Matthew 6:31–34 (ESV)
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Query 7
Do you try to observe simplicity in your manner of living?
Do you frequently inspect your affairs and settle your accounts?
Are you careful to live within your income and avoid involving yourselves in business beyond your ability to manage?
Are you just in your dealings, punctual to your promises, prompt in the payment of your debts, and free from defrauding the public revenue?
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
August 2, 2026
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For the Sake of my Brothers
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Romans 9:1–5 (ESV)
This week I looked at this passage with dread. I looked at it with dread because there is so much packed within the words. So much history, theology, misunderstanding, and division.
You might not notice it at first, but one could make an argument that Paul in this section is being anti-Semitic. I know that you might scoff at this because he is saying he would rather be cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his own people. How can that be considered anti-Semitic?
This has been the largest struggle of the past few generations. Since the second world war we have had to deal with a very serious problem, a problem that has multiple faces and understandings. What do we do with, or how do we regard Israel?
Paul begins by saying, “I am speaking the truth in Christ – I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit – that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.”
To begin we need to look at the context. When speaking of context it is important to look at all things involved. In literature, we learned that context involves looking at the words prior and after the section we are considering. But context involves more. Context includes culture, history, the weather, social status and much more. Every year we are gaining more information, and all of this adds to the contextual understanding of a passage. One of the things that annoys me most when discussing scripture is when people say, “the plain reading of the passage.” It annoys me because the plain reading is not as plain as we might think it is. The plain reading leaves out the context, and when we leave out the context we are allowing our context today, to dictate what we read.
We cannot get out of this trap. We accuse some denominations of doing this as we consider aspect of what has been called the culture war, but we do not see that we do it ourselves. We do it to such a degree that often we no longer know what scripture actually says because we have filtered it through our cultural lenses. And when ever someone attempts to teach us something using a different contextual perspective, we label them as being woke or liberal.
Paul says, “I am speaking the truth in Christ – I am not lying.” The context. Paul is writing this letter to a population of believers that has never set foot in Roman Palestine, or Judea. He is writing this letter to a people that only knows the gospel through a philosophical perspective. They are aware of the Old Testament writings, but to them those writings hold just a little more power than the writings of Homer. They are stories of a far off people in an almost alien culture.
Yet they regard these writings with respect. And it is right that they do. Paul would later write to one of his apprentices, that all scripture is God breathed. When he wrote those words he is not considering his own writings as being the inspired word of God, but he is speaking of the writings found within the law and the prophets. The writings within the Old Testament are important. They are the historic testimony of God’s interaction with humanity from the beginning of time until this day. We should hold them with great respect.
The problem though is that we are just as naive about those scriptures as the ancient Romans were. We do not understand the context, because their culture is different from our own. We look at the law as rules we should not break because we approach scripture from a western worldview. This is not completely wrong, but it is not completely correct either. There are aspects of the western ideals within the teachings of scripture, but that is what it is, teaching not legislation. They are words to prompt reflection and interaction. Or from a Friendly persuasion a Query.
Paul is aware of both the eastern and western takes on things. He will make statements that resemble the teachings of Greek philosophers alongside of the teachings of Moses. He does, not because the writings of Plato are scripture, but because that is the mental structures the people he writes to are looking at their world from.
He states, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulations, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure 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.” (Romans 8:31-39)
This is the literary context. Nothing will separate us from God, Paul says. He says this, and he goes on to say I am speaking the truth – I am not lying. But then he says that he has great sorrow and unceasing anguish. He wishes that he were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his brothers.
Who is the elect?
Theology, division, misunderstanding meet. If we look at the teachings of the Old Testament, we would believe that Israel is elect. Rightfully so, because God says in Deuteronomy that Israel is his inheritance as he divides the nations of the earth among the Sons of God. But what does that mean? Does the election of Israel mean that only Israel is saved? That only those bound genetically to the line of Abraham have any hope to salvation? Paul goes on to quote from Malachi 1:2-3, “’I have loved you.’ says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’ ‘Is not Esau, Jacob’s brother?’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated.’” Jacob the younger son, gained the blessing and inheritance from his father Isaac, and Esau the land of Edom became a wasteland, yet both were children of Abraham. Both should have been children of the promise.
One is elect and the other is not. The people of Judah, the decedents of the tribe that brought us David, should be among the most elect. Yet Paul says he would give everything up, that he would be accursed and cutoff from Christ if only that would be true. He wished that it would be true. His greatest desire is that Israel would be saved.
Israel were selected out of every nation of the earth to be the people of God. They were the ones who received the promise and the teachings or law of God. They were given the priesthood, and the proper liturgy of worship. They knew how to worship God. It was to and through them that Christ came. Yet Paul does not include his own people among the elect, and it breaks his heart.
They had the knowledge. They have the scriptures. They have the promise, the history, the traditions. Yet, their heritage does not save them. Nor will ours.
Who is the elect?
This goes deeply into the theological debates raging within the church since its formation. The debate separates us into different camps, largely among Protestants we have the Calvinists and Arminianism. For those that hold to the Calvinist perspective God has chosen, and predestined the elect from the dawn of creation, who will be saved and who will be damned to the lake of fire. We have no say, we have no option. You are in or out, and nothing you do can change it. Those within this camp will quote the words of Paul, using Romans 8 as their proof text that nothing can separate the elect from the love of God. It seems pretty clear, why would anyone oppose this? Well some are not elect, that means that God chose from the dawn of creation some to be saved, but he also chose some to be cursed.
This has led us to some very problematic actions. It has allowed injustice to be accepted as fate. Those born into slavery were destined to be slaves. Those born poor were destined to be poor. Those that have wealth and power it was by divine right that they have that power. It is God’s ultimate plan.
Where are you in that plan? Nothing you do, nothing you say, nothing you possess changes anything. You are either elect or cursed. Should we have supported the abolition of slavery? Should we have opposed Jim Crow? Should we have gotten involved in World War 2? Should we care about Ukraine, or the conflicts within Africa?
Then there is the other side. Arminianism. This is the theological idea focuses on human free will, or conditional election. This theological idea emerged around the same time as when the Religious Society of Friends emerged, and greatly influences our understanding of salvation. We tend to like this theological ideology a bit more because it does give us freedom because we get to participate with God. It is this theological idea that promoted social justice as well as the rise of Evangelicalism. We have a part to play. The problem is what do we do with the discussion of election within scripture?
The theological arguments are all lacking to some degree, because for every verse we use to prove our position, we can find one or two that support the other position. Which brings us back to what election means?
What if election has nothing at all to do with salvation, but instead honor? If we consider this humanity as a whole is elect because we became the most honored of creation as we were the beings created in the image of God. Personally this makes a great deal of sense to me. Because we have the honor of being the image bearers of God, we have the opportunity and privilege to reflect the image of God to creation.
This aspect of election, I feel, is often neglected. It almost negates the whole message of the Gospel if we do not recognize how we were created. It completely nullifies the entirety of scripture as a whole. If humanity were not elect or honored over all creation, why would God need to choose Israel? Why would Israel need a land of promise? Why would they require David to become king, and the messiah to be born of the linage of David? What is the necessity of Jesus?
I have come to this conclusion because the promise given to Abraham was that his descendants would become a light to the nations. God always intended to bring fallen humanity back to him. God’s greatest desire was to restore humanity back to Eden.
Unfortunately this restoration takes time. I want us to consider for a moment the temptations that Jesus faced in the wilderness. The first was to turn a stone into bread. Jesus had the power to do this. He had the power to feed over five thousand people through a simple prayer over a small boy’s lunch. Yet Jesus told the accuser, “man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God.” We do not often look deeply at these temptations. But these three temptations truly encapsulate every temptation we face.
The first is fulfilling our immediate needs. What are you willing to do to get what you need to survive? The adage is everyone who is hungry is a thief. The accuser then takes Jesus to the pinnacle of temple and urges him to jump, because scripture says that God will send angels to protect him from harm. Jesus responds to this by saying that we should not test God. Yet we do test God. It is almost our very nature to push the limits of those in authority over us. Children almost have a hereditary knowledge of just how far they can push their parents before punishment. And this is the annoyance that is the wrath of God. We test we push, we try to see just how far we can go before something bad will happen.
The third temptation we may not fully understand. Jesus is shown all the kingdoms of the world. This temptation is the fulfillment of our ultimate dream. God’s greatest desire was to bring all the nations back to Him, and the accuser said I will give you your greatest dream if you only worship me. What will you do to gain the entire world?
Each of us face these temptations every single day we live. We want the promotion, so we pad the books to our favor. I once worked with an extremely devout man. He was one of the people that was at the church every time the church doors were unlocked. He could quote scripture for any situation, and he was of the piety that believed the best and only version of scripture was the authorized version. This man annoyed me, but at the time I could not say anything against him. We both worked in the rental car business, and he was always better than me in sales. It does not make sense because when I looked at him doing the work it did not seem like he did any better than me. But we were both up for a promotion. They were opening a new branch and needed a branch manager, the two final candidates were me and him. As far as I knew he had the job, because his numbers were better. But they began to look at the numbers close. This righteous man, this devout man, wanted the promotion so much that he offered to enter the paper written contracts for others and took personal credit for their sales. He committed fraud to get what he wanted.
This is what the temptations represent. We as humanity left the garden because we wanted to determine good and evil for ourselves. But how do we determine what is good and what is evil? We base it on ourselves. What is best for me. All cultures are built on this concept, every kingdom and every nation. What is best for me or my kind? How has this worked?
Even the elect Israel, fell into this worldly trap. Even Israel the chosen people, who received the teachings directly from God, turned their backs on those teachings and decided to determine good and evil based on their own understanding. Yet this was never how God wanted things to work.
We were elect, honored, and we turned away. But God so loved the world that he gave his one unique son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have life. The election and the honor has always been based on God, whose image we bear. Jesus is the most honored because he embodies every form of election, every promise God made to humanity. And he is God with us. Nothing can separate us from that love. God did all of that while we were still at odds with him. God did it while we were still making every attempt at making our own way. Humanity cannot be separated from that love.
And yet Paul says that he is grieved. That he would rather be cursed and completely separated from God for the sake of his brothers. God has love for humanity, but Jesus did not think equality with God was something that could be grasped. Usually we think of that verse as meaning something that can be understood. That of course, is not completely incorrect, but it is not full either. To grasp something also means to take. And in reference to that verse in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, the term grasp means to steal. Again this is the third temptation. Paul is grieved because he wants his own brothers to understand, to be included among the elect because it was to them God gave the honor of the patriarchs, the law, and the promise. But Jesus, the incarnate man, is the elect, not a nation.
Each person, no matter who they are or where they come from must come to Jesus. It cannot be forced, it cannot be taken. Instead, it must be a willful submission, like the relationship between a husband and a wife. A mutual existence where each one dies to themselves so that they can become a blessing to the other.
This is God’s plan, that each of us will recognize the honor we have to bear his image to the world. That we would willingly join with him in the life and lifestyle he established at the very beginning of time. He wants us to fulfill the teaching he gave to our first parents, to go into all the world and to be fruitful and multiply. This does not mean that we are commanded to have a bunch of children, but instead we are to plant seeds of the garden, His garden everywhere we go.
We are called to bear his image to creation. And this begins with submission to him, and to each other. Which is at the root of this month’s query.
Do you try to observe simplicity in your manner of living?
Do you frequently inspect your affairs and settle your accounts?
Are you careful to live within your income and avoid involving yourselves in business beyond your ability to manage?
Are you just in your dealings, punctual to your promises, prompt in the payment of your debts, and free from defrauding the public revenue?
On the surface it appears that this query speaks to our financial affairs. But there is more to it than that. Are we living among those within our community well? Are we dealing honestly with them or are we giving them a reason to grumble and oppose the kingdom? Are we bearing the light? Are we being image bears?
The reality is that God so loved the world that he became his own promise to us. He loves us and nothing can separate us from that love, it is available to us all at any moment. Yet I, along with Paul, grieve for my brothers, for my countrymen, because we so often do not see the love God has for us so we reject and turn away. We chase after our own concepts of good and evil, and end up causing harm instead of bearing the light of God. We know what is right because the Spirit of God is always present wooing us to turn, and yet we want our way, by our terms. Will we listen? Will we respond? Will we become the people God has called us to be?
Previous Messages:
Spiritual Family
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church July 19, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 8:12–25 (ESV) So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you…
War Within
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church July 5, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Hebrews 12:1–3, 12-17 (ESV) 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings…
Do We Stand with Him?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church June 28,2026 Click to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 6:12–23 (ESV) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but…
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