No images? Click here A MINISTRY MAGNIFIED PT. IRomans 11:11-15 December 10th, 2023 Romans 11:11-24 will be covered in two parts: there are also many gems found within these few verses. The entire book of Romans is about the gospel, why it’s needed, how it proclaims we can be saved, and what the practical implications of the gospel in our daily life. In this section we are examining the gospel in salvation. Beginning in Chapter 9 Paul tells us of the power of God revealed in the gospel to save individuals and then progressively zooms out by chapter 11 to gives us the implications for the gospel for the Nation of Israel. Israel was the first to hear the gospel, that a child, the Son of David would come and bring salvation to his people. But when Christ came, Israel rejected their savior. So has God rejected Israel? One of the most remarkable aspects of Israel is that they have been preserved through millennia with other nations seeking to destroy them. Their preservation is only by the hand of God; He chose them for a purpose, and He is not finished with them. Because of their rejection of Messiah Jesus, the nation continues to be under God’s judgment. He has set them aside for a time, yet God continues to save a remnant.
We saw in verses 1-10 that God has blinded Israel because they continued to seek righteousness through obedience to the law, even though they knew this is not what pleases God. As Paul’s letter is being read to the church at Rome, the Jews were wondering about the inclusion of Gentiles. We read that Israel rejected, Gentiles are included, Israel rejected, Gentiles are included – over and over in verses 11-24, so what is God’s message here? The answer is found at the end of verse thirteen where Paul says, “I magnify my ministry.” To magnify means to exalt or praise or set on display. Paul gives himself wholeheartedly to this ministry, even to the detriment of his own health. In defense of this seemingly prideful statement, he asks a question: “So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means!” (verse 11) He had asked a similar question in verse one, “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!” Paul begins to answer these questions to show why his ministry is magnified. There are three ways in which Paul’s ministry is magnified; in Failure, in Purpose and in Provocation. The first two will be examined today.
I. Ministry is Magnified in Failure
Paul begins with Israel’s failure in verse eleven, “did they stumble in order that they might fall?” Israel stumbled because of their rejection of Jesus, which ultimately meant salvation for the Gentiles. We understand that sometimes we stumble and fall, but sometimes we stumble and catch ourselves and keep from falling. So, what did Israel stumble over? Their works. They pursued righteousness by works, not faith. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, Jesus (Romans 9:32). In verse nine, Paul referred to David’s words in Psalm 69, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.” Israel stumbled and they stumbled immensely when they crucified the Messiah. Israel loved works, they loved self-righteousness, they loved comfort, and they loved wealth. Israel was so focused on works that there was no place for grace at their table.
There are numerous examples in Scripture of Israel pursuing a works-based righteousness. A familiar example is Stephen’s defense in Acts 7, where he walks Israel through their history beginning with Abram when God called him out of Mesopotamia. After Abram’s father died, God led him to the land that He had promised, but God gave him no inheritance at that time. He continues by reminding them of the patriarchs, their sojourn in Egypt, their enslavement, their saving through Moses, their worship of the golden calf, their worship of other the gods, and other forms of disobedience. Stephen said, “This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’” (verse 37) Stephen pointed out to Israel, you have the land, you have the Law, but just like your fathers, you refuse to obey. He said, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” (verse 51) Stephen accused the Jews of worshiping their good works and murdering their Messiah. This got him killed.
When Paul asked if the Jews stumbled in order that they might fall, he meant a permanent fall. Did Israel’s sin cause them to permanently lose their position before God? Paul emphatically states, “By no means!” For century after century Israel had failed to obey God, so this was not an unreasonable question. Furthermore, this question begins to help us understand how God works with us in our life. We begin by examining Paul’s life.
Paul was most zealous for the law; he persecuted Christians, committed them to prison, and condoned the stoning of Stephen. He began in the same place as unbelieving Jews. However, God saved him and called him into ministry. Paul began to preach the gospel to his own people, the Jews; however, the Jews rejected him. (For example, see Acts 13, Acts 28 & 1 Thessalonians 2). The Jews consistently rejected Paul’s message. With his constant rejection and the realization that he was a sinner (See Romans 7), Paul could easily have become discouraged, thinking he was not called to this ministry. Paul stumbled, but he didn’t fall. While he was watching the Jews reject the message, God was using their rejection to confirm Paul’s calling to Gentiles. Paul’s ministry was being magnified in the face of failure.
When God accomplishes His will in our life, He often works indirectly, whereas we would prefer that God work directly so that we can more easily see what He is doing. Also, God works at the speed of agriculture. There is plowing, there is planting, there is watering, then you wait. You check the fruit and check it again, then comes the harvest. In our instant gratification culture, we hate to wait. Paul didn’t know how God was accomplishing His will, but he knew one thing for certainty, “For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16b) Paul was so driven to preaching the gospel, so that if the Jews continued to reject him, he would go to the Gentiles. Paul’s ministry was being magnified in the face of Israel’s rejection. Paul was confident in his calling, and in this his ministry was magnified. His ministry was magnified in the face of personal failure because that removes any possibility of false humility. It is magnified in that he began to have a heart for the lost.
Paul’s failure helped him develop a greater understanding of the gospel, and this further magnified his ministry. This is why he wrote in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” These words were penned immediately after confessing his failure. Then he wrote in 8:16-17, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Then he closed this great chapter with verses 38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Even after his perceived ministry failure and his personal failure, Paul acknowledged that nothing could separate him from the love of God.
Peter also stumbled, but he did not fall. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit when he preached the sermon as described in Acts 2, where 3,000 souls were added to the church as they responded to his message. Peter had been preaching to Jews. Then in Acts 10, Peter was given the vision of a sheet being let down from heaven which contained all kinds of animals. God thus revealed to him that Gentiles were not to be considered unclean for God shows no partiality. Peter had stumbled when he denied Jesus, but he stumbled again when he ceased to eat with Gentiles when certain men came from James, causing him to fear the circumcision party. Paul had to rebuke Peter because, prior to the Judaizers coming to him, he was fellowshipping with Gentiles. Peter’s hypocrisy showed his partiality! Peter stumbled but not so as to fall. John 21:18-19 records Jesus’ final words to Peter when He told him that he would die a horrible death, but it would be to glorify Jesus. Through his failures, Peter’s ministry was magnified; it was exalted in his repentance, in his faithfulness to the truth, in his humility, and in his boldness.
Paul’s letter to the Galatian church was written because of the decisions reached by the first Jerusalem Council. (Acts 15). The church was struggling with trying to determine what aspects of God’s Old Testament covenant needed to be kept by New Testament believers. Some believers held that Gentiles had to be circumcised in addition to faith in Christ; others held that faith in Christ was sufficient. The Council sent the letter to the churches, but the Galatian church didn’t feel a need to comply. Thus, Paul wrote to them, and this letter, which so clearly defends justification by faith, is a further magnification of Paul’s ministry.
We have people who have failed, and their ministry is magnified, and we have churches which have failed, and their ministry is magnified. Just like Israel rejected Paul’s message, we have the Catholic church rejecting the gospel presented to them by the Reformers. God used the rejection of the gospel by the Catholic church to reach us! This is why we can have the Bible before us today. The church authorities were opposed to people reading the Scriptures. In a discussion with clergymen who argued that we should hold to what the Pope says rather than Scripture, William Tyndale said, “I defy the Pope and all his laws. In fact, if God spares my life, I intend to make it possible for a common farmer, a plowman, to know more about the Scriptures than you do.” So, God used the failure of the Catholic church to magnify the gospel.
Today we can see the ministry of the church magnified in the face of perceived evangelistic failure. One reason people are reluctant to share the gospel today is a sense of failure when people do not receive our message. We think we have done something wrong; maybe I didn’t know the answer to this question; maybe I stumbled over my words; maybe I didn’t use the right passage, etc. We perceive this as failure, so we conclude that we are not an evangelist. This is not true because everyone is called to share the gospel.
How about our personal sin failures? Do we stumble so that we might fall? No! Contained within verse eleven is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. God is going to continue to work with His people and bring them safely to the end regardless of what happens along the way. God will not reject the people He foreknows, foreloves, adopts, makes heirs, and blesses. God’s love for His people does not change. Christians will stumble but will not fall. With the right perspective our stumbling can magnify our ministry by keeping us humble, completely dependent on God. First Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God is faithful to provide a way of escape when we are tempted. Second Corinthians 4:8-12 tells us that in the face of affliction, despair, persecution, etc. our body may be given over to death, but the life of Jesus is being manifested in us. Verse 12 says, “So death is at work in us, but life in you.” This is evidence of magnification.
When a ministry becomes hard and begins to cost us, we think we may not be called to that ministry. There is no place in Scripture where a ministry is confirmed because it is easy. When sacrifice is required or where there is conflict and difficulty, we perceive these as failures, but this is ministry. As we remain true through difficulty, our ministry is magnified. We need to remind ourselves that our failure is not permanent. Though we may stumble many times, God will not allow His child to fall permanently. Proverbs 24:16 declares, “for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” Because of our failures, we may be tempted to isolate ourselves, but beware, for a wolf’s strategy is to isolate an animal from the herd, then attack. This is also Satan’s strategy, and the reason believers must remain connected to a body.
Unbeliever, repent! But know this, God even uses your unbelief to promote His gospel. We see Israel’s failure and them being chastened by God, but God was working indirectly at agricultural speed to magnify the ministry of others. This is the same way God uses unbelievers today. Your rejection of the gospel strengthens believers in the truth they know.
There are dangers that the church needs to be aware of today. Israel had an attitude that resulted in them being unkind toward outsiders. The temple complex had a Court of the Gentiles, where Jesus taught and where the money changers had their tables. Jesus was angry with the way that the Jews treated Gentiles, when God had called them to minister to the world. Unbelievers today see the church as a failure; this religion is not holding out. Perhaps accelerating since COVID, churches continue to close. The church is becoming primarily middle-class; both the rich and the poor are falling away. Something is wrong. Much of the aggression of the church toward the world is because the world is acting like the unbelievers they are. Our attitude is that they don’t deserve our time, our attention, our resources, or even basic human dignity or acknowledgement.
When we look at the works of the devil in the areas of LGBTQ+, abortion, marriage, gender identity, etc. believers build up high walls to separate ourselves from them and flaunt our goodness. This results in an aggressive exclusion and a wrongful inclusion. There is an ignoring of the truth of theology and an ignoring of the call of God to witness to these people. This results in a lack of compassion for the lost, an unkindness toward outsiders, and a neglect of truth by the church. We are warned in Romans 11:22, “Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” The church may be in danger of severe chastisement because of the way we interact with those outside the church. Yet, God may use the failure of the church to save the lost, and we say, praise God.
II. Ministry is Magnified in Purpose
Paul addressed the purpose for which his ministry is magnified in verses 11b and 12: to make Israel jealous, leading to their eventual return to the root. Paul loved his people and he said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.” (Acts 13:46) The Gentiles rejoiced over being included into God’s family, but Paul warns them in Romans 11:18, “do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.” Paul reveals the mystery, hidden for ages, that Gentiles are included into Israel. In the face of Israel’s failures, God meant this for good. Even if the church fails, God will use it for good.
As Paul ministered, God revealed His divine will in universal history. His ministry is magnified, Gentiles are coming into the church and riches are being delivered to the whole world which was promised to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Israel was supposed to take the gospel to the nations, instead they failed, rejected the gospel and God used their failure to take the gospel to the nations. They failed in worshiping only God and were guilty of all that Stephen charged in Acts 7. In Romans 11:12 Paul declared, “Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!” We can’t even begin to fathom what the world will be like when all Israel repents.
Selah:
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