Romans 11:11-18 The Cancel culture
11 So I ask, Have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their false step and transgression salvation [has come] to the Gentiles, so as to arouse Israel and so to make them jealous.
People went along with Cancel culture for years. There is no way that Bill Maher went to various parties without being complicit. Yet when they see the boomerang hitting others it wakes them up. They thought they were a champion for free speech and independent thought but one day they realize they are blind and bending the back for robbers. This process is fully described in the book “The Help”. A few women were abusive racists, lying and slandering others. Most just went along to get along not wanting to be shunned from “polite society”. A few people were outcasts and they could thumb their nose at “polite society”. The blacks were “the help” and they got an inside view of all of this. Yes, the homes were nicer for the “polite society” but the friends, the neighbors, the society, even the food was better for the blacks.
12 Now if their stumbling has so enriched the world, and if failure means such riches for the Gentiles, think what an enrichment and greater advantage will follow their full reinstatement!
This is the point of the chapter, they went down a path that leads to hell. When they get reinstated they also will provide us with an inside look at hell, like spies. The Bible says we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices. Why is that? Because each of us has been a victim of some of these devices. Look at those who are fighting for election integrity. They were slandered, did that bother them? No, they expected that. In fact they laugh as they see the Democrats meltdown, they know this is the expression of a guilty person who has been caught.
13 But now I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I lay great stress on my ministry and magnify my office, 14 In the hope of making my fellow Jews jealous, and thus managing to save some of them.
There is more than one way to skin a cat. Paul knew that having a vibrant ministry that is bringing in a change to the world would stir someone like himself to jealousy. Why was he so zealous to ride around the country locking up Christians, was he jealous? If so that jealousy was instrumental in his salvation. I was trained in lifesaving (to be a lifeguard). If a person is drowning very often they are fighting and thrashing about. You can use that to save them. You get close enough that they try and lunge at you and then you keep backing up. If you do that they may just swim into shore without you even touching them. Think about what a great lesson this is, two thousand years ago the Jews were the "polite society" and the Christians were the deplorable outcasts. However, we are looking at a reversal of fortunes now at the end of the age. Likewise AntiChrist's kingdom will threaten Evangelicals, receive their kingdom or be outcasts. My feeling is if they want to kick you out of their society then go, you will have better results preaching the gospel elsewhere.
15 For if their rejection and exclusion from the benefits of salvation were [overruled] for the reconciliation of a world to God, what will their acceptance and admission mean? life from the dead!
Wow, this is the flip side of “cancel culture”. If you cancel the Lord and His people what you have actually done is to reject and exclude yourself from the benefits of salvation. When I read the book “The Help” I see two different groups, one is toxic and the other is loving. The toxic group by excluding the others has wound up excluding themselves.
16 Now if the first handful of dough offered as the firstfruits [Abraham and the patriarchs] is consecrated, so is the whole mass [the nation of Israel]; and if the root [Abraham] is consecrated, so are the branches.
This idea that all whites are racist because of what some whites did in the past is false. The book the Help was based on Jackson Ms in the 1950s. I was there in Jackson in the 1950s (just a baby). That doesn’t make me “toxic”. I have patriarchs that are holy, my uncle had his house bombed by the KKK because he was operating a charity to help black churches that had been bombed. There is a toxic culture, a toxic teaching, but it isn’t from the patriarchs in the Bible. You have a choice, identify with Jesus, and the apostles, or else identify with fallen man. The teaching of the apostles is a handful of dough that is holy. If that is the bread you are eating then you also will be holy. The word of God is the root of God’s people, if you are attached to that root then you also will be holy.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, while you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share the richness [of the root and sap] of the olive tree, 18 Do not boast over the branches and pride yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root you.
This pride and feeling superior is the first step towards self righteousness. This is what the Lord meant when He said that the church in Ephesus had left their first love. To be broken off from the tree is what the Lord meant when He said that if you don’t repent He will take away your lampstand.