Grafted Into The New Tree

By: Paul DeVries

Scripture Reading: Romans 11:17-25

December 13th, 2009

My friends, I wonder how many people have been baptized and now no longer have any belief? How many have been baptized as infants, and were surrounded by a Christian, supportive family and church home, but as they grew never come to a place where they personally professed faith in Jesus? How many have been baptized as adults, filled with new faith and hope for the future, only to decide later or as time went by that they no longer really believe? These are not pleasant questions. Last year in my church there were dozens of baptisms and many people stood in my congregation and professed their faith in Jesus Christ. Through my 20 plus years of ministry I have lost track of how many children and adults I have baptized, countless parents and individuals have stood before me professing their faith in Jesus and announcing their commitment to be part of the church, part of the covenant family of God. Yet I know that some of the children that I baptized are no longer walking with the Lord. Some of those parents who brought children for baptism are no longer bringing their families to church. Some of those excited, on fire, individuals who were baptized as adults or professed the faith in Christ publically for the first time, have left the covenant body, the church, and Christ himself behind. They either no longer believe, or, at least, they no longer live as those who believe and belong to Christ. How many friends, family members, and co—workers do you know who once belonged to the church body—to the tree of life, to Jesus Christ—who now no longer live in that body, in that life, or belong to that Savior? When I became a pastor, I learned a new phrase sometimes used to describe people who have fallen away from faith. That phrase is "dead wood." It is not a very elegant, pretty, or pastoral phrase, but it is a powerful image. "Dead wood" is a reference to those people who once were a part of the "tree" of Christ and his church, but now have fallen away from the tree. Like branches that have fallen or been trimmed from a tree, there are many people who now are simply dead wood. The leaders of the church are almost always concerned about such people, but also aware that there is little that they can do to reattach them to the tree. "What should we do about the dead wood"?, they ask. What indeed! The Apostle Paul is directly addressing the issue of dead wood in our scriptural text for today. He is addressing the painful reality of those who once were a part of the covenant tree of Israel, but now, like dead and damaged branches from a tree, they have been cut off due to their persistent unbelief. Before we simply get lost in the theological and biblical intricacies of the text, let’s recognize how painful, how personally painful, this whole topic is. The Apostle Paul is not talking about nameless, faceless souls in this text. He is talking about his own fellow Israelites, his genetic and covenant brothers and sisters. So too for us today. We are not just talking about the theological and biblical conundrum of what to do about generic unbelief or backsliding away from the faith. We are talking about our family members, our loved ones, our children and grandchildren, our brothers and sisters in Christ, who once worshipped alongside of us, but now no longer do. Please, folks, recognize this issue as the cutting, painful, hard issue that it is. What are we to make of all this dead wood and can’t we find some grace? One of the things that I think will be most helpful in understanding this difficult topic, and also in coming to some grace, is to simply focus on the imagery that Paul uses. You will appreciate Paul’s imagery, particularly if you are a visual person. The imagery is pretty clear. There is a tree of life, and the roots of that tree are the covenant promises of God. As Paul puts it, the roots are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Whereas today we would correctly say that the root of the tree is now Jesus Christ, in his day the apostle Paul correctly focused on the patriarchs of Israel, "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Paul, you see, is addressing his own ethnic and religious heritage. He is saying to his fellow Jew, "You, who genetically are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you are supposed to be connected to the tree of life that has sprung forth from the roots of the patriarchs. "We Israelites are the natural branches of God’s covenantal tree," Paul is saying. But, as he also makes painfully clear, some of them, many of them, many of his brother and sister Israelites, have rejected the tree of life as it is now embodied by Jesus Christ. Subsequently, they have been cut off and are dead. They have become dead wood. The dead wood is why Paul writes with such a depth of painful feeling here. His heart breaks for his beloved brother and sister Israelites who are lost. Can you identify with Paul? Now, before we are overwhelmed by the pain, there is good news here. The good news comes as he speaks to non—Jews, Gentiles—those who aren’t by birth or nature a part of the tree of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—those who grew up in another orchard, a wild orchard as he puts it—those who grew up away from the Old Testament covenant of Israel, who grew up in unbelief, without God and without hope. The good news for such people is that by their faith in Christ they now have been grafted into the tree of life. Gentiles were not a natural part of the tree, but have been grafted into the tree and so now Gentiles are a beautiful and stunning part of God’s tree. Now, there is one more important aspect to the imagery that we want to make sure to see. Historically, in the context of Paul’s day, the dead branches were the Jewish people—those who were part of the covenant people but rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior. And the wild branches grafted into the tree were Gentiles—those who did not grow up in the covenant promises of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. However, presently, in the context of our lives today, the cut off branches—the dead branches of unbelief—are not just Jewish branches or not even primarily Jewish branches. Today the branches include Gentiles as well. The dead branches include any of us who have been raised in the church—raised in the faith, raised in the covenantal promises of God, taught in Sunday school, baptized in the midst of vows and promises, a part of the living tree of Jesus Christ—BUT now are no longer living in faith, in the church and in the promises. Do see my point? You might be like me. From birth you have been raised in the covenant as believers in Jesus Christ. From birth we have been taught the truth of scriptures and been raised in Jesus. We are the natural branches of the covenantal tree of life, rooted in Jesus Christ. In my own congregation, every time there is a baptism, the promises of God—the covenantal truth of our faith—are traced all the way back to Abraham. We are the spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We, all of us who believe in Jesus Christ, are a part of the tree of life. As Christ himself said, "I am the vine, you are the branches." But, as I pointed out at the beginning of this message, many of us have now become dead branches. Can you feel the depth of Paul’s pain in this passage? He is grieving for his own people who ought to know better but have allowed themselves to become dead branches littering the ground around the tree. Today, Paul would be grieving for those of us in the Christian church and faith who ought to know better but have allowed ourselves to become dead branches. What I hope we can grasp today is that this passage isn’t just a complicated historical and theological passage about the Jewish place in the body of Christ. Paul isn’t simply dealing with academic issues that theologians, seminarians, and biblical scholars wrestle with. The text is not just a theological explanation of how God moved from his Old Testament promises, fulfilling them in his New Testament promises of Jesus Christ. The text is all these things, but so much more as well. This text presents us with a very practical, very emotive, and very direct warning. In fact, as Paul himself makes clear in the text it is a warning for all of us who are now a part of the tree. The warning is this: If you do not continue in the kindness of God which is experienced through our faith in Jesus Christ, you too will be cut off. Now, let’s be careful not to misunderstand this warning. Paul is not saying that a person can be saved and then lose their faith. He is not denying the truth that once we are saved we are always saved. He has already made the security of our faith abundantly clear earlier in Romans—in chapter 5 and then especially in chapter 8: "Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus." Once we are in the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, he holds on to us forever. But what Paul does want us to understand is that the only practical way that we know that we are in the saving love of God is by whether we are standing by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul wanted his Jewish listeners of his day to know that they were not saved by their genetic connection to Abraham. Nor were they saved by their religious rite of circumcision. Likewise, he wants us today to know that we are not saved by our family connections or membership in a church. Nor are we saved by our religious rite of baptism, or profession of faith, or because we are an elder, or deacon, pastor or volunteer leader in the church. We are saved only by a living, breathing faith in Jesus Christ. So there is a warning: Don’t become dead wood. But please don’t stop with the warning. There is also grace. Notice the words Paul uses to describe his own covenant people. In the first section of verses 11 and 12 he says that they have stumbled in their transgressions, they have lost what they once had. And so, he essentially says, I hope they become envious. Listen to those words again, he hopes they become envious. In other words, Paul is holding out hope even for those who have stumbled and are currently lost. He says, (look at the words,) they have stumbled but "not so as to fall beyond recovery". He is saying that they are dead, cut off from the tree, and yet there is hope. Paul is hoping that the dead branches will see all the newly grafted living branches and be envious. In verse 14 he puts it this way, I want to "arouse my own people to envy." Paul uses these words to paint a picture of sharp contrast between the dead branches and living branches. Beginning in verse 17, Paul says, yes it is true that branches have been broken off. He goes on in verse 20 to say that they are broken off because of unbelief. In verse 21 he makes it clear that God did not spare the natural branches. In other words, this is final, this is tough business. In verse 22, God gives his sternness to those who fell—sternness for those who fell. Now contrast that sternness with what is waiting for those who are living branches. Salvation has come to the Gentiles, Paul says in the first section. Twice he uses the word "riches" to describe what the living branches have. In the next section he speaks of reconciliation. And in verse 22, he references God’s kindness. So the contrast is sharp and the question is clear: Is there kindness or sternness for us? The real turning point in this text, the specific application for us today, is in noting who the sternness and who the kindness is for. First the sternness: The sternness is for those of us who have fallen—for those of us who have been in the tree of life, but have been cut off. Notice, however, that there is kindness for those of us who are in the tree, "provided" Paul says, (don’t miss this provisional statement of Paul), "provided that you continue in his kindness, otherwise you too will be cut off." What then is the sum of all these words and of all this powerful imagery? The imagery and words all add up to great joy for those of us who are in the tree. Whether Jew or Gentile—whether recent convert or long term, life—long Christian, born and raised in the faith, in the tree of life—there is the kindness of God in allowing us to be a part of his tree. But there is also a warning. A warning for all, but especially for those of us who, like the Israelites of old, have been born and bred in the faith, in the covenant, in the church. Tragically, we who have been baptized, who have gone to Sunday School, who have always been a part of the tree of life have a tendency to become complacent and the life is sapped out of us. The warning is for us: Don’t be cut off due to your deadness; instead, stand by faith, remaining in the kindness of God! Now, I want you to notice that Paul ends with grace. I don’t want you to miss this, Paul ends with grace. He ends with grace, not only for the living branches but even for, and especially for, the dead wood. He talks about the grace for his brother and sister Israelites who have been cut off due to their lack of faith. He says, I haven’t given up hope, because if God can take branches from a wild olive tree (all those Gentiles and unbelievers who grew up without God in their lives) and graft them into His covenant tree of life, surely then God can also take the natural branches, dead though they are (all of unbelieving Israel and unbelieving people from our families and churches today) and graft them back into his tree. Do you see Paul’s ultimate point of grace? Through Jesus Christ, God is always a God of grace. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ—the first fruits of the resurrection—even dead branches can be once again raised to life in the tree. So there is grace both for those of us firmly rooted in the tree of life, and even for those of us who have been cut off as dead wood. The grace is simply this: If we stand by Faith, God will graft us into his tree. Wild olive branches and even dead branches—whoever and wherever you are and have been—God’s grace is for you. So my friends, we have come full circle. What are we to make of all those baptized children and adults who no longer worship with God’s people? Is there any hope for those who once were part of God’s covenant family, but now have fallen to the ground as dead wood? Is there any redemption or even any hope for those of us who have become dead wood? The simple answer to these questions is "Yes, there is hope." Even dead wood can live again in Jesus Christ. But that last part of the previous sentence is the key part: IN JESUS CHRIST. If any of us persist in our dead state, if we think that loved ones will be saved simply because they have church membership somewhere, or once were baptized, or have a good family name, Paul has a warning for us: dead wood is cut off and dead. Please note that Paul grieves over this warning. It pains him that so many his own ethnic people have become dead wood. It is a huge pastoral issue for him, which is why he spends three chapters of his letter to the Romans wrestling with the issue. Likewise today, we grieve over the warning. Many of us have brothers, sisters, loved ones, who are in danger of hell fire because they have become dead wood. Moreover some of us are and should be concerned about ourselves because we have become dead wood. The warning frightens us. But Paul’s point is not to frighten. His point is to offer a warning that leads to hope. For in Christ Jesus, even dead wood can be grafted into the tree of life. All one needs to do is to stand by Faith. So how about it? Will you take a stand today? Will you stand by Faith? Amen

About the Author

Paul DeVries

Rev. Paul DeVries, most commonly referred to as “Pastor Paul”, is the Sr. Pastor of Brookside Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is married to Diane (nee Vanden Akker) and the father of four children. He graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1989 and served for 12 years as the pastor of Unity Christian Reformed Church in Prospect Park, New Jersey. As a pastor his first love and greatest joy comes in the honor of bringing God’‘s Word to his congregation on a weekly basis through his preaching. He enjoys reading, camping with his family, watching his children’‘s sporting events, and working on home improvement projects - inside and outside his home.

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