Romans 10:1-13

 Romans 10:1-13

It may seem that Paul is a little harsh with his fellow Jews in this passage. Perhaps behind it; it is his desperate desire to see them come to Christ. Too many Christians have no burden for the lost. We are content if our faith remains “our faith” and no one else comes to be a believer. One of the signs of the certain impending death of a congregation is when they do not care if people come to faith in their church but care deeply that the church will be there to meet their needs and wishes. Paul’s gruffness is coming from a heart that is broken for his people. We need to ask ourselves, who are the people for whom our heart breaks?

Paul’s heart breaks because he sees in the Jewish people miss guided zeal. In every realm of life, there is the ultimate objective; perhaps a gold medal, a national championship, or becoming a valedictorian, to name a few. It was true for the Jewish faith as well. One thought among the Jews was that the Jews would be divided into three groups in the judgment. First were those who were good because of their good works. Second were those who had not done enough good works and were bad. Finally, there were those who were bad, but if they did one more good deed, the scale would tip in their favor, and they would be good. The problem was one could never be completely sure that the scale had tipped in your favor. Even if you said you were sure, one could never absolutely be certain. It was a sort of constant insecurity. The result was a zeal that was misguided. It was a zeal to keep Torah and to teach and tell others, even to force them to keep the Torah. It was a Jewish belief that by doing good deeds, a person could put God in their debt. It was also believed that when all the Jews were pure enough, the Messiah would come. By rule keeping, they believe that they would reorder the world. Among devout Jews, there was a lot of zeal for this kind of theology.

But Christ is the end of this kind of legalism and works-based righteousness. Paul sees his fellow Jews working passionately in pursuit of what can never save them. He is heartbroken over their losses and over their wasted effort and misguided zeal. Like watching a friend pursue a woman who will make a bad wife and make him miserable in marriage, Paul’s heart is breaking. Like watching a friend wreck their life with an addiction, but always in pursuit of another fix, Paul’s heart is breaking. We might know the heartbreak of a friend's bad marriage or addiction. But do we know the heartbreak is for people who do not know Jesus? Until we have a burden for the lost, God will never help us with that burden.

“Lord, break my heart for lost people. AMEN”