Romans 11:11-24

Gentiles Will Be Saved

 ¹¹Do I mean that the people of Israel fell, never to get up again? Certainly not! Their failure made it possible for the Gentiles to be saved, and this will make the people of Israel jealous. ¹²But if the rest of the world's people were helped so much by Israel's sin and loss, they will be helped even more by their full return.
    ¹³I am now speaking to you Gentiles, and as long as I am an apostle to you, I will take pride in my work. ¹⁴I hope in this way to make some of my own people jealous enough to be saved. ¹⁵When Israel rejected God, the rest of the people in the world were able to turn to him. So when God makes friends with Israel, it will be like bringing the dead back to life. ¹⁶If part of a batch of dough is made holy by being offered to God, then all of the dough is holy. If the roots of a tree are holy, the rest of the tree is holy too. ¹⁷You Gentiles are like branches of a wild olive tree that were made to be part of a cultivated olive tree. You have taken the place of some branches that were cut away from it. And because of this, you enjoy the blessings that come from being part of that cultivated tree. ¹⁸But don't think you are better than the branches that were cut away. Just remember that you are not supporting the roots of that tree. Its roots are supporting you.
    ¹⁹Maybe you think those branches were cut away, so that you could be put in their place. ²⁰That's true enough. But they were cut away because they did not have faith, and you are where you are because you do have faith. So don't be proud, but be afraid. ²¹If God cut away those natural branches, couldn't he do the same to you?
    ²²Now you see both how kind and how hard God can be. He was hard on those who fell, but he was kind to you. And he will keep on being kind to you, if you keep on trusting in his kindness. Otherwise, you will be cut away too.
    ²³If those other branches will start having faith, they will be made a part of that tree again. God has the power to put them back. ²⁴After all, it wasn't natural for branches to be cut from a wild olive tree and to be made part of a cultivated olive tree. So it is much more likely that God will join the natural branches back to the cultivated olive tree.

It's really something being a Christian. We get credited for having a great moral influence by some, and we are responsible for all the world's woes according to others.

I understand the contradiction. Adolph Hitler was a "Christian". It was a "Christian" who killed the abortion doctor in Kansas. But, of course, that's only if we define Christian as "not a Jew, or "Not a Muslim", or "not a Buddhist". The point being, Christianity has now taken its place beside all the other of the world's great religions...we are defined as a group.

But, of course, Christianity is not a religion. And, it most certainly is not a group. It is a relationship with God through His son. It is individual and personal...based upon faith. and, anybody can have this relationship...even a Jew.

So Paul reminds us...just as the nation of Israel was pruned from the family of God it can just as easily be grafted back in by faith...on at a time. Just as you and I can be pruned out if we abandon our faith...if that were possible.

Paul writes these words to ensure we never allow ourselves to be deluded into thinking our relationship with God is defined by the group we belong to. I should be honest here. There was a time when I couldn't imagine any member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church not being a Christian. Actually, with that attitude I was defining Christianity as a group.

Today each of us needs to realize it is just God and me. Nobody else...even my wife...is part of that relationship. It is sacred. It is personal. It is intimate. No name dropping. No credit by association. Just me...and my faith. That's how God wants it. That's how things work best. That's when everything begins to make sense.

Live boldly out there today...