I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. (Romans 9:1-5)
Someone told me a funny story. It goes like this: There was a man who found a bottle on the shore and when he opened it a genie popped out. He told the man that for releasing him from his captivity, he would grant him a single wish. But there was a condition. He could ask for whatever he wanted, but the genie would give the man's mother-in-law double whatever it was. If he asked for ten million dollars, his mother-in-law would get twenty million. If he asked for a mansion fit for a king, his mother-in-law would get a mansion twice as big. He scratched his head and finally said to the genie, “This is my one wish. I want you to beat me half-to-death.”
I apologize for the mother-in-law joke. Actually, I have heard reports that there are many good mothers-in-law.
We joke about things like this, but it points up a profound truth about everyone. We care how we are treated. All of us want to be loved. This is a basic human need. We want to be loved unconditionally, for who we are, warts and all. Even when we are bad, we want to be loved. Even when our behavior is out of line, and we do not expect people to condone it, we want to be loved as a person. In fact, deep down inside, we know that only this kind of love will help us change. Some people will even act up to get attention, because they fear no one even care that they are around. You see, the opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy—an attitude of “I don't care.”
This is why Christianity should be an appealing way of life. One of the basic tenants of Jesus' teaching is that we should love one another. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case. All too often, people have used even Christianity as an excuse to treat one another harshly, even to persecute and kill one another. Some people point to those events and rightly condemn them. Sadly, they then write off true Christianity as well. But true Christianity is not like that at all.
This does not mean that we accept as true everything that someone may do or teach or believe as right. Sin is still sin, and false teaching is still heresy. But it does mean that we love the people who may be doing wrong things or teaching false doctrine. You see, when Jesus told us to love people, He did not limit it to people like us, or people we agree with, or just our friends. In the Scripture, we are told that there are three categories of people we are to love. We are to love one another (other Christians—John 13:34-35). We are to love our neighbor (people in general—Matt. 22:39). And we are to love our enemies (people who don't like us—Matt. 5:44). So, you see, there is no one who we are not to love. Everyone fits into one of those three categories, even mothers-in law.
One category of people for which we need great love and compassion are people who need the Lord—people who are without Christ. This compassion for those who are perishing is evidence that we have the heart of God. Sometimes we need to be reminded of just how much God loves all of those for whom Christ died. And we see this great compassion in the apostle Paul.
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. (9:1-2)
Paul anguish was for his own people who were not saved. He was saying, “I love Israel. They are my people. I care for them. I am concerned for their welfare. I am concerned for their spiritual destiny. I have great sorrow, unceasing grief in my heart. I want them to be saved.”
That should be the heart cry of every Christian for lost humanity. We should care enough about the people we are around every day that our hearts are burdened for their spiritual welfare. This is precisely the opposite of self-seeking, self-serving, self-centered love. This is other-centered love. We need other-centered love.
Paul had been thoroughly and radically transformed on the road to Damascus. He was transformed to such an extent that he said, “I have an unceasing, unquenchable burden in my soul for those who don't know Christ.” The reason that Paul was now so concerned was because Christ had changed his heart. And it is because Christ has changed our heart that we can have genuine love for others.
But what is unusual is for us to be burdened to the extent that Paul was burdened for Israel. He said, in verse 3, For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race.
The word here he uses for cursed is the word “anathema” which means “destined for destruction,” or “destined for perdition.” Its connotation is “being eternally cut off from God.” In other words, what Paul was saying here is, “I would willingly go to hell if, by doing so, it would cause the salvation of Israel. I would be willing to suffer eternally in hell if they could only be saved.” That is far more than being simply burdened for someone. How many of us could make such a statement?
Moses was such a man. You recall God called him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses was frustrated a time or two along the way. He would complain to God and say, “God, are these my children? Did I bear them? Here I am, out here in the wilderness and they are complaining to me every time I turn around. They are complaining about the food; they are complaining about the lodging; they are complaining about my leadership; they are complaining about everything!”
Many times God was frustrated with Israel as well. At one point, God told Moses, “You step aside, Moses, and let me destroy the people. I will raise you up another people to lead.” But Moses heart was compassionate. Once after the people had sinned greatly, Moses prayed to the Lord and said, ``Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” Moses cared enough that he was willing to lay down his very life for the people.
Paul cared enough that he was willing to lay down his very life, eternally, for the people. Why did he care like that? He cared that much because he was inhabited by One who cared that much. Jesus was the One in history who was willing to leave His eternal throne of glory, be made a man and die a horrendous death on the Cross, because He cared about people like you and me. Christ is the real source of this kind of love.
…the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. (9:4-5)
Paul goes on to describe just why his heart is broken. It was because of a wasted opportunity. Israel was in a position to know the truth. Israel had been the beneficiary of all of the promises of God. He mentions 8 things Israel was privileged to possess.
(1) The Adoption as Sons. They were God's chosen people. God had chosen the people of Israel, from all of the peoples of the Earth. He made a covenant with them and declared them to be His people, and He to be their God. Out of all the peoples of the earth, Israel received the adoption as sons.
(2) The Divine Glory. This word is very specific. It refers to the Shekinah Glory of God as He met with the people of Israel in the Tabernacle. His glory accompanied them. He not only chose them, but He granted them His presence.
(3) The Covenants. The Covenant God made with Abraham, the Covenant God made with Isaac, the Covenant God made with Jacob, all of the Covenants were given to the people of Israel.
(4) The Receiving of the Law. God met them at the mount and gave to them His commandments. They, apart from all the peoples of the Earth, were the enlightened ones, having heard the Word of God. The people of Israel love the Law. They have a tremendously high respect for the Law. There is a service where they actually take the Torah out and dance with it because they love it.
(5) The Temple Worship. They were instructed on how to worship God in a way that would be pleasing in His sight.
(6) The Promises. All of the promises, not only in the Law but in the Prophets as well, were given to Israel specifically so that they might claim them and walk in them, and be the recipients of the blessing of the Promise.
(7) Theirs are the patriarchs. Those great and righteous men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the great patriarchs of Israel were theirs.
(8) The human ancestry of Christ. The Messiah who would come in the person of Jesus Christ was revealed through Israel.
Israel had this unique vantage point from which they ought to have received the Messiah of God, and yet they rejected Him outright. It was not a rejection through ignorance, because they had a unique knowledge of God and the Word of God. The Pharisees, who were the Doctors of the Law, could read the Old Testament in Hebrew, like no one today. The average Pharisee of Jesus' day would put today's Hebrew scholars to shame. They knew every nuance, every connotation of that language, inside and out. They read Isaiah 53 with more knowledge of the language of that passage of Scripture than any scholar alive today. They read all of the promises that foretold the Messiah in their native language, with great feeling for it, and yet when the Messiah came, they missed Him. Knowing Hebrew and Greek does not necessarily guarantee you a knowledge of God's Word. You need to know the Author of the Book, so that He can explain its meaning to you.
The point is that you must not waste the opportunities you have. Israel wasted theirs. They, for all their knowledge of God, rejected the Messiah, and were cut off.
What is the message to us? What are the principles we can take away from this passage of Scripture? There are several:
There are many who will choose to reject Christ. This is evident all around us. We see people who do not want God in their live. They want to be the one in control. They want nothing to do with a God who will limit what they desire to do.
Having the right opportunities does not guarantee they will make the right choice. Just as Israel rejected the truth even though they were blessed by God, so we see many do the same today.
It is always a terrible tragedy when anyone rejects Christ. It does not matter who they are, when anyone fails to surrender to Christ, they are sealing their eternal destiny. The result of such a course of action is eternal condemnation and hell.
Our hearts ought to be broken for those who reject Christ. However sinful they may be, God's heart is broken for them. If we would have a heart like God's, our heart must be broken as well.
Where are you in this scenario? Are you considering Christ? Then don't reject Him. Take whatever time you need to investigate His claims. You will find them to be true.
Are you broken-hearted over the spiritual destiny of those who are not following Christ? They are your neighbors. They are your co-workers. They are your family. They are your friends.
We, who know Christ, need to ask God for more of His heart toward those who need to come to Him.
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