Title: Two Brothers
I wrote this sermon from the beach. I know, you already feel sorry for me. As I wrote, and wrote, and wrote I was really surprised at how much developed from the first verse, so much so that I decided to cut it all the way back to just one verse. I have feeling that this sermon might be a bit different than what you have come to expect from me, but I hope you will find it as personally insightful as I have.
v1 “Brethren…”
I don’t want to look past the salutation that Paul uses to address his audience as we move into chapter ten. Look back with me at Romans 9:3
“For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites…”
Just one chapter earlier, as Paul is addressing the same subject matter, he defines his brethren as being his countrymen according the flesh, that is, the Israelites. Here, he addresses his audience, the saved, both Jew and Greek, as his brethren. Paul is far to clever, and too skilled a writer for this to be a mistake or a coincidence. Paul laments his separation from the Jews because they are his brethren in the flesh, but celebrates and rejoices in his brotherhood with the elect in the Spirit.
Point: Paul has renounced his fleshly brotherhood (because they are wrong) in favor of his spiritual brotherhood (because they are holy.)
This isn’t so much a conscious choice of Paul as much as it is a developmental choice. Let me give you a personal example of this in my life that might help you relate a bit more.
Most of you know that I became a believer while in college. One of the struggles I had in my early years as a believer was with the music I had listened to as a non-believer. Some of you may be able to relate to what I’m about to tell you.
I was an avid collector of music in my teen years and when I became a believer I debated on whether or not I should throw out my entire secular collection. I prayed about it, consulted the Word and some more mature believers that I’d always respected, and I came to the conclusion that I would just wait, and take the issue cd by cd. Essentially, when and if I had a desire to listen to a particular album from my collection, I’d pray about it and then intently listen to the music, the lyrics, the themes and then I’d make a decision about it.
Essentially, I wanted my new ears, my Christian ears, to hear the music for the first time, regardless how many times my secular ears had heard it earlier. So, over the next several months I started to weed through my vast music collection, and, somewhat to my surprise, what I discovered was that the vast majority of my music was at worst ambivalent. 90% was harmless, I might find that I disagreed with the viewpoints, world views, or conclusions of the writers of the music but none of that led me into sin, or sinful thinking. (Ironically, one of the reasons I struggle so much with contemporary Christian music is because I find that so much of it is either theologically shallow, or flat out wrong…but that is another sermon entirely…)
Back to my CD’s…there was one album in particular that I was dreading listening to. I remembered it well because I was very fond of it in my pre-Christian days, and it’s message and suggestion of anarchy reality being an illusion was very appealing to me during a particularly difficult summer during my high school years. I avoided and avoided this album b/c I did not want to make a judgement on it. My worst fear was that I was going to listen to album, know it was wrong, and LOVE it.
A year and half after I became a Christian all of my albums had been sorted through, except one. And as I laid in bed one sleepless night before and early exam the next day I had the urge to finally listen to, and make a decision on this album. I put it in, put my headphones on, cranked the volume and got about 30 seconds into the first song and shut it off. It sounded horrible, stupid, ignorant, pretentious, and just plain silly. And I was shocked. Where in the course of my sanctification did my mind change so rapidly about what was good music and what was bad music? Truth is, I have no idea. It was more a developmental change than a conscious one.
Do you see where I’m going with this? If we stayed rooted and faithful to prayer, the word, fellowship, and then are given an opportunity to make some of the same decisions, we will be shocked at how natural it will be to be holy. Let me say this another way. The longer we are believers, the easier it is to discern what is holy and act upon it.
For Paul it was totally unnatural for a Pharisee to not consider the Jews his brothers. But for Paul it is the most natural thing to call believers brothers.
And what is it that Paul is pleading with God for? The same thing that everyone of us prays for daily: That those we love (our fleshly brothers and sisters) become our spiritual brothers and sisters (believers).
In Romans 9 Paul harkens back the O.T. and uses the example of two brothers, Jacob and Esau. One was a vessel of honor, the other a vessel of destruction. Here, we see at the beginning of chapter 9 and chapter 10 a juxtaposition of two types of “brothers” in Paul’s life, one of the flesh, one of the spirit.
If you are anything like me, you shed the most tears for those you love the most that don’t know Christ. They way my heart breaks for my unsaved relatives and my unsaved friends is the same way Paul’s heart ached for the entirety of the Jewish nation.
When I see Paul’s frustration and struggle through my own experiences the Scriptures come alive to me, and I am deeply encouraged. Paul is not some mythical figure of Christianity…he is you, and he is me.
This word does not go out null and void, and it becomes more effective the longer you believe. I see things now in scripture I never could have seen even five years ago. For this, for my salvation, and for the ability to be able to relate to the characters and their struggles and I’m deeply thankful to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.