Romans 11 – 12
Paul likes to use horticulture in his writing as many of the people he is talking with are farmers. In chapter 11 he uses the illustration of grafting to illustrate the body of Christ. I found two interesting comments here first in verse 11:11:
So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
This dove tails into grafting of Jew’s who believe in Christ into the good root, but I find it interesting that God now allows Gentiles into the fold to make the chosen people jealous. This always seems odd to me that our inclusion was to make the nation of Israel jealous and as Paul implies not for our personal salvation. I know Jesus was here to save the world and not just the Israelites, but Paul implies an almost shallow God involved in petty games.
The other point is in verse 11:23:
And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
This tells me we can never be too broken from the love of Jesus not to miss being joined with the body of Christ. If you really think about salvation in Jesus this is a key verse, because it says once we believe, we WILL be grafted in. That is so cool that someone who rejects the teachings of Jesus can change just by flipping the switch to “believe”.
I love 12:1-2:
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
I could write a whole bunch on just these verses! We are to present ourselves as sacrifices to God, not in death but in our actions. Sacrificing is not God’s way to punish us, but something we should look forward to do. What exactly does this mean? Is it giving an hour each day to study? Or helping the old lady down the street mow her lawn? Or is it all of the above and then some?
This is something you have to decide for yourself, but use Jesus as a model on this. He was getting ready to hang on the cross and gathers with his 12 closest friends beforehand. Instead of lamenting his pending doom, he first washed their feet. His service was to them and not the other way. At the same time, if someone helps you don’t reject it like Peter initially did when Jesus went to wash his feet. Be thankful and ensure you “pay it forward!”
Verses 4 – 8 describe the body of Christ and each as they function. We often ignore our “gifts” and think someone else will handle that aspect. I did one of those online tests and found I would make a good “coach” or “small group leader”. This was ok, but I hated speaking before others, even small gatherings, so I let others do the work and sat quietly in small groups happy as a clam. We need to take that step, as I did, and follow our spiritual gifts! Accept what you are and not what you want to be, where I wanted to prophesize and heal people, I found my role to be less glamorous.
Verses 12:9-21 get into the characteristics of a Christian and present a model to what we should strive for in our lives. Unfortunately this is not a selective list, where you can pick and choose the attributes you wish. When 12:16 says: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them,” it means just that. We need to do the hard stuff in these verses, not just the easy ones.
Where the previous list of gifts was a selective list and was never intended for one person to do all, this list is a do all list! Don’t miss the blessings of God by rejecting some of these “marks”. We must strive to check off all this list and accept only partial completion.