Romans 11:29

“…The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”

Paul is writing about the nation of Israel. They are an illustration here for how God deals with people. And in this instance he is saying that although God has allowed his chosen people to be hardened in heart for the sake of the gentiles who would be saved, he has not forgotten his promises to that nation.

But there are dual meanings, as virtually every classic Christian commentator agrees.

Therefore, this verse becomes among the most encouraging, strengthening, truths of God’s love to ever fall on the pages of scripture. Though we may fail, we need not succumb to despair. Though we are weak we can take heart and confidence because God’s gifts and callings are irrevocable.

Romans 6:19:

“…For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”

There’s an important truth embedded here that I sometimes overlook.

“Lawlessness leading to more lawlessness…” Sin leads to more sin. Have you ever been stuck in a series of habitual sins? Have you ever told yourself that quitting cold-turkey would be too hard and so you thought you might try and ease yourself out of your sin pattern? I definitely have. It’s never worked for me and I’m betting it didn’t work for you either.

That’s because sin begets sin. When we sin, we sin more. That’s the problem. If we want to break our sin-patterns, we’ll have to stop more than that sin in specific, but focus on Sin as the grand tyrant it is.

Paul’s words in Romans 7 have always resonated with me. It’s this idea that as new creations we have this sort of split personality. While our spirit desires one thing, our flesh continues to try and pursue what we do not want. I often feel that way. An inner monologue persists between my flesh and my spirit. And in some ways, I’ve grown to see my flesh (in one sense) as my closest enemy.

As I’ve been reading through the Psalms this time around, I’ve begun reading it in light of this thinking. Perhaps this isn’t universally accurate, but on a personal level, I have found it compelling.

Tonight I was reading Psalm 13. It’s short.

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
   How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
   and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
   Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him,"
   lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
   my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
   because he has dealt bountifully with me.

For me, this becomes a prayer for sanctification and domination over the sinful nature that resides in me. Prayer that God would not let my own flesh conquer me.

But, as the final verses of the prayer would imply, Jesus has won this battle for my soul! Though I fight and sometimes fail, I will rejoice because in Christ, the Lord “has dealt bountifully with me.”

In Have you ever read Romans 14:13? It goes like this:

“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother”

I think I hear this verse (and others like it) way too often. It’s usually used as kind of a blanket verse. A trump card to avoid tense situations. Billy is drinking a beer and Betty thinks it’s wrong. Rather than Billy and Betty having to deal with the tension of holding differing convictions, it’s argued that Billy shouldn’t drink beer because it’s causing Betty to ‘stumble’.

Is it? Or is her sense of right and wrong taking offense at Billy’s differing opinion? They’re not the same thing.

Admittedly, this is not a topic that I have thoroughly thought through. There are still quite a few questions and points of contention in my mind over it. But the overarching issue, I think, is relatively clear.

Consider the verse, Proverbs 27:17:

Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.

Is it possible for iron to sharpen iron without friction? No, of course not. Friction is more or less why iron can sharpen iron. Likewise, I can’t think of too many times that a brother refined me apart from my own convictions rubbing against theirs. For us to benefit from one another as believers, our sense of right and wrong must be offended some times.

In Romans 14, Paul does not want to cause a brother to stumble by eating meat. After all, many of his Jewish brothers would be violating their conscience by eating meat. But eventually, they did eat meat. There are very few Christians today who refrain from eating meat for biblical reasons. How’d this happen? At some point someone’s convictions must have been offended causing them to reconsider their resolves, ultimately allowing them to change their views and eat meat with a clean conscience.

In the situation with Billy and Betty, Billy shouldn’t entice Betty to drink beer, nor should he drink beer if Betty is feeling the urge to do so—thus violating her conscience. However, I don’t think Billy has much obligation to Betty’s preferences beyond that.

If we allow the definitions of ‘stumbling block’ and ‘offended’ and ‘conscience’ to be convoluted, then we’ll be restricted from just about everything. There aren’t many topics that Christians unanimously agree on and how specifically to live this life is far far far from being on that list. That’s okay. But it means that topics like this one shouldn’t be carelessly understood and hidden behind.

It usually results in more irritated conflict and threatens to stunt our spiritual and relational growth.

Proverbs 17:15 says:

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
   are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

With spiritual writings like these, it’s no wonder that so many of the Jew’s had difficulty understanding God’s message of grace through faith in Jesus. Perhaps that was God’s plan.

After-all, how can God justify us when justifying the wicked is an “abomination” in his sight.

We must suppose this was all part of his cosmic plan for redemption and glory and glory and glory and glory. He clears the air in Romans 3:23-26:

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The complexity, yet completeness of the Word is a fascinating thing.

Romans 9:19-24:

You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

It is interesting how much time people will spend arguing with God’s justice over people lives, rather than attempting to come to terms with what it actually says.

Just reminded me of the Shai Linne song I posted about some months ago, In Adam All Die. There’s a verse that goes like this:

Adam’s guilt was imputed to his descendents
Global calamity
Major debt, pain, regret, the reign of death- total depravity
And yes, I’m aware that cats were not there
Which opens the door to charges of “that’s not fair”
But God is not subject to fallen notions of fairness
Besides, when it comes to God’s glory, most could care less
We can’t measure how we chase sand treasures
And banned pleasures- similar to our ancestors
So instead of saying if you were there what you would do
Seek your refuge in Adam number two

You can listen to the song here.

I had one of those moments today. It wasn’t some great moment of exegetical understanding. Rather it was just a simple reminder within a passage of scripture which, for all intents and purposes, and almost nothing to do with my thought.

1 Samuel 2:25, Eli rebukes his “worthless” sons for their sin saying,

“If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”

It reminded me that no matter how grim things look for us, or how dark a place we may be there is hope in Jesus, for many reasons—not the least of which is Romans 8:34:

“Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

Jesus—born, lived, died, raised and ascended to heaven—now sits at the right hand of his righteous Father interceding on our behalf. That’s pretty cool. That’s pretty comforting.