RO 2:1 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. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 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? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
RO 2:5 But 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. 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done." 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
RO 2:12 All 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. 13 For 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. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
RO 2:17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth-- 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: "God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
RO 2:25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
RO 2:28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, 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.
This is an incredible passage of scripture but it is a passage that needs a strong Christian underpinning if one is to understand just what it is that Paul is trying to convey to his readers.
The first principle that I can see is that we need to comprehend
You along with everyone else on the planet are of incredible value to God.
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The Mona Lisa painting is arguably the worlds most valuable painting – it is estimated to be worth at least 670 million dollars.
Mona Lisa, or La Gioconda (La Joconde) is a 16th century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo Da Vinci during the Renaissance in Italy.
The painting, a half-length portrait, depicts a woman whose gaze meets the viewer’s with an expression often described as enigmatic.[3][4] It is considered by many to be Leonardo’s magnum opus.
This precious painting is guarded in the Louvre and to see it you have to join hundreds of other people.
It is so precious that photography is forbidden –
But valuable as this painting is and admired as it is by people all over the world it doesn’t begin to compare in value to the original person who sat for the portrait.
See God values people very Greatly.
Jesus once indicated that we are of such great value that every hair on our heads has been counted.
This understanding of our value to God meeds to be understood . It is useful to understand in order to put our bible reading this morning into context.
Each human being on this planet is of incredible value to God.
The beggar begging on the side of the road in India or Africa – The prostitute or the aids infected people in the third world all are of incredible value to God.
The value of a human being is not increased by your situation.
If you take a valuable diamond for example it may be of great value when set in a ring but if you find a diamond in the midst of a underground seem of dirty rock it’s value is just as great.
The value is built into the diamond – where it is does not change it’s value – just it’s usefulness. The diamond has intrinsic value that transfers from situation to situation.
The second thing that puts this passage into perspective is the amazing Grace of God.
Lets just think about grace for a moment – it is a good thing to do today because we are sharing communion together.
Communion is, if nothing else, a celebration of grace.
To understand what grace is we need first understand the price that has been paid.
If I could pick up the Mona Lisa on an auction on trade me for $10-00 – clearly it would not be worth very much.
But if I was to pay 6 or 7 hundred million – then clearly, it would be something of incredible value.
The price that was paid for your sin was no less than Jesus God’s son.
What a price God has put on your life.
Every attempt in the world has been made to reduce Jesus to something other than God’s son. But it simply won’t wash. Here is what CS Lewis has to say about it:---------
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ’I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed. Any theories we build up as to how Christ’s death did all this are, in my view, quite secondary: mere plans or diagrams to be left alone if they do not help us, and, even if they do help us, not to be confused with the thing itself. All the same, some of these theories are worth looking at.
The one most people have heard is the one I mentioned before-the one about our being let off because Christ had volunteered to bear a punishment instead of us. Now on the face of it that is a very silly theory. If God was prepared to let us off, why on earth did He not do so? And what possible point could there be in punishing an innocent person instead? None at all that I can see, if you are thinking of punishment in the police-court sense. On the other hand, if you think of a debt, there is plenty of point in a person who has some assets paying it on behalf of someone who has not. Or if you take ’paying the penalty,’ not in the sense of being punished, but in the more general sense of ’standing the racket’ or ’footing the bill,’ then, of course, it is a matter of common experience that, when one person has got himself into a hole, the trouble of getting him out usually falls on a kind friend.
The second thing we need to understand about grace then is the offence.
Most people tend to think – My sin is not that bad.
I am not so bad, after all what are a few small blemishes in my life compared to what everyone else has done.
At least I am not an axe murderer!!!!
Here on the Waimea plains these days there are a lot of dairy farms. On each dairy farm there are a small number of cows with infections that mean the cow has to be on penicillin.
The penicillin can under no circumstances be put in the vat of good milk.
If it is the whole vat of milk is ruined and must be thrown out. Every now and then this happens to most dairy farmers. If a dairy farmer tries to sneak some milk through that contains any percentage of penicillin milk to the factory the company – Fonterra will trace the source of the milk back to the culprit and my understanding is that that culprit will be held responsible for the cost of all of the milk it has been mixed with.
Even a little amount ruins everything. This is a wonderful illustration of what sin does in the world. Even one little bit ruins everything.
Here is a story from the Associated press that shows the result of lies.
When Brian Barrett was shot to death Sept. 15 outside the factory where he worked to help pay for college, investigators and his family were stumped. Barrett, 22, was an aspiring industrial arts teacher, an accomplished high school athlete who had coached Little League all summer and helped his father coach soccer. Those who knew the Buffalo State College student described him as quiet and unassuming. He had clearly been targeted. Barrett was shot three times at close range after climbing into his truck about 10 p.m. at the end of a shift at Dynabrade Corp. in Clarence, 20 miles outside of Buffalo. On Nov. 27, Barrett’s 47-year-old co-worker and friend, Thomas Montgomery, was charged with Barrett’s murder. The motive, investigators said, was jealousy over Barrett’s budding Internet relationship with the same 18-year-old woman Montgomery had been wooing since the previous year.
What neither man knew was that the woman was really a 40-something West Virginia mother using her daughter’s identity to attract Internet suitors. Cyberspace, it appeared, was enough for her, and it was a near certainty she would never have met either man. But jealousy over a little lie caused the murder.
A little sin but it led to death.
The truth is, God not only sees our sins but he also sees the result – world ruining sin.
The amazing thing about grace is despite all of this God forgives us.
What is so significant about these two truths this morning in relation to Romans chapter 2 which we have read but haven’t even considered yet?
But we have painted the setting the background for this passage.
Lets look at two key verses.
The first is:_ God requires us to be graceful towards others:_ RO 2:1 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. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 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? 4
God requires us to be graceful towards others:_
Jesus once told a story about an unforgiving servant:_
MT 18:23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
MT 18:26 "The servant fell on his knees before him. `Be patient with me,’ he begged, `and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
MT 18:28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. `Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
MT 18:29 "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, `Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
MT 18:30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
MT 18:32 "Then the master called the servant in. `You wicked servant,’ he said, `I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
MT 18:35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
The incredible grace that has been given to us needs to be passed on to others.
Often one meets in Christians an assumpion of rightness and a sense of divine right to salvation no matter what they do. That is heresy – to live a heresy is in fact to live a lie.
The failure of the servant who was turned over to the jailers displayed a failure to appreciate how much he himself had been forgiven and how much that forgiveness had cost the master.
Friends, if you want to measure how much you appreciate Christ’s grace – just ask yourself this question of the last week – not the next one, but the last week.
How did the way you spent your time enhance and build up God’s Kingdom purposes in your own area????
Don’t be too tough on yourself but don’t be too soft either!!!
Alternatively ask yourself how you have fared in your forgiving and attitude towards others – particuarily those who can’t care for themselves those whom it is no advantage to you when you care for them.
Verse 11 says God does not show favouritism.
The second thing to note is that our attitude of love and loving forgiveness towards others is all bound up in both our relationship with God and in some way our eternal destiny.
3 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? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
RO 2:5 But 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.
The thing that shocks me about this is the suggestion that passing judgement on another is equated with showing contempt for God’s kindness, tolerance and patience.
Now all of this seems like the previous point until you encounter the following vital verse – not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
Unforgiveness is a dam in our lives – it dams up the living water of God.
When we dam up God’s living water then downstream there is dryness and aridness – in the Christian’s life it becomes a breeding ground for bitterness. In the jungle in India or Africa I think stagnant water like this is a breeding ground for malaria carried by the dreaded mosquitto.
But to get living water and pure water that produces new life wherever it is free to flow we need to forgive those who have hurt us – let them off the hook and release them to be the people that God has called them to be.
It makes an amazing difference to our lives and as that living water of the Spirit of God flows in your life it leads you to a new way of living in Christ that is described here as repentance.
As we come to communion this morning can I encourage you to do three things.
1. Reaffirm your commitment to Christ.
2. Thank God for loving you with an incredible love
3. Forgive those who have sinned against you even if it does take you to a place of tears.
