For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. —Romans 11:29

For weeks, we have been in a series called Room for More where we are looking at Romans 9-11. As a quick recap, Paul finished chapter 8 at the very highest peak of the grace of God! Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

It is so beautiful, so powerful BUT Paul doesn’t stop there. He continued to write. There was a group of people who were confused and a bit angry at Paul’s words.

The Jews.

They felt abandoned by God. They felt rejected by God. So how is it that nothing can separate us from God’s love???

And why does this matter to us? Because if God actually did abandon the Jews then what’s to say He won’t do the same to us one day?

So Romans 9-11 remind us that relationships are complex, more complex than we give space for. Every relationship we have ever had that is meaningful required effort, communication and trust.

The same is true with the Lord. And Romans 9-11 are Paul writing to us to say, when you don’t fully understand God- trust Him anyways.

In fact, God is NOT finished with the Jewish people. For God, choosing Gentiles was not to the exclusion of the Jews. He has room for more!

We capped this off in our Sunday sermon looking at just one verse.

God gifting and calling in your life are irrevocable!

But what does that mean?

To answer that we looked at several people in the Bible who, it seemed, either believed God was done with them or that God should have been done with them… but He was faithful to them.

As I said on Sunday, this is such a difficult topic because too often the wrong people hear this kind of message and feel empowered in ways they really shouldn’t.

If you are rude, impatient, egotistical, angry, etc and you love God please do NOT hear me saying that it’s okay to be that way cause God will keep using you. The sad reality is that He might still use your life. He is faithful to His Word and to the gospel but it might be damaging for you!

Instead, we want to acknowledge the beauty of God’s faithfulness with humility and gratitude. Thank you God, that in spite of me, You are still faithful to me and through me!

Here’s a list of the people we spoke about yesterday.

Peter: was afraid and utterly discouraged that he was no longer in Jesus’ favor. WHY? He denied Him and thought Jesus was giving up on him. Jesus responded to Peter in John 21: feed My sheep!

The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

Sampson: He was called to a particular life and with it God gave him great strength but Sampson believed he could keep sinning and get away with it. Sadly, his sin caught up with him and he was blinded and enslaved. But God was faithful and gave him strength one more time. His life was a tragedy but God was still present because…

The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

Jonah: He rebelled against God. It wasn’t outright sin as much as no interest or willingness to obey God. But God didn’t give up on Jonah and we are reminded through his life that the good news of forgiveness will go out to the world through us OR in spite of us! Jonah was suicidal at worst and depressed at best but God still worked through him because..

The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

We spoke about Moses, Jacob and several others with one clear truth over and over- God isn’t finished with your life.

Questions

• Was there one or two people in our list of Bible charatcters that you related to most? Why?
• Are you a person who tends to doubt how God could use you? If so, why?
• So much of what we talk about at Calvary is about being- not doing. In this Bible study we spoke about God wanting to still “use” our lives. Do you think this is just about “doing” or is it also about “being”?
• Take some time pray for our Special needs egg hunt, good Friday and Easter services. Pray that everyone serving would remember that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable- God wants to use us to be about His great work! Pray that people will come to faith this Easter. Pray about who to invite or maybe consider going out and sharing your faith or inviting people to church!