A HUMBLE APPRECIATION

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.”

Romans 11:17-21

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Jews disobedience and subsequent disrespecting of God led to Him establishing a new covenant, this time opening the door of opportunity for anyone to find salvation and eternal life with Him. All one needed to do was simply believe in His Son as Savior. The key word here is “anyone” and in New Testament times this was easily summed up by adding Jewish people and non-Jewish people, people referred to as Gentiles.

This was a radical departure from the way it was before. For the old covenant was an agreement forged by God with the Israelite people who made up the Jewish nation. They were His people and He was their God, and within this special relationship was a mandated responsibility. The Jews were required to carry out what God wanted them to do. They were to live as He wanted to live, serving Him and Him alone. He commanded them to have no other gods.

Unfortunately, the Israelites spent more time centered on their own will and desires than their Lord’s. And this was something that didn’t sit right with God.

And so He did what the Jews would have seen as impossible. He allowed non-Jews to enter into a unique and intimate affiliation with Him.

It was these Gentiles that were always viewed as being outcasts before God, people who worshiped other gods and thus were seen as unclean and unworthy to be in the presence of the Jews. This shunning and snubbing behavior was pervasive in Jewish cultures and it created a deep rift and animosity between the spiritually elitist Jews and those who were considered outsiders unworthy of any favor from God.

In Chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, we find Paul emphasizing the issue at hand, that the Jews rejection of Jesus led to the Gospel being extended to the Gentiles. In other words, the Jews loss was the Gentiles gain and with that, there was definitely potential for the Gentiles to rub their newfound prominence with God in the proverbial noses of the Jews. It would be an attitude of spiritual arrogance and retribution at its finest but note that this was not what God wanted and certainly something He wouldn’t stand for.

This is why we find Paul calling for humility in the midst of the budding gift of salvation gained by the Gentiles and he does so by using an illustration, one used by Jesus before him as he spoke about the vine and the branches (John 15).

In Paul’s case, he speaks of the olive tree and the branches it produced. Master olive farmers could graft wild olive shoots into an existing tree and that branch would become part of the tree itself, sharing in the “nourishing sap from the olive root”. Of course, this root was the Lord Jesus who was the One who provided the chance for salvation in the first place. No one could save themselves so they needed salvation from another source, one that could provide perfect atonement from sin. Jesus was that perfect atoning sacrifice.

Yes, the broken branches, in this case representing the unbelieving Jews in this illustration, provided the place for the wild shoots, the Gentiles, to be grafted in but this was not to be received with a haughty attitude. Paul warns the Gentiles to turn away from arrogance because just as God chose to not spare the broken branches, He too could choose to reject any branch grafted in.

Today, I think some Christians fall into the trap of adopting an attitude of spiritual arrogance, seeing themselves as superior to non-Christians because they have the hope of salvation on their side. Those who reject Jesus are often seen as people just destined for Hell and unworthy of attention but this, of course, runs counter to what Jesus called His followers to do. For rather than condemn or arrogantly turn away from those who refuse to believe in Him, Jesus calls all His faithful ones to “make disciples of all nations”  (Matthew 28:19-20), to never rest in efforts to help others to know and trust in Him.

As for the salvation Christians have through Jesus, they should approach life after being saved with humble appreciation for all He did to give them the assurance of everlasting life. No one deserves this gift. No one has earned this gift. Rather, God grants it out of love, mercy, and amazing grace to all people who believe in His Son, who call on the name of Jesus to be saved.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com