Romans Chapter 11

Some youths were filming a testimony made by a brother on why and how he came to believe in Jesus. And as I was watching the filming and listening to the testimony, I cannot but marvel how the grace of God works.

This brother came from a traditional Chinese family that worshipped various Chinese deities. And he was told by his father that as Chinese, one should never worship the God of the Westerners.

But in the midst of his father’s sickness, he was encouraged by a friend to make a simple prayer to God and his father’s pain was relieved for the night. Encouraged by this and feeling the peace and comfort of the Lord Jesus, he started attending services and on his 2nd visit to the church, he received the Spirit of the Lord Jesus and started to speak in tongues!

As I read today’s passage – I once again am truly thankful that God has chosen us – out of the millions/billions in the world to be part of His kingdom, even though we were once Gentiles – nothing to do with the grace of God.

This friend of his, who also became a sister, had a very good friend (sister) in church as well. So close they were that this sister became her bridesmaid during her wedding. Unfortunately, this good friend (sister) is now longer coming to church and has not been for decades.

Now, why did this come to mind?

¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. ²² Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³ And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

~ Romans 11:19-23 ~

It is very easy to take our salvation for granted and be haughty about it. When I looked back decades ago when I was still young, many of the youths were full of zeal and wanted to serve God together. We were clear in our minds that this was the True church and nothing would break us away.

But this passage reminds us first of all that it was because of the unbelief of others that we were given the opportunity to be included in God’s plans (look back at verse 17). And we were were not to boast about it to those broken-off branches because we are not the root – thereby reminding us that it is God who supports the branches… not us supporting the root. (vs 18).

We receive life from the root and we are NOT the root.

We are not the one giving life to the work of the Gospel but rather, we are undeserving recipients of God’s grace.

So while we have experienced the blessings of Jesus in our lives, it does not mean that we can take His blessings for granted and that they will be always there for us.

The Pharisees and Scribes during the days of Jesus thought they knew God. They thought that their way of worship was what God wanted and did not believe that the Messiah could be a carpenter’s son! They had in their minds how God should work and what salvation looks like.

But they were, unfortunately, the broken-off branches – as they chose to go against Jesus.

So what should our attitude be today? How can we prevent ourselves from taking God’s grace for granted?

We need to learn to thank God constantly for His kindness and mercy for it helps us out into perspective of our position as Christians. We did not choose God and we cannot, by our own endeavors be part of this olive tree.

We must remember that Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches (John 15:1-5). So let’s be thankful today and remind ourselves of this everyday – lest we be cut off because we no longer appreciate and believe in the grace that we have received.

May we all remain in the true vine.

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