Romans 11

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0:00 For us, I want to think about the official reading today. It's Trinity Sunday today, which is mainly a God of Congress seat to briefly last week, somebody where we were talking about, maybe it's also a Congress meeting in the street, let's add a little bit where we were talking about how theologies get iterated and spoken.

0:34 And of course, mentioning and if it's interesting to you to have a follow-up conversation, that the way that we understand the God of creation and life, the God of Abraham, that we could take up the God of Christ in the church, the way that we speak out the truths that we know about it, the language around that arises in context and over time. It's not completely static.

1:06 There are things that we know to be true that have always been true about God, that surface in the story of Scripture. The way that we understand and apply those truths that are clear in Scripture, that never change the way that we understand and apply those, the language around that application has arises in context, as relative to other things that are existing. The reason I bring that now is because we talk about this is the Sunday

1:37 when the church recognizes the Trinity, and if you were to read through each of the texts in the lecture, you'd see it really about giving honor, praise, glory, attention to the time you've even got. Now that's been a scene throughout the story of Scripture, but the notion of the Trinity, of course, didn't really codify until the 19th Creed, like more than 200 years after the death resurrection and the sense of Jesus. After the Scriptures were set, right,

2:10 did he come up with the clear doctrine of the Trinity, meaning three persons, one after? The church debated for a long time. Now we've bolted that truth as a core tenant of the faith, but we didn't need to iterate the tenetarian theology until there arose in context, notions about God that contradicted what we needed to be true, that there was only one God that acted in three persons. When people started to think maybe there were three guys that perked, terrified, and since there was an action.

2:44 In the same way, like the glory of the church marked Luther's realization about that you get the righteousness of Christ all at one time, this comes in the context of the church that had started to develop notions about penance and territory that ran contradictory to the work of Christ on the cross. And so we had never iterated the glory of the church like Luther did until that moment that he didn't need to. So it's where I'm saying that theology is an evolving thing around core tenants that are revealed in the story of Scripture,

3:16 but the language of theology arises from the church as we have need. So it's not that it's ever changing in the sense that it's undependable or we dismiss the tradition, but we are always building a problem with the tradition. So for me to have lineage as one of our core principles, because we are taking the story that we are a part of that is animating our people for generations and applying those truths to our lives in a dynamic way.

3:49 If we just took set doctrines that were relevant at 60s at the time of Paul or even 60s at the time of Carl Barten, in the 1960s, we might separate from our experience of life in a way that has become less accessible or even less helpful, less vibrant and eventually possible way. It comes as ritualized acts rather than the relationship with the guy that they were having at the stage.

4:21 So we would be okay with a dynamic phase on theology and language. That could go a lot of ways. So I'll just drop that on you and if you want to talk more about it, it's the fun thing to talk about. But for today, let's look at the official readings, which is in Romans chapter 11, next to one where they look at the new Testament, Romans chapter 11. And the verses that the left area signs for us is Romans chapter 11 verses 33 through 36, three little verses here.

5:01 And there is a question on the table kind of in the first century, and there as the Church of the Israelites has this movement emerging out of it. Remember originally, like in the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, after Jesus was a sentence, Pentecost the Spirit is released. People begin to encounter the fruit of the Spirit in new ways.

5:35 They have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in new ways. So they have a capacity in different sorts of people, and they realize that this comes out of the brain, under the brain and the story of Jesus. And so there's this new movement that comes out of the Israelite church. And at the beginning, it's just called followers of the way. And if they were to say it longer, they would say the way of Jesus. The idea, the term Christian developed in Antioch when they were trying to describe what who is a person who is a follower of the way.

6:10 And it's a little cry to a person like the Christ, a Christian. But it's this dynamic movement of trying the teachings of Jesus and beginning to form some sets of applications of what we know to be true about the God of Abraham, and the God of Abraham, and the Jacob, the goddess of creation and life in letters that Paul writes. He's walking around and one of the big questions is, are Israelites or Jewish devotees, do they need something different in order to become Christian?

6:49 Can they continue to be Jewish and be Christian? It's a big debate, right? This is Paul and some of the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem have some disagreements around this, and they end up with some serious questions. And in Romans 11, as Paul writes this letter to the Church in Rome that precedes his coming, he addresses it in most of chapter 11.

7:19 And at the end of explaining a kind of challenging way of thinking about the historic Church of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and its relationship to Christ and the life eternal that his death and resurrection by us, he has this brief little statement about the God in Romans 11, verse 33 through 36. It comes in the context of that difficult conversation about Israel, verse 33, he says,

7:50 Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God at the Holy Spirit. How unsearchable are his judgments, how inscrutable his ways, or who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been the cestra, or who has given a gift to him that he might be prepared, verse 36, or from him and through him and to him are all from him. Can be the glory of the Lord in that.

8:23 I thought surely that last little section there, that last verse 36, must have been a quote from some. It's too beautiful. From him, for from him and through him and to him are all from him. Because him be glory for all that are on there. I don't think it is. I couldn't find it at the close. I mean, I think we're going to find Paul in top level genius. I mean, like as smart as it comes, I don't know what the group would be if you had Paul and Shakespeare and Aquinas, maybe.

9:03 Like, seriously, a top line in all of humanity. He writes this stuff that endures with us forever, but also beautiful for from him and through him and through him are all things. To him be glory for ever. I love it. Let's work our way down to where, how he looks to that. Verse 33, he's talking about this like difficult thing that is in the mind of God and it might be hard for us to understand. And after he concludes that conversation, he says,

9:33 Oh, the death of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. And just for a minute, let's think about each of those things, oh, the death of the riches of God. In some places, you know, it talks about God as teaching humanity and says, What do you have that I need? But just think about it for a minute. The story tell us, and this is core, that our God, the Abraham, Isaac, and the God of Christ in the Church is the creator of all things.

10:05 And he makes all things out of nothing. God spins universes into existence out of his own except somewhere out of his own storehouse, that he has no record, recollection, or understanding of. He spins a universe into existence. He doesn't need our light. He just starts a new mobile. He doesn't need your money. He has all the fields with all the food. He's got all the cattle on a thousand hills.

10:37 He doesn't need your water. He has four houses that tower the water cycle. God needs nothing from you. And his mind affects all things in all three nations, emerge from the God, and finally return to the God as his own. Anything you have you doers. You can add nothing to the riches of the God. He has all things. This is our God. The God who holds, retains, creates, restores, redeems, and finally re-frames all things.

11:17 This is our God. All victory. God's creation of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the death of the riches and wisdom. I was thinking about wisdom. I don't know if this is the right definition. Mike, but it's my definition. Application of knowledge. I thought Paul is saying this is a genius fall. In saying, when he says,

11:49 Oh, the death of the riches and the wisdom and explanation, Oh, the death of the wisdom that this God knows what he's doing for having said. This God has deep application of intellect and wisdom. One of my favorite little things is that he starts out at the very beginning of this life. Let's get this creation rolling. Let there be light.

12:20 Boom. And we have learned a lot of things about the nation. Laws of thermodynamics, expansion, retention of energy. We've figured out how the speed at which life travels. We've figured out how to manipulate life. But we can't even classify life. It moves through things and it doesn't need things to move through. It works like a wave and a particle. We don't even know what light is at the very beginning. God in great wisdom and application of it with the system.

12:53 Make blood. He knows what he's doing. When humanity, when after creating all things out of nothing and humanity as the craft of creation, giving them to nations and inviting them to basically be people that the image bears of God in the world and bears refusal to settle a humanity in intention to inspire to be a God themselves. As we messed it all up, God was not caught off by it,

13:24 but in his infinite application of knowledge divides the way to recreate humanity in the process of death. That you can have life and death in you at the same time through the personal conflict. God imagined a salvation claim within it, just that no one else could pull up it. That somehow an incarnated God could recreate and bring to end

13:56 humanity at the same moment, put to death and bring to life. That power God knows what he's doing, Paul fans. Deep wisdom. And all knowledge. He just knows, man. I try to give an example of God knowing. This is a weird and maybe only creature thing that pops in my head when I'm like, let's say example, God knows.

14:27 And I thought of young Samuel. Just not what other words. But like, he's like this kid who's like, his mom gives him to the church, but also he just kind of turns him over to this old guy Eli, who's living in the tavern in the

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