There seems little doubt that there was considerable conflict between the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians in Rome - and it wasn't all the fault of the Jews. Paul has already dealt with some of the charges levelled at him by legalistic Jewish Christians and he now goes on to deal with those Gentile Christian who advocate breaking with Judaism altogether.

I find it much harder to identify with how Paul tackles the subject than with how the writer to the Hebrews confronts it. The author of Hebrews makes it clear there is a new covenant and it is in every respect superior to the old.

However, as always, there are lessons to be learned from Paul's approach. There are at least four:

(1) Good can come out of evil.

Paul argues that some good came from the majority of Jews rejecting Jesus, God's anointed one. He writes: Rather because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. v11. Jewish opposition to the gospel resulted in evangelists like Paul turning their attention to the Gentiles. Luke writes in Acts18v6: Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ (in Corinth). But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

There are many instances of God bringing good out of evil. The reluctance of Burmese Buddhists to embrace the gospel preached by Adoniram Judson resulted in it being taken to the Karen people with startling success. The suppression of Christianity by Mao tse Tung forced the church underground where instead of withering it grew stronger. The unwillingness of the Roman Catholic Church to accept the reforms proposed by Luther and others was a great evil because it resulted in a divided church. However there is no doubt that the Reformation breathed new life into the church as a whole - both Protestant and Roman Catholic. I suppose the Alpha course begun at Holy Trinity Brompton was a response to the low state of the church in England. It has been used all over the world by many different denominations. It has introduced many to Christianity and been a remarkable source of unity.

Paul refers to an olive tree as a symbol or picture of God's people. It is one used in the Old Testament as, for example, in Jer11v16: The LORD called you a thriving olive tree beautiful in form. Jews who rejected Jesus were like dead branches in an old olive tree. These branches were broken off but the health and productiveness of the tree was maintained by grafting in wild olive shoots.

If we think of the universal church as a huge olive tree many branches have withered, died and fallen off the tree in Western Europe. Innumerable churches have closed and many of the old Protestant denominations are in terminal decline. However, we should not despair because new branches are being grafted in. All over the world the Holy Spirit is moving and new churches are being founded. The olive tree goes from strength to strength and is becoming more and more productive.

(2) God's commitment to continuity.

I think the representation of the true Israel as an olive tree into which Gentiles are grafted is a strange one to many Christians including myself. I tend to think of Christianity and Judaism as two very different Faiths. Christianity has Jesus at its centre and Judaism most certainly does not. I read the testimony of a Jewish convert to Christianity who was ostracised by all his family except is grandmother who would at least still talk to him. He asked his grandmother how he was worse than his father who was an atheist - a non-practising Jew! The convert said to his grandmother, "Look I believe in God, in God's promises to Abraham and Moses and the message of the prophets. I also believe in Jesus. How can I be a worse Jew than my father who does not believe in anything?" The grandmother replied, "You are a worse Jew - because you believe in Jesus."

Paul is correct to use the picture of the olive tree because it is compatible with God's commitment to continuity. This is a subject I deal with in my exposition on Ruth 4. There is much evidence for God's commitment to continuity: we share the DNA of our ancestors, the importance of genealogies in the Scriptures, the law about a kinsman redeemer, Jesus insistence that he hadn't come to destroy the law but to fulfil it, the persistence and renewal of historic churches, the resurrection of the body when something of the old will be taken into the new.

LESSONS:

(a) In the words of William Barclay: 'Everyone lives on the spiritual capital of the past.' Christianity is rooted in Judaism out of which it grew. Christians owe a huge debt to the Jewish heroes of faith - the great cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews.

So we shouldn't despise or belittle those who have gone before us. There is a tendency for this to happen when, for example, a new head teacher replaces an old one. The new head can set about changing everything - nothing about the old regime is any good! The new appointment would be very wise to build on what has been accomplished.

Christians can be like this:

• Militant Protestants can fail to give credit to the Roman Catholic Church for keeping the faith alive after the fall of Rome and taking the gospel to the Barbarians. Throughout the 'Dark Ages' the Roman Catholic Church kept the flame burning.

• There is a tendency - especially in the U.S.A. - for talented men to set up 'their own church'. They seem unable to work within pre-existing denominations. So they aim for total independence. This smacks of arrogance to me - and it is a tendency in conflict with God's commitment to continuity.

• Sometimes a new pastor arrives in a church and sets about dismantling activities and structures established by his predecessor. He might even be keen to purge the church of long-established workers because he sees them as a threat to his authority. A lot of harm has been done in churches because of arrogant behaviour of this sort.

  There was only one reason for breaking branches off the olive tree and that was for lack of faith. You don't try and get rid of church members who disagree with you!!

In the same way that it would be wrong to ignore the Old Testament so it is also a great pity for churches to dispense with the old hymns. There are an increasing number of 'with it' fellowships that sing nothing but modern choruses and songs. This is just so short sighted. Many of the old hymns have been a tremendous blessing to Christians. It is just plain cruel to deny old Christians the opportunity to sing some of the old hymns.

(3) The importance of faith.

The reason many Jews forfeited their status as God's people was lack of faith in the one God sent. Paul writes: They were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. v20. The Gentiles inclusion into the people of God owes everything to their faith and God's kindness.

But Paul warns the Gentile Christians:

(a) Not to be arrogant. Do not boast over those branches. v18. Do not be arrogant. v20.

Some Christians are arrogant. I know a man who attends a church in Suffolk who whenever I see him says something like this: "I'm born again - I'm all right. When Jesus returns I'll be fine. But those others - zzzzpp. They've had it - they'll be zapped - ZZZZZPP." My acquaintance says this with much relish. The eternal destruction of the wicked is not something to lick your lips over.

Paul has some words of warning for Christians who are over confident. So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall. 1Cor10v12.

It is easy to exult that we are the ones in the right - so much better than Muslims, Jews, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Roman Catholics, conservative evangelicals or Baptist fundamentalists. Pride goes before a fall.

(b) That Gentile believers can be lost. Do not be arrogant but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches he will not spare you either. v20and21. Consider then 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 be cut off. v22.

Many Christians, especially those who believe, 'once saved, forever saved,' are not afraid. They quote Scriptures like John10v27to29: "My sheep ..... I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my father's hand."

Jeff Strite has some helpful things to say about this: It means that once I’m saved, nobody can take my salvation away from me. You can steal my car, burn my home, kill my family, but you can’t take my salvation away from me. No army known to man, to terrorist with explosives can forcibly remove my salvation.

However, that doesn’t mean I can’t get up and walk away from God.

We can lose our salvation if our faith in Jesus fails and we end up leaving him. There are several Scriptures that suggest a Christian can be lost:

1Cor15v2: By this gospel you are saved, IF YOU HOLD FIRMLY to the word I preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain.

Jn15v6: IF ANYONE DOES NOT REMAIN IN ME, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

2Pet2v21: If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are AGAIN ENTANGLED IN IT AND OVERCOME, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.

AND ABOVE ALL: Read Heb 6 v4to6. See sermon on Heb6v4to12.

Jeff Strite uses a good example to illustrate the security and vulnerability of the believer:

I own my own home now. I’m making payments on it – but it’s mine. NOBODY CAN TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME. Even if I die, we have mortgage insurance that will pay off the mortgage for my family. I am not afraid of losing my home, because I intend to be faithful in making my payments every month.

Now next door to me is a derelict home. The owners walked away from it. They didn’t pay their taxes, they didn’t pay their mortgage payments. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN FAITHFUL to their home in keeping it up and meeting their responsibilities. And now it is condemned.

No-one can take our salvation from us. We can't misplace it like we might our car keys. But we can forfeit our salvation through neglect, by losing our desire for it, by being attracted away from it by the world (Like Demas). Many Jews were broken out of the olive tree for unbelief and lack of commitment. Paul tells the Gentile Christians that exactly the same will happen to them if their faith fails. He does not write to Gentile Christians en masse. He writes in the singular. The apostle is addressing individual Gentile Christians and warning them to remain true to Jesus.

It's not such a bad thing to be afraid in dangerous situations. If I was white water rafting I would certainly put on a life jacket. I would do so for fear of drowning! We need to take to heart the advice of Peter: Therefore my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 1Pet1v10and11.

(4) Hope for the Jews.

(a) Paul hoped that the Gentile's new life in Christ might arouse Jews to envy - so much so that they turn to Jesus themselves. I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. v13. Sadly, not many Jews have been so envious of the Christian's walk with God that they have come to faith in Jesus. However, there is no doubt that a person's changed life on becoming a Christian is a powerful witness to unbelievers. A few Sunday's ago Greg Noller, our visiting speaker, said that he had a non-Christian background. His brother was the first one of his family to become a believer. Greg said that he witnessed a big change in his brother after he was converted. This undoubtedly played a part in Greg, himself, becoming a Christian and then his mother and father.

Daisy's testimony provides more evidence of the part played by the example of others in bringing sinners to Jesus. She said: The night I remember most vividly was when there was a move of God in the service. I saw Bro. Michael (who is now my boyfriend) praising God with this huge smile on his face. I said, “God, I want joy like that.” I finally started wanting to change, but I wanted it to be real. I told God, “I don’t want something that’s based on emotion; I need something that’s real. If you’re willing to forgive me, take me back, and give me another chance, I need you to change me completely.” And, He did.

(b) Paul realised that Jews could be grafted back into the living tree. He wrote: And if they do not persist in unbelief they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. v23. The apostle even considers that this should be an easier task than winning Gentiles for Christ. How much more readily will these, the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree! v24. I rather fear that Paul was being over optimistic!

Mission to the Jews has been made difficult by persistent Gentile hostility to the descendents of Abraham. I am afraid that Christians have been guilty through the centuries of anti-Semitism. Jews have been labelled, 'God killers,' notwithstanding the part played by Gentiles in Jesus' crucifixion. This is no way to win them for Christ. Christians have forgotten the words of Paul: If some of the branches have broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root but the root supports you. v17and18. Christians owe a great debt to the Jews - not least because Jesus was himself a Jew!

(c) Paul anticipates that eventually the Jews will accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord. This will be a happy day. Perhaps it will be relatively sudden and unexpected because Paul likens it to a resurrection from the dead. What will their acceptance be but life from the dead. v15. It will be the greatest blessing - how much greater riches will their fulness bring.

(d) Paul undoubtedly believed the Jews were a special people. They are special because of their history: the promises made to the Patriarchs, Moses, the prophets and his people's faithful response to these promises.

Paul illustrates his conviction by referring to Num15v19to20. The Israelites were to bake a small cake from the first batch of flour milled from the new grain of the latest harvest and present it to the Lord. This offering of the firstfruits would consecrate everything baked thereafter from the flour of that year's harvest. Paul concludes: If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy then the whole batch is holy. v16. His reference to a holy root making the whole tree holy conveys the same idea. Moo puts it like this: Paul is arguing that the holiness that characterised the beginnings of Israel puts an indelible mark on that people fraught with significance for her present and her future.

So eventually, in the fullness of time, God will see that the Jews are converted for the sake of the root - those faithful Jews who received the promises and accepted them by faith.

It is easy to think, why should God bother? What does it matter after 2000 years of Jewish unbelief. Well it does matter to God! He is, as Jesus told the Sadducees: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He does not change. He is the God of continuity and not discontinuity. We can depend upon the immutability of his promises.