Something very important that I have learned and that is that stubbornness can be a very dangerous thing.
Just think of all of the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts over the years. In fact, there was a saying in Israel a few years back that shows just how stubborn the Israelis can be. It was circulating when Ariel Sharon was still the prime minister of Israel. And this is how it went.
God summons Ariel Sharon, George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. He summons all three of them to heaven in this very imaginary scenario. "I’m sick of all of you," He tells them, "so I’ve decided to destroy the world."
So Bush returns to America and addresses his people, "I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is there’s a God. The bad news is He’s going to destroy the world."
And then, Vladimir Putin tells the Russians, "I’ve got bad news and worse news. There is a God, and He’s going to destroy the world."
And then Ariel Sharon tells the Israelis, "I’ve got good news and better news. There is a God, and there’s never going to be a Palestinian state."
That kind of stubbornness actually goes back many years, all the way back to Jesus’ and Paul’s time. In the book of Romans, chapters 9 and 10, the apostle Paul is dealing with this very huge historical problem. Why didn’t the Jews accept God’s plan for them in Jesus? Of course, since Paul was Jewish, it was a huge problem for him. But as we read the book of Romans, we realize, of course, at least most of us, we’re not Jewish. Why should we be interested in this?
History tells us that if we forget the lessons of the past, we will be doomed to repeat its mistakes. We don’t want to make those mistakes. And I think that’s why Paul brought up the issue. So I invite you to open your Bibles to Romans 9. We’ll look at portions from Romans 9 and chapter 10, as well.
So let’s go to Romans 9, verses 30 through 32. I love to hear those pages turning. Wonderful. Verses 30 and 32, chapter 9. "What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone."
Now there’s really quite a lot to unpack here. So let’s talk about the meaning of these verses.
First of all, if someone is not trying to live right or to please God, then any change in the right direction would have to be a God-thing, right? That’s what this is saying. The Gentiles were not generally searching for righteousness, but they grabbed hold of it when God offered it to them. When God offered them salvation as a gift to be received through faith, they welcomed it. And that’s how it works in our lives. According to verse 30, God makes the first move. God communicates His love. God offers unearned acceptance and grace, and forgiveness. Faith, in all that the word implies, means receiving and welcoming God’s righteousness-providing actions. By simple faith we receive God’s great compassion and mercy.
But then if you look at verse 31 you understand that the key operative word here is ‘irony’. How ironic it is that those who were not trying to live upright moral lives were accepted by God. And those who were trying to be righteous with all of their energy were not.
It doesn’t make sense to us. We naturally expect that those who were not trying to be righteous would stay that way and those who were trying to be righteous would achieve their goal. That’s what we expect.
And this brings us to Paul’s main point.
You see God is the One who decides how the salvation process works, not us. He lays the ground-rules. God makes the first move and then we respond. From start to finish, we’re not in charge of anything in salvation. God is. And God has decided that people are saved completely by His grace, received through faith. It’s not based on our performance or our brain power. It all comes down to a trusting relationship with God.
But why did the Jews fail to achieve that righteousness?
Paul answers that question in verse 32. "Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. . . ." Let me put it another way. When you realize that salvation is not within your power, you can truly take advantage of what God has to offer you. Because you know that you need God’s help. You look to Him, not yourself. Your trust is in God by necessity. But if a person feels that the business of salvation is totally achievable because of his or her own performance, it’s not a matter of trust in God, at all. There’s only trust in self. A person looks only to himself, not God. And frankly, there’s no salvation there. And that was the problem. The Jews were stubbornly looking to themselves. That’s the mistake that we’ll not want to repeat. I don’t want to make that mistake, do you?
I like the way Eugene Peterson puts it, in the message Bible. It says this. "And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing." In their stubbornness, they didn’t put their faith in God’s provision for them. They put their faith in what they themselves could do. They chose to be in charge of the business of salvation themselves.
There’s only one major problem with that approach. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work!
In Miami, Florida, black magic, sorcery, chants, curses, incantations, and voodoo dolls are everyday occurrences in the county courthouse, so much so that an official ‘Voodoo Squad’ has been established. These are janitors. This ‘Voodoo Squad’ goes to clean up dead chickens, goats, candles. They scrub off etched symbols. They pick up charms and other ceremonial remnants each morning. A large number of the defendants on trial in Dade County are of Cuban and Haitian descent and they still believe in the power of voodoo. Relatives of the accused have been caught breaking into empty courtrooms and sprinkling voodoo powder on the prosecutor’s chair and the judge’s bench. In one instance, during a break in a drug possession trial, two dead lizards, their mouths sewn shut with string, were found in the courtroom. Common items found around the courtroom are eggs, which will hopefully jinx a case into collapsing. I don’t know how that would work. Corn kernels, which are somehow supposed to help speed up a trial date. Black pepper, which supposedly keeps a prisoner in jail. Looking at it from the other direction. And then cakes, which sweeten the judge’s opinion of the defendant. Now I can’t possibly imagine any of that stuff really working, can you?. Aren’t they’re just luck charms?
In the same way, relying on our own strength and power for salvation is no more successful than silly, senseless superstitions. Looking to ourselves is a substitute for looking to God. The message here in Romans is that we must rely on God because He is the supreme authority in salvation matters. Salvation comes on God’s terms, not ours. He is the Expert.
Let’s continue reading in Romans, this time, chapter 10, verses 1 through 3. "Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God."
Very interesting. Sounds like stubbornness to me. And it suggests that there was an element of pride mixed in. So in their professed zeal for God, you could say that the Jews were actually working for themselves, couldn’t you? It’s like that Pharisee that Jesus told about in Luke 18:11. You know, how in contrast to the repentant publican or tax collector, the Pharisee “stood and prayed thus with himself.” He was so full of himself and his own accomplishments, he was definitely not focusing on God or his need of God.
Here in Romans, Paul is teaching us that religion mixed with pride, selfishness and self-dependence is dangerous. Why? Because the wrong one is in charge. The wrong one.
Let’s look at verses 4 through 9. Romans 10, verses 4 through 9. "For Christ is the end," or your Bible may say the aim, or the focus, or the goal, "of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, ‘The man who does those things shall live by them.’ But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ‘Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?"’ (that is, to bring Christ down from above)." In other words, to bring salvation to mankind. "Or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." To do something like that on our own power. Verse 8, "But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
The purpose of this Old Testament passage that Paul quotes from was to assure Israel of old that God had provided a way of salvation for them, if they would trust Him. As Paul sees the Old Testament, what is required in the plan of salvation is a decision to trust God in your heart and verbally confess what you believe. And what’s interesting about this idea of confession is that confession means literally to agree with. Here it means to confess to God, to be in agreement with God in what He says. About anything. About the law. About our sin. And about our need of a Savior. To agree with God. And say, "Yes God. You are right. I need You." It means to agree with God about the only means of salvation. Trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.
So what’s the bottom line in all of this, according to Paul’s message for us in Romans? In order to be saved and not repeat the mistakes of those who rejected Jesus, I believe we have to ask ourselves some very important questions.
First of all, do I agree with God that His way is the only way to go? Secondly, am I trusting God for His solutions, not depending on my own ideas? And this question. Who is in charge? Me or God? Am I allowing God to teach me and guide me and help me, in other words? The answers to those questions are what will show us where our focus is.
Research by George Barna shows that fewer than 10 percent of church-going Christians make important life decisions based on God’s Word and seeking His will! Fewer than 10 percent. That means that more than 90 percent make decisions on the basis of their own intelligence, or their whims, or their fancy, or their feelings or their emotions. Without consulting God’s word. They marry or they divorce and they re-marry without consulting the principles of God’s word. Or they move to new cities without so much as a ten-minute prayer. Yet every weekend they sit in church pews singing songs like "Where He leads me, I will follow."
A seminar leader was speaking to a group of business students. And to drive home a point, he used an illustration. He said, "Okay, time for a quiz." and he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth mason jar and he set it on a table in front of him. And he carefully produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them in the jar, one at a time. Into the jar. And when the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit, he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes."
"Really?" he said, as he reached under the table and he pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel and he shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves in the spaces between the big rocks. And then he asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was onto him, and someone said, "Probably not."
"Good!" as he reached under the table and he brought out a bucket of sand. And he started dumping the sand in, and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel.
Once more the question, "Is this jar full?" "No!" the class shouted. So then he grabbed a pitcher of water and he began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. And then he looked at the class and he asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”
One person said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you really try hard, you can always fit some more things into it!"
"No," the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is this: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you won’t get them in.” And that was just a lesson in time management. Put in the big rocks first. Make sure you have your priorities straight. Take care of all the essentials before you get bogged down in the extraneous.
In Romans 9 and 10, the apostle Paul is telling us what the essentials are in the Christian life. Agree with God. Look to Him for the directions for your life. Trust in His solutions, not your own. Let Him be first. Let Him be in charge.
May God keep all of us close and faithful to Him.
Let’s sing hymn number 5 hundred 22.
Hymn of Praise: #559, Now Thank We All Our God Scripture: Romans 10:6-8 Hymn of Response: #522, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
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McDonald Road Sermon transcribed by Steve Foster 12/4/07