Friday Romans 9:1-5

Paul laments for his fellow Jews.

Click here for an online Bible. Romans 9:1-5

Paul has just explained at the end of chapter 8 that nothing can separate us from God. For those who follow Christ, it is God Himself that maintains the relationship. We have confidence in our position with Christ because it is based on God’s promise.

So what about the Jews? Didn’t they have promises from God? What happened to them? Is God breaking His promises to the Jews? Did God get tired of the Jews and now He has cast them aside?

Paul proclaims his care for his fellow Jews. He says that he would give up his own salvation if it would save the Jewish people. As Paul has already said, salvation comes by faith, not birthright. People are saved by faith in Christ, but salvation by faith has always been the case. The Law of Moses showed sin and the need for grace.

God has not broken His promise with the Jews. He has fulfilled His promise in Christ. Jesus was a Jew and all of His initial followers were Jews. He came to the Jewish people. Some believed but most of them rejected Him. Those who believed received the promise.

Paul laments of the tragedy of the Jews. They had the history with God. They had the prophets and the Law. They had the temple. They had experienced the love and provision of God. If anyone could believe in Christ, it should be them.

I have a similar lament with many in our churches. They have grown up with the word of God. They have heard the testimonies of people around them who have experienced the hand of God. Yet many in the churches around the world are not really believers in Christ. They know church, but they don’t know God. They know how to act in church, but they don’t know how to follow Christ. They love the church but don’t really love God. If anybody should know God, these people should, but their hearts are hard.

It is no particular church or denomination. It is all over. And the real tragedy is that is came from the success of the church. Several years ago, all respectable people went to church. A friend recently told me that when he was growing up in Alabama, “Everybody was either a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a drunk.” Church was normal for normal people. While that can be good, there is a down side. Attendance and participation in church replaced faith in Christ. Membership in church replaced citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Consequently, churches became filled with people who had inherited church membership from their families rather than experienced adoption as children of God.

Surveys show that as many as one third of the members of protestant churches in America are really unbelievers.

We must make sure that we keep Christ central to our lives. Spiritual disciplines are useful in that they keep us close to God.

Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.