Who Wants to Join Us?

Meditations on Romans

September 9, 2021

Who Wants to Join Us?

Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves.

Romans 11:11

Read Romans 11:7-15

For me, one of the most powerful OT passages is Joseph’s response to his brothers when he is reunited with them: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people” (Genesis 50:20). This passage carries the same theme as Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” With these two passages in mind, we can look at today’s reading and have a better sense of what Paul is explaining to the Jews and Gentiles in Rome.

Jesus the Messiah was a stumbling block to the Jews, and therefore God made Jesus to be the Savior of the entire world. If Israel had embraced their Messiah, he would have enabled them to fulfill their mission to be God’s light to the world. When Israel rejected their Messiah, God bypassed the need for Israel to be His light, and through Paul and others proclaimed Jesus as the Good News directly to the Gentiles. What Israel had intended for evil, God has used for good.

My Takeaway: I am reminded of the title of one of James Moore’s collections of sermons, When You're a Christian...The Whole World Is From Missouri: Living the Life of Faith in a "Show Me" World. Paul said God hoped the Jews would be jealous of all the Gentiles coming to faith, through Jesus, in their God, and would thus want to join them. When the world looks at me, or you, are they favorably impressed by our life of faith and thus want to join us? 

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.