The Gifts and Calling of God are Irrevocable

August 24, 2014 Romans 11:1-2,29-32 Year A 10th Sunday After Pentecost “For the gifts and calling of God are Irrevocable” Spiritual Jealousy Jealousy can be a very powerful motivator, even for the most spiritual of people. That becomes more and more obvious to me as I stay on facebook. Facebook has become a great way to communicate with church people. They seem to be the most active participants. Pastor’s, including myself love to put our church activities on facebook. But lately, it seems that it turns into a competition as to who is doing the most. For some it is all about bragging about their church and getting attention. But even Paul in Romans 11 says that spiritual jealousy can be a powerful motivator. 2669 The Devil And The Hermit There is a fable wherein the Devil once was crossing the Libyan desert and met a group of friends tempting a holy hermit. They tried seductions of the flesh, used doubts and fears, etc. But to no avail. The holy man was unmoved. The Devil then stepped forward: “Your methods are too crude. Permit me one moment.” Going to the hermit, he said, “Have you heard the news? Your brother has been made the Bishop of Alexandria.” According to the fable, a scowl of malignant jealousy clouded the serene face of the holy man. The good news is that everything that we do for God is relevant. God does not judge between the actions of the faithful, not at this point. And if God called you to perform a task, then it everything each of us does – is for the glory of God and God’s kingdom. And yet Paul’s message in Romans 11 is if you cant get people’s attention any other way, then use spiritual jealousy to bring them into action. Romans 9-11 is Paul’s discussion of the jews. Can the jew be saved, if they do not accept the good news of Christ. The short answer is no, but the long answer is that with God all things are possible. The themes for chapters 9, 10 and 11 is election, rejection, and reconciliation. In chapter 9 – Paul talks about the elect. And Paul’s definition of the elect is a little different than John’s definition in Revelation. In revelation, John is speaking of Christians who God has preordained as automatically going to heaven. In romans 9 Paul is talking about the jews, who have a preordained relationship with God. They are God’s chosen people. And Paul explains that that cannot be taken away from them. God will always love them, but Paul says that they have not always loved God. But unlike we as humans, God never stops being God. If God makes a promise, that promise will always be so. If they are the elect, then there is nothing that they can do about it. But I think that when Paul speaks of the elect in romans he is referring to the jews, but he means all of us. All who God calls, God will stand by their side. The elect are not everyone, but they are the ones who have a relationship with God. If God has chosen you as a child, then you can run all you want, But God’s will will always catch up with you. And those whom God calls, God gives them gifts to follow through with that call. Romans says that God’s call and God’s gifts are irrevocable, you cannot take them away. And yet you can be disobedient and refuse to use them. 3071 To Celebrate Eve’s Disobedience “Eve’s eating of the apple in the garden of Eden was the first free act of the human race. We ought to recognize that act. We ought to celebrate Eve. She began the process of freedom.” So stated the Reverend Patricia Budd Kepler, director of ministerial studies at Harvard Divinity School. Speaking to the Western New York Presbytery, Reverend Kepler said that the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise into reality was God’s way of giving birth to people. The minister went on to say that this made sin possible “because sin comes with freedom and choice.” —Pastor’s Manual God is always God, and God is always going to give you a choice – to do right or to do wrong. To follow the call or to ignore it. To use the gifts you have for God’s purposes or your own. That is your free will. Romans chapter 10 is all about disobedience to God. Paul says the chosen people disobeyed God – but that God made good use of their disobedience. He used it as an opportunity to reach out to the gentiles, and to give us the grace of God also. It is told that once a child stood at the window on a night when the gale was terrifying in its savage velocity. “God,” she said, “must have lost grip of his winds tonight.” To Paul, that was precisely what never happened. Nothing was ever out of God’s control; everything was serving his purpose. The good news for us is that God is always in control. Times of chaos are being used to create more order. Our times of disobedience are a part of the plan. It is used to draw more people in, and to help us to better understand God’s plan for us and for the world. If we are a part of the elect, then disobedience is only temporary – God’s will will prevail. Paul says in Romans 11 that God created us all special, but he also created us all as sinners. We are all in need of God’s mercy. Jesus is not just the savior for Christians, he is the savior for all people. Even the jews that rejected him have a savior in Jesus Christ. Sin is universal, because we all make use of our freedom and choice. Jesus is the savior of all. God’s word does not fail for anyone. Chapter 11 is about reconciliation. First there is election, then disobedience and then reconciliation. God’s grace will make a way for all of us to be saved, even the chosen people. That is where the spiritual jealousy comes in. the old testament makes it very clear that our God is a jealous God. He does not like us putting other gods before him. That is why Paul suggest that we can get jealous as people also. When the jews see that you have a better relationship with God then you do, then they will be jealous, and try to outdo you. And that is okay – because what we do for God is all about building God’s kingdom for all. There was a soldier who was wounded in battle. The padre crept out and did what he could for him. He stayed with him when the remainder of the troops retreated. In the heat of the day he gave him water from his own waterbottle, while he himself remained parched with thirst. In the night, when the chill frost came down, he covered the wounded man with his own coat, and finally wrapped him up in even more of his clothes to save him from the cold. In the end the wounded man looked up at the padre. “Padre,” he said, “you’re a Christian?” “I try to be,” said the padre. “Then,” said the wounded man, “if Christianity makes a man do for another man what you have done for me, tell me about it, because I want it.” Christianity in action moved him to envy a faith which could produce a life like that. It was Paul’s hope and prayer and ambition that some day the Jews would see what Christianity had done for the Gentiles and be moved to desire it. To Paul it would be paradise if the Jews came in. If the rejection of the Jews had done so much, if, through it, the Gentile world had been reconciled to God, what superlative glory must come when the Jews came in. If the tragedy of rejection has had results so wonderful, what will the happy ending be like, when the tragedy of rejection has changed to the glory of reception? Paul can only say that it will be like life from the dead. ll food, before it was eaten, had to be offered to God. So the law laid it down (Numbers 15:19, 20) that, if dough was being prepared, the first part of it must be offered to God; when that was done, the whole lump of dough became sacred. It was not necessary, as it were, to offer every separate mouthful to God. The offering of the first part sanctified the whole. It was a common thing to plant sacred trees in places sacred to the gods. When the sapling was planted, it was dedicated to God; and thereafter every branch that came from it was sacred to God. when others see how blessed you are for being faithful, they will want to be faithful too. When they see the benefits of your relationship with God, the will want the same thing you have. And you can tell them that they can. If they acknowledge their sin, accept Christ as their savior, and live within God’s calling. Election, disobedience, and reconciliation – that is God’s plan for the world. (Talk about the remnant in call to discipleship). Amen. Children’s Sermon Can't Take It Back by Brett Blair and Tim Carpenter Passage: Romans 11:1-10 • Lectionary: Proper 15 Item 7 of 7 | Back to Results Exegetical Aim: Words and promises, especially God’s promises, cannot be taken away. Props: A tube of toothpaste, a large spoon or ladle, and a towel for cleanup. Initially place the towel under the activity to cover mishaps. Lesson: Has anyone ever made a promise to you? (response) What was the promise? (response)Did they keep their promise? (response) We usually remember the promises people make to us especially if it’s a good promise like dad promising you that you’ll get an ice-cream cone after school. I want you to help me today with an experiment. I need two volunteers. Choose two children. I need one of you to hold this tube of toothpaste, and one of you to hold the spoon. I want you squeeze the toothpaste into the spoon. Make sure that you hold the spoon and toothpaste over the towel in case any spills. Have the child fill the spoon. Now, I want you to put the toothpaste back in the tube. (response) Allow a time for thought here. You can't do it, can you? Why? (response) Application: God’s promise to us is like that toothpaste. Once it’s out in can’t be put back in. God makes all kinds of promises to us. Let’s name some of his promises. What does he promise? (response) He has promised to watch over us, and to love us, to never leave us, and to save us through his Son Jesus Christ. I want you to know that God will remember those promises. He’s not going to put them back in the tube. Let’s Pray: Thank you God that your promises will never be taken back. Thank you for loving us, caring for us, and saving us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Children, Brett Blair and Tim Carpenter, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., 0-0000-0000-1 Extra illustrations Have Faith Anyway The place was a suburb of Detroit. The speaker, Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel. The subject: "After Auschwitz, Can We Still Believe!" Jews and Gentiles alike filled the great synagogue to listen to the recollections of one who survived the furnaces of Dachau. Thin and fragile, Wiesel stood at the podium for nearly an hour telling one story after another of the horror and despair of those bleak days in the '30s. His stories were of people confused with their imprisonment and sometimes destroyed with their release. Painfully, silently, the audience relived the events of Wiesel's young life when he was the only surviving member of his family. Finally the stories ceased. His eyes dropped to the floor. There was no sound at all in that mammoth room for what seemed an agonizing eternity. Then he repeated the question, "After Auschwitz, can we still believe?" He shook his head slowly, sadly, "No, no,..." before concluding powerfully, "but we must!" Concerning whether or not to have faith, there is no choice. There was none for that Canaanite mom, none for Elie Wiesel, there is none for you and me. The message of this wonderful mother is "Chose to believe anyway!" You may not feel you are allowed to have faith, have it anyway. You may not feel God loves you, believe it anyway. You may come to understand that you are not included, include yourself anyway. Even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master's table. David E. Leininger, Hang In There! _____________________________ Savior of All People Jesus is not a generic savior, an anonymous Superman from a distant planet somewhere in space. Jesus is a Jew; indeed, he is the Jew who stands as the culmination of all of Israel’s history . . . Jesus can be the savior of all people only by remaining faithful to God’s chosen people Israel, even in the face of their rejection of him. Thomas G. Long, Matthew: The Westminster Bible Companion Divisions in the Church As a seminary intern in St. Louis, Missouri, I was part of a Jewish-Christian Dialogue group. We were seeking to understand one another's traditions, work together for the good of our neighborhoods, and promote tolerance and respect in society. I had been invited into the group by a member of the church at which I was serving. She grew up Jewish, and in recent years had, in her words, "completed my faith" by gaining an understanding that Jesus is the Messiah foretold by the prophets of Israel. One of the dimensions of religious life that we all found we had in common across faith traditions and denominational lines was the incessant divisiveness that split our seemingly monolithic communities into dozens of similar yet tenaciously varied subgroups. A Jewish professor of psychology said of his tradition, "If there are ten Jewish males in a city, we create a synagogue. If there are eleven Jewish males, we start thinking about creating a competing synagogue." A Baptist police officer had a similar tale. He said, "One Baptist family in a neighborhood witnesses until they bring another family to Christ. Then they form a church, and start witnessing to the rest of the community. When another family joins, they have a schism and form a rival church." According to a Presbyterian homemaker, her communion was a little like vegetable soup. "We have," she said, "the OPs, RPs, BPs, and Split Peas!" And a Methodist businessman complemented these tales with an apocryphal tale of a man from his faith community who had been shipwrecked for years on a small island. When found by a passing ship, rescuers asked him why he had constructed three huts, since he was there by himself. "Well," he replied, "that one is my home, that one is my church, and that one is my former church." Wayne Brouwer, Political Religion, CSS Publishing Company