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Part 12 of 20
How To Get Right With God
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We have been in a thorough study of the book of Romans, and we're approaching the end as we tie a bow on Romans chapter 11. If you're new to this series, know that you're coming in near the conclusion of a long conversation. This study has covered a lot of information, especially in these final chapters.
It is really important, if you're going to follow Christ and call yourself a Christian, to have a proper understanding of what it means to be a follower of Christ—to understand Christian doctrine and what the gospel actually is. Many people are walking away from Christianity, scoffing at the church, and rejecting ideas of faith that don't line up with anything scripture endorses. If you're not a Christian, or if you're new to the faith and exploring, would you consider hanging out with us during this season so you can get an accurate understanding of what the gospel is and what Christians actually believe?
The book of Romans breaks down into five major sections:
Paul spends chapters 1-8 laying out the gospel in a concise and powerful way. He presents the incredible trade we receive in Christ: we get all that was His in exchange for Him taking all that was ours. Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. We are now heirs to the kingdom, grafted into the family of God, and we receive Christ's blessing in place of our baggage.
Chapters 9-11 are the most neglected, most confusing, and most debated and divisive chapters in Romans. They cause some people to glaze over or give up entirely. In these chapters, Paul pivots to address his own tribe—the Jewish people.
After addressing culture, the indifferent, atheists, immorality, and Gentiles, Paul now turns to the Jewish people. He knows they're mad at him, that they'll push back, that they'll think he's starting a cult and preaching false doctrine and heresy. But Paul doesn't run from his critics, and he doesn't take on unnecessary offense.
Christ modeled this perfectly: he had a sharp mind, thick skin, and maintained a soft heart. We can develop the same. Even when we bump into critics and people who don't believe what we believe, we can see ourselves in them and remember that we once had questions too. If we stay in the tension with respect, protection, and honor for their dignity while loving and caring for them, they might bump into Jesus the same way we did.
Paul is telling the Jewish people, "I have not abandoned our tradition. I have not sabotaged or done away with our heritage and legacy. What I am teaching is what scripture has been declaring the entire time." He goes through the Old Testament, discussing the patriarchs, the heroes of faith, the prophets, and those who laid the foundation for Israel. Statement after statement aligns with what Paul is teaching.
Though we drift and wander—sometimes out of rebellion, sometimes out of distraction—God still gets it right. Even when Israel was thick-headed and rebellious, shaking their fist at heaven and turning their back on God, He raised up a remnant. He stayed faithful to the few who remained faithful to Him and carried forward His promise. Even when the people were willing to throw it all aside, God swung it through on a thread and did the heavy lifting.
You and I ought to live every single day with awareness, understanding, and confidence: I serve a God who will never leave me nor forsake me, who has great plans and promises for me, and He always gets the job done. He works all things together for the good of those who trust Him and are called by His name and purposes.
This means leaning in with anticipation and zeal, saying: "My God is at work in my life, moving me in the direction of all things being tied together for good. He is actively pursuing my heart and redeeming my soul every single day." You should jump out of bed in the morning with motivation to see what He has next for you. You have not graduated. You have not come off His to-do list. You have not arrived at a place where God is done with you.
God desires greatly to introduce you to who you're becoming. Most people live with an unhealthy loyalty to a former version of themselves. But God's sanctifying work is transforming you into the image and likeness of Christ. It's not your doing—it's God's doing, because you now have the Holy Spirit indwelling, maturing, and empowering you to live a life of righteousness that you could never do on your own.
Looking at the world, our families, our companies, our schools, our culture and society, it's apparent: the world needs more people who look and act like Jesus. If you and I continue to live a life of repentance, fully surrendered to God, humbly opening ourselves to His work in our lives, maybe He'll do something in us and through us where we can live as a reflection of Christ that honors God.
In Psalms, David is raw and authentic with God. He prays prayers of deep reverence, worshipping God's remarkable nature—"Wherever I go, there you are. You're with me in the morning. You're with me in the evening." Then he transitions into a greater respect for himself, saying, "Wo, I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
Here's the key: the more reverence you have for God, the more respect you will have for yourself. The moment you understand your great Maker, you'll understand how great you were made.
After celebrating how fearfully and wonderfully made he is, David pauses and acknowledges there are people he struggles with. Then he prays a beautiful prayer: "But God, would you search my heart and would you just make me aware of anything in my life that runs against the grain of your heart and is in contradiction to your desire for my life?"
Every single week we gather, we should ask God to search our hearts. Every seven days, you need to be gently reminded: you are a sinner, a broken and depraved individual who is in desperate need of a savior. That's true of me too. We come with confession at the feet of the cross, not with posture or assumptions that we've figured it all out. We certainly don't come thinking we'll earn our own way to heaven. It's by God's grace—abundant, sufficient, and abounding—that out of His goodness He extended such a great gift and invitation to us.
We have been grafted into the family of God not because of who we are, but because of who He is.
Even when the Jewish people have "gotten it wrong" at times, God has stayed faithful. Though they deviated and drifted and wandered, even with their rebellious spirit and their tendency to shake their fist at heaven, God raised up a remnant. He carried forward His promise on a thread, doing the heavy lifting and getting the job done.
This should give us confidence every single day: I serve a God who will never leave me nor forsake me.
Let's read from verses 11 to 25. This passage contains clunky imagery that can confuse many readers, but stay with me as we pull out the big things you need to understand.
Again, I ask, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? No, not at all. Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater will their fullness bring?
Paul is helping the Jews understand: Yes, you were the chosen people of God dating back to Abraham and God's promise of a Messiah and Redeemer who would bless all people. That has happened. But you're failing to recognize that by rejecting Christ, the door to salvation has swung wide open to the entire world.
The heartbeat of Romans is: the world, the world, the world. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son." God's entire plan all along was to rescue and redeem the world, yet the Jewish people struggled to accept others different from them into their religious community.
We should learn much from the Jewish people and carry great appreciation for the Jewish community and nation of Israel. You will always lack substance in your faith and dwarf your development as long as you live without awareness of Jewish history, the nation of Israel, and God's work through those chosen people who laid the foundation for the gospel and the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Now I am talking to you Gentiles in as much as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and to save some.
Paul is emphasizing his calling and his work. He's making much of his ministry—not out of pride or self-promotion, but out of genuine passion for reaching his own people with the good news.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from dead? If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches.
The idea of "first fruits" is significant in scripture. If the first portion is holy, it sanctifies the whole. If the root is holy, the branches are holy. This speaks to continuity and blessing flowing from the source.
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others, and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root. Do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this. You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Paul's warning here is crucial: Do not boast. The Gentiles have been grafted in as wild olive shoots, now sharing in the nourishing sap from the holy root. But they must not be arrogant or look down on the branches that were broken off.
You do not support the root. The root supports you.
This is profound. The next time you hear someone full of shame or self-deprecating thoughts, saying "Oh my goodness, I did it again. I let God down," remind them: You were never holding Him up. You don't support the root. The root supports you.
You will say then branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. Granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief. And you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
The branches were broken off because of unbelief. The Gentiles stand by faith. There's a sober warning here: if God didn't spare the natural branches, He won't spare us either if we fall away into unbelief.
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God. Sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
God shows both kindness and sternness. There's kindness to those who continue in His kindness, but a stern warning that they too can be cut off if they don't persevere in faith.
And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in. For God is able.
Here's the thing: Most people are walking around forgetting the ability of God. There's the human side of God and there's the deity side of God. Christ is fully human and fully God. We love that He's like us, but we have a hard time accepting the parts of Him that are otherly, holy, and apart from us.
As God Himself, He is able. Scripture says: He's able to do exceedingly abundantly more than you can ask, think, or imagine. That's scripture's invitation to put His goodness to the test. It's scripture's prompting to say: "Would you just pump the brakes a little bit? Would you let God out of the claustrophobic box you've put Him in? Would you just be open to the fact that He's such a bigger deal than you realize?"
When Paul says, "I make much of my ministry," he's not boasting about himself or celebrating his own achievements. Rather, he's speaking about taking responsibility for stewarding his influence, his talents, his time, and everything that has been entrusted to him. This is an invitation for all of us to ask: Do you make much of your ministry?
If you are a Christian, you are a minister of the gospel. Our job is to go throughout life making much of our ministry, recognizing how the gospel applies to every situation and every conversation. The next time you encounter someone who is discouraged or full of despair, hear it as an invitation. They are opening a door for someone to introduce good news to them. In that moment, you have an opportunity to make much of your ministry.
Many of us received salvation that cost God everything, yet our lives of gratitude often don't reflect what He has done for us. God saved your life. He sacrificed. He served. He laid down His life for you and gave it His all. The question becomes: does the output and effort of my life reflect my gratitude—not to earn His love, but as a natural byproduct of what He's done in my life?
All righteousness in scripture is relational. We can almost say that righteousness is relational rightness. When you follow Christ, you get better at relationships. Jesus not only makes life better; He makes you and I better at life. Paul wants us to live in such a way that when people see God's work in our lives, they become envious and want to experience that same transformation.
You and I are charged with the responsibility to pay forward what someone else has done for us. The question every Christian should ask is: Are you willing to do for others what someone has already done for you?
We can sit comfortably in our communities and forget what it took for this faith to reach us. A small group of believers witnessed Jesus brutally executed and murdered—and then saw Him come back to life. They began spreading the good news with such audacity that, even though it came at the expense of their own lives, that message jumped oceans and landed on every continent around the world.
What did it take for you to have a Bible in your hand? What did it take for you to experience the Christian faith in your community? Throughout church history, there have been heroes of the faith who made much of their ministry. You and I are the byproduct and the fruit of people stewarding well the influence and time they were given. One day in eternity, you'll be introduced to the people who are the byproduct of you stewarding well what was entrusted to you.
Paul uses two metaphors to help us understand God's redemptive work: the first fruits and the branches in the root.
In the Old Testament, the principle of first fruits meant that people would dedicate the first portion of their harvest to God, placing Him first and designating that portion as holy and set apart for Him. In this text, Paul refers not to the first fruits of crops or livestock, but to the first fruits of a lump of dough.
The principle is this: if you take a lump out of a batch of dough and say, "This is holy," then the whole batch is considered holy. When you place God first and surrender all that you are to Him, anchoring your priorities to Christ alone, grace trickles down through all the areas of your life. It's not just your first offering or first tithe or first act of service. It's saying: God, you have opened the door for Your redemptive work to continue working in and through every part of my life.
Paul addresses the Jewish people and asks: Does a remnant mean we're fully cut off? Is our judgment final? Is it fatal?
His answer is clear: No. As long as there is breath in your lungs and you're not dead, God's not done. There's always still hope. A small remnant of the Jewish community first received Christ and embraced this relationship. If that first group was made holy, the rest of the lump can be redeemed as well. This means there is not a lost cause on this planet. Every single person with breath in their lungs still has the opportunity and the door wide open to respond to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Paul shifts to the metaphor of branches. When a branch is broken off from the vine or root, it dies. Paul uses something familiar to his audience: you can take a branch and graft it into an olive root. This is what God has done with the Gentile people. But to the Jews, He says: even if you were a broken-off branch, God can pick you up and graft you back into the root.
The crucial principle here is this: The root determines the fruit, not the branch. When you are grafted into Christ, you receive His work of redemption and His righteousness imputed into your life. It begins to produce and look like Jesus—not because of your performance or because you've earned God's love, but because you are connected to the root.
Anyone thankful that He still picks up broken people? God looks at our brokenness—our addiction, our deception, our hatred, our lust, our greed, our cruelty—and says, "I can still redeem and work in your life. And if you would allow me, I would graft you into the root." The gospel does away with you producing righteousness or earning God's love. The moment you are in Christ, grace works in and through your life.
Paul wants us to know that every single one of us can be grafted into the family of God. But he also recognizes a danger: when the Gentiles hear what he's saying to the Jewish people, they might feel superior. They might fall into the same trap of pride and self-righteousness that the Jewish people struggled with.
So Paul turns to the Gentiles and gives them four clear warnings:
Do not be ignorant. Do not be conceited. Do not boast. Do not be arrogant.
Grace and the gospel take a wrecking ball to pride. Here's what we need to understand: grace does not give us bragging rights. Grace gives us grateful roots. We don't go out into the world saying, "I'm a Christian, so I'm better than you." Instead, we say, "I too was lost. I too was selfish. I too was prideful. I too was running in the wrong direction. And for some reason, God intervened in my life. He rooted me in the gospel, rooted me in grace, and secured my eternity. I just live a life of gratitude."
Ignorance is the unaware heart. You do not know what you do not know. One of the best statements you can carry in your theological toolkit is: "I don't know." The person who tells you they've got it all figured out—you better run. The word "mystery" is echoed and reinforced throughout scripture, and Paul is saying that's good news, because we don't need God to be our peer. We need Him to be our Savior.
Ignorance hides in passivity and indifference, and it is not cured by information. It is cured by illumination. You can bombard yourself with information 24/7, but what matters is asking God: "By your Spirit and by your revelation in scripture, would you illuminate your truth in my life? Would you help me see what is right in front of me?"
For all of us who do not know everything, we should not walk around proud. When you start teaching theology without humility, before long you're spreading heresy. Understand what you do not know and walk humbly, leaning into prayer and asking God to illuminate it.
If ignorance is the unaware heart, conceit is the overinflated ego. A helpful acronym for ego is: Edging God Out. Sometimes we get so inflated in our thinking that we do exactly that.
Conceit is that moment when pride starts to look good in the mirror. It's when you start to cosign to what you know is wrong. Pride always blocks grace. We run around boasting and performing, trying to prove to others that we're more impressive or better than we really are. Why do we do this? Because we're all trying to enhance other people's value of ourselves.
But here's the reality: a lot of people in this world aren't going to value you. If you live your whole life trying to earn affirmations and prove your worth to others, you'll run yourself into the ground trying to please and impress people you don't even like and people who don't like you.
The answer is to ask God: "Would you help me see myself the way you see me? Help me function in humility, receiving the fact that you still want to work in my life in new ways."
Boasting is when you loudly declare things about yourself that aren't true, or overstate your accomplishments and worth. It's a form of lying that seeks validation from others.
Arrogance is the hardened heart—a refusal to receive correction, to admit you're wrong, or to recognize your need for God and others. It's the posture that says, "I've got this figured out," when in reality, there is so much we do not know and cannot control.
For the next seven days, let's aim for this: Don't walk around ignorant. Don't walk around conceited. Don't walk around boastful. Don't walk around arrogant. Because what you discover is that grace and the gospel takes a wrecking ball to pride. We are called to live with grateful roots, not bragging rights.
Why do we spend our lives boasting, performing, and trying to prove we're more impressive than we really are? Much of it comes from a fundamental drive: we're all trying to enhance other people's value of us. We desperately want their affirmation, their respect, their sense that we're worth something.
But here's the hard truth: a lot of people in this world simply aren't going to value you. If you commit your entire life to earning affirmations and proving your worth to others, you'll discover something devastating. You'll run yourself into the ground trying to please and impress people you don't even like—and people who don't like you. It's a losing game.
The answer isn't to try harder. It's to ask God: "Would you help me see myself the way you see me? Help me function in humility, receiving the fact that you still want to work in my life in new ways."
Boasting is the loud lie. The world is full of lies, but so is our head—and sometimes we lie to ourselves more than anyone else. If conceit is internal inflation, then boasting is external exaltation. It's pride's marketing campaign, going through life broadcasting how impressive you are and why you're better than others.
When boasting is present, gratitude is absent. It goes out the window because pride and grace cannot occupy the same space. They're terrible roommates. When grace moves in, it evicts pride. And pride is always trying to break down the door to get back in.
This is crucial to understand: if you're a Christian, this has to be rock solid. This is why I always say, please do not make much of my leadership. The only difference between us right now is you're sitting down and I'm standing up—my platform is 36 inches higher than you. And that adds an unnecessary varnish to an imperfect person.
Every single one of us is just trying to walk through life, opening our hearts to God and asking, "What do you want to do in my life?" It's not about ousting someone else or proving we're better. It is level ground at the foot of the cross. And boasting is the loud lie that tells us otherwise.
Boasting creeps into our mind with the thought, "We've got it all figured out. We're the good ones. The world is trash." But the world will never listen to a church that is so quick to label them as doomed, gone, and a lost cause.
Just because you have been radically changed by the grace of God and are living a much better life than before Christ, please crucify your need for credit. It will suffocate your praise. The problem is clear: every blessing that doesn't turn back to praise has the potential to turn into pride.
Arrogance is the hardened heart. It's not just thinking you're right—it's thinking you're better. And we must be careful because what arrogance does is more tragic than separating us from people. It separates us from God.
The gospel is the remedy. Grace does away with this wild nature of ours that is self-absorbed and self-centered. When we stop taking credit and stop thinking we're the center of it all, when we live with humble, open hands, God might do even more in our life.
Here's the liberating truth: every blessing that does not turn back to praise has the potential to turn into pride. If God doesn't get the credit, who does? You. Me. And there is something so liberating, so refreshing, so dignifying, so encouraging when we recognize it's not about what we've done. It's not about how impressive we are. It is because he is holy.
He is the root that we have been grafted into. By his goodness and his nourishment, we are producing fruit that runs against the grain of our wild, worldly nature. To God be the glory.
If there was anybody who could have walked around boasting, proud, arrogant, conceited, and self-centered, who would it have been? Christ. This man fed 5,000. He walked on water. He could have been boasting about his accolades.
Instead, he picked up towels. He served people's needs. He washed their feet. He responded to the ignorant with compassion. He responded to the hateful with love and gentleness. He's just so different. And it took the world by storm. People couldn't help but ask, "Who is this Jesus?"
The moment we stop living for ourselves and we make much of our ministry, living our lives for Christ, suddenly people start asking the same question. Who is this Jesus that brought that person out of that pit and is doing such wonderful work in their life?
Suddenly, you and I get to have a front-row seat to seeing God do in someone else's life what he's done in our own life. But if you walk around boasting, conceited, or arrogant, all you're going to do is stand in the way of them seeing Jesus.
Myself included, maybe this week we can all pray: "God, would you help us get out of the way? Would you help us make much of our ministry? And God, would you help us reflect the humility of Christ that catches a prideful world by storm?"
Let our lives be intriguing to those who don't believe what we believe. That's the calling. That's the invitation.
