Thank the Lord for Grafting

Romans 11:16-24
Theme: The plan of God for Israel.
Title in NIV: The Gentiles are grafted into God's tree.

I love the imagery Paul uses in these verses.  He describes Israel (Jews) and Gentiles as branches.The branches that did not produce anything were broken off to make way for branches that would produce something.  The Jews did not believe and would not be supported by the Root--which is Jesus Christ. Because of their unbelief, the Gentiles were grafted into the branch. The Gentiles stood on faith and allowed themselves to be supported by the Root.

I am no horticulturalist, but I do love to grow plants. The past couple of years I have been growing my garden from seeds. (January is the time to plant those little guys so they are big enough in March and April to plant in the garden.)  Anyway, I read an article about grafting and found some interesting ideas we can apply to the passage Paul wrote.

Grafting is simply taking a section of a stem with leaf buds and inserting it into the stock of a tree. There are several reasons to do this: repair injured trees, make a tree more hardy and durable, make an ugly tree more desirable, grow more quickly, and produce fruit more quickly. We can take each of those reasons and apply them to why God grafted the Gentiles into his tree.

1. Repair injured tree       Since the branches did not produce fruit, God had to repair the tree. The root was not the problem since the root is Jesus Christ, after all. God took the dead branches away and replaced and repaired them with branches that would produce fruit.

2. Make a tree more hardy and durable          The article said to use strong, mature stems to graft. By using the strong and mature to repair the branches, the tree becomes stronger, too. God used the Gentiles who believed in Him to repair the tree. The faith the Gentiles had made the branches durable when the wind blew.

3. Makes an ugly tree more desirable              Imagine a tree with dead branches, shriveled leaves and ready to break and crack when the weather is bad. A tree with succulent leaves and budding stems is much more appealing to those who are searching for shade.

4. Grow more quickly          God grafted into the already mature stock. This made growth of branches faster than waiting to grow them from a seed.

5. Produce fruit more quickly      When God grafted into the mature stock it made the branches grow faster which also made the branches produce fruit more quickly. That make sense.

There are different methods of grafting. The whip graft is used with young trees. For this method you have to bind the two pieces together. That makes sense. The young Christian needs support from the Root and from more mature Christians that can guide them to maturity with Christ. Just like in the tree, there is a time to remove the binding. Then there are two that can bear fruit instead of one.

The cleft graft is used with more mature and established trees. The graft needs to be close to the stock and close to the ground., They need no binding. They do need maintenance, however. As with all the grafts, we need to make sure no one (Satan) steals or breaks the graft. We need to make sure birds do not lite on our newly grafted branches to cause a break.

I also read that the graft needs to be done at the right time, too. It is done when the least amount of harm will come to the stock or root. That makes sense since this process is about removing an appendage.

In vs. 20 Paul says be careful to not be arrogant because we were grafted into God's tree. He says to continue in God's kindness or you will be cut off, too.
There is hope for Israel in vs. 23. Paul says that God can graft them in again. He will, too. Vs. 11 says they did not fall beyond recovery and that their belief will bring  great riches and fullness when the time comes.

I hope the imagery of Paul's passage and the knowledge about grafting helped deepen your understanding and appreciation for what God has done for us. Blessings to you today...and keep warm.