Israel.
Paul’s anguish over the lost state of his brothers (the people of Israel) amazes me. I don’t know about you, but it’s just hard for me to relate.
It’s one thing to me to be heartbroken over lostness when it involves those close to you, quite another to feel so strongly for an entire nation to wish we could give ourselves for them.
Where does this kind of love for those outside a relationship with Christ come from? And moreso… how can I find it for myself?
Having that kind of love for others surely compelled Paul to serve God well. I often think I’d like to be so driven and so committed to serve Christ.
Romans 9:17-24 (NIV)
17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.19One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
22What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath — prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
This Scripture really bothers a lot of people because of the apparent conflict with the whole thought, “God is love”. It surely seems unloving of God that He would pick and choose those whom he will have mercy upon, and those whom he would draw to Him… doesn’t it?
I admit, the thought that God carefully crafts and prepares some people for destruction IS a bit bothersome to me. But Scripture is clear… we’re all born into sin… all born under the curse. And it’s pretty clear to me from my own life experience that faith in Christ does NOT come naturally… God MUST work in our hearts to enable us to have faith. Election makes sense to me. The concept, however, still leaves me with a difficult question for which I really don’t have a good answer.
“Why me? And why not others?”
What is different about me, or any Christian for that matter, that God would choose to save us… yet let others die in their sin?
I can’t pretend to understand. And I know this concept of election is in tension with the concept of free-will… that we have a part to play in accepting Christ, choosing to follow Him when He calls.
God simply is bigger than me… He’s far more complex than I can even begin to understand. And I’m fine with that.
After all, what good would it be to believe in a God we’ve got all figured out? In that case, he’d simply be like a souped-up, more holy, righteous and powerful version of us.
I don’t want to worship a god that’s anything less than the almighty, all powerful God of the entire universe.
Romans 10:8-13 (NIV)
8But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This is simply a beautiful Scripture passage… good news from start to finish. Saving news, actually.
Regardless of what we believe about election / free-will in regard to salvation, the truth expressed here is what really matters. “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Believe in Christ. Trust in Jesus. Call on Him.
You will be saved.
It’s beautiful news… remarkably simple.
Who will hear these words, accept them, and act upon these truths?
For me, believing and confessing comes fairly easy. It’s the trusting part that I often struggle with…