Memorize: Opportunity for Jews’ salvation
Key Verses: 1, 4, 9-10, 17,
Paul’s beginning statement is very timely in reference to today’s worldview that every religion leads to the same destination, so stop evangelizing. Paul knows that Jews can’t have eternal life without Jesus. They have zeal, but ignorant zeal leads to suicide bombings and burqas. Sincerity does not prove the truth of what is believed. And Paul knows that. They sought an alternative system to gain access to God, rather than by faith. Because Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law, a new way has been established. Faith.
The new way happens when we switch allegiance, from sin and self to Jesus. We make Him master of our lives. We tell Him He is in charge, and then we live a life reflective of that relationship. We stop the sin and start the obedience. It starts in the inside and works its way out. Our heart is changed and then our actions follow.
It has always been part of God’s plan to use people to carry His message. We read of occasional and rare instances when God intervened at very crucial moments in redemptive history, but those are the exceptions. He uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things, like carry His message to the world. The Jew’s mission was to obey themselves and then take the message of God’s provision of salvation to the world. They failed to understand the full extent of their mission. They became sidetracked on creating a new way, based on obedience to the Law, something that is impossible.
And God knew the Jews would fail, that they would get sidetracked. His plan had always included the non-Jews. God also predicted that some of these non-Jews would bring the message back to the Jews.
We see this in the missions work around the world today. Western Christians brought the Gospel to remote parts of the world, and now those remote parts are sending out missionaries, some even to the United States. Korea and parts of Africa and South America are sending thousands of missionaries to bring the Good News to parts of the world long closed to the Gospel. They are risking their lives, as the missionaries risked theirs year ago to bring them the Gospel.
The Arnold Journey 