A Grace-Shaped Life: Romans 9-16Sample

Crescendos of Grace

So do not become proud, but stand in awe. (Romans 11:20)

Lake Emma sits nestled in a small canyon at 12,000 feet in the shadow of Colorado’s Mount Democrat. Standing on one side, I yelled “Hello!” at the top of my lungs, counting four or five echoes before fading out. An echo provides an apt metaphor for Paul’s understanding of God’s mission, with one exception. The echoes of God’s grace don’t fade; they grow in volume with each reverberation.

Listen for the echo of grace in today’s reading. In Jesus, God fulfills his promises to Old Testament Israel. ”The gospel sounds off!” Many Israelites rejected Jesus. In their “stumble” and “trespass” (Rom. 11:11), the gospel echoes to Gentiles, who are “grafted in among the others” (v. 17). Paul experienced this pattern throughout Acts. He began in each city by preaching to Jews. When they rejected Jesus, he preached to the Gentiles, and many were saved (see Acts 18, for example). Paul desires for his Jewish people to see the echo of God’s grace towards Gentiles and become jealous, and so be grafted in again by God (v. 14). Their return will be like “life from the dead” (v. 15), exploding with good news for the world. The crescendo of grace grows.

There is only one response for those of us grafted in after others’ rejection: “do not become proud, but stand in awe” (v. 20). We did nothing to deserve to be included. The growing crescendo of grace swept over us. May our inclusion lead many others to become followers of Jesus.

As you pray, bow in awe of God’s grace.