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

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Romans 12:3–8 (NIV)

 

Consider This

I want to return to the missing phrase from yesterday’s Wake-Up Call entry. Let’s remember the text first:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, (Rom. 12:1).

The magical, miraculous phrase which contains the coherence of the whole letter, if not the whole Bible, is this one: in view of God’s mercy. 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice . . . is a fool’s errand without the little phrase, “in view of God’s mercy.” It is not possible. Without the active, living view and vision of God’s mercy, the best you can hope for is religious activism by human willpower. You will endlessly try harder to do better and slowly convince yourself you are not as bad as your neighbor and soon start phoning it in, embracing a tepid faith leading to a mediocre life. 

But that’s not you. 

You live in the view of God’s mercy. The view is of the Son of God. He was there in the garden of Eden, clothing the naked and ashamed Adam and Eve with the sacrifice of animal skins. This is the one Melito of Sardis, second century bishop called,

“the Pascha of our salvation; who in many people endured many things. This is the one who was murdered in Abel, tied up in Isaac, exiled in Jacob, sold in Joseph, exposed in Moses, slaughtered in the lamb, hunted down in David, and dishonored in the prophets. This is the one made flesh in a virgin, who was hanged on a tree, who was buried in the earth, who was raised from the dead, and who was exalted to the heights of heaven.”

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, . . .

The mercy of God is a vision. It is the vision of the eternal, endless, outreach of the almighty God of heaven and earth—offering the gifts of mercy and grace to all who would freely receive. Yes, the mercy of God is Jesus Christ offering himself freely and fully to broken sinners like every single person who has ever lived. Far from some sort of transaction of salvation, it is the gift of relationship becoming a completely transformed and transformative life. 

In view of that, the invitation is this: Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. In light of God’s offering to us, let us now make an offering of ourselves to God. But here’s the deal. It’s not something you can just decide and do. You can only make the offering if you have truly received the offering. And you can only receive the offering if you have come to know your deep need of the offering of mercy. 

Instead of “the view of God’s mercy,” many translations say, “by the mercies of God.” The offering of your life itself can only happen “by the mercies of God.” It is his mercy that saves us and it is his mercy that enables and empowers us to offer ourselves back to him. We are moving in the realm of the power of God here, which means we are moving in the realm of faith, which means we are moving in the realm of divine relationship. Let’s remember where this letter began:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16–17)

When you catch even a glimpse of the mercy of God it moves you to want to offer yourself as a gift back to God. The great Isaac Watts hymn nails this movement. He begins with “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died,” and he finishes with, “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small, love so amazing so divine demands my soul, my life, my all.” 

   

Prayer

Abba Father! How we thank you for your mercy, who is Jesus. I want to see Jesus. Open the eyes of my heart that I might see Jesus, to behold him—the view and vision of God’s mercy. As we behold him, by the mercies of God, we become like him, by the mercies of God. Holy Spirit, help me to turn my eyes upon Jesus and so be transformed by the renewing of my mind that I might know the will of God and do it. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

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

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1–2 (NIV)

 

Consider This

It was the late 1900s. The year was 1994 and I was about to begin seminary at the Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. I had just left my two jobs as a full-time youth pastor and a part-time lawyer. On my cross-country drive to Kentucky, I decided it was time to get serious about “rememberizing” Scripture. I had memorized a Bible verse here and there, but not much more. My starting point? You guessed it—Romans 12. 

I have a name for Romans 12. I call it The Jesus Manifesto. I think I could write for twelve weeks on this twelfth chapter alone. At least I wish I had twelve days. And yes, if there is one chapter in the Bible I would commend to you for rememberization, it would be this one: Romans 12. Let’s get started.

THEREFORE. Anytime you see this word in Scripture (or any other literature for that matter), you should ask this question: What is it “there for”? Therefore serves as the great theological hinge on the massive door of the gospel unveiled in these sixteen chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans. The first 8 chapters unfold the glorious contours of the gospel of grace, who is Jesus Christ. Chapters 9 through 11 delve into the “I believe that we will win”  conundrum of Israel. And chapter 12 tells us what chapters 1–11 are there for. Therefore opens the door.

I URGE YOU. Paul chooses the most flashing sign word he can find in the Greek language. The word is parakaleo. Here are some of the English equivalents: to admonish, exhort, entreat, beg, beseech, encourage, strengthen, summon; and last but not least—to call. And that’s just the “kaleo” part of the word. Here’s the interesting part. The “para” part means, “to come alongside.” So when Paul writes, “I urge you,” (I parakaleo you), it has the effect of Paul himself walking right up to us, putting his arm around our shoulder and loudly declaring, (brace for it)

WAKE UP SLEEPER! RISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST WILL SHINE ON YOU!

BROTHERS AND SISTERS. Notice how Paul doesn’t say, “Jews and Gentiles.” Jews-and-Gentiles is the starting line. This is where we find people. They are either one or the other. Note also the goal is not to help Jews and Gentiles get along or even to become friends. He calls them “brothers and sisters.” The reality is family. 

OFFER YOUR BODIES AS A LIVING SACRIFICE. There are at least two massive dilemmas here. If the Bible has a singular call to action it is contained in this phrase. For most of the years I read this, I read it like this: “offer your bodies as living sacrifices.” In fact, that’s the way my favorite bible translation translated it—the 1984 New International Version. They actually mistranslated the singular word “sacrifice” as the plural “sacrifices.” You’re seeing the issue, aren’t you? The text actually says, “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Bodies (plural). Sacrifice (singular). Many bodies—one sacrifice. The New Testament church, the one Jesus is building, is not a bunch of independent individuals running around trying to make Jesus famous. This is perhaps the greatest challenge of the church of our time—to become the body of Christ living the will of God rather than millions of individuated bodies doing their own thing in God’s name. 

You have already spotted the other dilemma as well. The phrase contains an oxymoron (e.g., jumbo shrimp, working vacation, smartphone). It is a “living sacrifice.” A sacrifice, by nature, is dead. When a batter hits a pop fly to the outfield and the base runners advance to the next base, it is deemed a sacrifice. The batter is out. When a soldier jumps on a hand grenade to save others’ lives, it is deemed a sacrifice. The soldier is dead. What on earth is a living sacrifice? How on earth does a sacrifice live? 

Well, the secret is held in the tiny phrase I skipped right over in my comments today. But you already saw that. It’s only the most important phrase in the whole chapter if not the whole book. We will cover it tomorrow.

   

Prayer

Abba Father! Thank you for Jesus, the original living sacrifice, the crucified and risen Lord of heaven and earth. He has shown us the way to the life of a living sacrifice. Holy Spirit, fill us with the courage to walk this path of faith—to die before we die so we might truly live while we are alive and then gloriously onward into eternity! I want to be a living sacrifice, in union with my brothers and sisters in Jesus, for the glory of God. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

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

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:33–36 (NIV)

 

Consider This

Growing up in the First United Methodist Church of Dumas, Arkansas, meant a number of things, but one thing you could set your clock by. Every single Sunday, every single month, of every single year we were going to sing two of the exact same songs at almost precisely the same moment in every single worship service. The songs were called, the “Gloria Patri,” and the “Doxology.” 

Here’s the first one:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.
World without end, Amen. Amen. 

And here’s the second:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen. 

If you look up the word “doxology” in the dictionary you get this: 

doxology: a liturgical formula of praise to God

If I’m honest, (and I can only speak for my own experience) those 936 Sundays of my growing up years were just that, “a liturgical formula of praise to God.” Time to stand up and sing. Now sit down. Now greet your neighbor. Now stand back up and sing. Now sit down. Now listen and try to stay awake. 

And I thank God for all 936 times. They formed me. They shaped my liturgical memory so that in time I would cultivate a doxological imagination. These songs gave me the muscle memory of looking up; forgetting any shred of myself; and singing words exclusively unto the God of Gods. 

Here’s how I define doxology. A doxology is a series of combustible words that, when lit, create fire in the sky. To sing a doxology—to really sing it—is to light a fire in the sky and allow yourself to become caught up in it. 

That’s what happened to Paul in today’s text. After a stunning eleven-chapter exploration and exposition of the glory of the grace of Abba Father in the Lord Jesus Christ through the incredible Holy Spirit, he could do nothing else. He lit a fire in the sky and got caught up in it. 

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Yep, he lit a fire in the sky and got caught up in it. 

Doxology. This is what I want to happen in my life every single day. And I want it to happen in yours. What we do in church on Sundays is good, my friends, but it’s only practice. It’s developing the muscle memory for the real game of the other six days. 

It would take another thousand words, but isn’t that the very essence of the day of Pentecost—the day he lit a fire in the sky over our heads and caught us up in himself?

I talk about carrying seeds a lot and I will continue. I think we should also carry matches.

   

Prayer

Abba Father! “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” Thank you for sending your Son, for lighting up the sky with the glory of grace and mercy; for lighting up our lives with all the possibilities of the kind of faith that moves mountains and the kind of love that raises the dead. Thank you for showing us who we actually are and are meant to be in Jesus. Thank you for sending your Spirit to make it burn for the glory of it all; for the glory of you alone. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

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.

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

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 consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but 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 tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

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. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

Romans 11:17–24 (NIV)

 

Consider This

I’ve never seen it this way before, but I may be onto something for once. Paul is turning the eleventh chapter of Romans into a full-fledged pep rally. Today it is going to be a straight-away halftime talk with the team. Throughout the whole letter Paul has worked to forge a one team mentality between what heretofore had been understood as two teams: The Jews and the Gentiles. 

Remember, one of the main things Paul is trying to do in all his letters is to solve the particular problems these fledgling churches were facing. This matter of the Jews and the Gentiles was one of the most pressing and pervasive problems across all the churches. These communities were rife with prejudices, power dynamics, and petty infighting. Like Jesus, Paul knew a house divided could not stand, so his first and last order of business was to bring communities to the level ground of the cross of Jesus where the Holy Spirit could raise them into demonstration plots of resurrection power.

Throughout the letter, we get the sense of two opposing (or at least conflicted) sides. It was more like the Jews vs. the Gentiles (or vice-versa) rather than the Jews and the Gentiles. This church in Rome, or rather these little churches in Rome were likely already somewhat segregated. Remember the story. Emperor Claudius had expelled all Jews from the city several years before and with the rise of Nero, many of the Jews were making their way back. A number of them belonged to the church before the exile and now they were coming back into those same churches which had now become largely Gentile in their makeup. They would have felt displaced; like they were coming back home but no longer really belonged. 

It’s kind of the same effect when an old-line traditional church begins to take on the shape of what the old saints derisively call, “the church of what’s happening now.” Hymns get replaced by choruses, hymnals get scuttled by screens, and guitars trump pipe organs. Next thing you know the drummer will be wearing holey jeans! You know what I’m talking about. The Gentiles are taking over! But I digress . . .

Paul now turns the halftime talk into a bit of what back home we call a “talking to” with the Gentiles. He tells these Gentiles in no uncertain terms they were the “newcomers” to the team. The Jews were there first by a long shot. The Gentiles had been “grafted” into the olive branch which was the Jewish people. Though the Jews had been originally drafted, the Gentiles were now being grafted. (I couldn’t resist!). The Jews were the roots. The Gentiles were the shoots. 

do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

Next, Paul boldly rebukes these apparently braggadocios Gentiles. 

Do not be arrogant, but tremble.

Then Paul plays the proverbial ace of spades. He reminds them who owns the game and all the game pieces:

For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

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.

It’s halftime. Coaches never give game balls at halftime. This is a long game. This game belongs to God. And the name of the game is Mercy.

   

Prayer

Abba Father! We thank you for you are kind. We thank you for you are mercy. We thank you for you are patient. We thank you for you are love. We thank you for you are  Jesus. And we thank you for you are the Holy Spirit, who brings Jesus into us and us into you. We confess, our tendency can be arrogance rather than trembling. Come Holy Spirit and bring us back into the vision of your kindness that leads us to repentance. Bring us back into the vision of your mercy that leads us to humility. Bring us into the fullness of Jesus who fills everything in every way for the glory of it all. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

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

Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? 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 riches will their full inclusion bring!

I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Romans 11:11–16 (NIV)

 

Consider This

As my two daughters came up through middle and then high school I had the occasion to go to a lot of volleyball games. They both played for several years. I often found myself out on the court as a line judge. I remember one particular game in a tournament where I learned a new cheer I will never forget. Don’t worry though, as a line judge I wasn’t cheering—at least vocally. Our team had gotten pretty behind in the game and faced elimination from the tournament. In the absence of sanctioned cheerleaders, one of the kids took it upon themselves to rally the crowd. 

The kid shouted out, “I!” And a few of the other kids echoed, “I!”

Then the kid shouted, “I Believe!” More kids joined in the echo, “I Believe!” 

Then the self-appointed cheerleader again, “I Believe That!” 

The now growing echo of not just the kids but the crowd, “I Believe That!” 

The cheerleader, now in full cadence, shouted, “I Believe That We!”

The crowd, now in full cadence, echoed, “I Believe That We!” 

Doing my best to remain impartial while attending to my duties as a line judge, I had become mesmerized by this cheer. Where was it going? I had never heard anything like it in all my days as a sports fan. 

Then came the capstone words to finish the now full-bore chant, 

“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!” 

And the chanting, cheering throng echoed it over and over and over,

“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!”

“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!”

“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!” 

“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!”

“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!”

“And your point,” you are undoubtedly asking.

By the time we are eleven verses into chapter 11, this is effectively what Paul is now doing. Take a look:

Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.

Translation: I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!

But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

Translation: I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!

For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

Translation: I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!

It’s like Paul’s conceding the Jews had blown the lead. They were way behind. But their apparent losing out was now being used by Jesus to swing wide the door for the Gentiles to come in. And the Gentiles coming in was now being used by Jesus to motivate the Jews to get back into the game. Look! Already, they were a small and growing remnant—

Translation: I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!

If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

This remnant would persist and grow and soon enough, the whole team would be back on the field. This was a temporary setback. 

Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? 

Translation: I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!

It’s a good word; a good six words. Far from some kind of arrogant triumphalism, these six words form a powerful declaration of faith. How can Paul be so confident? Because he knew the victory had already been signed, sealed, and delivered with the resurrection of Jesus. It was now just a matter of the long game of time. 

As that lone kid rose to begin the chanting cheer, and the individual “I” took on the powerful and collective, “We,” the tide turned in that middle school gym. Our team mounted a comeback fit for SportsCenter. We won! And we went on to win the whole tournament. 

Church, we will win because Jesus has won. Gentiles and Jews, every nation, tribe, and tongue, “in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,” chanting these words in a thousand languages,

“Jesus Christ is Lord!”

I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!

   

Prayer

Abba Father! We join today with the angels and the archangels and the elders and the living creatures, saying, “Holy! Holy! Holy Lord! God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory!” We cry out with the great Communion of saints above, “Hosanna in the highest!” We cry out with the church below, all over the world, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord!” Bring in the Gentiles! Bring in the Jews! Come Holy Spirit and usher in the kingdom of Jesus in all its fullness, as we cry out, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” Indeed, we declare, “I believe that we will win.” Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

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 ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that could not see
    and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”

And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
    and their backs be bent forever.”

Romans 11:1–10 (NIV)

 

Consider This

Growing up I always thought of Jesus as a Christian. I think I thought this so much I didn’t even recognize he was a Jew. In fact, I thought of Christianity as a completely new thing. It just felt to me like Jesus and grace were a massive left turn from the Old Testament. Christianity was the new thing. After all, the story is in the “New Testament,” right?

 And Paul—why do we always speak in terms of Paul’s (or Saul’s) conversion?  Shouldn’t we be talking about Paul’s completion? Because of this “conversion” language, I always thought of Paul’s blinded-by-the-light Damascus Road experience as another left turn; as some kind of super exceptional moment. This was the plan for Paul from the beginning before one day of his life came to be—that he would become a Jew in the way of Jesus and the gospel of the fullness of the fulfillment of God.

 On the Damascus Road Paul reached the natural conclusion of his life as a Jew. This is the intended way for all Jews and all Gentiles. (I suppose I could understand a Gentile conversion much more, but a Jewish conversion really doesn’t make sense. This is the path for all human beings made in the image of God—which is all human beings.)

 So why do we call it Paul’s conversion? Does the Bible call it this? Or is that just the uninspired headings? When we call it a conversion we imply that Paul was on the wrong path. And Paul had indeed taken a wrong turn but he was on the ancient path of the people of God. Paul, as a Jew, was on his way to becoming what a Jew most truly was meant to be—on the path of what the earliest followers of Jesus called, “The Way.” And “The Way” had always been “The Way.” After all, Abraham is the father of “The Way” isn’t he? Nothing new here, right? The ancient way was totally fulfilled but not new.

 I think I am only beginning to see it differently now. Jesus was not new. How can the second person of the Trinity be new? Jesus was from before the beginning. Far from plan B or a last-ditch effort, he was always the plan. He would be the fulfillment of the pre-ancient plan of God to redeem the world he created. The long and winding road was always the plan.

 Jesus is the path for the whole human race. This is what Paul is up to in today’s text, particularly in this section on the future and destiny of the Jews. He is showing us how “The Way” threaded the whole story from beginning to end. It was always there.

 Here’s a sneak preview of how the chapter and section will end:

 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.

   

Prayer

Abba Father! How we thank you for Jesus, who was and is and is to come; the image of the invisible God and the firstborn over all creation. Thank you that he is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. I confess I have often seen Jesus as a divine plot device. Thank you for opening my eyes to begin to fathom that he is the whole story. For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

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

But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.”

Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
    I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”

And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
    I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”

But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
    to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Romans 10:16–21 (NIV)

 

Consider This

As you might imagine, I get a lot of reader mail. I’ve shared my cell number before so I also get my share of text messages. This week a reader I affectionately call “Aunt Bette” sent me this text:

“WHAT IF the Israelites had not rejected the cornerstone but by faith received all given to them? Where would we be?”

I texted her back with this reply, “Aunt Bette, we would be (as they say back home) in tall cotton!”

This is the wrestling match Paul is having in today’s text. Why didn’t Israel get it? He need only look in the mirror and ask himself. These guys were all at once expert Bible readers and yet they didn’t have a clue. How did they miss Jesus? 

And maybe I have just answered my own question. Sometimes, maybe more than I want to admit, expert Bible readers don’t have a clue. 

Think about it. Jesus, the very Word of God in human flesh, comes face to face with expert Bible readers, and they don’t know him from Adam. It becomes clear from the start he is reading the Bible very differently than they are. In fact, it’s almost like they were reading a different Bible altogether. It’s why Jesus prayed prayers like this:

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. (Matt. 11:25–26)

This should frighten us. We, too, can read the Bible and miss Jesus. These first-century Jewish readers of Scripture were certain they had it right and yet had it exactly wrong. They were highly controlling, very certain, and as a result highly prideful and very obstinate people. We can be the same, can’t we? If the “people of God” can completely miss God, it stands to reason the “followers of Jesus” can completely miss Jesus. 

So how do we not miss Jesus? 

The answer is tucked right into his prayer. Become like children. He does not mean whimsically childlike as some have said and certainly not childish. It means to become humble. No matter how far along you think you are in your studies or advanced in your faith, here is the  secret to not missing Jesus:

Be small.

Live humble.

Stay hungry. 

All of this comes together in what is all at once the saddest happiest text in all of Scripture:

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:11–12)

Be small. Live humble. Stay hungry.

   

Prayer

Abba Father! Thank you for this invitation to be small, to live humble, and to stay hungry. Jesus, this is who you were and are, and evermore shall be. You, the most towering figure of history and eternity, allowed yourself to become small. You humbled yourself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. And you showed us what it looks like to live hungry—to show us that we do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Come Holy Spirit and emblazon these words on our hearts and our minds. I want to be small. I want to live humble. I want to stay hungry. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

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

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Romans 10:14–15 (NIV)

 

 

Consider This

How do feet become beautiful? 

I don’t like feet. I never have. Not my feet. Not your feet. They are inglorious, gangly, grungy, dirty, sweaty, and smelly. They are also important, essential, vital, and necessary. And yet . . .

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Still, the words feet and beautiful don’t readily go together do they? 

It turns out feet may play the most important role in the kingdom of Jesus. Feet are the logistics of the gospel. Note the logistical logic of today’s text:

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? 

A person calls on Jesus, BECAUSE
A person believes in Jesus, BECAUSE
A person heard about Jesus, BECAUSE
A person told them about Jesus, BECAUSE
A person was sent to embody and share Jesus, BECAUSE

Feet, THEREFORE

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

So feet become beautiful when they are sent to carry the gospel of Jesus. The gospel moves on foot or it doesn’t move. I love how God sent his Son to the Earth at a time before motorized vehicles. Jesus walked. As he walked the gospel moved, because he was and is and evermore shall be the gospel. There is a phrase in our Sower’s Creed that gets at this and translates it to our lives:

Because Jesus is good news, and Jesus is in me, I am good news. 

As we walk, Jesus walks in, with, and through us. As we walk, the gospel moves. 

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

And maybe, just maybe, this is why Jesus washed those first disciples’ feet. Sure it had to be done, but it was more than that wasn’t it? 

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (John 13:6–8)

I think I’m finally beginning to understand; at least more than I did. Jesus, by his cleansing presence, takes the most unseemly part of me and makes it the most beautiful. He consecrates our feet to be sent as the carriers of his presence, power, and love to the world; from our neighborhood to the nations. It is how he has part with us and we with him. 

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

And that’s how feet become beautiful.

   

Prayer

Abba Father! We simply marvel at your son, Jesus. He does something so surprising and so unseemly two thousand years ago and we are still growing in our understanding of it all. Lord Jesus, thank you for washing their feet, and in washing their feet you washed the feet of all who would ever follow you. Come Holy Spirit and fill us up to fullness, making us the sent ones of Jesus. Give us beautiful feet to carry the good news of his presence everywhere we go to everyone we meet every single day. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

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

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:10–13 (NIV)

 

Consider This

Let’s remember what Paul is up to in these three chapters (9–11) if not the whole letter; okay, if not all his letters. Paul is doing what he has always been doing. He is doing what he was doing before Jesus came along. Paul is trying to bring Scripture to its fulfillment by building up the ancient people of God into a nation favored and blessed by God—through whom the whole world would be blessed. Paul is trying to spread scriptural holiness across the land so that the glory of God could be known in the world as the waters cover the seas. 

 In other words, Paul is trying to save the world. 

 But he’s not trying to do it through the government or some sort of globalizing movement. That was what Rome was up to (aka, the Pax Romana, the Roman peace). It was decidedly a “peace through strength” approach with Caesar as lord and king. You see, in those days (as in these) to say Jesus is Lord was not to express a warm and fuzzy pious spiritual sentiment. It was a seditious political declaration. Understand, though, the point was not to overthrow the government and take down Rome. The point was to sow the seeds of the gospel into tiny communities of people who would become seedbeds of great awakening—demonstration plots of the kingdom of Heaven on Earth. 

 Now, Paul’s method has dramatically changed since he met Jesus. He is now working to build up the very communities he was working to destroy before. He is trying to encourage the tiny community of Christians (aka the church Jesus is building) in Rome. Remember, we are talking about a hundred people or so in a city of a million. 

 Let’s remember something here, though. This is the long game. Paul is not building his churches to somehow stand against the gates of Rome. Jesus is building his church to withstand the gates of hell. Remember this day with Jesus at Caesarea Philippi? 

 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matt. 16:15–18)

 It’s why Paul says this:

 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

 So how do you save the world? The same way you eat an elephant—one bite at a time. Paul’s first and major challenge here in Rome is that of uniting the Jews and the Gentiles into one big happy family under the lordship of Jesus Christ. The Jews seem to remain intractably stuck in a centuries-old ditch known as works-based righteousness. Paul is trying to bring them into the gospel of Jesus, which is faith-based righteousness. It is not a righteousness one earns as a right but receives as a gift. This is very difficult for self-sufficient and control-oriented people; then and now, Jewish and otherwise. 

 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,

 Paul is bringing all the people to the foot of the cross, where the ground is level, at the feet of Jesus . . . where . . . 

 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

   

Prayer

Abba Father! Thank you for the simple gospel who is your son, Jesus, our Messiah. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This means no one is left out or excluded. Holy Spirit would you impress on us the meaning of everyone? And would you teach me, again, what it means to “call on the name of the Lord”? I want this to become my way of life, calling on the name of the Lord. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.