Vessels of Mercy

Reading:  Romans 9:19-29
    
    So if God reserves the right to have mercy and compassion for his own reasons, we have a lesson to learn.  “You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault?  For who can resist his will?’”(Rom 9:19).  Paul banters with his imaginary reader, who questions God’s fairness.  “But who are you , O man, to answer back to God?...Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?”(Rom 9:20, 21).  Our disenchantment with God’s actions comes dangerously close to rebellion; we have forgotten our place.  He is the potter and we are the clay.

    Yet Paul’s lesson is deeper than simply arguing that God can do whatever he wants.  He glimpses a bigger plan:  “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?”(Rom 9:22-24).  God has suffered long with the rebellion of the Jewish people to bring about a time when he could show mercy to even more.  This new group—“vessels of mercy”—is comprised of both Jews and Gentiles, while those who refuse to believe are excluded.  Rather than breaking his promises, this actually fulfills a number of God’s promises about the salvation of Gentiles (Rom 9:25-26) and only a small remnant of Jews being saved (Rom 9:27-29).  So it turns out that God has been unjust:  he has been far more patient (Rom 9:22) and merciful (Rom 9:23) than justice requires. 

    “Vessels of mercy” is how Paul describes the church, the multiethnic people God has called to himself and justified by faith.  We are not known for our righteousness and perfection, but for being the recipients of rich mercy.  It is all the more startling when we remember that God has the sovereign right to treat us in any way he chooses, yet he has chosen to show mercy to us.  To all who would submit themselves to the potter, there is hope of being saved, blessed, and used by him. 

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One Thing to Think About:  Am I comfortable with the image of God as potter and me as clay?

One Thing to Pray For:  Trusting acceptance that God’s ways are higher than mine

God Is Just

Reading:  Romans 9:14-18
    
    Since God has acted by sending Jesus, the Jewish people must believe in the Messiah to be right with God.  Paul is anticipating Jewish objections to this shift in God’s approach—especially the fact that he has made a unilateral decision to change what he requires.  “What shall we say then?  Is there injustice on God’s part?  By no means!  For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion’”(Rom 9:14-15).  Is God unjust to change the rules so that even Jews are not automatically right with him?  Paul strongly denies the charge.  God is always free to bless certain ones and change his mind about what is required. 

    “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy”(Rom 9:16).   The heart of the Jewish objection to Paul’s teaching seems to be that God is unjust for ignoring the good deeds of the Jews and rewarding the evil of the Gentiles.  Paul protests that God’s will is sovereign and he has acted in a way that doesn’t depend on people at all.  He appeals to the Pharaoh of Moses’ day, whom God says he raised up “that I might show my power in you”(Rom 9:17).  “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills”(Rom 9:18).  God has every right to use people in the way he chooses in order to bring about his purposes.  He is not unjust to act to fulfill his promises—even if we feel we deserve better.  We must remember that our past in sin disqualifies us from eternal life on our own.  We all need God’s mercy, not his justice.  

    All this is very challenging thinking.  Paul is pushing back against the view that we have a right to sit in judgment on God and his ways—accusing him of injustice.  We must see God as not only powerful (able to raise up and choose whom he wishes) but also good (willing to unfold plans that will bless even more people).  Rather than questioning and challenging him, we must learn to trust him. 

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One Thing to Think About:  Do I really believe that God is powerful and good?

One Thing to Pray For:  Humility and remembrance of who I am compared to God
 

God Keeps His Word

Reading:  Romans 9:1-13
    
    In these chapters (Rom 9-11), Paul will address one overarching concern:  how do we understand the fact that Israel has largely rejected the gospel?  For many, this situation means something has gone wrong.  If God accepts Gentiles and rejects Jews (unless they believe in Jesus), does this mean that all God’s promises to Israel are void (see Rom 9:6, 14)?  Paul begins by declaring his grief over the situation.  “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh”(Rom 9:1-3).  It gives Paul no pleasure to see that most of his fellow Jews have rejected the gospel, yet it has to be acknowledged.  He holds out hope that this will soon change (Rom 10:1, 11:11-16).

    But Paul is quick to defend God against charges that he is breaking his promises by offering salvation to all.  “But it is not as though the word of God has failed.  For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel”(Rom 9:6).  He cites how promises to Abraham really apply to Isaac (not Ishmael) and Jacob (not Esau).  Did God break his word simply because some were excluded?  No.  He also points out the basis for this choosing by discussing Jacob and Esau in the womb:  “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls”(Rom 9:11).  God did not choose Jacob because he was a better man than Esau; he chose him for his own (undisclosed) reasons.  Similarly, he is free to accept “less righteous” Gentiles and exclude “righteous” Jews who refuse to believe in Jesus.

    God has a unique knack for fulfilling his promises in surprising ways.   Paul argues that when God opens salvation up to non-Jews who are “less righteous,” he is still keeping his word.  It just may look a little different than they expected.  It is helpful to see Paul’s ironclad confidence in the righteousness of God.  He always keeps his word—but almost never in a way that we anticipate.  This gives us confidence for times when we cannot see a way forward.

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One Thing to Think About:  How have I seen God work in unexpected ways?

One Thing to Pray For:  Confidence in God’s faithfulness 
 

More than Conquerors

Reading:  Romans 8:31-40
    
    We are in rarified air here.  Paul steps back from his arguments and gapes in wonder at what all this means.  “What shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?”(Rom 8:31).  We were God’s enemies, but he has bridged that gap and we are now at peace.  More than that, God is for us, actively seeking our good and receiving us as sons.  “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”(Rom 8:32).  If he has already given us the greatest gift, how would he withhold anything that is for our good?  Paul then takes us to the courtroom where the prosecuting attorney has instead exonerated us (Rom 8:33) and the judge is pleading our case for us (Rom 8:34).  The very ones we should fear most are on our side!  If God is for us, who can be against us?

    Yet Paul remains well aware that these gifts do not eliminate trouble from everyday life.  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered’”(Rom 8:35-36).  Paul himself regularly deals with these hardships, but he insists that Jesus’ love puts them in their proper context.  The only true threat of these problems is that they might “separate us from the love of Christ,” which they are thankfully powerless to do.  “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”(Rom 8:37-39).  Just as Jesus has overcome sin and death, so we will overcome these physical struggles with his help.  He will love and bless us.  No force on earth can stop it.

    In Christ, we are “more than conquerors”—fully able to defeat the sufferings of life and persecutions of God’s enemies.  Of course we can always choose to walk away from Jesus and the gifts he offers, but no power or circumstance can remove us from him.  When the dust settles on all our pain, he will still love and bless us.  No force on earth can stop it.

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One Thing to Think About:  Do I struggle to believe that God is for me? 

One Thing to Pray For:  A deeper connection to the love of Christ
 

All Things Work Together for Good

Reading:  Romans 8:26-30
    
    As we await our future glorification, we groan in anticipation.  “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God”(Rom 8:26-27).  The Spirit also groans along with us.  He groans as he intercedes for us, communicating to the Father what we struggle to say because “we do not know what to pray for as we ought.”  Especially does the focus on his groanings (v. 26) imply that he listens to our hearts and more than just our words, taking them to the throne of God.  God understands us fully—especially the great passions and longings of our hearts—thanks to the intercession of the Spirit.

    Contemplating this blessing leads Paul to a general statement:  “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”(Rom 8:28).  This is less a promise that everything in life will work out and more a declaration of God’s consistent focus on our good.  He has done so much to benefit us:  sending Jesus, setting us free from sin, sustaining us through the Spirit, promising us great things, and hearing our prayers.  “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified”(Rom 8:29-30).  God has planned for us—foreknowing and predestining us so that we would be like Jesus.  He has then called us and declared us innocent and glorified us (the great promise we still await).  He has made it all good for us!

    Christians are the most tremendously blessed of all people.  God has shown his goodwill to us in every way and has promised greater glory to come!  Life now may not be ideal, but when we love God, he works things for our ultimate good.

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One Thing to Think About:  What emotions are these thoughts intended to produce in me? 

One Thing to Pray For:  To be further conformed to the image of Jesus (v. 29)