“It is not as though the word of God had failed”
Recently, we have heard in the news a quite extreme example of a person with a blinkered sort of view of the world—namely, the man in Norway who was responsible for some seventy-seven deaths of his fellow Norwegians.
It’s not a situation we can easily identify with.  But, perhaps, we can understand that, on our own, we can be off on a tangent somewhere, unless there are other people, for example, who help us to come to a broader understanding of certain issues.  This man seemed to stay on his own, and, as a result, suffered from that very narrow view of the world.
Well, the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, develops a whole exposition of what the Christian faith is about.   “All fall short of the glory of God...” but, through faith in Christ, we are justified, or made right with God.  We are even included, by adoption, in God’s family, and given of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to pray “Abba, Father”.  The apostle Paul makes statements such as—that, if we are given of the Spirit, it shows us that we are heirs, heirs of God, fellow-heirs with Christ, provided we also suffer with him, in order that we may be glorified with him.  He also makes statements such as—“Those whom God predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified.”  And then, as a sort of climax to the passage, Romans 1-8, Romans 8 ends with words which are familiar to many if not all of us.  Those who attend Christian funerals will have heard these words several times.  They are as follows:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That is the climactic statement of the whole eight chapters of Romans.
Of course, Paul’s letter to the Romans continues.  And one would expect that the continuation of Romans would say something equally positive, and build on that positive statement, concerning the love of God in Christ from which nothing can separate us.  But what we hear at the beginning of chapter nine may come as a bit of a surprise, and, no doubt, it came as a surprise to those who first read or heard the letter:
I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit--I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  [And he is going to be speaking about his own people, the Jewish people...  Now remember his earlier statement that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus:]  For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my brothers my kindred according to the flesh.
And he goes on to say that these kindred, these fellow Jews, have been those who are inheritors of the promises, the glory of God, the covenants, the law, the worship—all of this.  Many of those words, or realities, Paul mentions in chapter eight, as being directed to those who respond to God’s justification of us through faith in Jesus Christ.  [At this point in the sermon, the recorder stopped recording.  What follows is a reconstruction of the sermon.]  So the apostle is faced with a perplexing and distressing reality—the Jews, the ancient people of God, who are the natural inheritors of the reality of the gospel—have turned their backs on the Messiah, Jesus.
Faced with this, Paul makes a statement which he already knows is artificial and will not come about—
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people,my brothers my kindred according to the flesh.
He knows, in fact, that Jesus himself has already borne the curse for all by suffering on the cross, and so opens to everyone the promise of God made to Abraham, that through his descendant(s), all the world would be blessed.  However, Paul makes the statement anyway, as part of his emotional response to the distressing reality of the Jews’ rejection of Jesus.
It’s not something that is totally foreign to us, either.  When we find ourselves grieving or distressed, we try to do something or say something to free ourselves from situations.  What is important, however, is that such statements be made before God, so that God may respond to us, and not leave us merely in distress or in the narrowness inherent in our own limited viewpoint.
A situation with some parallels to Paul’s can be found in Jesus’ experience in Gethsemane, just before he was arrested and then crucified (followed then by the resurrection).   We are told something of Jesus’ state of mind.  According to Matthew 26:37-39.
[...He}began to be grieved and agitated.  Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.”  And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.”
This is the first of Jesus’ three prayers in Gethsemane.  There are some commentators who view this passage from Matthew and Mark as the one which most fully shows us the humanity of Jesus.  What we observe is that Jesus, who knows something of the “cup” he is to have to drink, prays that, if possible, the cup be removed from him.
Although the situations of Paul and Jesus are certainly not our own, we may identify with the emotional content of their statements or prayers.  We, too, may find ourselves in situations of conflict where we make our feelings known to God, whatever those feelings may be.
This is not the whole of the matter, however.  We read, in the remainder of Romans 9-11, that Paul, as though by inspiration, found a wider picture of what was God’s plan for the world, which took account of the initial failure of many of the Jews to respond to their Messiah.  Paul noted that his own ministry was not called into question.  God had indeed called him, and made him an apostle to the Gentiles, so that, “If anyone confessed with their lips that Jesus was Lord, and believed in their heart that God raised him from the dead, they would be saved.”  Furthermore, Paul recognized that the (temporary) breaking off of the Jews from the vine which is God’s people, meant that many non-Jews could be grafted in.  But, for Paul, that situation still awaited the time when the re-grafting of the Jews into the vine would signal the fulfilment of God’s purposes for the world.  By bringing his concern to God about the rejection by the Jews of Jesus, it appears that God has enlightened Paul on his wider purpose and longer-term purpose for humanity, including the Jews.
 We can consider Jesus’ second prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane as well.  Remember that his first prayer was, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.”  The second prayer is as follows, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  What appears is that the Father has responded to Jesus’ first prayer, with the result that Jesus is now more fully accepting of the “cup” he is to drink.
Can we recognize ourselves in this?  Apparently, the apostle Paul had another request to make to God, as presented to us in his second letter to the Corinthians,
... A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.  Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you...
This may be the answer we receive when we present to God our own vexing situations or inner conflicts, “My grace is sufficient for you...”  In any case, God does respond to the concerns we bring to God, with the result that we can handle them with greater peace.
One last matter I would like to speak of concerns the outcome of this.
When the apostle Paul resumed his train of thought in Romans 12, he actually incorporates a number of the insights he received from God on this vexing question of his own ministry and the fact of the large-scale rejection by Jews of their Messiah.  He encourages people, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  This had, seemingly applied to him himself.  His reflections on his ministry in connection with the distressing situation of the Jews’ rejection of Jesus, meant a renewal of the mind for him. 
Further on, he urges people “not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”  Wasn’t this what happened to him?  Hadn’t his wrestling with the issue of the Jews in relation to Jesus made him more humble, although still affirming of his own ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles?
Towards the end of the letter to the Romans, Paul addresses two distinct groups within the church in Rome.  They are the “Jewish Christians”, people who, although Christians, still observed the Sabbath and upheld dietary restrictions.  The other group were non-Jewish Christians, for whom faith in Christ was primary.  Sabbath observance and a kosher diet didn’t mean much to them.  There was a potential for conflict between these two groups.  But Paul counselled the people to recognize that each group, with their particular sensibilities could live out of the reality of faith in Christ, and not compromise that.
That approach, on the part of Paul, seems to have developed over time.  In his letter to the Galatians, which is thought to have been written earlier than his letter to the Romans, Paul is very harsh on people whom he calls “Judaizers”, people who observe sabbath days, new moon festivals, and other Jewish feast days.  As a result of living, reflectively and prayerfully, with the ongoing problem of the rejection of Jesus by many Jews of his day, Paul’s earlier harshness had given way to a more accepting, tolerant and compassionate approach.
Look at Jesus, too.  When he came to Gethsemane, he was grieved and agitated, we are told.  But, when he left Gethsemane, having received the response to his prayer from the Father, he left with a steadfastness which allowed him to face what was to come to him—his arrest, “trial”, crucifixion—and fulfil the work God has set for him.
This just shows that, as we bring our concerns to God, and receive God’s response to us, that we ourselves may be changed in the process, and become more patient and compassionate people, less inclined to rash and judgemental actions.
Jesus, in Gethsemane, counselled his disciples, Peter, James and John, to “watch with me, so that you may not enter into temptation”.  Well, when we bring what troubles us to God, and receive God’s response, whatever it may be, then we are “watching with Jesus”.  Moreover, when we do “watch with Jesus”, we will not be led into temptation, but, by God’s grace, can be source of encouragement to others, as we become more humble and understanding of others.