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Todd's
Tips For Tough Times: Untangling Today's Twists With Timeless Truth
From The Bible Teaching Ministry of Todd M.
Freeman
Romans 2:1-4
Paul opens his letter to the Romans with an affectionate
greeting. In verse 8 Paul tells them how pleased he is to hear of
their
sterling reputation in the Lord. In verse 9 he confesses that they are
always in his thoughts and in verse ten he tells them that his prayers
always gravitate toward them. At the end of verse ten the apostle
informs
them that he deeply longs to visit them and has entreated God to open
the
door for him to do so. He goes on to explain that seeing them would
provide mutual strength and encouragement.
Verse 18 through the end of the chapter is a powerful admission
of the world's sinful condition. God is not the focus and the result
is
a twisted society that is self destructive. We learn 1:25 They
exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created
things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. The text
continues, RO 1:26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful
lusts.
The text goes on to clearly define this as homosexual behavior. Our
land has witnessed an onslaught of shameful lust for years and this
week
we have seen the shameful outcome of this in Massachusetts. Men and
women
degraded the institution of marriage by lining up to receive licenses
proclaiming their union marriage. The text speaks so clearly to the
mayhem that is occurring now!
In chapter 2 Paul completely changes gears. He turns away from
talking about those who have rejected the truth of Jesus Christ- those
who have been given a depraved mind- and addresses the saints in Rome.
In
his opening he praised the church, but in this section of scripture he
rebukes them. 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. I believe that Paul is emphasizing the need for a severe
contrast of the two groups. Believers are not to be like unbelievers.
We are saved by grace but created to do good works which he prepared in
advance for us to do, (Ephesians 2:8-10). We are called God's
ambassadors and I believe the Lord wants us to take that role
seriously.
Evidently, these believers were quick to point out the sins of others,
but slow to notice the same sin in themselves.
Judging Christians tend to salivate over the failure of both
groups. Strong Christians make good gossip fodder because they are not
supposed to be weak. There is something inside the human psyche that
loves a wicked morsel. PR 18:8 The words of a gossip are like choice
morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts. It never ceases to
amaze
me how people can become preoccupied with destructive news about good
people. Instead of talking to others about another's plight, we should
talk to God about it. An uncontrolled tongue is as dangerous as a sharp
sword that is swung wildly out of control. PR 12:18 Reckless words
pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. God is
hard on a wild tongue that speaks from a judging heart. This
combination
is one of the devil's most reliable ploys. He knows that the best way
to
keep a church from loving God and reaching the lost is to get them to
fight against each other. If they are not united, they will be seen as
a
trash pile on fire instead of a lighthouse of God's love.
It is just as wrong to concentrate our energy on judging the
unsaved. Why do we expect the unsaved to act like the saved? If we
really believe that it is God's power that enables us to obey Christ,
then why are we surprised that those without Christ live recklessly
immoral lives? Instead of judging them with a superior air, we need to
remember that before Christ we were servants of sin. Romans 6:17 But
thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you
wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.
18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness. The truth is that we owe any righteousness we have to
Jesus Christ. He is our hope. Blatant sin is nothing more than a
clear
indication that the person is enslaved by sin. That individual needs
to
discover the saving, freeing forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ. We
don't need to burn bridges and alienate ourselves from these people;
but
rather we need to build bridges and find ways to share the love of
Christ
with them. Our judgments regarding how wicked their behavior is will
not
help them. God loves them, and we must ask the Heavenly Father to
allow
us to see them through His eyes.
One of the primary reasons it is senseless for us to
continually
judge one another is that we are limited in what we know. Usually we
only have partial information, and often that information is
inaccurate.
God is the only one who knows the full picture. Romans 2:2
Now we know
that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.
God is strongly against habitual judging of those around us and
promises
that there is a steep price for those who practice this. Romans 2:3
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? Paul tells the church at
Rome that it is far more important to base your life on what God thinks
instead of what people think. Many times we get in trouble because we
do
things we know are wrong and we do them because we are afraid that
someone will not like us or misunderstand us. I want to be liked, but
it
is more important to me that my actions are based on God's truth
instead
of man's acceptance.
Paul then proceeds to make a bold statement. Romans 2:4 Or do
you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and
patience,
not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? In
other
words, do you despise and disrespect the riches that God has bestowed
upon you. These riches do not consist of earthly treasures, fame or
the
fulfillment of fleshly passions. God's riches flow from His kindness,
tolerance and patience. What we receive and what we deserve are
drastically different. God woos us not through fear and force, but
through kindness. When we spend our energies as judges, we make a
decision to forget God's kindness. We need to treat others as we have
been treated by God. He did not give us what we deserve but what we
needed. We, too, need to treat people according to what they need
instead of what they deserve. When we fail to do this we treat God
with
contempt. It is like spitting in the face of the one who willingly
went
to the cross for us. Think about that next time you are tempted to
pass
a quick judgment on someone.
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