Main Text: Romans 15:8-13
3 Ways of viewing this truth from scripture:
- Theological Content – God’s framework
- Chronological Context – God’s timing
- Practical Application – God’s people
Let’s have a brief look at each of these with this passage of scripture…
“Remember that Jesus Christ came to show that God is true to his promises and to help the Jews. And remember that he came also that the Gentiles might be saved and give glory to God for his mercies to them. That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote: “I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.”
“And in another place, “Be glad, O you Gentiles, along with his people the Jews.”
“And yet again, “Praise the Lord, O you Gentiles; let everyone praise him.”
“And the prophet Isaiah said, “There shall be an Heir in the house of Jesse, and he will be King over the Gentiles; they will pin their hopes on him alone.”
“So I pray for you Gentiles that God who gives you hope will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. I pray that God will help you overflow with hope in him through the Holy Spirit’s power within you.”
Jews & Gentiles:
The Jews: God’s chosen people. Old Testament they were the Hebrews/Israelites. They knew the Word of God (our Old Testament).
The Gentiles: Basically everyone else. Non-Jewish people
- Theological Content – God’s framework
The Gentiles were not cool as far as the people of God go…
1 Chron 16 “Save us, O God of our salvation; Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles,”
Psalm 106 And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, “
Jeremiah 10:2 Thus says the Lord: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, who do not know You,
Hosea 8:8 Israel is swallowed up; Now they are among the Gentiles Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
So, in a theological context, the Gentiles were definitely not cool in the eyes of the Jews.
Paul wrote this letter to the Gentiles: The Romans. The very ones who crucified Jesus.
“Be glad, O you Gentiles, along with his people the Jews.”
That would not have been a popular message among the Jews!
There’s a reason that Paul needed to bring strong words and direction to the Roman church and possibly why Romans became known by many as the greatest single book of doctrine in the Bible.
So, what about the Jews?
“Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,”
The scripture says that Christ was sent to them directly to confirm the promises of scripture.
We know that multiple prophecies were fulfilled with Christ’s coming, ministry, & death but the Jews couldn’t see it… and many still can’t!
Know that the Jews have not been cut off from God, rather, we have been grafted into their story!
The Jews were also the ones who stirred up the Gentiles to crucify Christ. So really, they didn’t have a finger to point with…
Thus, the theological context was that the Gentiles were the outcasts and the Jews were blind to what God was doing.
- Chronological Context – God’s timing
“…Jesus Christ came to show that God is true to his promises and to help the Jews. 9 And remember that he came also that the Gentiles might be saved and give glory to God for his mercies to them.”
Why did the Jews need help? Stuck in religion. Hadn’t heard from God in a long time.
400 years in fact.
However, they were still the people of God, and I may turn to my past life as a plumber to illustrate…
It is actually better to turn sewerage into fresh water than it is to convert salt water, as sewerage once was fresh water.
The Jews were once the fresh water of God.
During his ministry, Jesus sent out the twelve saying, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.”
This is why the disciples were so surprised to see Him talking to the woman at the well, who was a Samaritan.
John 4:9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritanwoman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Then the woman with the demon possessed daughter:
Mark 7:27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
She replied, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs from under the table.”
You see, It was God’s time for the gentiles… AFTER Jesus had completed His work.
God went out of His way to show how he would include the gentiles:
He was crucified at Golgotha, a site immediately outside Jerusalem’s walls, a place where gentiles were allowed to freely gather.
Matt 27:51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,
The veil that separated common people from the presence of God, was gone.
“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation…”
Ephesians 2 “that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
- Practical Application – God’s people
“And remember that he came also that the Gentiles might be saved and give glory to God for his mercies to them.”
Christ loved the unlovable, we are called to do the same:
Luke 7 “Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”
See, even though Christ wasn’t sent to minister directly to the Gentiles, He never turned them away.
The people that the religious world rejected, Christ received to Himself.
* How to apply Christ’s love in a world that shouts, “Tolerance”.
We, the Church, always speak of “God’s unconditional love” and indeed it is unconditional. In the sense that it is available to all.
But who knows that there are conditions attached to receiving His love?
- An open heart is the main pre-requisite for receiving
Two thieves on their own cross with Jesus when He was crucified: of those two, to who was God’s grace available? Who received it?
The inclusiveness of Christ to the sinner, did not include those who were:
- Persistent in their sin. To the woman caught in adultery He said, “Go and sin no more”
- Those who were in the church yet remained in sin.
- Willingly ignorant of God’s Word
BUT, nowhere does it say that we are:
- To be rude to them
- Not to love them
When Alexander the coppersmith wronged Paul, he simply put it in 2 Tim 4:14, “Alexander the Coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.
We, the Church, are to accept and love as Christ brings people to us, knowing that once upon a time we were that person, or have the potential to be!
Yes, Christ is the hope of the Jew and the Gentile and the world as we know it is getting smaller.
In many ways the world is becoming a more accepting place of all our differences.
And in many ways, their cry of tolerance is really tolerance as long as it goes along with their thinking.
God doesn’t think like this world and that’s why the world doesn’t understand God’s Word.
The takeaway from all this, is that God’s plan included YOU from the beginning.
God’s plan for the Gentiles (us?) is written into the fabric of His word all through the O.T.
You were never not in His mind.
Know that you are loved.
Go and do the same.
Be blessed & be a blessing,
Graham.