ROMANS 11:16

“If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are as well.”

Don’t you just love that word “lump”? When I hear it, I think about the lump of dough my mama would have on the kitchen table when she made homemade biscuits. Boy, were her biscuits good. She would mix up the flour and buttermilk, a little shortening and a couple of eggs. Her biscuits were so fluffy on the inside, but crispy on the outside. Excuse me while I wipe my mouth, lol. Every bit of that lump was good, whether it was used to make a little biscuit or a “cathead” biscuit (look that up).

As Paul looks toward the redemption of his nation Israel, he makes this statement today about their future. He refers back to Abraham and the covenant guidelines of offering to God the first fruits. He uses the terms “lump” and “branches” to describe the people of Israel with the belief that they will be ushered in one day to the kingdom when they surrender to the Lord fully, just as Abraham had covenanted with God at the outset of the nation. Matthew Poole’s Commentary says, “Here is another argument to prove the Jews are not finally rejected, because of the covenant made with their fathers…by lump, and branches, he means the people of the Jews that descended of these holy patriarchs, and spring from them, as branches from a root.”

APPLICATION

Even Peter said these words to his people during his second sermon in Acts 3:25. “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God ordained with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’” The purpose God had given the Jews was to make his salvation known among the nations. That was done through His Son, Jesus Christ, born a Jew to fulfill this prophecy.

So, how does this apply to us today. Over in 1 Corinthians 5:6-7, Paul uses that word for “lump” again. This time pointing out a different thought. “6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” What does that mean? Just as one good lump can influence the whole, one bad lump can as well.

Are you a good lump or a bad lump? All the molecules of my mama’s biscuit dough came together to produce a truly delicious product. Each molecule did its job without worrying about what the other one was doing. They were all there to make biscuits. (Hungry yet?) We, as followers of Christ, must come together to make disciples who make disciples. Stop worrying about what the Methodists or Baptists or Pentecostals are doing. Just do your part, be the lump!

Thank You, Father, for allowing me to be a part of the whole lump and spread Your message.

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