PENTECOST 11 – August 16, 2020 – Rom. 11:1,2,13-15,18-32
“GOD’S MERCY FOR ALL”
INTRODUCTION: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Romans 11. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- There are people recorded in Holy Scripture, not even by name, who are among the most precious and blessed people who have ever lived. One of those people is described in our Gospel reading, the Canaanite woman.
- In her interaction with Jesus she showed astounding faith. First, that Jesus could heal her daughter. Second, that this healing mattered more than the insults and dismissal of the disciples. Third, that she would bear and endure what appeared to be the demeaning answer of Jesus and still beg Jesus for mercy and help.
- It brings me to tears – and Jesus commends her and grants her desire for mercy for her daughter.
- This encounter is the embodiment and proof of the main thrust of the Old Testament Lesson from Isaiah, and what the apostle writes in our text. God wants to have mercy on all, and God has provided “MERCY FOR ALL.”
- Consider the message of Isaiah:
I. This Is Ever God’s Will To Have Mercy On Mankind
Is. 51:1-8 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon My salvation will come, and My righteousness will be revealed. And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to Him, to love the Name of the LORD, and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast My covenant – these I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.’ The Lord GOD, Who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, ‘I will gather yet others to Him besides those already gathered.’”
Statement: You realize, of course, that these verses are referring to you. You are “foreigners” who have joined yourselves to the Lord – in your baptism, in your Confirmation, in your communing with the Lord Jesus, in you commitments in life, in your orientation [what you value and live for]. You love His Name and serve Him. You keep His Sabbath and worship Him weekly. You hold His covenant of love, forgiveness, mercy, and the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus! He has gathered you to Himself!
Application: More than just the healing of your daughter or son or other loved one, God has provided you and your children of faith with everlasting healing and life! Nothing can separate you or them from His great love in Christ Jesus!
Transition: However, our text also offers us a warning – in regard to presumptive arrogance and callousness. For it is certain that:
II. We Must Never Think Ourselves Better Than Others
A. For God Has Consigned All To Disobedience – All Are Equally Sinners
Text: “Inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of the. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. . . . God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all.”
Rom. 3:23 “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
B. But God Desires To Have Mercy On All
Text: “God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all.”
C. He Has In Fact Reconciled Himself To All Of Us In The Death And Resurrection Of Jesus Christ
2 Cor. 5:19 “In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
D. And We Must Remember: God’s Gifts And His Calling Are Irrevocable
Text: “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
E. Only Those Who Rebel Against God’s Gracious Gift Of Mercy And Demand Separation From God Will Get To Hell
Text: “God desires to have mercy on all.”
Acts 2:21 “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.”
2 Tim. 2:4 “God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Statement: The children of Israel – virtually throughout the history of their nation – took their “chosenness” and blessedness by God presumptuously, as if it gave them leeway and freedom to do whatever their sinful nature prompted and compelled them to do. Somehow, they felt that because they were so blessed they had earned it, and were better, in a more privileged position with God, than other people. This, in spite of the fact that over and over again God reminded them that His choosing of them was purely a matter of grace.
Application: The same temptation easily besets us. We logic: because we are doctrinally correct, we needn’t worry about being morally rigorous. Or we think: Because we have so much right, a little bit of compromise of God’s Word can’t hurt us that much. We logic: Well, I attend more than most people – it will not hurt to find excuses not to worship once in a while. We think: Well, I’m confirmed, God knows I love Him, believe in Him, so church life just doesn’t matter that much. It’s just ritual. Even though God commands it so that He can bless us with Word and Sacrament.
In other words, we can get to a point where we presume that we belong to the Lord even when we lack the criteria outlined by Isaiah: You have joined yourself to the Lord, You have committed yourself to worship, God’s ways, God’s morality of love. You love His Name and to serve Him. You keep His sabbath and worship corporately, with God’s people, weekly. You hold to His covenant of salvation! You allow Him to gather you to Himself and His flock, His people. But apart from these things we are presuming something that is not true – like a person doing the backstroke on dry ground, but claiming to be swimming.
Conclusion: It is not that God rejects us in such circumstances. It is that He is calling us back to Himself, for His gifts and calling are without revocation. Only we can reject them for ourselves – which is rejecting His will for us.
So let us take care to rejoice in God’s goodness, love, and blessedness, and have Him as our gracious Savior and Benefactor! He promises: “I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.” God grant it to each of us, Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.