I speak to you Gentiles

[瑤翰 김요한]

I speak to you the Gentiles. (Romans 11:13-18)

Only when you know God's decree and providence and the results of that providence can you develop a worldview that allows you to see world history as it is taking place.

Just as Israel has no advantage in salvation, the same goes for Gentiles.

God does not respect positions such as pastors or elders or the respect of one’s religious beliefs.

He does not say it is okay for humans to form a party and say, ‘We will believe this way.’

The key is whether we are connected to God the Father by the Spirit of truth in Christ.

People treat the church threshold as the standard for evangelism, as if it were the cutoff line for heaven.

It is impossible to know how many people suffer because of clumsy religious knowledge, such as the book ‘Wounded Knowledge’ written by Rowan.

As we see the fall of Israel, who was entrusted with the law and the temple, and the state of the church in Laodicea in these last days, we wonder what evangelism really is.

Check whether you have truly become a branch attached to the vine by the Spirit of truth.

Q. What did Paul say to the Gentiles?

“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.” (Romans 11:13-14)

A. Paul considers his position as an apostle to the Gentiles an honor because he knows God's plan for the gospel to first go to the Gentiles and then return to the Jews.

It begins with ‘Ghar’, ‘for’.

Those who have the gospel must have pride in their life, their position with a mission.

It is a truly arduous task for a pastor to prepare a sermon when he is reluctantly pushed to do so.

So, in America, there is a popular saying that for a pastor to do ministry without the Holy Spirit is the greatest hardship in life.

The spirituality mentioned by Rowan ultimately states that in the Holy Spirit, we believe that Christ is the Son of God and God, and that in Christ we become one with God the Father.

Will the Holy Spirit really indwell a person who only knows that Jesus, the son of a carpenter from Nazareth, died on the cross, and believes that his sins are forgiven and he is saved and goes to heaven?

In ministry, making others feel bad with your confidence in your position and salvation is also a way of evangelism.

This is also to save him.

When I was serving as a pastor, I turned a person down and looked down on him for a while, who was just doing church work and not listening to the Word,  he was angry.

Although I am still a pastor, I tell him that if you die as you are, you will end up in the lake of fire.

When we see that it is said that without the re-creation of 'the Lord died and was raised again', we have no choice but to die in sin (John 8:24), we can see that those who have death go to the second death, the lake of fire.

If you only know Jesus, your knowledge will only be hurtful.

If you die on the spot, it is hell.

Therefore, in order to save such a person, you need to make him jealous for a while.

Of course, if you love that person, it is a different story from cold-heartedness, pride, or arrogance.

How many pastors are hurting and groaning internally and externally as they grow older because they only know Jesus?

Q. What are the reasons for Israel’s abandonment and what are the conditions for acceptance?

“For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:15)

A. Because the Jews abandon Christ, the gospel is spread to the world and reconciliation with God is achieved.

But if they receive Christ, they will live again from the dead, that is, enter into Christ.

In the end, receiving the death and raised of Christ and the fact that Christ lives within us through the Word is the way to live and the way to salvation.

So, people who say they believe in Jesus without properly understanding baptism, which means dying with Christ and coming back to life with Christ and becoming united with him, are only believing in knowledge that is full of real pain and wounds.

Because that place is the seat of sin, when you die, it is a lake of fire, so God gives you a disease so that you can have a private meeting and do your homework in a hospital or a nursing home.

The principle of faith, which is to die with Christ, live again, and look to God the Father in Christ, is the same method of salvation for all nations born with sin and death in Adam.

It is no different for Jews, who have the law and the temple.

Q. Why are roots more important than branches when it comes to faith?

“For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches.” (Romans 11:16)

A. Because if the root are holy, the branches are also holy.

First ripe grain flour is the flour of the firstfruit.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the firstfruit, is holy because he came from the root.

Therefore, the loaf of bread made from that powder is also holy.

In the Old Testament, sacrifices were made with this.

Therefore, as those who died and were raised through Christ, they eat the Lord as the bread of life, participate in his holiness, approach to his glory, and ultimately attain love.

Therefore, faith, as it means to believe and hope, means believing in the grace of redemption in Christ and looking and rejoicing in the glory of God in the Spirit of truth.

Since our root is God, the root is holy, and the branches connected to that holiness are also holy.

That is why God says you should be holy, because he is holy (1 Peter 1:16).

Q. Is grafting the principle of salvation?

“And if some of the branches be broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakers of the root and fatness of the olive tree.”(Romans 11:17)

A: Yes. As Gentiles, we are saved when we are called into Christ, justified by faith, receive life, and are grafted into his glory.

The root is the same for all nations, whether Israel or Gentiles.

Gentiles were grafted into the place of Jews who were broken off because they rejected Christ.

He receives the sap from the roots of the true olive tree and participates together in the heavenly banquet in Christ.

The lamp is lit by oil that rises along the branches from the base of the golden lampstand.

We must keep in mind that Paul explains our salvation by comparing it to the grafting of a plant.

Ultimately, being united with Christ through the anointing of the Holy Spirit is salvation, and it is gaining eternal life by being connected to the life of God in a place where one was separated from God.

If this is not done, it will become an abandoned branch.

There, the words of giving life in abundance are established and applied. (John 10:10)

Therefore, “Boast not against the branches. But if you boast, you bear not the root, but the root you.” (Romans 11:18)

Israel had a great sense of being chosen as the first to receive the promise.

We should not boast to the branches that we have been born again, that we have been justified, or that we have gained the life.

Because we are those who have been incorporated into Christ's branches and received new life through the grace of Christ's atonement, we are beings who cannot be proud or mean towards others.

We simply became his branches through Christ.

According to natural principles, the roots preserve the branches, not the branches preserve the roots.

Therefore, like a branch, it must do what it is supposed to do in its proper place.

 What you should do is to adjust yourself to the root's tissue and components in order to properly receive the root's sap.

If you have confirmed that you are grafted to that tree through the redemptive grace of Christ's cross, you must deny yourself and take up your cross to bear fruit with a spirituality that leads to holiness, glory, unity, and perfection that matches the tissue and components.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION