The purpose and faithfulness of God. Sermon from 15 March 2020. Romans 11: 1-6, 11-24

Introduction

There are always things in life that are paradoxical;

people who heal others who are sick;
people who see people converted but their families have not come to faith;

Are there things you long for God to do but they haven’t happened?

Are there questions about faith that people ask you and you struggle to answer them?

Bridge

The word for faith in the Bible means tension; we have an inner tensing;

Today our reading was from Romans 11 – a letter written by Paul. The Apostle Paul’s calling was paradoxical; he longed for God to convert his people but his success was with foreigners; there were questions he was expected to answered

The passage

As most of us know, the Apostle Paul's whole life and teachings were motivated by his call to preach the gospel. Paul was a zealous Jew who was confronted by the living Christ on the road to Damascus, his life was revolutionized.
The resurrected Jesus Christ confronted, converted, changed and called him and his life was directed to proclaiming the Gospel in word and power. Four factors combined to make Paul's mission distinctive; his history as a jew, his conversion on the road, his call to evangelize, his power & revelation from God

Paul has a conceptual problem. He is planning to visit Rome en Route to Spain He is writing to the Roman church which is a mix of Jews and non-Jews = gentiles (notice not Jews and Christians these are Messianic Jews who follow Jesus). He is the key missionary of the church, and the question on people’s lips is, “Why haven't the Jews, Paul’s people, God's chosen people, accepted this Gospel?" If you are so good why are your results so bad?

The letter to the Romans addresses this problem. In Part1, chapters 1-8 Paul shows that no-one is righteous. Not even one. But God has the answer: he makes us righteous through Jesus Christ. In other words faith rests on what God has done; not what we do.
In Part 2, chapters 9-11 Paul confronts the reality that the Jewish group as a whole hase completely rejected his message. Jesus was jewish, Paul was jewish but if the Jewish peoples had rejected the Gospel Christ's death is to no effect. "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him" (John 1:11). Not only this but God has been unfaithful to his promises which were made to Israel.

Paul has to address this: its the paradox at the centre of his life; its his longing that has not been fulfilled, its the question people ask him. Why hasn’t God done it? Why hasn’t he made the jewish people follow Jesus? Jesus was jewish why have his people rejected him?

What is Paul's explanation? It is threefold: [remember this is not anti-semitic]

a) Paul asserts: God is sovereign

In Romans 9:1-29 Paul asserts the absolute authority of God
- God decides on who he will have mercy "it does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy" (9:16). God decides who are the children of the promise, and we have no right to talk back to God.

b) Secondly, Israel's Unbelief.
In Romans 9:30 - 10:21 Paul teaches that Israel is excluded because she sought her own righteousness and not God's "they sought to establish their own [righteousness], they did not submit to God's righteousness" (10:3). We are all unrighteous apart from God’s work.

c) Thirdly, the Purpose and Faithfulness of God.

God is not anti-semitic - in Romans 11:1-36 Paul maintains that the rejection is not final, but it is necessary so that all Israel will be saved. Christ has not failed, there is a purpose that Israel has not received Paul's Gospel - it is so that the full number of the Gentiles will come in. God is faithful - his gifts and call are irrevocable (v.28-29).

How we live

Today, as we look at the future and face an uncertain time we see the paradoxes: God is loving and sovereign but he lets people put animals together in a market so that a virus travels from the market, through China, to Italy and to Luton. We might wish that the world were full of humans that God would prevent from acting so dumbly, but he has not set the world up that way.
What do we do? We are called to live from love over the next days and weeks and months; called to live from love not fear; yet at the same time to be wise not foolish.

Living from love not fear means noticing and naming our motivations and the extent to which we are thinking beyond ourselves to love our neighbours. How do we do that? As bishop Alan said thi week, each one of us can think about how we can protect and support our neighbours. You can setup whatsapp groups with elderly neighbours …. maybe giving them an old phone and showing them how to use it; it may mean helping those who have lost their jobs. As a church we have people who need some support if you are happy to help then please contact Sue Carter on the church pastoral number. You will get Ulrike at the moment. The point is that we are called to live from love not fear.

Paul calls us to rest assured in the Purpose and Faithfulness of God. Live as though the day has a purpose and Live today to the full. None of us ever know what the future holds. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6. 25 – 34), Jesus challenged his followers to live each day fully and not be afraid. Every time we are tempted to give in to fear we need to make a conscious choice to respond in trust and openness.

Being practical

As Anglicans, our tradition is eminently practical. We value faith and wisdom; revelation and reason. What does living wisely mean at this time?

Living wisely means to adjust habits and our social norms as a church.

What are we adjusting?

Step 1 is to adjust what we do to reduce the likelihood of passing on the virus. We have adjusted how we do communion, refreshments and visiting; our layout will change in order to meet conditions; and we are currently exploring putting part or all of the 10:30am service onto Facebook Live in the next few weeks. You will be able to find that on our Facebook page. We won’t be able to get the sound perfect on this as we are likely to be using a mobile phone but we would like to make it possible for people to keep in touch with the Sunday rhythm this way if they are not coming into the central gathering.

Current practice: offer Communion in one kind only to all communicants; we will not be offering any open plates of biscuits and grapes and hirers are asked not to as well.

Step 2 is for each of us to live as healthily as you can; continue taking your medication and vitamins; get rest and sleep; spend time with the Lord; reduce your alcohol intake; follow government and NHS advice on contact with people for those with your demographic and risk factors as the outbreak develops.

Step 3 is to care for those around us to love our neighbours and pray for the anxious.

Conclusion

As we journey forwards, in all these things let us live wisely but lean on God in prayer, calm, thanksgiving and worship motivated by love not fear with an attitude of hope and faith.

And, along with just over half the adults in the UK, don’t forget to pray.

Reading from Psalm 121 then Ruth prays.