Romans 11-13

So, never fear for the Jews......God is not done with them yet.  This is all part of a divine plan.   God knew exactly how the Jews would receive him, and he made the refusal such that the Gentiles (us) could get adopted into the family.  God did not harden the Jews..they hardened themselves by refusal to believe and God turned them over to their desires.   Chapter 11:23 says that if they do not persist in unbelief they will be grafted in....and in verse 25  "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in...apparently we still have more Gentiles that need to get into the family.  Are you doing your part to invite them in?

Paul now moves from theology to how to behave...

We are to be living sacrifices...because of God's grace we are to act like we have it.....we represent Christ to the world so let's not give the world a bad idea of what Christ is.

We are to love....sincerely love.....we should be willing to associate with people of low position.  The Greek word for "low position" is tapeinos-this is common, ordinary, everyday people, not the poor.

We are to submit to authority.  Respect the leaders of the church, your workplace and your country.   Now we do not have to allow that authority to make us disobey God....we must obey the law of love.  We are told that this is the most important of all the commandments....love God first, and love everyone else second.   We can take care of ourselves.  We do not have to be doormats as Christians.  There are unhealthy relationships out there and we do have to be careful.  God wants us to use our common sense.  We are to make a deliberate choice to move from darkness to the light.  What does this mean to you?