This morning we are picking up where we left off in our study of the book of Romans. Our text is the entire 11th chapter of Paul’s letter but to help us fully understand the message of that text, I want to begin by reading a parable of Jesus recorded in Luke 14:16-24. So put your fingers in Romans 11 and then turn to Luke 14 and follow along as I read.
Romans 11:16 – “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.
17 – At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18 – But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
19 – Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 – Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
21 – The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22 – ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 – Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
24 – I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
Now, please note—as Bill Hybels points out, this story in Luke 14 is not unlike a number of Jesus’ teachings—various stories our Lord told about a gracious offer of some sort being extended; the offer being spurned by a group of people and then a new invitation list being printed up and sent out so a new group could come. Matthew 21 is a good example of this and, as I said, there are others like it. Well, have you ever stopped to consider what passages like those mean?
This text from Luke 14 is a PARABLE—a story whose purpose it to illustrate a powerful truth. What is the powerful truth that this particular parable is supposed to illustrate? What did Jesus mean when He talked about a lavish dinner party, and a special group of elite invitees who spurned their invitation to come—resulting in a large group of “undesirables” ending up at the lavish dinner? What Jesus was driving at? What was He saying when He told such stories?
And to help you with your answer—I’ll give you a hint by quoting a couple verses.
- John 1:11 says, “He came to His own but His own received Him not.”
- 1 Peter 2:8 says:“The Stone the builders rejected has become a Stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”
Okay then—what truth was Jesus getting at in this parable? What does He mean by telling stories like this one? Well, you are very intelligent people so I can say with confidence that this parable and others like it mean pretty much what you think they mean. These verses I’ve cited and this parable Jesus told all refer to the same TRUTH…the fact that by and large the very PEOPLE Jesus was sent to honor by His presence—the very PEOPLE God had chosen to favor and to work in and through in order to share His great love with a lost and dying world…these special PEOPLE—and I’m talking about THE JEWS—God’s chosen nation soundly refused to honor His Son as their Messiah—and as a result a fascinating metamorphosis took place—and here it is. God WAS focused on the Jewish people—focused on using THEM as His special representatives—but because of their rejection of Jesus His focus was broadened.
It’s just like the parable—once the invitation gets spurned, instead of the special elite invitation list—the “party doors” are thrown wide open and people off the streets are invited into the lavish “dinner” people with no social or ethnic pedigree…people with no special status or reason to be invited…other than the fact that there are spaces available at the dinner table because of the spurned invitations of those who were originally invited.
Do you see what I’m talking about? Well, you need to because this parable is a PICTURE of a very important theological phenomena—one that should be very near and dear to your hearts. You see, this text from Luke and this 11th chapter of Romans…well, they explain how people like you and me ended up at the “table.” They tell how we ended up serving as God’s witnesses—His representatives—His royal priesthood.
To make sure you understand all this, let’s back up a bit and look at Romans 10 where Paul laments over the fact that the Jews have not turned in mass to the Messiah. Remember? They snubbed Jesus because He didn’t fit the picture that they had in mind when it came to the kind of Messiah they were looking for. They were focused on a coming political or militaristic Messiah instead of a Savior…so when Jesus came, He didn’t make the cut or as John’s Gospel puts it, “…they received Him not.”
Another reason they rejected God’s Son was because they foolishly believed their own righteousness was enough to get them into Heaven. Remember what we learned back in Romans 10? On a scale of 1-10, the piously proud Jews of Jesus’ day thought they were easily 9.7’s or 9.8’s. Just like many “good” people in OUR day and age, they had themselves wildly over-rated and felt they didn’t need the salvation Jesus offered. They thought that with careful obedience to their religious laws they could do quite well on their own thank you—so they rejected God’s Messiah.
Now—of course there was a time when some Jews accepted Jesus—in fact, the first church was pretty much ALL JEWS. And—in the BEGINNING of his missionary work Paul’s strategy was to start with Jews whenever he went to a city to share the gospel. I mean, at first the church was made up primarily of Jews who recognized Jesus as God’s Son. In fact, one of the first issues to come up in that first church was whether or not a Gentile could even be a Christian—but over the years things flip-flopped such that as Paul writes this letter the Jewish people as a whole are no longer open to the Gospel. By this time, new converts coming into the early church are almost completely Gentiles.
Well, in Romans 11 Paul, asks this question, “If virtually the entire Jewish race has written Jesus off…if they have spurned His invitation…well, then does God respond in kind? Does He say, ‘Okay then—I’ll right YOU off!’” Look at Romans 11:1 and you’ll see that in response Paul uses the strongest possible negative in the Greek language and says,“BY NO MEANS! No—of course God has not rejected the Jews.” Then, in this 11th chapter Paul supports his negative answer by arguing that God is a covenant keeper. Even though the people He made the covenant with are covenant BREAKERS—God is a covenant KEEPER. His loving kindness is everlasting. His mercy endures forever. In fact, Paul gives PROOF of the fact that God has NOT totally written off Israel. He says, “Look at me! I am an Israelite! Here’s at least one Jew God hasn’t written off. And I’m not the only one either! There are other Jews who have accepted Jesus.”
Look at verses 2-6 and you’ll see that as an illustration of this fact Paul cites an example from the sad days of the prophet Elijah when the wicked King Ahab and his even more wicked queen, Jezebel ruled Israel. Remember? Jezebel had threatened to kill Elijah because after calling down fire from Heaven up on Mt. Carmel, he had executed all her false prophets. In spite of his courageous stand on that mountain—when Elijah he heard of her threat he was terrified and fled into the desert where he sat depressed under a broom tree and brooded that he was the only follower of God left. In reply God said, “You’re not the only one Elijah! There are 7000 others who are faithful to Me.”
In verse 5 Paul argues that in the same way at this present time there is a remnant. He says, “It may LOOK like every Jew has rejected Jesus but I haven’t and there is a remnant as well. There are other Jews who, like me, have not spurned Jesus. There are SOME who understand that they need God’s grace—they see that their righteousness is insufficient. They know they are not 9.7’s or 9.8’s—not even close. So I’m one Jew who has not rejected God—and I’m NOT ALONE!”
And that brings to my mind a question, namely: Do you ever feel ALONE in your faith? Do you ever feel like you’re the only one who follows Jesus?
Do you ever feel like giving up when it comes to following the teachings of the Bible? Do you ever feel like the only parent with rules? At work do you ever feel like the only one who tries to do the right thing? Do you ever think, “Why should I even try to live a Godly life? No one else is!” Let me put it this way. Do you ever “pull an Elijah?” I mean, do you ever get the mully-grubs and in the pit of depression pray, “God, You might as well take me home—I’m the only one trying to serve You.”
If that describes you—then get off your high horse and listen. You’re NOT ALONE. Even if you were that would be no excuse to give up—but you’re not alone. You’re not the only one. God has millions on this planet who have given their hearts to Him…millions and millions who dedicate their lives to following His will.
This is one of the reasons I think its such a good idea for us to cross denominational boundaries from time to time and gather with other evangelical believers like we do every fall for our Thanksgiving service. Meeting with other church families reminds us that we aren’t the only Christians in our community. I remember sitting in one of those services listening to Father Mike preach. Mike used to be one of the priests at St. Francis. I really enjoyed his Thanksgiving message and as he spoke I closed my eyes and thought, “That’s a Southern Baptist preaching. He believes the same things I do!” Then I opened my eyes and saw that, no…he was a Catholic.
His clerical garb gave him away—but—Mike was a believer just like me. Of course—he had different traditions and there are some convictions we don’t share but he was a follower of Jesus who firmly held to the same essential beliefs I do. As I listened, God said, “See Mark? You’re not alone!”
Another time God drilled this message home to me was at my first Promise Keepers rally at RFK. As I walked into that stadium I saw tens of thousands of men who all knew and followed my Jesus. And there were gatherings like it at hundreds of stadiums around the U.S. So—be of good courage—keep on following Jesus and know that you AREN’T the only one doing so! God has always had and always will have a people.
Okay let’s move on. In verses 7-10 Paul says, “I’m not alone. There is a remnant of Jews, who like me follow Jesus. Yes. we are in the minority when it comes to the Jewish nation—but there is a remnant and that proves God has not given up on His people.” Then, as further proof of that fact, Paul says that God has a plan to try and reach the REST of the Jews. He wants to give even these hard-hearted Jews a chance to see their need for Jesus. Verse 11 says that “Because of their transgression—because of the Jews’ rejection of Jesus, salvation has come to the Gentiles—TO MAKE THE JEWS JEALOUS.” Look at verse 13 where Paul says,“In as much as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to ENVY and save some of them.”
So you see, the situation with the Jewish people is just like in the parable in Luke 14, because in the same way the invited guests snubbed the dinner and others were invited to fill their seats, the invitation to be God’s reps has been broadened to other people groups and because of that, the seats at God’s table are filled with riff-raff like you and me. You and me—WE are now God’s kingdom of priests. We are the true Israel. We are His reps. We are His missionaries. And Paul’s hope is that the Jews would see this. They would witness our relationship with Jesus—they would see the difference it makes. He hopes they would see how The Bread of Life satisfies our spiritual hunger and would grow envious—and as a result would decide to turn to Jesus themselves.
Now—you would think that after the way the majority of the Jewish people treated His Son—you’d think that because of their rejection of Jesus—well, you’d think God would be so fed up and frustrated and disappointed with those stiff-necked, hard-hearted Jews that He would turn His back and say, “FORGET YOU!” But no, He doesn’t do that—because underneath the broadening of His invitation to people like you and me is one more gracious plan from the mind of our long-suffering, patient God…a plan to woo more of the Jews back to Himself by making them jealous of the changes and the miracles and transformations seen in the lives of the Gentiles who were reached.
And Paul rejoices at this realization! As he understands God’s sovereign plan including this last-ditch effort to reach his fellow Hebrews, he launches into a hymn of praise to God. In verses 33-36 he says, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgements, and His paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from Him and through Him and to Him be the glory forever! Amen!”
Paul thankfully praises God for the fact that He hasn’t given up on His people. And friends God is still that way! Listen! God never stops loving you. He never stops wanting to forgive you, wanting to save you, wanting to receive you into His kingdom. You may think you’ve gone too far and done too much, but God wants you to know that His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness is still available to you. God never gives up on the people He loves—and He loves ALL PEOPLE.
That makes me ask….is there anyone you’ve given up on? You think, “That person is hopeless. They have fallen so far they’d never even consider Jesus. I’m not going to waste my time or prayers on them.” Perhaps this “hopeless” person is a rebellious atheistic relative..or a cantankerous neighbor. Maybe it’s a co-worker who ridicules you for your faith. Maybe it’s your spouse. You’ve witnessed to him or her for years to no avail.
But—is there anyone YOU have given up on?
Don’t! Don’t give up. Don’t stop praying for that person. Don’t stop taking advantage of every opportunity to tell them about God. And most importantly don’t stop letting Jesus Christ live in and through you. Don’t stop letting them see the difference He makes because you just might make THEM envious—jealous—enough that this hopeless person…this hard-hearted individual will turn to God. Your presence at God’s banquet table—may just make them hungry for Jesus.
Let’s all remember that as we gather around THIS table to partake of the Lord’s Supper. As I always say—ALL CHRISTIANS are invited to partake because even if you are not a member of this church….If you are a Christian…if you are His, this is Yours.
THE ORDINANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
Perhaps you know someone who has said NO to Jesus for years. This morning as we sing, I encourage you to bow your head and pray for them—pray that God would do something to break their hard hearts…and convict them of their need for Jesus. I hope you will feel free to come to the altar and pray—or ask Bobby and I to pray with you for this person.
Maybe you are here—and you ARE that kind of person. You’ve said NO to Jesus for years and you come to church each week simply because its easier to come than to hear your spouse complain about your not coming. But today as we opened God’s book—and observed His supper—your heart was strangely warmed—and you finally realize that the thing that is missing in your life…is a relationship with God. If that describes you then come—I’ll tell you how that can happen and will pray with you. If God is leading you to join our church come. But respond now as God leads.
BENEDICTION:
Let the PEACE OF CHRIST rule in your hearts
since as members of one body you were called to peace.
Let the WORD OF CHRIST dwell in you richly
and whatever you do…in word or in deed
Do it all in the NAME OF CHRIST giving thanks to God the Father
through Him.