God Shows No Partiality
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Introduction
Introduction
Have you ever done anything you regret doing?
I mean something silly, that you thought at the moment was a great idea, but soon realized that your decision was a big mistake?
When we lived in southern Ontario, we would often go and visit Niagara Falls.
After-all, it is a wonder of the world.
What you don’t realize is that man,
has taken that wonder and made it into a destination for tourist to be entertained.
One such place is a place called Ripley’s Believe it or not.
As you walk through this maze of different objects,
to consider if they are true or not, you come upon a mirror.
I don’t quite remember what the caption above the mirror states, but you are asked to do something in the mirror.
Most people are quick follow instruction, because afterall, it’s a mirror and what is the harm.
As you move on through the museum, In a few short steps you come quickly to regret your decision.
As you venture through the building and into another room you are now led to the opposite side of the wall of the mirror, you haven’t realized that it is the opposite side of the wall and all you see is a large glass with people making funny faces, or following a sign above it.
You stand and watch the many people making faces and following the sign above the mirror and you for a short moment begin to laugh, but then your memory kicks in and in your horror, you realize that the image you are looking at and laughing at the people on the other side of the glass was also the same mirror, moments earlier, you were that person.
Things you regret doing.
Wouldn’t it be great in life if we could walk backwards to look in the other direction.
To be looking at the glass, to see the responses of people, before we too fall into the same trap, and miss standing in front of the mirror.
You see this morning’s passage is somewhat similar to the one way mirror and glass.
Paul had just finished his discussion on sinfulness and lifestyles of sinfulness and now changes the focus upon someone else.
Who is on the other side of the mirror?
Turn with me as we continue in on our series through Romans and discover a truth about the Gospel or God News of God.
1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.
3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
6 He will render to each one according to his works:
7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;
8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,
10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.
11 For God shows no partiality.
Let’s Pray
God Shows no partiality
God Shows no partiality
As we learned last Sunday, that Paul is pointing out that sin that can so easily entangle us is there for everyone.
But for the Jew listening to this message, they thought differently.
They began to hear Paul’s words and it rang true in their lives.
Pause
Sometimes his words in the last part of Chapter 1 rings true in our lives.
Have you ever been in a situation and you begin to tell stories of people in your life that seem to be off on the wrong foot.
They seemed to make choices in their lives that you know would not help them.
You seem to have warned them and yet in their futility they seem to choose the way of destruction.
It is in that moment, we have to pause our thinking and how we look at them or these verses apply directly to us.
Paul begins by saying
1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
Who is this man?
I like how one author put it and let me summarize by saying this.
Paul has just written words about the gentiles, the sinner, the lost. The ones that have been turned over to their own ways and
The person is Cheering Paul on.
Yes,
Those people
You know the ones.
I am so glad we, the Jews, know God. The Covenant God that has chosen us.
He has called us out. Fights for us, Protects us.
We have this God on our side. Oh those poor people,
It’s a good thing we are not like them.
There they are cheering in the background and then Paul’s words ring out clearly.
pause
You have no excuse,
you yourselves are being judged in the very same way.
I can image the reader saying what, me?
I also find that so many people miss understand the direction Paul is stating in these verses and shy away from talking to anyone about something they see in their fellow believers lives.
I don’t want to judge others.
One commentary stated it this way
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 29: Romans (The Inconsistency of Human Judgment)
This approach Paul disdained. It appears that he introduced a broad generality first of all with which most people would agree; that is, there are a lot of people who sit in judgment of others who are far from perfect themselves. Then, when this had been established and agreed upon, he more clearly identified those who were adopting such an attitude. Before going on with the details of Paul’s exposure of the Jewish situation we need to look at the broad generalities on human judgment that he made.
His fundamental concern was that man often has the capacity to evaluate and criticize the behavior of his fellow without recognizing that his evaluation is tainted because of his own inconsistency.
In other words, human judgment, which is often necessary, sometimes helpful, and occasionally correct, is fundamentally inconsistent.
There is a moment when we as fellow believers are to come along our fellow brothers and sisters and help them not to stray away, That is not judging like it is spelled out in these passages.
You see for the Jewish audience, they sought out to live the outward actions of their faith while in the inside, the heart of the matter they lived contrary to the heart of God.
Folks we can so quickly fall into this trap as well.
RC Sproul writes,
Before we get to the gospel, the good news of justification by faith alone, we must be brought kicking and screaming, if necessary, before the holy standard of God’s law so that we might be duly persuaded of our need for the gospel.
Are you in need of the Gospel today? Have you heard it over and over and yet fight every word because for some reason or another you are not turning to God.
For some of us, We can be faithful in attending church, doing things that seem spiritual, but be truly far from God’s Heart.
Paul will be walking us through this letter to the Romans and applying it directly to our lives.
Where are you today in your walk with God?
Are you closer than you were a month ago, or are you farther away.
Are you spending time in God’s Word, with God’s people being challenged to live a life God has called us to live?
Are we living in the futility of our thinking, rather than God’s Word, His standard, not man’s, His calling on our lives?
At our church here we encourage people to connect with other people for this very reason.
You can connect in several ways. The first and easiest is to be a part of a group.
There are several groups, some are small, as in three people, some are larger up to 12-15. Some groups can also create a community.
Some groups come together for a specific task or purpose.
In all the groups you rub with one another, you get a chance to see each other and to make sure that the faith you live is congruent with the Gospel that we are talking about in Romans.
Another way is coming to larger groups. Sunday morning, Sunday Evening, each have a component of meeting with people who are followers of God who are in need of the very thing you need.
God’s grace in our lives.
1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
You see Paul is pointing out not the accountability part of our walk, but those who claim to be in the books with God, but are living a lie.
They are often referred to as hypocrites. They say what they know is to be true but are not living the thing they state.
Paul calls them out for passing judgement on others and the result is that they are condemning themselves for in the eyes of God, they practice the very same thing that the Gentiles were accused of in the previous verses.
Are you starting to see that in God’s eyes there is either a lost or saved person.
God is a God of all peoples and individuals, and that God shows no partiality.
Ben Witherington III
Partiality translates a Greek word that means, literally, ‘receiving the face’
Douglas J. Moo
Paul move on,
2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.
3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
Setting the stage of Judgement
Setting the stage of Judgement
Paul moves onto the realization that with sin there will be judgement as a Holy God cannot let thing slip by him.
In verse two, Paul quickly brings out the point that with every action, there will be coming a time when the Judgement of God will be rendered.
And that judgement will be coming on those who practice what is contrary to God’s laws and commands.
Once again the Jews who he is addressing would be quick to point out the sin of those described as gentile.
Those who, in their minds, felt that they had missed the chosen part of God’s blessing.
And not being included in that blessing they would be judged for their action upon a holy God.
Again Paul is speaking to the Jew who still has some hope left in following the law for their stand at the time of Judgement.
When my sons were in school, they quickly figured out which teachers would over look things and which teachers would follow the rules.
They had one teacher, that if they were caught in a trespass, they always hoped and wished that Mrs. C would be the one that would set the punishment.
She was always gracious, loving and kind. To the boys, it appeared that she would forget that many times kids would get in trouble and remind them that they should practice being Good.
The Jews who Paul is pointing out in these first four verses where treating God and his wrath in the same way.
In many ways we too can treat God in the same way.
As I was once again overlooking these words this morning, I had to laugh. The very Sunday God leads us to passages of Judging, we have a Chili Cook off and ask you to judge. Please judge fairly.....
You see in this passage, the people thought, that it’s alright to look at the gravity and weight of the other person’s sin, while mine were very trivial and superficial that God wouldn’t even care if I did this.
Paul points out in verse 3 that these Jews were so busy pointing the finger at the other sinner and forgetting to examine themselves.
Folks, I’m not sure about you, but if left unchecked, I too can fall into this trap.
I was raised in an environment that seemed to value different levels of sin and the God would judge those sins greater than my own.
Would I recognize the sin in my life, yes, but I would be passing a greater judgement on others that appeared to have a greater sin than that of my own.
I began to look at people differently
How fooled I was.
Paul points out how fooled they were.
Sproul writes,
If God is good, then He will judge, and He will judge according to truth. We ought not to despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance. In His patience God is forbearing.
Folks we know and follow
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But do we take this as a liberty and freedom to keep on sinning, to keep on judging others who have been given over to their sinful ways,
By no means.
Look at verse 5 (in pen a tent)
Romans 2:5 (ESV)
5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
Rather than taking God’s patience with us as a way to restore us right with God as outlined in verse 4, Paul points out that the judging heart begins to storing up our judging comments about others.
Let’s take a moment to be real about judging.
The judgement passed on others is not the same judgement we have for fellow believers to encourage them to challenge them to correct them.
So often we get those two confused.
We say,
“How can I judge a fellow believer?”
Folks as we learn to be disciples in the context of community, we must be open to being challenged by our actions.
Judging is wrong, correction and training others is a mandate for believers.
Don’t get them confused
The all two familiar passage in matthew
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
Your’e not passing judgement, but helping in restoring his walk with Christ.
So often we have been sinned against and we go not to him or her, but to others to gain support or sometimes sympathy for what they have done to us.
Our small group this week touched briefly on this subject, and the common point feeling was,
This is hard or
I’ve done that before and it turned out worst for me and I’m not doing that again.
or Really, we are not suppose to judge because we have the Jesus words in our mind of the log.
Event he words of Matthew state, “if he listens” There is no guarantee that the approach will be good for us.
But that is not the point, you need to follow along later in the Matthew verses on next steps,
The point is there is a difference from Judging to exhorting.
Paul in these verses is identifying that the Jewish person is putting their trust in their own works of righteousness and failing to see that God judgement is not the action, but the heart.
It requires all of us to come to a point of repentance in the saviour and to turn our lives over to Him.
There is coming a time of the judgement of man, God will be the ultimate Judge and although our sins are forgiven, our actions can be judged.
2 Cor 5:17
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Is Paul then saying the God is taking stock of our lives and in the end He will judge us on our actions?
Many come to faith in Christ and then live their lives for their own.
They also live a life of judgement of others, but Paul is warning the folks and this warning is also for us.
One thing I notice when we are approach the topic of judging is by what standard is being used. God’s or man.
Paul move on
6 He will render to each one according to his works:
7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;
8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,
10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.
11 For God shows no partiality.
Paul lays out his thought by introducing the God of impartiality, describes the two sides, then ends with a summary of God’s Judgmental rendering.
Folks don’t read these verses as some are in the habit of doing and rely heavy on works.
They believe that good actions, will result in eternal life.
and likewise those whose lives are filled with unrighteousness and disobedience cannot be redeemed.
Likewise,
Some read these passages and feel that How can I ever meet up to God’s Standard.
How can God forgive me for all that I have done.
We are reminded of our salvation is not based upon our own means but only through the saving work of Christ
Paul uses the phrase throughout this passage and others, “First to the Jews and then the Greek”
It is a understood and realized that the Jews were God’s Chosen people but as such, they were also first in line when God will appear and render his Judgement upon them for their choices.
It has been put this way
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 29: Romans (The Integrity of Divine Judgment)
The absolute justice of God and His unswerving commitment to righteousness are more than abstract qualities. They have concrete manifestations in the way He deals with people and in the manner He dispenses judgment. This is particularly true in His handling of the Jewish people. That they were specially privileged and specifically called to play a major role in the divine plan cannot be denied. But it would be an insult to the divine integrity to suggest that the privileged position of the Jew meant he could expect special exemption from the consequences of his sin. Paul’s oft-used expression, “to the Jew first and also to the Greek” shows that there is a clear difference in God’s eyes between Jew and Greek—that the Jew has a position of primacy—but this position of primacy also includes a primacy of judgment.
Paul speaks of the Gentiles who were never given the privilege of having the law of God, yet who had such sensitivity to what they knew of God that their consciences were keen and alert and in touch with reality.The important thing for everyone to understand, Jew or Gentile, is that the judgment of God has no place for favoritism or exceptions but is based strictly on the response of the individual to the knowledge of truth that has been made available. That obviously means that the more privilege a person has, the more responsibility he holds.
Folks,
We have the truth of God and what are we doing with our lives.
Do we take that and base our lives against those who are sinning and cast judgement upon them, or do we bring them to the throne of Grace, drawing them along side of us,
Sinners saved by Grace
Paul’s words began with therefore, we all have not excuse.
This morning as you were listening to God’s Word read or spoken what has He brought to your life.
In Summary
In Summary
As the worship team makes their way up to lead us in a response to worship, I ask you again how are you going to respond to God today?
First, have you given your whole life over the the one that saves. There is coming a day when all that you have done will be opened before God and revealed. Are you waiting for a future day, it may be too late, come to Him today.
If you have come to Christ and yet seem to be like the person described in these verses, you see your sin and standing before God to live your life by your standards and not God, today you need to change as well.
We are going to sing about our victory in Jesus,
If you need to come to the front, for prayer, come.
I promise we won’t judge you, but with open arms pray with you because we can boldly sing victory in Jesus.
Response to Worship
Response to Worship
Benediction
Benediction