Romans 2 – Brandon Hatmaker “Christ Alone”
Wednesday, May 22, 2008
“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?” Romans 2:1-4
Anytime I see the words, “therefore” in scripture, I can’t help but turn the page back and see what it’s in response to. Since it was just yesterday that I read Romans 1, I’m reminded that Paul was talking about those who knew of the righteousness of God but did not acknowledge His precepts. He also brought light to the fact that failing to follow just one placed them under the judgment of them all. Living under this legalism creates a downward spiral.
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” – Romans 1:21
Paul said that in this moment, we can be given over to many “shameful” lusts, as well as be filled with the things that are opposite of God. Paul is drawing light to our unavoidable condition without Christ. Which eerily resembles even a believer’s life when lived without dependency on Christ. This raises much debate in the Church on who is really saved and who is not (I’m just glad I’m not judge on that). But the point is, even those who know and teach the rules and ritual of faith will not be judged on their “discipline” alone, if we were, we’d all fall short of the law. This is reminding us that we all have dark places, we all have “secrets”. Paul will remind us of this in Romans 3:23 when he says, “…for all have fallen short of the Glory of God”. The point is that whether it’s for the Jew or the Gentile, learned or unlearned, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, or Non-denominational, our judgment will come through the filter of Christ.
“God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.” – Rom. 2:16
Paul is very explicit and spends a lot of time setting up this point. I hope we all see verse 16 as encouragement today, not as a threat or as anything resembling the negative. In these few words, we see the ultimate truth and example of grace, love, sacrifice, and benevolence through Jesus Christ. Thank you God, that my secrets will be judged through Jesus and not according to the law. There truly is Hope!
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May 22, 2008 – Romans 2 “Who am I?”
ReplyDeleteV3&4 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?
V 19 – 21 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?
I read Romans 2 this morning and cannot get the words from the Casting Crowns song “Who am I?” out of my head…“Not because of what I’ve done, but because of who you are, Not because of who I am, but because of what you’ve done”
Early in Romans 2 Paul convicts us of our selfishness and sense of superiority, telling us that we believe we can convince others to repent by judging their transgressions; he shows us how absurd this is compared to God who could clearly judge our transgressions, but instead leads us to repentance through kindness and love. Then in verses 19-21, he calls us out, once again questioning our sense of superiority, how do we think we can teach others the law when we ourselves can never hope to follow all of it?
We are human; humans are selfish, prideful and have a deep need to feel superior to someone else. Given to our own devices we will take any information and pervert it to our need for “one-upping” the next person. Faith is no different. If I can believe I am more pious than you, that will give me a sense of superiority and feed my ego. I may even be a great person and believe I can teach you to be as pious as me. In the end, it just does not work that way – it is not because of what I have done or who I am; it is because of who He is and what Jesus has done.
thanks for your insight alex. always refreshing. brandon
ReplyDelete"Merely hearing God's law is a waste of your time if you don't do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God." - Romans 2:13 (MSG)
ReplyDeleteI think it was Rich Mullins who said that God must have created highlighters so we could just pick out the portions of Scripture we like and ignore the rest. Convicting words...because it's so true.
God's been hitting me hard with this stuff lately. I can say "Lord, Lord" all day long, but unless I start putting my faith into action, I'm running the risk of having him look me right in the eyes one day and saying, "Mike, bro, depart from me...I never knew you."
At what point am I going to get serious about following Jesus and not some mass-marketed shadow that bears a slight resemblance but none of the truth? Will I ever be able to separate the American version of Christianity from the one true and original Way? When am I really going to get my hands dirty and sacrifice all of my conveniences, my time and my energy to chase whole-heartedly after him?
Every time I think I'm getting closer to that kind of living, schedules, appointments, and general selfishness always seem to take precedence. Makes me wonder who I really serve...
I can read, spout off, highlight and blog about all the verses I want...but at the end of the day, when the lights go out and I lay there in bed, alone in the moment with Jesus, I still can't shake that verse: "doing...not hearing...makes the difference."
These are simple commands to hear and nod our heads to in agreement. Terribly difficult to execute. At least while holding onto and trusting ourselves, our paychecks, our circumstances more than Jesus. But unless I start putting my money where my mouth is, like Paul says, it's all nothing but a waste of time.
But yet, I'm hopeful. I know God's stirring something up in me and I feel it simmering in the church too. I really believe that we're moving away from spreading the gospel through the shouted words on a street corner - and toward spreading it through quiet, humble, and loving acts of service (and not inside our buildings, but on another street corner).
That Francis of Assisi quote is a fitting thought to end with: "Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words."
Tolerico I hear you. Paul just lists the plain cold hard facts. It is not something that has loop holes. You can not say I gave this much to this ministry. I put in this many hours here or there. It comes down to looking at what Jesus calls us to and then looking at our lives. We can have all the good intentions we want. We can come up with all the plans we want. We can draw the line in the sand and say today is the day I start to live the way I should. We can do all this and if we do not have it buring in our heart it matters for nothing. If we are not focused and living our lives as Jesus tells us to, then all that we do will not amount to anything. It is not a radical shifting of thinking. We all know the Sunday School answers. We can sit down and come up with, or download, a bible reading plan or scripture study. The question is, how much of our "thoughts and plans" are really taking over our lives and our very beings to live as Christ lived? We can not hit 100% Christ like living BUT we must strive to get as close as we can. That takes the total 100% sell out Paul had.
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