August 21, 2000
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Sept. 17 Lesson
___By Charles Walton
All people relate to God in some common ways
___Romans 2:1-13, 28-29, 3:19-20
___2:1You, 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. 2Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? 4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?
___5But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6God "will give to each person according to what he has done." 7To those who by persistence in doing seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11For God does not show favoritism.
___12All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. ...
___28A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God. ...
___3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
___A prolonged drought is affecting much of our state. People have been trying to remember what it was like to have downpours. In some parts of East Texas, huge rains are called "stump floaters." In other areas, floods are called "frog stranglers." One lady reported there recently had been a 4-inch rain in her part of the state--the drops were four inches apart. A fellow from Wink said: "We don't have a word for a hard rain. During the Great Flood, we got half an inch."
___Texans have more in common than our need for water. From Muleshoe to Marshall and from Perryton to Port Neches, we share together the needs of all humanity. Today's study in Romans identifies at least three of the things common to all humankind as we relate to God.
___The same sin
___Chapter 1 of Romans ends with strong preaching regarding the sins of the Gentiles, and chapter 2 begins with an equal condemnation of the sins of the Jews. Paul will make a strong case that both Jews and Gentiles alike are sinners.
___We might easily understand the need for Paul's warning to the pagan world. Rome was a notoriously corrupt city. Surely God's wrath would fall upon them. However, Paul now focuses his preaching on the Jews. While it is true the Jews had a holy history that pleased God, they also had a propensity toward "judging," which Paul reveals as abhorrent to God as the worship of idols.
___Notice how Paul uses the phrase "without excuse" in addressing both groups (1:20; 2:1). His point is to disallow the pleading of ignorance when members of each group are called to the sure judgment of God. The words "do the same things" point to the commonality of human sin but do not necessarily mean that we all commit the exact same sins. "We have not all sinned alike, but we all, alike, have sinned," is the old cliché.
___A few months ago, distraught parents shared with me the heartache caused by their two children. Their daughter was in a drug rehab program for the third time with little evidence of improvement. Their son was in jail awaiting transfer to a state prison. As I listened to their story and prayed with them, I became increasingly aware that, at least in part, the "sameness" of our sins is what our evil does to the heart of our heavenly Father. We all, alike, have sinned, and all sin grieves God.
___Paul says at least three things to the Jews that help us understand our own sins.
___First, he notes that when we judge others for their sinfulness, we do so from a position of presuming to know God and his requirements for living a righteous life. This places the ones who judge others for their sinfulness under even greater condemnation when they themselves fail God.
___Second, the apostle argues that to judge means we are willing to "ignore" (be blinded to) our sins. This is Paul's greatest indictment against his kindred.
___Finally, when we judge others we assume the elevated position of God himself. Paul does not mean we may never make "judgments" about others. On the contrary, Scripture teaches us to take great care in our relationships. Only God, however, can peel back the flesh of man and peer into the "thoughts of his heart" (Genesis 6:5).
___The same judgment
___Once again Paul returns to the concept of wrath, but now the recipients are the Jews. The apostle's warning is strong because the Jews believed that while the Gentiles certainly deserved God's wrath, they did not.
___The scriptural concept of the wrath of God (his holy attitude toward the destructive effects of sin and the unrepentant sinner), includes several facets of importance.
___First, God's wrath is "revealed" only after we have had full opportunity to repent of our sins. The phrase "your stubbornness and unrepentant heart ..." indicates God's patient love and riches have been ignored (held in contempt) over an extended period of time.
___Second, the wrath of God comes only after we have "stored up" (treasured up) this wrath. By repentance, we could have emptied the container, but we chose to fill it to the top with our sin.
___Third, there is no wrath but that which is based on God's truth (the totality of the evidence of his love for us). The wrath of God is never "getting even" or "paying back." Instead, the wrath which will be poured out on sinful humanity is as just and holy as the God from whom it issues.
___Next, God's wrath will not fully come until the "day of wrath" (vv. 5, 16). The apostle is telling his readers that while we may occasionally feel the pains of God's discipline, there yet remains a "day" of full judgment against sin, revealing the secrets of every heart.
___Finally, Paul tells us that God's wrath will be meted out to all who have "treasured it up for themselves." The fairness of the distribution of God's wrath is not subject to human limitations and therefore completely just.
___In verses 6-10, the Bible tells us we all share the same judgment and rewards for our "deeds." Verse 6 is a quote from Psalm 62:12 and should not be interpreted to mean Paul is discounting the concept of salvation by grace through faith. The heart of the letter to the Romans is that only the gospel has the power to save. Paul is reminding the Roman believers that Christians have rewards awaiting them, and so do those outside of Christ. The rewards of the Christian are listed as glory, honor, immortality and peace (vv. 7, 10). The wages of those who reject God's way of salvation are wrath, anger, trouble and distress.
___If there is any honor in being a recipient of God's special revelation, it is the honor of preaching the truth. We should never forget that our enemy is Satan, not fellow believers, and our task is the preaching of the gospel.
___The same standard
___A Houston woman attending a class for reducing stress heard her instructor say, "The typical symptoms of stress are eating too much, impulse buying and driving too fast." She yelled back, "Are you kidding. That's my idea of a perfect day!"
___We all have our ideas of how to enjoy life. What is pleasing and relaxing to some of us might be horribly stressful to others. Do not our backgrounds, circumstances and life events make us so vastly different no single measurement could possibly be fair as we face the day of wrath?
___In the verses listed, the apostle helps us understand God's criteria for judgment. Verse 12 does not offer a double standard for salvation. Paul is speaking of damnation only. Notice that the phrase "all who sin ..." speaks of those who have failed in righteous living and are facing judgment. This verse makes it clear that God's evaluation in judgment takes into consideration the degree of understanding possessed by each of us. There is no respect of persons with God (v. 11), but there is respect regarding different situations for those facing judgment.
___The apostle's words "apart from the law ... (and) under the law ..." mean that we are not judged by standards we never knew. Instead, we are judged by that which we completely understood and failed to do. But the question remains, how do we share a common standard considering our differences?
___Verse 13 answers this question. The key word is "obey." Part of Jewish worship was listening to the Old Testament being read aloud in public gatherings. Being hearers of God's word caused them to feel safe from God's wrath. Paul points out that God seeks obedience, not merely hearing.
___Jesus once told a story of a father who asked his two sons to go into his fields to work. One son quickly agreed to go but never showed up for work. The other son refused to go but later changed his mind and went to the fields to serve his father. Jesus asked his disciples a simple question: Which son was obedient? Our answer indicates whether or not we understand obedience in our relationship to God.
___Verse 28 and verse 29 speak to this same issue. Part of our faith is outward and observable. Part of our faith is inward and secret. That which can be seen in religious observance has its ultimate meaning only in the hidden person of the heart (1 Peter 3:4).
___The final verses (3:19-20) are a reminder to the Jews that the law was never intended to provide salvation apart from the gospel, except that it makes those "under the law" aware of their sin, thus their need for a Savior (Psalm 143:1-2).
___There may not be a word for a "hard rain" in West Texas, but no where is there a word for man's ability to save himself.
___The purpose of Paul's letter was to open the floodgates of revival in Rome so the whole city would praise God because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us also pray for a great revival from Amarillo to Alice and from Terlingua to Telephone as the gospel is preached in community and countryside across our great state. All around us the mercy drops are falling, but for the showers we plead.
For thought and discussion
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