Adopted - October 6th, 2013 Sermon

By Pastor Greg

When the doctor asked Chuck about what he did yesterday, he told him about his day: "Well, yesterday afternoon, I waded across the edge of a lake, escaped from a bear in the woods, marched up and down a mountain, stood in a patch of poison ivy, crawled out of quicksand, and jumped away from an aggressive rattlesnake." Inspired by his story, the doctor exclaimed, "Chuck, you must be an awesome outdoorsman!" "No," Chuck replied, "I'm just a lousy golfer."

People have a tendency to draw the wrong conclusion about someone who is Jewish as well. They assume that since they are Jewish they must not be a believer. But this simply is not true. Most of the first Christians were Jewish. Peter and James and John and the Apostle Paul were quite Jewish. Barnabas was a Jewish Priest. Even today there are a large number of people who are Jewish (by birth) who are born again Christians. So just because someone has a Jewish heritage does not mean they are unbelievers. And neither has the Church replaced Israel. The promises God made to the nation of Israel have not been redirected to the Church because Israel refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah. This simply is not true as well. But it seems that some Christians in the Roman Church felt this was true, which is why Paul corrects their theology in Romans 11.

Corporately, Israel rejected their Messiah. As the Nation of Israel, Jesus was rejected as the promised Messiah. However, individually many Jews accepted Him. They were the Jewish believers who became part of the early Church. But because the Nation rejected Jesus as Messiah, God chose to dispense His grace to the other people in the world. He permitted Himself to be found by a people (Gentiles) who were not looking for Him. In other words, those individuals who believe in their hearts and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord will be adopted into the family of God. They don’t become a new family, but are adopted (or grafted in, as Paul describes it). The church does not replace Israel. God has declared this. “I am as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to abolish the laws of nature!” (Jeremiah 31:36).

Part of the problem here is that the Church then and even today has difficulty in understanding the difference between the promise to Israel as a nation, and the offer of grace to individuals. Israel is the nation of the covenant. We Gentiles are offered to become adopted into the covenant. We become part of the family of God because of our faith in Jesus. Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.  In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:11-13).

The lesson we need to learn from this is one of humility. We Gentile Christians need to be grateful for the grace God has granted us through Christ. And we need to be respectful to our step sister – the nation of Israel. She is the child of the covenant. We, as the church, are the adopted ones. As Gentile Christians we possess an individual salvation. We have received promises from God on a personal level. But the nation of Israel alone is the only nation that God has promised never to abandon. The promise God made in 2 Chronicles 7:14 is for Israel alone. No other nation can claim, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land”. America, along with all the other nations of this world, will one day fall. Israel will not because this is what God has declared.

We might wish that God would give the same blessing to America that He has given to Israel, but He has not. He has extended His blessings to us. He has not written a new covenant for America. God established His covenant with Israel, and people like you and me can become part of that covenant by placing our faith in Christ. God’s covenant has not changed, only the way it is given has changed. In Old Testament times the covenant was written on two stone tablets. In New Testament times it is written on the hearts and minds of those who believe.

The relationship between God and the Gentiles and God and Israel is similar to the story of the Prodigal Son. It was the Prodigal who understood the Father’s love and grace. The older brother did not, and remained distant and aloof. Yet one day it seems Israel will see and believe what the Gentiles already know. When Christ returns, Israel will see their Savior. And this time they will believe. Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died (Zechariah 12:10). This is why the Church must never develop a sense of arrogant superiority over the nation of Israel simply because WE accepted Jesus as Lord and they did not. We must be grateful and humble and respectful toward the nation of Israel. The blessings and promises of God have been extended to us through her. And what we, the Church, know today, Israel will know tomorrow. The Older Son will learn tomorrow what the Prodigal learned yesterday.