Romans 10:14-21

 Romans 10:14-21

Israel serves as a sort of object lesson for us. They, having rejected Christ, might want to plead ignorance. But ignorance is rarely a real defense. It cannot be a defense if it is willful, as in not reading a contract that is signed. It is not a defense if, when presented with truth, we choose a lie. Once we have heard the truth, any defense of ignorance is destroyed. Israel or any Jewish individual wanting to claim a defense of “I didn’t know” is hopelessly inadequate because the truth is proclaimed through the Old Testament and the history of God’s interaction and interventions. In verse 14 we can almost hear someone ask, “How could Israel have known?” The rest of the chapter answers the question. The Old Testament consistently tells of the coming of the Christ and even of His inclusion of the Gentiles. God even foretold how including Gentiles would result in Israel becoming jealous. The inclusion of Gentiles is dramatically seen in the promise to Abraham.

Let’s make two applications for our own lives and faith. First, since we have the word of God, we dare not ever pretend that ignorance is or in some way will be an excuse. On more than a few occasions, people claiming to be Christians have lived immoral, unholy lives and shrugged their shoulders and either pleaded ignorance or apathy. “I didn’t know the Bible said that” or “I don’t care what the Bible says” will be found to be excuses that do not hold water. For those who claim to be disciples we may plead for mercy in repentance but we may never plead ignorance.

There is a second application for us: the priority of the word of God in the ministry of the church, in evangelism, and in disciple-making. The decline of the church in a nation, community, or as an individual congregation is most often associated with a decline in the teaching and/or living of the word of God. In too many cases we have replaced the word of God with programs, glitz, and show. As a result, churches have produced some fair entertainment but have not made disciples. Large churches with large budgets have great programs but produce few disciples. Small churches with small budgets try to imitate the large church, but without the financial or talent resources, they just look sad and awkward. What the church must do is focus on faithfully proclaiming the word of God. Solid biblical teaching passed on from one person to another is hard work, produces results more slowly, and is a lot less gratifying to our senses. But in the long run it is much more effective and most important of all, it is God‘s plan.

“Lord, revive in me constantly a love for Your Word.  AMEN” 

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”