Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - When Other Christians Fail | New Testament | Romans 11

Episode Date: August 2, 2023

How do you react when you see other Christians fall into sin? Are you quick to judge others when they make mistakes? In today's episode, Patrick uses Romans 11 to encourage you to respond with mercy when others fail. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Romans 11

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. It feels like there's a new podcast or TV show every year that tries to show the dark side of Christianity, the underbelly of the Christian subculture in America. And for better or worse, these shows and podcasts tend to be immensely popular, not only for people outside of Christianity, but honestly, especially for those who are inside of Christianity. whether it's the rise and fall of Mars Hill or the Hill song documentary or shiny happy people.

That's the docu-series about The Duggers, a family that had something like 19 kids because the Bible told them so. Look, anyways, on one level, I appreciate all of these things because they help keep Christians sober. Just because someone says they're following the Bible doesn't mean they are, nor does it mean they're doing it perfectly. I mean, in our darkest moments, Christians sometimes use the Bible as a weapon to manipulate and control and amassion. massive amounts of power. Whenever this happens, we shouldn't cover it up. We should mourn. We should remember that apart from God's grace, we are no better than those people. We should pray that God protects us from doing likewise and take a serious look at our own families and churches to make sure we haven't created structures that replicate those same practices. But I also think there's a

converse temptation, self-righteousness. We look at those Christians on those podcasts and TV shows. the Pharisee in Jesus' parable. We loudly thank God, oh, thank you, God, that I'm not a sinner like those people. As it turns out, this was exactly the temptation Gentiles in Rome faced when their Jewish brothers and sisters returned to Rome after being expelled for over a decade. The Gentiles saw the Jewish self-righteousness about their circumcision and their food laws and the fact that they grew up with the scripture on their tongues. The Gentiles saw that the Jews practiced these things, they weren't really perfect and that often the Jews had ethnic pride and they looked down and others and they made it harder for people to know Jesus. The Gentile Christians saw the sin.

They saw the unhealthy systems. They saw the bad practices. And the Gentiles said, thank God that I'm not like those self-righteous Jewish followers of Jesus. And here's the hard truth. Paul had no time for that. In Romans 9 and 10, he recounts the story of God electing Israel and points out that God's choice of Israel wasn't because of their righteousness, but because of his own love. But if that's true of the Jews, then Paul says it must also be true of the Gentile converts. They don't deserve God's love. God's election of those Gentile converts? Well, that was simply a function of God's own kindness.

Paul goes one step further. In Romans 11, he points out to the Gentiles that the very group they were mocking, the Jewish Christians, well that's the very group into which the Gentiles have been grafted. He describes the Gentiles like wild plants that were grafted into the cultivated vine of Israel, to draw on Israel's stories, to draw on Israel's strengths, to draw on Israel's history. Check this out in Romans 11 verse 17. If some of the branches have been broken off, he's talking about the Jews who didn't put their faith in Jesus. In you, though a wild olive chute, now he's talking about the Gentiles,

have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root. Do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this. You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. Granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural,

branches, he won't spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God. Sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you will also be cut off. Paul is warning the Gentiles that if they aren't careful, their self-righteousness towards the Jewish people who came before them, that self-righteousness will ruin those Gentiles' faith. So again, I turned the camera back. I turned the camera, back on us. How often do we judge Christians who came before us? How often do we self-righteously thank God that we aren't like those people? I see Christians do this as they mature in the faith. They speak about the churches or Christians that introduced them to Jesus, as though all those

people in the past were lost sideways and wrongheaded. But the proper response is double thankfulness. A thankfulness to God because he rescued you through those people, not because you were better than those people, but because he loves you. But we, but we do. But we. We should also show a thankfulness to those who preceded us. You've been grafted into their tradition. You've been grafted into their family. Even if God pulls away the unfaithful branches from that old tradition, the vine is still good.

If we continue down a path of self-righteousness towards those who came before us, then we'll just become like them. And God will remove us too. There's one last lesson in this chapter. In verse 25, Paul explains why God has allowed Israel's heart. heart to grow hard towards him. Verse 25. Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in and in this way all Israel will be saved. Paul goes on to explain that God allowed the Gentiles

to be grafted into the vine of Israel in order to make Israel jealous and cause Israel to turn back to him. See, this is always God's hope that all would turn to him and be saved. It's true for Israel and it's true for the people and the movements and the traditions that we judge in our podcast, TV shows, and more besides. In the end, we shouldn't self-righteously boast over the foolishness of our fellow Christians. Instead, instead, let's thank God for the good that they did in our lives and pray for God's mercy on their souls, that they too might turn and be saved. And let's pray for ourselves and know that we are no better and ask for his protection against our worst inclinations. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter.

Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that's going to help you beat that midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.