The Great Anguish

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  ...In an attempt to develop further as a christian leader, I am posting sermons I have prepared for my studies or for ministry opportunities. Please feel free to comment to add helpful hints so I can develop. ....

The Great Anguish
Romans 9:1-5

Have you ever said or done something extreme or over the top for someone you love?

 Ever made the statement “I’d do anything” maybe to see something change or to express something important.
 In finding Nemo Marlin does just that for Nemo.  Marlin would rather be in the safety of his home but his love and desire to not lose his son drives him to explore the big ocean and do some pretty extreme things to save his son and bring him back home safely.

I think Paul is expressing the same passion as Marlin the clown fish in this passage.
 He would do anything,
even being cut off and cursed if it meant that his people the Jewish people understood Christ. 

You see the Jewish people – the Israelites were God’s chosen people, but they still lived with the laws and under the special conditions of being God’s chosen people. Paul was a Jewish man but had come to understand Christ as the Messiah and was spreading the gospel among the Gentiles.  The Jewish people didn’t understand how they could be God’s chosen people and the gentiles would be still okay in faith, because the gentiles didn’t fit in the customs and laws of the Jewish people. 

Paul said he would do anything if it meant that the Jewish people would understand that all were equal and nothing could separate them all from the love of Christ. 

Where have you felt great sorrow and unceasing anguish in your heart?

 For me I have a great sense of pain when I meet with students at school and hear their heartbreaking stories and know they need Jesus but know I’m not allowed to share the gospel in a public school.

 Pauls anguish was because he understands Jesus as Messiah and yet his people the Jewish people did not. 

Today's passage from Romans comes after we have been hearing in the first 8 chapters about the hope and gloriousness of God because nothing can separate us from Christ.
Then comes Chapter 9.
And it’s a tricky one.
 Because alone verses 1-5 aren’t the climax of this story but really the introduction of this tension.   It is in these verses we are reminded that things aren’t right with the Jews. 


Paul needs to wrestle with the tension of this realisation.
He has a great love for the people of Israel. But he also understands the importance of spreading the gospel and understands the Christ the Messiah is for everyone not just God’s chosen people.

I would do anything for the students at school if it meant they came to understand their worth and the hope they can have in Christ. 

Marlin was willing to go into the depths of the ocean to get his son Nemo back

Paul felt the same about the people of Israel.

What are you willing to do for the sake of the people you connect with?


How far will you go to share the gospel? 

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