No Plan B
This week at windsor e-news
The New Testament Church we see in Romans 11:7-36 is not God’s “Plan B.” Instead, it is a further revelation of His ultimate plan. So what does the imagery of a tree and grafting have to do with it?
It shows HOW the family of God was assembled - Paul takes us through 4 different groups…
1. Gentile believers: from pride to proper perspective
God is faithful to ‘insiders’ (Israel) and maintained a remnant, but that he has also been merciful to ‘outsiders’ (everyone else: including you!) in expanding this call to graft into the family of God those Gentiles who believed by faith. Paul is exhorting the ‘strong’ Gentile believers here not to be arrogant in thinking that God is placing them more highly, or that the Jewish believers are somehow cast aside.
Rather, we are to view each other as siblings in the larger family tree and that God is using their inclusion as a means of igniting a passion in the nation of Israel for the ultimate preservation of a remnant.
2. Jewish converts: from confusion to clarity
To the Jewish converts, the idea of expanding the family of God beyond just the blood descendants of Abraham had precedent. Now the Jews are told that under this new covenant, their previous traditions, practices and rituals are washed away.
All that is needed is genuine and open faith in God: “For whoever confesses with their mouth and believes in their heart will be saved” (Romans 10:9) Only faith in God will graft them into the family of God no matter the background nor pedigree of the person.
This idea of grafting should provide them clarity - even relief! - as they were NOT the gardener that was grafting in these new branches, but GOD. God had not chosen to eradicate the root of his promise that fed both cultivated branches (Jews) and the wild olive branches (us), but that he had remained faithful to His promise!
3. Jewish zealots: from jealousy to joyous (re)union
So can even dead branches be re-grafted? Short answer: yes! Anyone who does not “persist in their unbelief” (11 verse 23) and acknowledges within their life that redemption only comes through a “deliverer”, is therefore re-grafted back into the tree. Just like God remained faithful to the original ‘insiders’ of His promise, so He is too with those who have walked away and returned to Him.
4. Us: from periphery to partnership.
Are you firmly connected to your graft? Or do you feel as though you have been “pruned back” despite everything that you do? Just think of how some grafts must be cared for: in colder climates, gardeners know the graft will not survive the stresses of the coming winter. So they trim back the growth, and mound dirt around the graft to protect it at all cost from the coming storm.
So remember, God too will sometimes do unexpected trimming and maintenance so that you will survive a time of spiritual turmoil. That is Plan A.
Extract taken from Jonathan Plett’s Sermon (16 July, 2023)