“My Countrymen”

Text: Romans 9:1-5 -- Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee  --  November 7, 2004

 

 

“My Countrymen”

TEXT:  Romans 9:1-5

REVIEW

1.  The Golden Chain: God’s love for His elect began before the creation of the world.  He cherished them, made plans for them to be like His only-begotten Son, called them by His Spirit, justified them through His gift of faith, and glorified them in His risen and ascended Son.  This love is secure.  Nothing can destroy it.

2.  God is for you: All this means that if you have faith in Christ, God is for you.  He is for you today.  He will be for you when Jesus returns.  You can live with that confidence and security of God’s love.

 

TODAY’S PASSAGE: 

Romans 9:1-5  1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,  2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.  3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,  4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;  5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

 

Paul’s history with the Jews

            The author of these words from Romans 5 is the Apostle Paul.  Paul was Jewish.  He hated Christianity at one time.  When he was persecuting Christians there were many Jewish leaders who were his friends.  If Paul had never changed, he probably would have been lost to history.  But Paul did change.  He met Jesus Christ, and was sent in a very different direction.  He became an Apostle to the Gentiles.

            When Paul changed, he lost a lot of friends.  Some of the persecution that he faced came from Roman government officials and from pagans, but much of it came from Jewish religious leaders and their agents.  In a note from The Reformation Study Bible, a commentator writes this about Paul’s first missionary journey: “The Jewish synagogues in these cities provided Paul a platform for preaching the gospel.  At times, however, he even encountered opposition from the synagogues.”  This is something of an understatement.  Not only was he opposed, his enemies followed him from place to place in an effort to disrupt his teaching.  As an example, this is how Paul was treated in Lystra.

Acts 14:19-22  19 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.  20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.  21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,  22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."

            Acts 15 tells us that others (most likely Jewish believers who were confused about the gospel) came from Jerusalem and caused great dissension within the churches that were being planted as they tried to convince Gentile Christians that they needed to be circumcised.  This caused Paul to stop everything he was doing and to return to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and elders on this matter.  Throughout the letters of the New Testament it is clear that Paul faced very vocal (and sometimes brutal) opposition from Jewish leaders who were against the Christian message.

 

Great sorrow and continual grief

            With this in mind, is it not surprising what Paul writes in the beginning verses of this chapter?  He apparently recognizes that some of his readers would question the sincerity of the words that followed.  Therefore he begins by making a very solemn statement about the truth of his heart on this matter.  He says, “I tell the truth” and then adds the solemn oath “in Christ.”  If that is not enough he says, “I am not lying” and adds a word about his conscience and the witness of the Holy Spirit Himself.  Apparently he wants us to believe something very important here that should not me dismissed as religious fluff.

What is his message?  “I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.”  Why?  Paul has grief in his heart because of the eternal condition of so many Jews.  He says an amazing thing.  He would rather be caught off from the gracious presence of Christ himself if it could mean the salvation of his countrymen according to the flesh, the Jews.  That should sound vaguely Christian to you.  Was it not Jesus Christ who was cut off from the presence of God on the cross when He gave himself for our salvation?  Paul, in this extravagant love for his countrymen, is imitating the love of Jesus for His elect throughout the world.  Imagine this: Paul is writing about a group of people that hated him in large numbers.  Rather than consigning them to hell, Paul would take hell (if he could), in order that they might have heaven.  That is Christ-like love for your enemies.

 

Who are his countrymen?

            What is the precise group that Paul is referring to here?  He uses a word that usually means “kindred.”  The picture of a very extended family might help us to understand his thinking about his countrymen.  How do you feel about your extended family?  Would you be willing to give up your own salvation if it could mean that your people could be saved?  This is the love that Paul is speaking of, and he strengthens his remarks with a very solemn oath so that we will know that he means what he is saying.

            These “countrymen according to the flesh” are Jews, many of whom would love to see Paul dead.  But they are the adopted Old Testament people of God.  They have seen the glorious presence of God as they traveled through the wilderness.  They were the keepers of the worship of God, and the recipients of God’s covenant promises.  They had the law of God, but had violated it.  They had the worship of God, but had profaned it.  They had the promises of God, but had not believed them.  Yet Paul loved them.

            How are things going with your kinsmen?  Do you have that love for the children who are your own flesh and blood?  Would you give your salvation up for the eternal security of your husband or wife?  Has someone in your home or extended family hurt you deeply?  Did they stone you and leave you for dead out in front of your house?  Would you be willing to give up eternal life for them?  What love Christ has given us!  How amazing that here in Paul’s life we have a human example of this Christ-like love!

 

Of them and from them

                The analogy does not entirely hold between Paul’s countrymen and your extended family.  Paul’s kindred were unique in their special position of blessing by God throughout the Old Testament era.  The fathers of the faith were of the Jews.  Men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons were of this family line.  Even more, the God-man Jesus was a Jew.  Verse 5 tells us that according the flesh, and as it concerns His human nature, Jesus had an Israelite mother.  His father, however was not Mary’s husband Joseph.  His Father was God.  Not only that, this Jesus had and still has two natures in one person.  He has a human nature and a divine nature.  Concerning his divine nature He is God over all, the eternally blessed God.

Paul in this ninth chapter was addressing the knotty issue of God’s chosen people, who largely rejected the Messiah.  The Apostle wanted to start by making it clear that Jesus himself was a Jew.  Paul very plainly was not against the circumcised, even though many of them were against him.  Paul was a Jew, of course.  But more than that, Paul loved his kindred, and would have been willing to give himself entirely for them if he could have.

 

What Christ did for us

            Yet Paul could not give up his eternal salvation.  He was one of God’s elect from before all eternity, and nothing could separate him from the love of God.  Furthermore, Paul did not have the righteousness to die for anyone else’s sins.  If Paul were to pay a price for anyone’s sins, it would have to be for his own.  Even there, the problem with that idea is that Paul’s offense against God was eternal, and even after he was punished forever, the punishment would not be satisfied.  That’s what makes eternal punishment eternal.

What Paul could not do, Paul’s Messiah did.  Where did Paul get the yearning to give himself eternally for his brethren – his kindred?  This desire that he testifies to so solemnly, was a fruit of Christian faith.  It was a gift of Jesus – who is God over all forever blessed.  This forever God-man did for you and for Paul and for lots of Jews and Gentiles what Paul could absolutely not do for his countrymen according to the flesh.

But what could Paul do in response to such a great love?  He could only give his life away for Jews and Gentiles, not to atone for their sins, but to announce to them the message of that One Great Son of God. 

Do you hear the message of that gospel love this morning?  If you do, then God calls you to respond to it with an unusual and solemn love.  Give this sacrificial love to your wife or your husband, though he or she might have treated you as an enemy.  Give this love to your children and your students, though they have not obeyed you with a completely delighted heart.  Give this love to your parents and your teachers, though they have seemed cold and uninterested in your dreams and desires.

Finally, give this love to your countrymen.  There is a world of difference between the heart that says, “Go to hell” when attacked and the heart that says, “I would take the pains of hell for you if it were possible.”  The former is just normal returning evil for evil.  The latter is Christ-like.