By J.D. Walt
Prayer of Consecration
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.
Jesus, We belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Scripture
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Romans 11:25–32 (NIV)
Consider This
Are you still hearing the cheer-filled chant? Because Paul is not letting up.
I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!
He has it on the sure evidence of Revelation—God’s decree.
As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Gentiles were flocking into the kingdom. It was too much for the average Jew—a kingdom with a crucified Messiah and anybody and everybody gets in who will “declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9).
The Jews suffered from a condition common to people of privilege (low and high). They were born on third base and thought they hit a triple.
These Jews had a birthright. They had paid their dues. They were, after all, God’s chosen people. How dare God go allowing in all this riff-raff. As the saying goes, this place is going to you know where in a hand-basket.
That condition of the Jews is common to the human race. It is called pride. And my friends, pride is the hardness of the heart. Hear Paul’s opener again today:
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,
The Jews did have a birthright, but it did not amount to a claim on God. It’s why Jesus famously told the Jew, Nicodemus, he would have to be “born again.”
It’s why Jesus famously told the poor who flocked to him, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).
This gospel is pure gift or it is nothing. This gospel requires simple faith or nothing. Check your birthright at the door. Check your church attendance at the door. Check your good behavior at the door. Check your accomplishments and accolades and credentials and qualifications at the door. All of that might matter and have some value in some places but it has less than no value at the only door that ultimately matters. Yes, check your anything and everything else but “Jesus Christ is Lord and God raised him from the dead,” at the door.
And be clear. This is not about getting into heaven when you die. This is right here, right now kingdom of Jesus stuff. This is the “on earth as it is in heaven reality” or it is no reality at all.
It reminds me of that time Jesus told the story about the farmhands. You remember it. The farmhands lined up for work one day and the farmer came early and hired a crew. The farmer came back at nine and noon and three and finally at five; each time hiring an additional crew to join the field labor. He agreed to pay them all a denarius for the day’s work. In the evening time, he lined them up beginning with the last ones who joined the crew, so he could pay them first. Right down the line from the last crew to the first, he paid them all the same wage. The early risers were furious. This was not fair in their eyes. They grumbled.
“These who were hired last worked only one hour,” they said, “and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.” (Matt. 20:12)
I love what the farmer told them.
“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ (Matt.20:13–15)
Here’s my translation—as though from the mouth of God . . .
I’m not fair. Be very glad I’m not fair. I am so much better than fair. I am merciful.
Prayer
Abba Father! This word about your fairness challenges me to the core. Thank you that mercy is unfair. Thank you that grace is unfair. Now and ultimately no one has any claim on you. It is your mercy and your grace and you can do with it as you please. Holy Spirit would you help me understand this at the deepest level? I want to know Jesus through and through—inside and out—upside down. I want to know this truth in my bones, in my deepest self. Grace me to be humble, poor in spirit, meek, and even holy. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.