The Kindness and Severity of God
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
About 10 years after the apostle John died, a baby was born by the name of Marcion. Marcion would go on to develop a false-teaching which basically said, that the God of the Old Testament was evil and the God of the New Testament was good. Thus the God of the Jews was bad and the God of Christians, the true God, was good. The God of the Old Testament was about righteousness and justice. The God of the New Testament was about mercy and love. And it isn’t difficult to understand where he was coming from, though he was absolutely wrong. We see moments when God brings fire against Nadab and Abihu or Uzzah or the Canaanites at large. And many wonder why? Is he capricious? Is he just mean? Is he hateful? And the answer is God is severe. He deals severely with sin. He deals severely with unbelief. Sin is a major issue with God. Not so much to people because we’re immersed in it. We’re like fish in the water. But sin is outside of God and he sees it for what it is and he deals with it as it needs to be dealt with. At the same time, God is kind and gracious.
We read in Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
And that is what we see in today’s passage. By grace we have been saved through faith so that we do not boast. And we see Paul explaining this grace to us in its many forms. We see four of those forms this morning, and keep in mind that these all work in tandem. In this passage, we see:
Gospel Grace
Grafting Grace
Guarding Grace
Generous Grace
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.
For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
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.
For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
Gospel Grace
Gospel Grace
The first form of grace that we see in these verses is what I would call gospel grace. And the reason I call it gospel grace is because, it is grace that reconciles a lost and dying people to God. That is the good news. The good news is that we do not need to remain in our sin, but that we can be reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
It was the gospel that compelled Paul to go and preach the good news. He was unashamed of the gospel as it was the power of God to salvation to everyone who believed; to the Jew first and also to the Greek, the Gentile. But the Jews rejected it and so Paul began focusing more on the Gentile people, becoming effectively the apostle to the Gentiles. And by presenting the Jewish Messiah as the Gentile’s Christ—their king too—Paul was hoping to stir up some emotions in his fellow Jew. It’s interesting here that in the original, Paul used the words, “my own flesh,” rather than “my fellow Jews.” Paul so identified with his fellow Jews, he called them his flesh.
When Treye was probably 2 or so, Katie and I stayed at a hotel that had a gas fireplace. It had a clear, glass shield over it and we didn’t think much of it. We turned on the fire place and went about our business. Because of the shield, we didn’t think anything of Treye getting near it until he touched the shield and we heard the searing of his fingers and then the screaming of his voice. He immediately pulled away from the fire. It was instinctive. His flesh was burning.
I can imagine that’s how Paul felt about his fellow Jews. They were his flesh and he was compelled to do whatever was necessary to keep his flesh from burning. If that meant provoking them to jealousy, he was not above that. Yet in provoking his flesh, he was benefiting the rest of the world. Rather than Christianity being just another sect of Judaism, the world was being transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. And how much greater then will our blessings be when we are joined in faith by the Jews!? It will be thrilling! It will be like watching a resurrection of an entire people.
And so, all I would say, to us as a church and to each of us as individual believers: don’t put the gospel in a box. There is not one set way of evangelizing. There are many strategies and methods that God uses, sometimes direct one on one, sometimes in a group setting, sometimes even by shaking the dust from our feet and going elsewhere so as to make those who have heard jealous. But however we evangelize, let us do it as if our own flesh were on the line. As Jude wrote,
And have mercy on those who doubt;
save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Grafting Grace
Grafting Grace
So the first form of grace we saw in verses 13-15 was gospel grace. The second form we see is grafting grace.
If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
It’s easy to miss the flow of what Paul is saying here. He just emphasized that at the moment the Jews have been rejected, but that is not going to always be the case. In fact, there will be a time when the Jews move from death to life—they’ll be resurrected. How does he come to that conclusion? The principles and revelation of the Old Testament.
Paul used two metaphors to get the point across. The first was about the firstfruits and a lump of dough. Which is probably loosely based on Numbers 15. If you think about sourdough for instance, whenever they made a starter, a portion of that new dough would be offered to God. In doing so, they had sanctified the entire dough for the season. Does that mean that every loaf of bread will come out perfectly golden brown and fluffy? No. The same with the second metaphor. If the root is good, then the tree will be good. That doesn’t mean that every piece of fruit will be worm-free and that black spots won’t form on the leaves ever? No. What it does mean is that Israel, the Jews as a whole, came from “good stock.” The little dough offering most likely represents the patriarchs. The root represents Abraham, whom Paul always goes back to to prove a point about faith and righteousness. The remnants throughout Israel’s history had these people as their fathers, their sacred lump and remaining branches. And so, there have been loaves of bread, or we could say branches that have followed in their holiness.
And God, in his grace, has grafted us into that same root—that same holiness. We have been grafted into this righteous root. This was not our own doing. This was God’s doing. When you go outside, one thing you will never see a branch, on its own accord, break off its tree, scoot across the yard, climb onto another tree, and attach itself. It will not happen. Someone outside of that tree must cut the branch and transfer it.
So God has done for us all. He has taken us out of this wild tree and grafted us to the cultivated tree of Israel. Or as Paul said in Colossians, he has transferred us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son. What God did in his grafting grace was make one tree out of many. E Pluribus Unum: out of many, one. This is not Replacement Theology that says the Church has replaced Israel. This is Engrafting Theolgy that all believers are engrafted onto the tree of righteousness.
And the grafting is not yet over. There are more to be grafted on of both the Jews and the Gentiles. So do not lose heart if your flesh, the people you love as you love your own flesh, have not yet been grafted in. I love what Spurgeon said in his hyperbolic way, “Lord, hasten to bring in all thine elect—and then elect some more.” Spurgeon was not a bad theologian. He knew the elect were from eternity past. But his sentiment is the same as Paul’s in Romans 9 and 10 when he expresses his desire for his countrymen.
Guarding Grace
Guarding Grace
But these forms of grace are not limited to gospel grace and grafting grace, but there is a third one we see here: Guarding Grace. This grace comes to us and warns us. It comes and it watches over us. Look at the warning that Paul gave to the Romans.
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.
For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
God, in his grace, moved Paul to warn the church in Rome, as well as millions of believers since then, about pride in our salvation. He wrote to guard our hearts from the destruction of pride. The Gentiles in Rome were to heed this warning in order to guard their hearts and minds from thinking that they deserved to be grafted in, from thinking they were something special. In verse 19, Paul emphasized the word “I.” “Branches were broken off to that I might be grafted in. And technically that is true. But not because they were special. They had no power to nourish the root. Remember that the root is Abraham. The tree is Israel. We are just branches. Our nourishment, our growth comes not from ourselves, but from the root. We are nothing on our own. And if we seek the credit, we not only slander those whom God put before us: Abraham, the patriarchs, and the remnant, but we blaspheme God as well. This is God’s grace that brought us into the cultivated tree. He brought us into this world and he could take us out. So we need to have a healthy fear of God. One that understands his severity against sin and his kindness toward those who repent and believe.
Israel—the Jews as a whole—will not stumble as to fall. But those who do fall will face God’s wrath. The same is true with all people. Those who do not come in faith will face God’s eternal wrath. We who have come, by God’s grace and through faith, will never face that wrath. This is not an occasion for boasting, but for thanksgiving. And Paul, calls upon those who believe to continue in his kindness. But remember, the way we came into his kindness was by faith. Not by works. Paul is not saying that we are to earn his kindness, but continue in our faith.
Quickly, I just want to say something about us Reformed folk. We can easily become prideful in our theology and we as a group of Reformed can become stuck up and unloving toward those who do not agree with us. While we need to take care that we do not partner with false teachers and churches, we need to remember that we are not the only branches on this olive tree. There are plenty of branches from denominations that are non-Reformed. We’re in the same kingdom, we’re on the same tree, and we serve the same Lord.
Generous Grace
Generous Grace
Finally, we see that this grace is not only gospel grace, grafting grace, and guarding grace, but we see it take the form of Generous Grace. This grace is given generously by God. He is not stingy with his grace. He is not begrudgingly giving out his grace like some miser making his yearly contribution to the poor home. He is generous with it.
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.
For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
Anyone who is willing to turn from their sin and trust in Christ’s work on the cross will be grafted into the tree. Even those who have rejected Jesus in the past, whether Jew or Gentile, it doesn’t matter. God has the power and will to graft them back in. Those who did not have the oracles, the prophecies, the law, were able to be saved by God’s generous grace. Do we think that he would not be generous to those who are in the line of Abraham? Again, “Lord, hasten to bring in all thine elect—and then elect some more.” Our prayer is that God would show his generous grace over and over again before our eyes.
Paul’s prayer was that his fellow-Jews would be saved. Remember: he prayed that he would be able to provoke his own flesh to jealousy in order to save them. Our prayer ought be the same: that we would provoke people to jealousy—to want what we have in Jesus—the only Source for all we have and are. We want to see God’s generous grace given to our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, grandparents, cousins, friends, and neighbors. He is able! He is powerful enough to save the most deadened branch, the most hardened heart. Do we believe that? Do we believe it enough to live as if it’s true?
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish these twelve verses, I hope we have come to appreciate just a little bit more God’s gospel, grafting, guarding, generous grace. If you’ve never experienced this grace in your life, it’s not too late. You can have it now. Put your trust in Jesus’s work and not your own. Jesus lived the life you are required to live and died the death that you deserve. If you will put your faith in him, he will become your substitute, willingly and lovingly. You will never face the penalty of God’s wrath for your sin. Jesus drank it all, down to the last drop. There’s no purgatory, no hell, nothing but glorious heaven that awaits you. You experience God’s kindness rather than his severity. But if you die outside of God’s kindness—outside of his grace—all that remains is his severe dealing with sin.
But beloved, you who have received Christ, rejoice in God’s kindness. Continue in your faith. Hold fast to God’s grace and kindness. Live in such a way that provokes others to want what you have. Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you with gentleness and respect. Give thanks to God for his gospel, grafting, guarding, and generous grace.
ADVERTISEMENT