Grafted Into Christ.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Alright, go ahead and have a seat. Welcome to Village Church. If this is your first time here, [0:04] my name’s Steve, one of the pastors here at Village Church, and as always, I’m thankful and [0:08] grateful to see each and every one of you. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open up to [0:12] Romans chapter 11. We’re going to be starting in verse 11, and by God’s grace, we’ll make it down [0:17] to verse 24 today. But before we get into that, I just want to let you know about something that’s [0:23] going on this evening. If this is your first time here, or if you’ve been here just for a couple

[0:28] weeks, maybe a month or two, and you haven’t had an opportunity, or if you would like the opportunity [0:34] to meet the pastors here, to sit down and have a cup of coffee with us here, a little bit more [0:40] about the vision of the church, hear a little bit more about why we’re here, how we started, [0:45] and just kind of our core values and our mission overall, and then have a brief time of Q&A at the [0:49] end. Tonight at 5 o’clock, we’re starting something new called Pastors Coffee Connect. [0:54] On Sunday mornings, it’s difficult at times for me to connect with all of you. Actually,

[1:00] it’s basically impossible. You’re either getting here at five minutes after the service has already [1:05] started, or you really want to get to lunch, so you run out the door. What I would love is just an [1:10] opportunity to be able to meet with some of you face-to-face and give you the opportunity to hang [1:16] out for a bit and hear about us. And so we’re going to do that the first Sunday of every month, [1:20] and tonight is the first Sunday of March, so we’re going to be doing it this evening. I think it’s [1:25] going to be a great time. I hope it’s a good time, because I don’t like to not have a good time,

[1:30] and I’m going to be here, so I’m going to do everything to make it fun and give us a good [1:34] time together. It’s going to start at 5. We’re going to end it at 6. It’s just going to be an [1:39] hour of just getting to know one another and really give you guys an environment where you [1:43] can meet the pastors here at Village Church. So please, this is a personal invitation from me [1:48] to you so that I can have the opportunity to meet some of you guys. But go ahead and pray with me [1:53] before we get into the Word this morning. Our Father, you are gracious. You are good. You are

[2:03] generous. You are faithful. Lord, through this morning as we’ve worshiped you, as we’ve recounted [2:14] your promises and your ability to keep those promises, I want to pray that through your Word [2:19] today that you would allow us to grasp more of your gospel than we understood before we came [2:26] together, to be inspired to live more faithfully for you and to follow you with more passion. [2:35] Lord, may we be a people who are marked by trust in the gospel and mission for the gospel. [2:42] And this morning I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would open our hearts,

[2:46] soften them to receive your Word today. Open our minds that we may receive your Word and [2:52] believe your gospel. And when we walk away from this place, may we walk away worshiping [2:59] having met with you this morning. It’s in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen. [3:05] Well, last week we started Romans chapter 11 and we’ve been kind of going through the Book of [3:11] Romans for 49 different weeks at this point. And so we’re well into the book. But we started [3:19] Romans 11 and in Romans, Paul has sought really from chapter 1 until right now to unpack God’s

[3:26] plan for salvation. And from Romans 9 through 11, which is the specific section that we’re in right [3:33] now, Paul addresses the specifics of God’s power to ensure that salvation is certain [3:40] through Jesus. But he also wants us to be informed of Israel’s involvement of that. [3:48] In a couple of weeks, we’re going to get into Romans chapter 12. And that really does mark [3:52] a significant change and really what Paul is seeking to tell us through the Book of Romans. [3:57] And from chapter 12 through chapter 16, what he’s going to do is he’s going to unpack for us really

[4:02] the applicable thoughts of Christianity. How does this faith that we have impact our daily lives? [4:09] But before that, he unpacks information. The gospel of Jesus is good news that we receive. [4:16] Therefore, it’s filled with information. And he doesn’t want us to be ignorant of our faith, [4:21] but rather he wants us to be well informed of our faith. And in that, what he’s seeking to show, [4:26] specifically through chapter 9 through 11, is that this is a faith that God has ensured through [4:32] Jesus, but also secured through Jesus. That his promises have weight behind them because he is

[4:38] completely able to keep every promise that he has ever made. Therefore, salvation in Jesus Christ [4:45] is certain. Anyone who has faith in Jesus then will be saved. And so the question that arises [4:53] in chapter 11, right after he says that faith has gone then to the Gentiles or to all nations [5:00] outside of Israel, there begs the question, well, what about Israel? Is Israel excluded from this [5:07] faith? And Paul is very specific in the first few verses of chapter 11 to tell us that no, Israel [5:13] has not been left out, but rather the burden on them is the same burden on you and I. And that is

[5:19] to put their trust and their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. The focus is on God [5:25] redeeming people from sin to build a church of all nations, not just one nation. And last week, [5:33] we concluded by taking a look at Paul’s pronouncement that God has not hardened all of Israel. A remnant [5:38] will be saved. He reaches back into the book of 1 Kings in chapter 19 to show that there was a time [5:44] when the prophet Elijah was completely discouraged about the state of Israel’s faith. And he said, [5:50] it’s all over. Israel has abandoned God. And God says, no, they have not. I can mark for you 7,000

[5:57] men right now who have not bowed the knee to Baal. God’s point is that there has always been people [6:05] who are trusting in him. There will always be people who are trusting in him. He will never [6:10] abandon his people. And just as it was then, it is now that there is still a remnant in Israel [6:15] who’s trusting in God’s covenant, which has been made full in Jesus Christ. And then he saw, [6:23] we saw rather in verse 11 last week that through the Gentiles following Jesus, God’s plan is for [6:30] redemption to make Israel jealous so that they too will eventually come to faith in Jesus.

[6:37] All of God’s work, friends, is a work to bring more and more people to faith in Jesus Christ. [6:45] This is the purpose behind why God has worked throughout history and why he worked to ensure [6:51] that Jesus would be born at a specific time and a specific place. And it is also why we can trust [6:58] that God will continue to save through our faithfulness to follow Jesus and tell others [7:04] the good news of Jesus Christ. You see, friends, God works to build our faith personally in order [7:11] that our lives would reflect what it means to know God so that others will inquire about faith in

[7:19] Jesus. You are not the ends of God’s plan, but rather you are the means through which God is [7:27] going to build faith and then stretch faith out of you and into the lives of those who are around [7:33] you by you both proclaiming and exampling for people in your life what it means to follow Jesus [7:43] Christ. And in Romans 11, 11 through 24, Paul is going to expand on this cycle of salvation [7:49] between Gentiles and Israel to explain the impact that it should have on how we live [7:56] in relationship to our faith right here, right now. So look in Romans chapter 11,

[8:02] starting in verse 11, the apostle Paul writes to the church at Rome and he says, [8:06] So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? Or just to remind you, [8:11] did God raise Israel up just so that he could make them fall and be condemned? By no means. [8:18] Or in other words, absolutely not. That’s impossible. That’s not even on the radar of truth. [8:24] Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. [8:32] Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for

[8:38] the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now, I am speaking to you, [8:44] Gentiles, inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow [8:51] to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the [8:58] reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the [9:04] dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump. And if the root is holy, so are the [9:11] branches. And so Paul is speaking to what exactly is it that God is doing as he has taken this faith,

[9:19] sent Jesus to fulfill the law, sent Jesus to fulfill his covenant with Israel, [9:26] and then through that moved salvation from a people who would have reserved it for themselves [9:32] and spread it to the nations so that the whole world would know God, so that all nations, [9:40] all people, all ethnicities could know God’s covenant of salvation.

[9:47] As he is doing this, it is not excluding anyone, but rather it is growing larger and larger so [9:53] that more and more people can come to faith in Jesus Christ. And then he says there is going [9:59] to come a time when Israel will see what faith in Jesus is all about, they will see the benefits [10:04] of salvation, and they too will turn from their sin and they will come to faith in Jesus Christ. [10:10] But the way in which he is going to do this, I want to unpack for you this morning. [10:15] And the first point this morning, you are going to read it and you probably saw it and you are

[10:19] like, well that doesn’t sound exactly right because jealousy and envy, those aren’t really [10:24] the best of qualities, aren’t those sins. But understand that what we are talking about here [10:28] is going to be a good type of jealousy, it is going to be a good type of envy. How do I know [10:32] it is good? Because Paul says it is good, so I believe that. But point number one this morning, [10:36] faith in Jesus should create a life to envy. Now it is important that you read that right. It [10:42] doesn’t say a life of envy, it says a life to envy. And so what he is talking about here is that

[10:50] when people follow Jesus, it restores them. When people follow Jesus, it builds a life so that [11:00] will want that faith in their lives. And to help us understand this, he started with the reality [11:07] that salvation is designed to spread. Salvation is not meant to stagnate, salvation is not meant [11:14] to sit in one place, salvation is not meant to come into your life and just stay there, [11:19] but rather salvation is to move. Salvation is to go somewhere. Salvation is to spread, [11:25] not just in your life, but rather salvation is to spread from you into the lives of others.

[11:31] Jesus has commanded that his followers live in order to take the gospel to more and more people. [11:39] I mean the apostle Paul wrote, the same man who wrote this section in 1 Corinthians 9, 22, [11:44] that to the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, [11:49] that by all means I might save some. He says, I will change so that the gospel will go further.

[12:01] It’s God’s call on your life because of just the nature of what the gospel is, [12:06] is that he wants to change you. This shouldn’t come as any surprise, [12:11] unless you’re the type of person that was a little bit like Israel. They said, nope, [12:16] we are Jews, we are Israel, we are who we are, we’re going to stay who we are, [12:21] and we’re not going to change, we’re not going to grow, we’re not going to do anything so that [12:25] the gospel will go to anyone else. There are some people and sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s you,

[12:32] you might use the excuse, well I am who I am. That’s not changing, I’m not going to change [12:38] for anyone. That is so antithetical to the gospel. Here’s what the gospel says, the gospel comes to [12:45] you and it confronts you with one fact, you are a sinner, you sinned against God, and your sin is [12:50] destroying you and ultimately lead to your eternal condemnation. And because of that sin, [12:55] you need forgiveness. You need God to forgive you because his wrath is on you if you’re dead in your [13:01] sin. And in that forgiveness, he takes you and he wants to give you a new life, he wants you to

[13:06] grow in faith in Jesus Christ, he wants you to turn from your sin, he wants to trust him. And what [13:11] that needs is change. It’s impossible to come to faith in Jesus Christ without change immediately [13:17] happening. It’s a change from trusting everything else, trusting in Jesus. But in that change, [13:23] understand that it’s a continuous life of change that Jesus wants to bring you as you grow in who [13:29] he is. But Paul takes it one step further. And he says the change is so radical that when you are [13:37] in a position where you, by nature of just who you are naturally, your preferences, your prejudices,

[13:45] whatever it might be, you don’t want to change those. And if you did, the gospel would be able [13:51] to go into more people’s lives and more people would be able to trust in him. Rather than making [13:55] the change, you just allow the barrier to sit there. So Paul’s point in this section is, is that [14:02] exactly what the nation of Israel did. And that was their great sin. And what that sin ultimately [14:08] leads to is a life that actually pictures denying the power of the gospel. Because in Romans 11, [14:16] 11 through 12, right, the beginning of this section of verses, he puts forward that God’s

[14:21] vision for the spread of the gospel is not limited to any particular group. But it will grow in such [14:27] a way that more people are included. And that is why it had to move from Israel to the Gentiles. [14:34] Israel wouldn’t spread it. Therefore, it had to move to the Gentiles so that it could spread [14:40] to more and more people. You know, the gospel is both exclusive and inclusive. It’s exclusive [14:49] in the fact that it is through Jesus and it is through Jesus alone. Jesus is God and it is Jesus [14:54] who saves. And without Jesus, you cannot know God. But it is inclusive in the reality

[15:01] that the gospel is not limited by ethnicity. It’s not limited by person group. It’s not limited by [15:07] person type. It’s not limited by race. And the vision that Paul is laying out for us here means [15:13] that if we try to do that, or if we do not work proactively to move faith to all peoples, then we [15:20] are living in opposition to the gospel. Friends, there is no room for a segregated gospel. [15:27] The gospel desegregates us and moves our identity into a people of God. The bigotry that would place [15:35] one group of people over another group is in, excuse me, in importance to God is anti-gospel.

[15:42] And if delved far into, ultimately denies the gospel. Because what he points out in [15:49] Romans chapter 11 verse 5 is so important is that the gospel moves to reconcile the world [15:56] to God. And so he’s building for himself a people of all peoples from all over the world, [16:05] from all types of people, from all ethnicities, from all races. We are the people of God and we [16:13] make it our aim then to tear down barriers to the gospel that may be ingrained in us [16:22] because of the way that we were raised, because of our preferences, because of whatever it is.

[16:28] We must tear those barriers down. As Paul told us to tear them down, he said to the weak, [16:33] I’ll be weak. To the strong, I’ll be strong. I make every change that I need to change so that [16:38] people can come to faith in Jesus Christ. The realization, I want to save at least some of them.

[16:46] But far be it from me, from my life to become a barrier to the gospel to anyone. [16:55] So I tell you that the changes that the gospel needs to make in our lives are very, very large. [17:02] Romans 11, 15, like I said, gives us God’s vision of reconciliation for the whole world. [17:07] And how does he do that? On 2 Corinthians 5, 18, Paul makes the point clear to the church [17:13] of Corinth where he says, all of this is from God. All of what? Well, he just finished unpacking the [17:19] message of the gospel and then in verse 17 he said what is really kind of like the coffee

[17:23] cup verse. It’s on t-shirts everywhere. He says, the old has passed away, behold the new has come. [17:28] I am a new creation in Christ. I’m changing. I’m growing. I’m following Jesus. I have a new master. [17:35] I have new power in the Holy Spirit. Everything is new. And he says, all of this is from God, [17:40] who through Christ reconciled us to himself. And we love that part because it means that we can go [17:46] before God, that we can know God, that we can be in a relationship with God, that we can come into [17:52] the throne room of God and we belong there because he looks to us and he sees his child. He says,

[17:57] come on in, have a seat. I love you. We say, okay, well, let’s form some Bible studies. [18:03] Let’s come together. I need to grow. I need to know me better. I need to know God better. [18:08] I need it to be all about me. I’ve got all these problems that I need to overcome and trust me, [18:12] I know you’ve got problems. All of you. I’ve got problems. A lot of them.

[18:21] But there’s a second half here that we are obviously uncomfortable with [18:26] because he says he calls us in, reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ so that we did [18:32] belong, so that we do grow, but don’t grow so much that you become like an ingrown toenail [18:38] because he says and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, pulls us in so that we can be [18:46] pushed out because there is a world all around us that needs to know the good news of Jesus Christ [18:53] and how it can change them. What Paul is proposing here is a life that is so changed and restored by

[19:00] gospel that it makes others jealous of the life that you have. Paul writes in this text, [19:08] if you look down in verse 11, he says, rather through their trespass salvation has come to [19:13] the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. There’s a bad type of jealousy. What he’s talking [19:20] about here is a good type of jealousy. And he’s saying that the changes that the gospel makes in [19:26] your life should create such a life and specifically here that the nation of Israel, [19:30] those who are Jewish, those who had the covenant, it grew in them, produced Jesus Christ, he

[19:36] fulfills the covenant. Now faith is sweeping all over the world and he says it’s going out to the [19:39] Gentiles and now the Gentiles are to have lives that the Jews are to look at and say, man, I want [19:43] what you’ve got. And so it’s a good type of jealousy. It’s a good type of envy that people [19:49] are to have for your faith in Jesus Christ because it is something that God is doing in you that is [19:54] so revolutionary. It is so life changing. It is so life producing. It is so life growing that they [20:02] look at you and they say, you’ve got something that I need. What is it? Second Peter, excuse me,

[20:10] first Peter chapter three, verse 15, Peter writes to the church in the dispersion and he says, [20:16] but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always be prepared to make a defense. That’s [20:24] what he says to some people about Jesus. He keeps going to anyone who asks you for a reason for the [20:34] hope that is in you. You do it with gentleness and respect. So what Peter’s saying to the church, [20:41] he’s saying your lives should be different than those around you. When times are tough, when pain [20:46] is there, when everything looks like it’s falling apart, people should look at you and say, why is

[20:51] that person still steady? Why does that person in what should be a hopeless situation have hope? [20:58] Why in the face of pain do you have joy? Why in the midst of chaos do you have peace? I need what you [21:07] have. In Acts chapter six, he recounts that so much good was going on in the church of Jesus Christ [21:14] that even the priests of the Jewish faith in the synagogues and in the temple were seeing what was [21:20] going on with the Christians. They were saying, I want what they’ve gotten. It says there was a mass [21:24] exodus of priests into the church. They converted to Christianity. Friends, what causes the defense

[21:33] of our faith is not that we’re looking for an argument, it’s that people are looking for hope. [21:38] This isn’t about materials or even just moral leanings. So this isn’t the false prosperity gospel [21:45] that would say that if you have Jesus, you should have health, wealth, and all the prosperity in the [21:49] world. You’ve got a really nice house. You’ve got the amazing car that everybody wants. And when they [21:53] ask, how did you get such a good car? You say Jesus. And that’s not what he’s talking about here at all. [21:58] What he’s saying is that the gospel creates fathers that care about their families.

[22:04] The gospel creates mothers that embrace motherhood. People who live for more than the transient [22:10] things of this world. And as 33 the series puts it, they reject passivity. They embrace responsibility. [22:16] They invest eternally and they lead courageously. It is a people who are marked by hope because [22:23] of the peace that Jesus gives. And in all of this, we can point to the reason for it all being our [22:30] faith in Jesus Christ who redeems from sin and restores our souls to a life that matters.

[22:39] They look to us and they say, my life has fallen apart and so is yours.

[22:46] Why are you joyful about it? Why are you hopeful that there’s something on the other end that’s [22:52] better than this? So the question that you must deal with friend, is there joy in your life? [22:59] If you claim to be a follower of Jesus, do you have joy? In hard times, are you steady? [23:06] Or are you anxiety ridden? Are you manic? Are you angry? Are you unforgiving? [23:14] Are you stressed in a hectic life that never slows down? Are you unpleasant? [23:22] Are you undependable in times of need? Would anyone standing on the outside of your life looking in

[23:31] say, I want what they’ve got? Or is your life just as manic as everybody else’s? Just as anxiety [23:43] that you cannot sit down and have a moment of peace in a chaotic world?

[23:49] Are you so all over the place in your life that anybody looking in from the outside would say, [23:54] you know what, that person says I need the Jesus that they have, but it does not look like I need [23:58] anything that that person has. Do people look at your life and say, I don’t want your life?

[24:08] Friend, our hope is often diluted by a lack of faith and a lack of change in which we live just [24:18] like everyone else in the world lives. Could it be that the reason that no one asks about our [24:24] faith is because we seldom display it? Or possibly that we have actually placed our faith in the same [24:31] things that people who don’t follow Jesus have? Friend, if we live like a person, we are not [24:36] like everyone else, then why would anyone see any difference? Why would anyone on the outside [24:42] looking into my life say, I need what Steve’s got? Do you display hope?

[24:52] Is there peace? Is what’s going on inside of you? And I’m not talking about a problem-free life. [25:00] That doesn’t exist. Not in this world. I’ve got three kids. They are a problem waiting to occur [25:07] all day, every day. I’m talking about a life that when the problems, when the pain of this world [25:17] present themselves into my life, I look at them and I say, I am so thankful I’ve got Jesus to [25:22] walk with me through this. I am so thankful that I’ve got a Savior that even if the worst [25:29] scenario happens, even if the doctor gives me a diagnosis that is terminal, even if everything

[25:35] is taken away from me, I hold it all in an open hand and I say, Lord, do with me what you want. [25:40] Give me what I need because I’m trusting you through every moment of that. Do you have that [25:46] kind of life? Are you a father that says, you know what, I’m going to defy this world. I’m going to [25:52] love my family. I’m going to follow Jesus and love my wife. I’m going to follow Jesus and raise [25:57] my kids. I’m going to take responsibility. Are you a mother that says, you know what, [26:01] I’m going to embrace motherhood. I’m going to love my children. I’m going to love my husband.

[26:05] I’m going to follow Jesus and I’m going to raise up a family of people who know Jesus, [26:10] who know joy, who know hope, who know peace. Or are you just running around in this world for [26:14] the exact same thing that everybody else is running around in this world and with no peace, [26:19] no joy, no hope, you’re just hoping that you look like everyone else.

[26:26] The question we have to deal with is, if that’s the case, then what is the hope that they’re going [26:33] to ask us about? Number two, this morning, the thing that you need to do in your life is make [26:40] sure that your mission is Jesus’s mission. You need to make sure the mission of your life is the [26:45] mission of Jesus’s life. You know, one of the things that we constantly talk to people about [26:50] and the culture that we have is, you know, what is the vision that you have for your life? [26:54] What are your hopes and dreams? You know, we ask kids, what do you want to be when you grow up?

[26:59] What do you want to do with your life? Where do you see yourself in five years? What’s your [27:03] 20-year plan? You’re like, 20-year plan? I need a week plan. I don’t even know what I’m eating [27:08] for dinner tonight. But in all of the planning and all of the strategizing for our lives, [27:17] which we need to do a lot more than we do probably, where is the thought of how does [27:24] the mission of my life equal the mission of Jesus’s life? And if it doesn’t, what needs to change [27:30] so that it does? Look in verse 17. The apostle Paul writes, and he says,

[27:38] if some of the branches were broken off and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in [27:42] among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward [27:48] the branches. If you are, remember, it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports [27:55] you. Then you will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. [28:01] They were broken off because of their unbelief. But you stand fast through faith. So do not [28:09] become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

[28:18] Now I am one who believes that the Scriptures are the Word of God. I believe that the Holy Spirit [28:25] spoke through men and they recorded the very words of God. And so when I get to a place in [28:31] Scripture where it tells me that I am not to become proud, I’m not to be arrogant, but I am to fear [28:38] I see the Holy Spirit in that, I see him speaking to me, and it kind of, it’s bone chilling. [28:45] That someone as powerful as God would look to me and say, do not become proud of the state that [28:52] you are in or the relationship that you have with me, but fear. This is some hard words.

[29:01] That’s a hard thing to say to someone. But it is what God is saying through the Apostle Paul. [29:08] You know, the attitude about your faith determines the impact of your faith.

[29:18] Paul turns his attention to the Gentiles in verse 17 and says that your faith should create in all [29:25] of you a deep humility about your faith. We must not grow to have the attitude that Paul claimed [29:32] Israel had. Instead, we must realize that it is not because we are special that faith has come [29:38] to us. And he uses a horticultural analogy here. And my expert in horticulture is that I know the [29:44] word horticulture. And that’s about as deep as my expertise goes. If you want to talk about this, [29:50] you need to go find a tech grad because they might be able to tell you a little bit more

[29:54] about this than I can. But what he’s saying here is that God has grown a tree for himself. The [30:01] analogy of the people of God is that God is the root system and he runs deep. He’s getting the [30:08] good sustenance that’s going up and is growing a tree. And the branches are going out. The branches [30:13] represent the people of God. And as he’s grown this tree through the nation of Israel, he did [30:19] it for the specific purpose to bring Jesus. And when Jesus came, fulfilled the covenants, fulfilled [30:24] the law, there are people in Israel who were the people of God who did not trust in Jesus.

[30:30] And the scriptures revealed to us in the book of Acts, that means that they are covenant-breaking [30:33] people. And so when they broke the covenant, according to this analogy, God says that this [30:40] gospel, this covenant was meant to go to all nations. And when they refused to spread it [30:44] and when they refused to believe it, God went through the tree and he broke the branches off. [30:52] He said, they’re unbelieving. And he made room to graft in new branches. And I’m a Gentile. Most of [31:02] you, if not all of you, are Gentiles. And he made room for us and he compares us to what’s called a

[31:09] wild olive shoot that was off, away from the tree. And it’s basically a weed. Some seeds fell where [31:17] they weren’t supposed to fall. They weren’t nourished the way a gardener would nourish his [31:21] garden. And they grew up wild and they’re all over the place and they’re not manicured. They’re not [31:26] doing anything. They’re not producing anything. And he says, through Jesus, God has come to us, [31:31] the Gentiles, and he has taken that wild olive shoot and he has removed it from the ground. [31:37] And he’s broken off its root system. And when he broke the branches of the Israelites who were

[31:42] unbelieving, a miracle happened. Because I know enough to know that this isn’t how horticulture [31:47] works. I cannot go into my yard, break an unhealthy branch off of a tree, go to a healthy tree on the [31:55] side of my yard, grab some duct tape, tape that bad boy onto that tree, and have good things happen [32:01] after that. I can’t do that. Neither can you. So what the apostle Paul is doing here, he’s actually [32:08] in verse 24, he says, I’m giving you an analogy that’s contrary to nature. He said this analogy [32:13] isn’t the way it works. It’s a miracle. What God has done is that he has made room on his tree

[32:20] and he has taken that wild olive shoot and he has stuck it into his tree. And through the miracle [32:26] of redemption in Jesus and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, God has brought us into his [32:31] tree and we are receiving the sustenance from the root system and we have been made part of his [32:37] beautiful tree. And he looks to the Gentiles and he says, what do you have to be proud of? [32:43] God did all the work.

[32:46] He says, if it is by faith, you did not do it. God did.

[32:56] If you become proud of your position in God’s favor through the gospel, [33:03] then you are denying the gospel, as Paul’s point.

[33:08] This is because what God has done in your life is nothing short of a miracle. [33:16] We can’t look at the other branches and belittle them. Instead, we look and realize that none of us [33:22] belong here. So we are just thankful to have the life giving nourishment of the root.

[33:31] So if you’re in here this morning, I want to speak specifically, if you’re in here and you are an [33:35] believer, you are someone that has tons of doubts, you’ve not trusted in Jesus, you’re not following [33:41] Jesus, I want you to understand that my hope is that you will understand that you can be grafted [33:47] into the tree just as I have been. Because my redemption, my salvation is a miracle. [33:57] I don’t belong. I shouldn’t be here. I’ve done nothing to get here. It’s all because God is so [34:05] forgiving and so gracious that He has done all of the work to redeem me. He’s done all the work

[34:11] to begin a process of restoration. Trust me, I’m not all I should be. And do not let who I am keep [34:22] you away from God. Do not let, if you’re disappointed in me, don’t allow that to be a barrier [34:30] to you being grafted into who God is. I want you to look past me and I want you to look to God. [34:37] I want you to look past all of the Christians who have ever disappointed you, all of the [34:41] Christians who have ever given you a false version of Christianity, all of the Christians who have [34:44] ever fallen and made mistakes and sinned against God and denied the gospel by their lives and even

[34:49] their words. I want you to look past them at a God who would be so gracious as to look to someone [34:54] who’s been cast way out, a seed that shouldn’t have been planted where it was. And He went and [35:00] in His grace, He saw that wild olive shoot out and He took it and He grafted it in. It is a [35:06] miracle that I am a follower of Jesus Christ and it will take a miracle for you to be a follower [35:11] of Jesus Christ. But God is a miracle working God. And if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, [35:21] I want you to understand that you need to live to ensure that the mission of your life is the

[35:26] mission of Jesus’ life. In John chapter 15 verse 4, Jesus uses the analogy of how life works. [35:36] He says, abide in me, this is Jesus speaking, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself [35:45] unless it abides in the vine. So neither can you unless you abide in me. See, when we are connected [35:54] to Jesus through faith, His life flows through our own. He bears fruit of His making through [35:59] our actions and our words. Therefore, what Paul is exhorting us toward in this section is a life [36:04] that is driven by the God that we claim to follow. The root that you are receiving nourishment and

[36:10] satisfaction from measures your life. The question is, are you following Jesus? Are you rooted in Jesus?

[36:23] You see, because God wants to receive glory from my life and the way that He does that is seen and [36:31] experienced in the joy of His mission. You see, Israel’s pride drove them to define faith and [36:40] worship by reserving a special place at God’s table for themselves. They were branches and they [36:47] were very proud of who they were. If we look at ourselves as God’s plan rather than the objects [36:56] through which God works His plan, it changes the dynamic. God receives glory through turning us [37:03] into messengers of reconciliation and the fruit that He seeks to produce, friends, it is the fruit

[37:10] of disciples. We need to take inventory to ensure that we are measuring success and failure the same [37:18] way God does. Not the same way everybody else in the world measures it. God wants you to take a look [37:27] at your life and say, is the fruit that’s being produced by my life the fruit that God would want? [37:32] The fruit that God would make? The fruit that God would grow through me? And the fruit that He wants [37:37] to make through every single one of you is the fruit of making disciples. He wants you to [37:43] understand that it is not about you. That when you make life all about yourself, when you say,

[37:51] you know what, I want to tell others about Jesus and I feel like if I put myself through about 10 [37:57] years of Bible study, 10 years of prayer, 10 years of repentance, I think I will have all of it figured [38:03] out and I think all my problems will be taken care of to the extent that then and only then can I [38:09] tell other people about Jesus and make other disciples. It’s not the way it works.

[38:17] I’ve been following Jesus for a while and the problems pile up.

[38:23] As soon as I cut one weed off, I got six more growing out the other leg.

[38:31] Friend, the issue is not what’s going on in your life. The issue is what’s going on in God’s life [38:37] and how does He want to use what’s going on in your life to make a disciple of someone else? [38:44] God does not allow anything to come into my life that He’s not going to use for His glory, [38:49] whether it’s pleasant or whether it’s unpleasant. It’s all for His glory and it all comes for the [38:55] purpose of making disciples of other people, of spreading faith that God has given you to other [39:02] people. Do you have that vision for your life or are you missing the opportunities to look at the

[39:09] things that are going on in your life to see how God could use it in other people’s lives? [39:14] It’s amazing to me that God would bring things into my life that I have no idea how He’s going [39:19] to use them and then a few weeks, a few months, a few years later I’m sitting somewhere having [39:26] a conversation with someone and I can actually empathize with what’s going on in their lives.

[39:32] You know why God does that? It’s so that through you He can speak. It’s so that through you, [39:42] you can tell someone of how Jesus is sustaining you through every storm of life, [39:47] through every joy of life, through every hardship of life, through every pleasant moment of life. [39:54] Jesus needs to be the anchor of your vision. His vision, His mission needs to be your mission. [40:05] Friend, you exist to make disciples. It is not about you. It is always about others. This is the [40:15] of Jesus. If you don’t want that, then you aren’t on the path of Jesus.

[40:25] Because thirdly this morning, continuing in Christ produces a life lived for Christ. [40:32] Continuing in Christ produces a life lived for Christ. Look in verse 22. [40:39] The apostle Paul writes, and he says, Note then the kindness and the severity of God. [40:48] He says some hard things here. See, we love the kindness part.

[40:52] We love the joy-filled, the happy-filled, the peace-filled, but in this section he wants to [40:58] deal with two things that we aren’t always comfortable with dealing with. First, he says, [41:03] fear, and I don’t want to do that. I haven’t liked that since I was five and I was afraid of the [41:08] dark. So fear is not something I want to dwell on. Then he now brings in something, severity.

[41:17] He says, Note both the kindness and severity of God. Severity toward those who have fallen, [41:24] but kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off, [41:32] and even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. [41:36] For God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature [41:43] a wild olive tree and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will [41:50] these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree? God has a plan. That is to

[42:00] work through those of us who have faith in Jesus to bring others to faith in Jesus, [42:06] and that’s how you need to measure your life. But in that, do not forget that God is a God of [42:13] judgment. It is His kindness that brings us to repent of sin and trust Jesus, but His kindness [42:20] is remarkable because of the wrath that we deserve. And if we are not following Jesus, [42:26] then our lives are not measured by Him. And that brings a very important question of inventory for [42:32] your life. Are you continuing in Christ if you aren’t living for Christ? You see, friend,

[42:39] your faith is measured by faith and grace. In other words, you are thankful to Jesus [42:45] and you don’t think that you’ve earned your keep in this tree. Well, what is the limit of your [42:52] attitude? If your religion is in measuring your own worth, then you have no faith to offer others. [43:00] The mission of Jesus is impossible because there is no grace or faith in your life. So if you live [43:07] a life in which you are in the tree, you think you’ve been grafted in, you think you’ve been [43:10] given what you don’t deserve, you think that you’ve been given the grace of God, and then you begin

[43:15] to form a life and say, I’m glad I’m here. But man, my life, it’s terrible. You’re very transparent, [43:23] which is a good thing. And you love to get in groups of people and just talk about all of your [43:29] problems, all of your pains, all of your faults, all of your failures. And you have this attitude [43:37] where you say, I am so thankful that I’m here, but oh, there’s no hope of me ever growing in life. [43:45] There’s no hope for my family. There’s no hope for me. You just want to stagnate [43:52] in what is called the pit of self-loathing. You see, friends, what you’re doing in that moment is

[43:59] you are actually proud. You are actually arrogant. You are discounting the kindness and the severity [44:05] of God, and you are discounting what he can do. And that’s not a faith worth spreading.

[44:13] You see, what happens in the gospel is that we are that wild olive shoot, [44:18] but a lot of us think that we can get grafted into the tree of God and keep our identity as [44:22] a wild olive shoot. We think we can be grafted into the tree of God and not lose any of the [44:29] unhealthy habits that we had as an olive shoot. And we think we can just stagnate in that lack [44:33] of health. We think we can stagnate in that self-loathing. We think we can stagnate in that [44:37] pity and have no hope for ever growing. And so we love to do a circle of talking about how hard

[44:43] our life is, but we have no vision for the change that God wants to bring into our lives. [44:48] When God grafts us into the tree of his kingdom, what he begins to do is he takes his pruning [44:54] shears as a good gardener, and he looks for those unhealthy leaves, those twigs that have [44:59] shot out of our lives, and he begins to cut them off so that he can save our lives, so that we can [45:05] grow in health. There are some gardeners who will go into a tree and they will take a piece of fine [45:11] sandpaper, and they will rub off the knots that are diseased off of a tree. And God knows that is

[45:18] an unpleasant experience when he begins to change who we are. He begins to change how we find our [45:26] identity. He begins to change our actions. He begins to change our activities. He begins to [45:32] change us from a people who would remain stagnant to a people who are moving on mission with God. [45:39] As Greg Surratt says, it is okay to sit on the pity potty for a minute, but don’t let the red [45:45] ring form. You got to get up off of the pity potty, and you’ve got to grow with Jesus.

[45:54] So the problem with the faith that we have is we feel so sorry for ourselves that we have no hope [46:00] of ever growing. We have no hope of ever changing. We have no hope of ever actually becoming [46:05] obedient to the call of God in our lives. Friends, that is not faith. It’s not faith.

[46:14] Don’t fall into the pit of self-loathing, and don’t fall into the pit of comparison.

[46:21] You see, friends, if faith is measured by you, then kindness and severity are also measured by you. [46:28] You see, you aren’t continuing in kindness. Your measuring out deserves to people.

[46:34] You’re comparing yourself to other people for one of two reasons. The first reason is that you want [46:38] to make yourself feel better, and so you look at other people’s lives and you say, [46:43] I can’t believe that guy’s even allowed to be a branch in this tree. I am so much better than him.

[46:51] I don’t need to do anything else because look at the type of people that are allowed to be in this [46:55] tree. I don’t need to grow. I’ve already grown past those people, so God is clearly done changing me.

[47:02] Or you struggle. The other side of that is that you use other people as an excuse of why you’re [47:08] hopeless. You say, I could never be as faithful as those other people are. I could never hope [47:15] to have the life that they have. I could never hope to have the hope that that person has. I [47:19] could never hope to have the faith. What you actually do is you give yourself some self-therapy [47:24] by saying, well, I’m less than, but man, I’m just thankful to be here, but there’s no hope of growth for me.

[47:35] You see, friends, in taking inventory of your faith, you need to measure your life. [47:39] In 1 Corinthians 10-12, it says, Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

[47:46] You see, if you’re comparing yourself to yourself, [47:50] you’re missing the point. If you’re comparing yourself to others, you’re missing the point. [47:58] Your vision needs to be captivated by the one who grafted you in. Your vision needs to be, oh, I have [48:05] a good night. I was a wild olive shoot. I was choking to death. I had no sustenance. I was [48:12] just a weed waiting for herbicide to be thrown on me. And then the gardener came and by his good [48:18] grace, he, I thought he was killing me because he cut me off from the roots. And then he picked me

[48:23] up and he grafted me into the healthy tree that he takes care of all of the time. Man, that gardener [48:30] is so good to me and I trust him. Sometimes the things that he does, he does to me, it doesn’t [48:35] feel too good. Sometimes it feels like he’s hurting me when he grinds the disease off of me, [48:40] when he prunes the twigs off of me. It feels like there’s no hope for me. But then on the other side, [48:45] I have followed him after I have trusted him. I have grown the gardener, the tree where I get my [48:53] sustenance. He is faithful. He is the one I’m pursuing. He is the one I’m following. He is the

[49:01] one that I am worshiping. He is the one that I am captivated by. And in that moment, guess what? [49:09] That’s not self-loathing. That’s not comparison. That is a life of worshiping God and following [49:17] Jesus. Take your eyes and put them on Jesus. That’s where your hope was. That’s where your hope is. [49:25] And that’s where your hope will always be. God’s kindness and severity are about him, not you. [49:35] You deserve his severity. I deserve his severity. But in Jesus, he offers you a place in his tree. [49:46] He gives us room to grow in everything we need to do it. It’s all his work and we live to show

[49:54] others what God is doing in our lives. Our faith in him is seen in how we exercise that faith [50:01] and growing and giving our lives to Jesus and putting it on display for others to see.

[50:09] See, in all of this, you need to question. You need to ask yourself, do people look at your life [50:14] and see a work of Jesus or do they just see that you have the same stuff going on that they have [50:18] going on? The question that I have to ask myself all the time and you need to ask yourself all the [50:27] time, if you aren’t making disciples, why aren’t you making disciples? Why aren’t you making [50:37] disciples if you are following Jesus? That’s a question that should continuously be on our minds. [50:44] If we are making disciples, then how can we make more? If we aren’t, where do we need to start?

[50:54] You see, the brutal part of that question is that it will change your life. [51:01] The hopeful part of that question is that you need to change your life [51:06] because you need Jesus, because I need Jesus. That’s what repentance is. That’s what continuing [51:14] in kindness looks like. Our lives must be measured by the gospel with a hope that others will also [51:22] be grafted in by God through Jesus. You know, as the band comes up,

[51:30] if you are in here this morning and you are struggling, you might be wondering and say, [51:39] I am not a follower of Jesus or I don’t know if I am a follower of Jesus or [51:44] I don’t see God doing anything in my life. Does that mean I don’t have Jesus? [51:49] What I want you to know this morning is that there are answers to those questions. [51:53] I want you to know that you can be saved. See, there are people in the foyer right now. [51:59] If you will slip out while we take communion and you will talk to them,

[52:03] they would love to answer any questions that you might have. They would love to just pray with you [52:07] as you deal with a journey of doubt, maybe a season of doubt. They will pray with you for that. [52:14] If you are in here and you are a follower of Jesus, I want to reflect on that. I want to [52:21] focus in on the cross. You see, the bread on the tables all around this room represent the broken [52:28] body of Jesus. The cup has shed blood. And if you believe in Jesus, then God calls you and he says, [52:36] come to my table, share a meal with me. A reminder of the price that Jesus paid for your salvation.

[52:45] He took the penalty for your sin that you deserve and I deserve onto himself so that we would never [52:51] have to face the wrath of God so that we could always be in the favor of God, experiencing the [52:56] forgiveness of God and a relationship with God. If you are a follower of Jesus, in just a minute, [53:02] I want to call you to one of the tables in the back and one of the tables in the front. [53:07] Reflect on the death of Jesus and then go live the resurrection of Jesus. [53:13] When you walk away from this table, walk away with a vision to make disciples. When you are ready, come.