Introduction:
There are some things that words cannot describe. Many of these things we attempt to describe and our words fail to do it justice. God is one such thing. How can you accurately describe God? Apparently, Paul felt that the best way to describe God was by worship. In the closing verses of chapter 11, Paul pens the greatest doxology in the pages of Scripture. I think we should pause for a few moments to understand the word doxology as it has been thrown around the church for centuries. The word doxology comes from two Greek terms: doxa which is glory and logia which is saying. A doxology is a short hymn of praise to God in various Christian worship services, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition has its roots in ancient Jewish synagogue worship where similar methods were used to bring to an end each section of the service. Here Paul closes this important section of Romans with powerful words of praise. These words help the reader gain three important insights about God. Our goal is to bring this series to close by learning some important lessons about God.
I. God’s mercy is indescribable.
A. God extends mercy when it is not deserved.
1. Verse 30 basically provides us with a summary all that Paul has covered in chapter 11.
2. The Gentiles did not know God nor were they obedient to Him. They were considered to be unclean and defiled.
3. There was nothing that the Gentiles did or could do to merit receiving God’s mercy.
4. Due to the fact that God’s chosen people made the choice to reject God’s mercy, God made the choice to extend it to the Gentiles.
5. There is no room for pride and arrogance, God freely extended His mercy to people that did not deserve it.
B. God’s mercy prevents Him from writing anyone off.
1. From Paul’s words in regard to his own people, we learn that God never writes anyone off.
2. The very fact that there have been Jews come to faith in Christ shows that God will provide opportunity after opportunity for people to accept His mercy and salvation.
3. Paul shows that Jews by their disobedience have put themselves into the same boat as the Gentiles being undeserving of God’s mercy.
4. God could have wrote the Jews off for rejecting His promises and will but His mercy caused Him to provide them with every opportunity to return to Him.
C. God’s mercy is offered to everyone.
1. Paul has showed us in the book so far that the Law only has the power to condemn us and to put us at odds with God.
2. The Law has literally caused us to be imprisoned by our disobedience facing an eternity separated from God.
3. The great question is, why would God choose to put something into effect that would condemn us?
4. The answer Paul gives is for both Jew and Gentile that in His love God would be able to extend His grace and mercy to all.
5. This does not imply universal salvation but it does state that God will give everyone the opportunity to accept His grace and mercy through Jesus Christ.
II. God’s mind is infinite.
A. God’s wisdom and knowledge is beyond measurement.
1. In verse 33, Paul literally bursts out in song with this powerful hymn praising God.
2. Man simply does not have the capability to fully understand God, God’s ways and thoughts are beyond our comprehension.
3. 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9—NIV 2011)
4. We will never understand God’s wisdom and knowledge but on a regular basis He imparts some of it in our lives through the Holy Spirit and His Word.
5. The wisdom and knowledge that God allows us to gain impacts our lives on a daily basis.
B. Paul speaks of God’s mind by asking three questions that are not intended to be answered.
1. These three questions are actually based on Old Testament texts in Isaiah and Job.
2. The first question is: “For who has known the mind of the Lord?”
3. The problem is that it is impossible to know another’s mind but it is possible to know how a person thinks but no one has access to God’s thoughts although occasionally He reveals them.
4. The second question is: “Who became His counselor?”
5. No human being ever has or ever will be involved in giving God advice or making suggestions to Him.
6. The Greek implies that no one is able to do anything that would make God indebted to them.
7. The final question is: “Who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?”
8. The Greek here implies that no one could give a gift to God that would merit him returning the favor.
9. This would apply to the subject of salvation, God gives us a gift of such worth that there is no possible way that it can be repaid.
10. This series of questions is simply designed to allow the reader to reach the conclusion that God is so far beyond us in every area leaving us no room to question or criticize Him.
III. God’s glory is incomparable.
A. All things have their beginning in God.
1. God is the Creator of all, everything has its beginning in Him, and so He is free to use everything for His purpose and glory.
2. So when we are in rebellion against God we are actually rebelling against the source our life and being.
3. As Paul’s heart worships He establishes the fact that God is set apart from His creation, so it is not nature we worship but the creator of nature and mankind we worship.
4. There is nothing that happens that surprises God, and every aspect of nature is directly under His control.
5. God is all powerful but what is even more amazing is that He cares for each of us personally. No person or power can compare to God.
B. All glory belongs to and is due God.
1. Paul brings everything to a climax as He proclaims that because there is nothing that compares to God that all glory is His forever.
2. The glory of God has no end and as we view the wonders of His creation we realize that His glory and majesty is on display for everyone to see.
3. To give Him all glory we are not adding to His nature, we are simply acknowledging the fact that He is glorious and we are calling on others to do the same.
4. When we realize that God’s plan all along has been to bring rebellious humanity back to Him, those of us who have been saved by grace can do nothing more than give Him the praise and glory.
5. True worship has its roots in our response to all that God is and all that He has done for us.
Closing:
A story persists in the cyber world of chain emails and Facebook "shares" of a famous violinist who played--virtually unnoticed--to thousands of passersby in a crowded D.C. subway station. The story, as it circulates, goes like this: A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till without stopping. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother dragged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell had played to a sold out crowd in Boston where the seats averaged $100. Sounds like the stuff of great urban legends, right? Well, this is no legend; it is, indeed, truth! On the morning of January 12, 2007, violin virtuoso Joshua Bell took a cab the three blocks from his hotel and set up shop, so to speak, on the landing of the L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station in Washington, D.C. The rest is both social science and literary history--journalist Gene Weingarten, who chronicled the experiment for the Washington Post actually won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on the article. Weingarten reported that the violinist himself, usually accustomed to the highest of praise and applause for his efforts, admitted that this little social experiment, to which he readily agreed, was not all together comfortable for him: THERE ARE SIX MOMENTS IN THE VIDEO THAT BELL FINDS PARTICULARLY PAINFUL TO RELIVE: "The awkward times," he calls them. It's what happens right after each piece ends: Nothing. The music stops. The same people who hadn't noticed him playing don't notice that he has finished. No applause, no acknowledgment. So Bell just saws out a small, nervous chord -- the embarrassed musician's equivalent of, "Er, okay, moving right along . . ." -- and begins the next piece. How easy it is to miss greatness!
