Broken Places Meant For Growth
Read: Romans 11:11-24
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! 13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
Read the passage above and notice all the words that indicate loss: stumbling, trespass, failure, rejection, broken. Paul describes people who had the scripture but didn’t trust God. Their situation was dire.
Stumbling denotes walking, tripping, and losing your footing; tripping and landing on the ground. Trespass means violating a boundary; rebelling against a law. In all these ways, Paul emphasizes how damaging unbelief can be.
If this were the business world, we’d say these people are unreliable. We’d say that if a worker or a vendor does bad things, breaks faith, and fails in destructive ways, we would have to protect the business against the damage. If an employee starts a fire, you have to clean it up and rebuild – without their involvement!
God’s story with mankind is full of these failure cases. Over and over, God’s people goof up, stumble, fall, break things, hurt people. And as punishment, God allows them to experience the destruction they initiated.
In Isaiah 10:33-34, God describes himself as wielding the axe against the trees:
Behold, the Lord GOD of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.
Do you ever have a sad feeling when you drive by a construction site that was covered in trees just last week, and now it’s just a mess of logs and brush? God says that is what he was doing to his rebellious people Israel.
Paul uses the same language here in Romans: tree branches broken off. They stumbled, transgressed, failed, rejected, and were broken off.
In my power, broken things stay broken. Stumbling people stay down. Trespassers go to jail. But since God is in charge, stumbling people learn to walk again; broken trees become places of growth; and all the sad things come untrue.
