31 October 2015 - save a seat

For the LORD will not cast off his people,
nor abandon his inheritance;

We need reassurance about this because sometimes it seems like he does. It seems like God rejects his people. It seems like Israel stumbles so as to fall. After all, the transgressions seem so great as to be unforgivable. But it isn't about us or our ability to earn forgiveness. It isn't about what we deserve.

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

God is able to use the disobedience of individuals and groups for a higher good. But his plan never involves leaving anyone in disobedience. Even if we see large segments of the population have a "hardening" come upon them it does not mean they are destined to be rejected. Even if we know people with particularly hard hearts it does not mean that they are rejected. There is hope for them. And God wants to use us to offer that hope. He wants us to let our light shine. He wants us to let the world see just what it is that we have in Jesus.

But through their transgression
salvation has come to the Gentiles,
so as to make them jealous.

We are supposed to make the world jealous not because we have something which they can't have or about which we feel smug and prideful. We make the world jealous precisely to draw them to receive the same salvation which we ourselves have freely received.

Just because we're here first doesn't mean we are somehow more entitled to the good seats. We celebrate being invited to this banquet. But we do want the world to want to come. We leave the good seats open for them. We do this so that if our joy in the banquet is enough to make them jealous, enough to make them want to come, they have a spot waiting for them. As much as God is able to bring good out of their rejection and sin he is able to do even more with their repentance.

Now if their transgression is enrichment for the world,
and if their diminished number is enrichment for the Gentiles,
how much more their full number.

We all stand in need of the mercy of God. We are all desperate for his help. Let us celebrate the salvation we receive and by so doing offer the world the invitation to receive that same salvation.

Were not the LORD my help,
my soul would soon dwell in the silent grave.
When I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your mercy, O LORD, sustains me.