Sermon Brief
Date Written: November 10, 2011
Date Preached: November 13, 2011
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Series from Romans
Sermon Title: An Admonition of Hypocrisy
Sermon Text: Romans 2:28-29 [ESV]
28For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Introduction:
Do the people you meet on the street see the Joy of Christ in your life? When you interact with the world around you… REGARDLESS of the situation or circumstance, does the Joy of Christ shine forth in your actions and words?
As believers, we preach, teach and believe that we DO have JOY in Christ! We even call others to come and ‘know’ this joy that we proclaim! But just what does our Joy in Christ look like? Just how are we to reveal this joy to the world around us?
Now last week we looked at what JOY was, and we saw it illustrated in the words and life of Paul. He writes in Rom 1 that regardless of his location, situation, or those around him… Regardless of any other outside factors that life could throw his way, we see that Paul was thankful that God was using him, was obedient in his service to God and fully trusted in the Lord at all times!
Now we can sit back and say, “Preacher! That is what joy should look like!” and that would be a true statement… But I believe we realize that there are not any Paul’s in our midst today, are there? He is not in our fellowship here at Oak Park, not in our Association here in New Orleans, not in our Louisiana state convention, not even in our national Southern Baptist Convention…
I believe the closest thing we could say was a Paul in modern day is the evangelist Billy Graham, who has served for over 60 yrs faithfully and obediently without scandal or downfall… and yet as wonderful as Billy Graham has been for many, many years…and still is… Billy would admit himself that he is no Paul.
So preacher what are you getting at? What are you trying to say? Shouldn’t we try to follow the example of Paul? Doesn’t Paul actually encourage us to use him as an example for living for Christ?
And to that question I say ABSOLUTELY! YES, we should seek to emulate Christ in our lives and we should always look to Paul’s example on how to live for God! Paul did encourage us to use him as an example for living… and that is exactly what I want to speak about this morning!
Like I said before, I don’t believe that we have any “Paul’s” in our world today, and it is because we [as believers] are not living like we should… we have sin in our lives… we have pride in our hearts…but understand that Paul had sin in his life as well! Paul even confessed to be the chief of sinners! So if sin in our lives is NOT the answer…
I believe it is the simple fact that we do NOT portray the Joy of Christ to the world around us! Paul was a sinner, he confessed his sin and was obedient to the call of Christ… and I believe this is where we fall short of what Paul set as an example of how to life FOR Christ!
I believe that today we don’t portray to the world the true picture of JOY that one can have when living for Christ! What we are showing the world is NOT what they should be seeing! At least that is the case with MOST believers today… I believe the main reason for this is that the sin of hypocrisy and pride are evident and rampant in the hearts of many believers within the church.
Now, before you get all mad at me and think that I am just here to pound on the believers, I want us to look at what Scripture has to say about these subjects…
When we read all of chapter 2 we find Paul really pounds on the Jews AND Jewish believers of his day. Paul takes them to task on several things, but the main thrust of Paul’s argument against the Jews of his day was the blatant hypocrisy of their attitude and the arrogant pride within their hearts…
Why would they have an arrogant attitude of the heart? Well, the Jews believed they were God’s chosen people and Scripture confirms that selection by God to be true! God DID choose the Hebrew nation, thru Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to become His people! God made several covenants with the Hebrew nation through their leaders, these covenants called on them to serve Him and He would be their God! God gave them a template on how to serve with His commandments and the Law…
God set up the Hebrew nation and how it should operate! God set up the priesthood and how it should operate! God instructed how worship was to take place and how the nation was to relate to those outside their nation… to the ‘foreigners or Gentiles’
But, by the time of Jesus (1st Century) the Jews had developed a sense of entitlement and superiority within their hearts. In fact, the term “Gentile” was not just a term for a non-Jew, but Gentiles were thought of along the lines of a stray dog, or wild animal… In the Jewish mindset, the Gentile was not even on God’s radar… to the average Jew, the Gentile was worthless in the eyes of God.
Likewise, they believed that God felt the same way about the Gentiles, and because they believed God agreed with them, their hearts were hardened and their attitudes and actions toward Gentiles was arrogant and judgmental… Then along comes this man named Jesus!
Jesus tore away and broke down every stronghold of their prejudice and prideful hearts… He told people that God loved all people and that God’s salvation was for any who would believe in Him… This infuriated the Jews and they rose up against Jesus. Jesus was crucified by the Romans based upon the outcry of Jewish religious leaders… but all within the sovereign plan of God!
Jesus died on the cross for the sin of the world and the disciples began to spread the Gospel of Christ. WE can read through the book of Acts (and we have been studying that on Sunday nights)and we can see just how the word was being spread by the disciples in those early years of the church…
When we get to Acts 9 there is a story about a man who WAS one of these Jewish religious leaders who believed the Jews were God’s people and all others were simply dogs and worthy only of God’s wrath, which he believed was his duty to make happen and so he persecuted the church.
Then, on the road to Damascus, Jesus intervened in a supernatural way and Saul of Taursus is gloriously saved and renamed by God…Paul! Paul is called by Jesus to a very specific calling… God calls Paul to take the message of the Gospel (the Good News) to the GENTILES!
To us who are NOT Jewish this was and still IS very good news! It is the love of God being shown to ALL people… but to Paul and to the Jews of the 1st century, the idea of telling the Gentiles about God’s love for them was unheard of and, to be honest, unacceptable to any self-respecting, God fearing Jew… the Gentiles were dogs unworthy of God’s love…
Paul listens to Jesus’ calling and begins to preach to the Gentiles and MANY came to faith in Jesus Christ through his ministry. The disciples were actually skeptical at first but eventually through the testimony and witness of Peter came to understand that God DID love them and WAS offering salvation to them…
So, when Paul wrote this letter to the Roman church he begins it by revealing his TRUE joy in thankfulness, service and full faith & trust in God. Then in the remainder of chapter 1 Paul directs his comment toward the Gentiles and how God’s wrath is going to fall on them because of their sinful hearts and unrighteous they are… Paul tells them they are without excuse because the glory of God is evident all around them… Paul really lets the Gentiles have it!
I believe that when these Jewish believers in Rome were hearing or reading this letter for the first time…I can bet they were thinking, “Yeah Paul, you tell ‘em! They are dogs and how can God love such an unrighteous and reprobate people like the Gentiles!”
They were also thinking, “I’m so glad I was born a Jew… I could have been born a Gentile OUTSIDE of God’s favor…” While this was technically true, the Hebrew nation had fallen from its covenant with God on several occasions and what they believed to be their entitlement by RIGHT, was now being offered the Gentiles thru this Jesus? This would NOT do…
There had been many Jews who had accepted Jesus as Messiah and were saved. They were ministering to other Jews in their areas, but it seems as if the position on Gentiles was still the same regardless of whether or not they believed that Jesus was Messiah or not! What Paul was saying to them now was the Gentile was NOT outside of God’s covenant, but was welcomed just like the Jews! This did not set well with them as they believed that they were set apart and special! Among these Jewish believers Paul was addressing the arrogance within their hearts.
And so with all that being said, here is where we pick up chapter 2 in the letter to the Roman church… Paul had just lambasted the Gentiles for their reprobate nature, and I am sure every Jewish believer in that church was nodding their heads and in their hearts they were thinking… “Those awful Gentiles…if only they could have Jesus!”
Paul then turns the tables on these Jewish believers and begins to point out their shortcoming and failures as Jews! God had called Abraham out of Ur and had chosen him to father a nation… but that nation was not to be set apart to judge the earth, but to bless it! The Jews had not taken that message to heart!
In v.1-29 Paul basically tells the Jewish believers that it is THEY who are sinful, reprobate and fallen! They… the chosen of God… have fallen and he tells them that it is because of THEM that the Gentiles are blaspheming God’s name BECAUSE of their lives… because of how they live… how they act… WHAT AN INDICTMENT on these Jewish believers!
In v28-29 Paul sums it all up…
28For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
So what can we… followers of Christ today… what can we learn from Paul’s admonition of the Jews and Jewish Christians of the 1st century?
First, I believe we have to understand that…
What is on the outside, while important, should not be our focus (v.28)
Show verse 28 here…I will read
28For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
Was it important for the Jewish believers to adhere to the dietary laws that God had set forth? Yes it was, they did not stop being Jewish just because they accepted Christ!
Was it important for the Jewish believers to celebrate and participate in the Jewish festivals God had set forth for them? Yes it was, they had a purpose for the people…
Was it important for the Jewish believers to circumcise their young men? Absolutely! It was a sign for the Hebrew nation… a sign God had given Abraham, it was a sign with a purpose!
All these things were not ‘bad’ things… they were actually things given by God to the people for a REASON… that reason was to glorify Him and set them apart from the world!
Now I want us to look at this from the Christian perspective… Today do we find ourselves in the same boat as the Jews and the Jewish believers of the 1st century? How many of us have had thoughts about those ‘terrible sinners’ who are OUT IN THE WORLD, and they just need Jesus!
After all, we go to church, we go to Bible study, we give our tithes, we give to missions offerings, we read our bibles… THEY are the sinners, WE are the saved!
Technically we can look at that statement and all of those actions and we can say that those are GOOD things and that the statement of us being the saved and them being the sinner… that is ALL true, but it cannot be our focus!
You see when that becomes our focus, we find ourselves thinking [although most of us will NOT admit it] that we are BETTER than those out in the world because God has blessed us with salvation!
But the truth is this… we are NOT better than those people, we are just better off… we are better off NOT because we deserve better or we have earned anything! We are better off ONLY because of the mercy and grace of God our Father, and the sacrifice made by Jesus our Lord!
I want us to look at v.17-20 where Paul calls the Jewish believers out…
17But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth…
Paul is saying… YOU SAY you are this… you show all the traits on the OUTSIDE, you portray to the world around you that you boast in God, that you believe in Him, that you know the Word, that you have been called to reach out to the lost and instruct them in His Word… YOU DO HAVE THE TRUTH! In looking from the OUTSIDE you DO have it all… you talk a very good game!
But here is what matters… although our appearance and actions ARE important… but we have to understand that what we do and how we act stems from who we are INSIDE… it is what is in our heart that will be revealed in the actions of our lives!
So coming to church is a good thing…
Giving our tithe is a good thing…
Attending Sunday School is a good thing…
Reading our Bibles daily is a good thing…
Coming to discipleship classes is a good thing…
But those things alone don’t make us good and CAN NEVER BE OUR FOCUS! You see doing all those things do NOT make us a Christian! It is Christ IN us that makes us a Christian! These things are meant to be outward expressions of a changed life from WITHIN…
But on many levels the church today has become the same arrogant and condescending body of believers that Paul is addressing here in this letter to the Roman church…
If we look at what Paul says here in v.28… we cannot simply be a Christian by our actions and the things that are ‘seen’ by the world! Christianity is NOT based on external actions on our part…
Paul reveals to us that JOY is best expressed by the outward expressions of what has been an inward transformation! The outward appearance is important, but it can never be our focus! Look what Paul says in v.29
Our witness must be from our heart! (v.29)
Show verse 29 here…I will read
29But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Here Paul makes clear to these Jewish believers that their physical acts of Judaism does not make the Jewish… but it is what is in their heart that matters!
This is what I want to say to US here today… Beloved of Oak Park, what we do here on Sunday is important, giving of our tithes and offering is important, reading our Bibles is very important… but those things do NOT make us Christians! They are the outward expressions of what should be a radical transformation of the very core of who we were…
Our calling in Christ is to love those here in this world and to call them to a knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ! This calling is set forth in many areas of Scripture…
In all the Gospels we read the story of the ascension and how Jesus called the disciples to ‘go forth into the world preaching and teaching and making disciples’
Jesus made it abundantly clear that we must deny ourselves and our selfish hearts and be willing to take up the cross He lays at our feet for us to follow Him…
In looking in the book of Acts we see it made exceedingly obvious that we are to serve Christ in sharing the Gospel with the lost, and that ALL the lost are welcome to come to Christ!
There is not one part of Scripture that gives us the right or the option to become a judge of another person! This does not mean we have agree with them or turn the other way when we DO see sin… but what this means is that IN SPITE of the sin we see… in spite of the lives lived outside of God’s grace, we are called to go to them in love sharing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
One of the main arguments of skeptics today is that Christians are hypocritical and judgmental… We cannot cover up our sin and then condemn the sin of others… we have to confess our sin and be transparent in our lives, and we are called to love and share… to love and share…
When someone outside the Grace of God sees a believer who is willing to live a life of transparency, confessing sin where he fails God, realizing he is not perfect, and honestly shares Christ and how Christ has changed his life IN SPITE of his shortcomings… THAT is when we are going to see people take notice of what we have to say!
They are not looking for someone perfect… they are looking for someone who is REAL in their living! Real in their beliefs… someone who is fully aware of their own frailties but understands and recognizes the greatness of the Grace of God that saves us from those failures!
Now I understand that in many cases, we can love people and share our own failures and share Christ and they STILL think we are being judgmental of their lives… but you have to understand this one thing! Even though the Gospel is very INCLUSIVE to ALL who accept it and embrace it… it is also a message of confrontation!
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message that reveals to those outside of the Grace of God… where they are before a holy God. It reveals their sin in a way they have NEVER seen it… and NONE of us want to see ourselves like that, so we strike out at the one carrying the message!
But whether they accept the message OR reject it and call you all sorts of names, like narrow-minded, prejudice, bigoted, hateful, vengeful, kill-joy, oppressive… whatever they call you… YOU ARE CALLED TO LOVE THEM and share that message with them!
We cannot look down upon them! We cannot allow an attitude of superiority to creep into our hearts or our fellowship… we are the representatives of Christ Jesus in this world… what they see in us is what the world see of Christ!
We love to quote John 3:16, but when we read John 3:17 we see that Christ did not come into this world to judge or condemn it (even though He is qualified to do so…) Jesus came to SAVE the world… came to redeem it through His sacrifice. We are called to that same calling… to save the world… to love the world… to BE a picture of Christ that DRAWS people TO God, and does not cause them to reject God!
So to answer my basic premise this morning in how can we reveal TRUE joy to the world around us… we can look to Paul and his example of TRUE joy in thankfulness, in obedient service and in full faith and trust in God in all situations… but nowhere in Paul’s example to us is there JUDGMENT of others!
Paul’s admonition to us is to love others, share Christ and serve God faithfully in all situations… that is how we reveal our TRUE Joy in Christ, by serving and loving God… by serving and loving others! So what about you this morning?
Conclusion:
So the question for all of US here this morning is what is most important in our lives? The outside appearances that we all have a tendency to embellish and lift up? OR is it the inside and the attitude of our hearts in obedience to Christ!
I believe if we have the inside RIGHT… the outside will take care of itself! Are we willing to love those around us without judging them? This goes for all people in our lives… are you willing? Are we willing?
This morning God has spoken through this message to let the believers in this church know that He expects humility and service from His children… for us to love first, share Christ and NOT to judge! Are we willing to listen this morning and put into practice a lifestyle that will not only reveal the joy in our lives… but to reveal the JOY Christ can bring to the lives of those who do NOT know Him!
Today I ask us all to set our hearts right with God and begin to live our lives in this manner… Today I call out to those here who do NOT know Christ as Savior! I don’t stand here in judgment of you, but I call out to you out of love for you and a desire for you to know the Joy that I know in Christ…
I call on you to come to Him today… allow Him to change you as He has changed me… come to Him and allow Him to cleanse your heart and make you one of His own… come today as Bro Ken leads us in our hymn of invitation!
