Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Romans 11:13-32
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  August 30, 2020

The intricacies of God’s creation never cease to amaze. Sure, you’ve got the spectacular views of the millions and billions of stars on a clear summer night or the variegated colors of the sunset as it sinks over the horizon. But, it’s some of the littlest things that are the most amazing. And I believe the process of grafting is one of those things. The idea that you can take a branch from one tree that has been cut off and attach it to a new tree so that it eventually becomes part of that tree is amazing. The idea that you can take skin from one part of your body and graft it to another part so that it becomes like new skin is unbelievable. 

It’s that first picture of grafting, the picture of a branch of a tree being joined to a new tree that Paul uses today in Romans chapter 11. But Paul’s picture is just an illustration for what happens in God’s Church. Paul is describing how Gentiles like you and I became part of the Church. Today, as we sit once again at the feet of Paul, we will see how we were Grafted into the Gospel by Grace.

In Romans chapter 9, which we looked at last week, Paul’s primary focus was on the Jews, the physical nation of Israel. He wondered why they had rejected their roots, why they had abandoned the promises that God had given them all along. Today, his focus shifts to the Gentiles, to people who weren’t born in the nation of Israel. Paul wants his Gentile readers to listen up, to know that he’s personally addressing them. So, he’s blunt: “I am speaking to you Gentiles.” He wants to show how the Gentiles have become part of God’s family, part of the Church. He describes the Church like an olive tree. This is the same picture Jesus used when he said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” The root of the tree, the trunk of the tree is Christ. The branches of the tree would be the members of God’s family. So how did the Gentiles, whom Paul calls a “wild olive branch,” become part of the olive tree? 

While it might not be familiar to us, this was a familiar picture for Paul’s original audience. The prophet Jeremiah had used this very same picture of an olive tree to describe the nation of Israel. “The LORD called you a green olive tree with beautifully formed fruit.” The branches of this green olive tree were the Israelites. They had grown up out of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But something happened. That something was Israel’s rejection of God and his gracious promises. Israel had turned to false gods. They worshiped idols. So God tried to call them back to repentance. Jeremiah continues: “But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it ablaze, and its branches will be broken.” Because of their unbelief, because of their rebellion, because of their unwillingness to repent, God had broken off many of those natural olive branches, the natural children of Abraham, from the tree. 

Jesus told this same story in a parable about a wedding banquet. The king had prepared a marvelous banquet for his son’s wedding. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants out to tell those who had been invited that everything was ready. But they refused to come. They made all sorts of excuses why they couldn’t come. So the king grew angry. He told his servants, “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. So go to the main crossroads and invite as many as you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those servants went out to the roads and gathered together everyone they found, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.” 

Who were those initially uninvited guests? They were the Gentiles. Why did they get to come to the wedding? Because the original invitees rejected their invitation. That’s the same picture Paul uses here in chapter 11, only he’s using the picture of a tree and branches. “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you—a wild olive branch—were grafted in among them and share in the rich sap from the root of the olive tree, do not boast that you are better than the branches. If you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, but the root is supporting you. Then you will say: “Branches were broken off so that I am grafted in.” That is true—but remember that they were broken off because of unbelief, and you remain in place by faith. Do not be conceited, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you. So take note of God’s kindness and his severity: severity on those who have fallen, but God’s kindness on you—if you remain in his kindness; otherwise, you also will be cut off.” 

How did the Gentiles get to be part of the Church? They were grafted in, like a branch into a tree. Paul pictures the Gentiles as wild olive branches. After the Jews rejected the good news of Jesus, Paul and others took that good news to the Gentiles. Rejection by the people of Israel meant that Christ would be preached to the Gentiles. How personal this statement is for Paul! How many synagogues, Jewish houses of worship, had he preached in only to be cast out? It was then he made his way to the Gentiles. And as Paul writes, the Gentile population of the Church was growing by leaps and bounds. The danger was there for those Gentile Christians to think that they were somehow better than the Jews, that there was some good thing in them that made God graft them in. However, Paul quickly puts a stop to that. “Then you will say: “Branches were broken off so that I am grafted in.” That is true—but remember that they were broken off because of unbelief, and you remain in place by faith. Do not be conceited, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you.”

So the question remains, why did God graft the Gentiles into the Church? Paul answers the question at the very end of our lesson. “For just as you were once disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy due to their disobedience, so also now they have become disobedient, so that by the mercy shown to you they may be shown mercy too. For God imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all.” 

Why had God grafted the Gentiles in? Grace. Why is God willing to re-graft the Jews who repent and believe in Jesus as their Savior? Grace. There is no other answer. There is no other reason. When God planted this olive tree we call the Church, when he planted the promised seed in Adam and Eve, there was nothing about them that was loveable. In fact, they had just disobeyed the one directive God had given them. They had chosen to listen to Satan instead of God. But for reasons unexplainable to human reason, God continued to love them. He showed disobedient Adam and Eve mercy by promising them a Savior. And to each successive patriarch, the same promise was made in spite of their disobedience and sin. And finally, the promise was fulfilled in Christ. Jesus came to this world and lived and died and rose again for sinners, for the disobedient. The fact that the Jews were part of the tree to begin with was an act of God’s gracious choice. When they rejected that grace, they were cut off from the tree. But all along, God had planned to bring in other branches, wild olive branches, the Gentiles, and make them part of the Church, again, only by grace. It’s only by God’s grace that the good news of Jesus, that precious gospel message, has come to disobedient Gentiles like you and me. It’s only by God’s grace that we are branches of the olive tree. God grafted us in at our baptisms. We’ve continued to grow and bear fruit as long as we remain connected to the root, which is Christ. As long as we remain connected to Christ, we’ll continue to grow. 

But there’s a warning that Paul has for us too. “Do not boast that you are better than the branches. If you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, but the root is supporting you. Then you will say: “Branches were broken off so that I am grafted in.” That is true—but remember that they were broken off because of unbelief, and you remain in place by faith. Do not be conceited, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you. So take note of God’s kindness and his severity: severity on those who have fallen, but God’s kindness on you—if you remain in his kindness; otherwise, you also will be cut off.” 

The branches don’t hold up the root. The root holds up the branches. Jesus says it another way. “I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him is the one who bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” It’s a wondrous act of God’s amazing grace that we have come to hear the gospel and have been grafted into the olive tree, the vine of the Church. But if we cut ourselves off from the vine, if we remove ourselves from the tree, we will be cut off eternally. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to grow in Jesus. As a congregation, our two-fold mission begins by staying connected to the vine, growing in Jesus, or as Paul says, remaining in his kindness. And they only way we can do that is by staying connected to God’s Word.

In one way, our current times have made growing in Jesus even more challenging. Limits to worship and Bible Study and now Christian Education have made it hard to be with our fellow branches and receive the encouragement we need from one another to stay in the Word. But in another way, these current times have given us opportunities to grow like never before. Never before has there been as much solid Biblical content being produced each week, available at the click of a button. Never before have we been able to gather and grow even when we were apart. Let’s take those opportunities! New Bible Studies will be starting soon. Current Bible Studies remain both online and in-person. Let’s keep strengthening our connection to the root so we can carry out the second part of our mission, to tell of Jesus’ love. There’s still spots on the tree, grafting spots for other wild branches to be brought in . There’s still spots on the tree for those branches that have been cut off. Our grafting is a gift of God’s grace, an act of divine mercy. Surely you know someone else who needs that mercy too! May God continue to bless us–grafted branches–as we strive to remain connected to him the root, the only source of our support. For apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Amen.