Halftime with the Apostle Paul

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you. 

Jesus, We belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Romans 11:17–24 (NIV)

I’ve never seen it this way before, but I may be onto something for once. Paul is turning the eleventh chapter of Romans into a full-fledged pep rally. Today it is going to be a straight-away halftime talk with the team. Throughout the whole letter Paul has worked to forge a one team mentality between what heretofore had been understood as two teams: The Jews and the Gentiles. 

Remember, one of the main things Paul is trying to do in all his letters is to solve the particular problems these fledgling churches were facing. This matter of the Jews and the Gentiles was one of the most pressing and pervasive problems across all the churches. These communities were rife with prejudices, power dynamics, and petty infighting. Like Jesus, Paul knew a house divided could not stand, so his first and last order of business was to bring communities to the level ground of the cross of Jesus where the Holy Spirit could raise them into demonstration plots of resurrection power.

Throughout the letter, we get the sense of two opposing (or at least conflicted) sides. It was more like the Jews vs. the Gentiles (or vice-versa) rather than the Jews and the Gentiles. This church in Rome, or rather these little churches in Rome were likely already somewhat segregated. Remember the story. Emperor Claudius had expelled all Jews from the city several years before and with the rise of Nero, many of the Jews were making their way back. A number of them belonged to the church before the exile and now they were coming back into those same churches which had now become largely Gentile in their makeup. They would have felt displaced; like they were coming back home but no longer really belonged. 

It’s kind of the same effect when an old-line traditional church begins to take on the shape of what the old saints derisively call, “the church of what’s happening now.” Hymns get replaced by choruses, hymnals get scuttled by screens, and guitars trump pipe organs. Next thing you know the drummer will be wearing holey jeans! You know what I’m talking about. The Gentiles are taking over! But I digress . . .

Paul now turns the halftime talk into a bit of what back home we call a “talking to” with the Gentiles. He tells these Gentiles in no uncertain terms they were the “newcomers” to the team. The Jews were there first by a long shot. The Gentiles had been “grafted” into the olive branch which was the Jewish people. Though the Jews had been originally drafted, the Gentiles were now being grafted. (I couldn’t resist!). The Jews were the roots. The Gentiles were the shoots. 

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.

Next, Paul boldly rebukes these apparently braggadocios Gentiles. 

Do not be arrogant, but tremble.

Then Paul plays the proverbial ace of spades. He reminds them who owns the game and all the game pieces:

For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not 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 also will be cut off.

It’s halftime. Coaches never give game balls at halftime. This is a long game. This game belongs to God. And the name of the game is Mercy. 

THE PRAYER

Abba Father! We thank you for you are kind. We thank you for you are mercy. We thank you for you are patient. We thank you for you are love. We thank you for you are  Jesus. And we thank you for you are the Holy Spirit, who brings Jesus into us and us into you. We confess, our tendency can be arrogance rather than trembling. Come Holy Spirit and bring us back into the vision of your kindness that leads us to repentance. Bring us back into the vision of your mercy that leads us to humility. Bring us into the fullness of Jesus who fills everything in every way for the glory of it all. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen. 

THE QUESTION

Are you grasping all of the insider-outsider dynamics at play in this letter and in these churches and all of the pride and prejudice floating around? Do you see how arrogance and entitlement creep in so easily? How do you see these dirty dynamics at play in your community? 

THE HYMN

Today I am drawn to two choruses that both stem from the late 1980s (I know—ancient). The first one follows a call-and-response kind of echo format “Humble Thyself In the Sight of the Lord.” The second is “Our God Is an Awesome God.” Let’s sing them as a medley.

For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt

P.S. New Room Conference Prices Increase Soon!

I want to invite you to join me, the Seedbed Farm Team, and thousands from the fellowship of Awakening people which Jesus is growing all over the country and world for the New Room Conference this fall. It is going to be a special one for at least two reasons: 1. It’’s our tenth New Room Conference, and 2. We will be resourcing from the wells of the incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Asbury University this past winter. If you’ve never been to New Room Conference, this is the one to start with. If you’ve been before, this is not one to miss. I’m telling you this today because we are coming up to a price increase. We have held the price to under $300 for all these years. Tickets now are $279 for individuals and $249 for groups of 5 or more. Rates will increase next week on July 8. Get your tickets today at newroomconference.com. And we do expect the conference to sell out.

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