Romans 9:30-10:4 | When Passions and Achivements Aren’t Enough

SERMON TITLE: When Passions and Achievements Aren’t Enough

SCRIPTURE: Romans 9:30-10:4 (ESV)

SPEAKER: Josh Hanson

DATE: 11-24-24

TURN MIC ON / WELCOME

It’s good to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And — if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

After a two week break we’re returning to our series in Romans this weekend and Paul’s answer as to why so many Jews — even though they were God’s chosen people — why did so many of them reject Jesus as the promised Messiah? And — in answering his question — Paul’s shown us that their rejection of Jesus was not because God’s Word had failed. For the promises to the Jewish people — according to Paul — had been promises given to the true Israelites — not to all who were ethnically Jews — but to a chosen remnant among the Jews. Paul then goes on to defend God’s sovereignty in choosing some to be part of this remnant — what he calls — the children of the promise. For God chose Isaac — not Ishmael. He chose Jacob — not Esau. He chose the enslaved Israelites — not Pharaoh. God — in his sovereignty — chooses those whom he will save to be his people.

Which leads Paul to address our next question: Does this mean that God is unfair? Does the fact that God chooses some — and not all — to be children of his promise of salvation — does God’s choosing some make him out to be unfair? Absolutely not — according to Paul.

To which Paul — knowing what our next question will be — makes it clear that — though God chooses those who will be children of the promise — those not chosen are still responsible for their sin and rebellion. Paul’s pushing against an idea that’s so common among us — the idea where we think that God — if he’s going to be merciful towards some people — is required to be merciful towards all people. So Paul makes it clear that God isn’t required to be merciful towards any of us — for we’ve all sinned and fallen short of his glory — therefore we all deserve his judgment — if we want to talk about fairness — us all experiencing God’s judgment is the only thing that’s fair. Thus — what should astound us isn’t that some are judged by God because of their sin — instead — we should be astounded by God being merciful towards anyone. Yet this appalls us — even those of us who have a high regard for Scripture. Yet our being appalled is due more to secular thinking than what we read in God’s Word. For the secular thinking tells us that we’re the final judge on how things should be — so we switch roles and play judge of God — questioning him for being merciful only towards some — as if his mercy is something we all deserve.

And — yet — and please don’t miss this — his mercy is something that many do experience. Again — can we marvel at how amazing it is that any of us experience God’s mercy? Not to dismiss the reality of there being people who don’t — but — as Paul’s told us — the reason that any of us do is because God — though sinned against by us who he created to glorify him by living in obedience to his Word — and though it would be right for him to only dispense his judgment upon all of us — instead — God has said to his chosen people, “You are my beloved. Yes — you — though you don’t deserve it — you will be called my people.” For if God did not keep for himself a remnant — none of us would be saved.

Which leads us to our verses for today — where Paul now turns to the responsibility of those who rejected Jesus. We’ll be in Romans chapter nine — beginning in verse thirty and reading through verse four of chapter ten. We’re in Romans chapter nine — picking up Paul’s thought in verse thirty — where he writes…

Romans 9:30–10:4 (ESV)

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

A FUTILE PURSUIT

I’ve titled this sermon “When passions and achievements aren’t enough.” What we find in our verses are two different ways to pursue being made right with God. Now I know that not everyone is concerned about their relationship with God — but ultimately — most people instinctively — or naturally — operate under a pursuit to be right with God that is futile. We find this is people who want nothing to do with religion — but claim to be spiritual. They’re pursuing a relationship with God based on their own wisdom or folly — intuition or self-deception — or maybe worst of all — because some celebrity or influencer — who knows nothing about the things of God — has led them down a path of ignorance.

But this isn’t just an outside the church problem — for even those who are active in a local church can be pursuing to be right with God in a way that is futile. This is what Paul says the people of Israel in his day were doing when he writes…

Romans 9:31–10:3 (ESV)

31 Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

I want you to notice what Paul says about the Jewish people’s pursuit of righteousness. Now — this wasn’t the case for all Jews — but for those who rejected Jesus — Paul says they pursued righteousness — or being right with God — through the law and their works — not through faith. So they pursued righteousness via their own achievements and they did so zealously — with lots of passion. And — the real kicker — is Paul saying that they did all of this ignorantly. This is the pursuit of righteousness that is futile.

What makes this so challenging is that we live in a culture where our value is determined by our achievements — by what we’ve accomplished and done. When we meet someone new — what’s one of the first questions we ask each other? “What do you do?” This tells us something about how we define our self-worth and the worth of others.

When I was in the Army — your achievements determining your worth — was in your face on a regular basis as we got evaluated all of the time. Peer performance evaluations where — say there were ten soldiers — you would rank everyone from one to ten — from who’s the best soldier to who’s the worst — including yourself. Then your chain of command evaluates you — and you get an evaluation report that would say something like, “Of the ____ number of soldiers under my command — you are number ____ in the ranking.” And this was official record stuff — meaning these documents would be taken into consideration for future promotions.

But it’s not just the military who dishes out this kind of “here’s what your worth to us based on what you do” evaluation. Think of what jobs in our country are paid the most and what jobs are paid the least. Now I know this is an incredibly complex subject — so to narrow our focus — take jobs that require a college degree.

Highest paid jobs probably don’t surprise you. Being a CEO, a medical doctor, a psychiatrist, a pilot, lawyer — no real surprises. What about the lowest paid jobs that require a college degree? And — I promise I had no idea what number one would be — but according to two separate website — the lowest paid job is that of priest, pastor, or rabbi — folks who have a theology degree of some kind. Journalists make the lowest paid jobs list — which may explain why it’s so hard these days to figure out what’s true or not and why so much reporting seems to be more opinion than fact-based — but I digress. Paramedics make the list — that one was kind of concerning — especially when I think we’d all like to make it to the doctor if we’re having an emergency. And — to no one’s surprise — teachers.

Tell me that our culture doesn’t have things out of whack by determining the value of each other based on our achievements and what we do. And — yet — just like the Israelites — we think this is how our relationship with God works. And here’s what usually ends up happening.

In believing what we do is what will make us right with God — we’re just like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. And their greatest mistake — like any of us who try to write our own rules — is that we end up ignoring what God’s Word tells us about righteousness. That’s why Jesus had this to say about the Pharisees and all of their rules.

Matthew 23:23–24 (NLT)

23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!

They had defined being right with God to include tithing — or giving ten percent — of the herbs that grew in their garden. And notice that Jesus doesn’t dismiss the act of tithing. What he dismisses is the idea where obeying a religious rule over here releases you from the obligation to obey what God has said over there.

Never forget what God’s Word says about God’s law — his commands that we’re to obey. For example, the book of Psalms begins with…

Psalm 1 (NLT)

1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2 But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. 3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. 4 But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. 5 They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. 6 For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

So God’s law — his Word and commands — how he tells us to live — is to be our delight. Not because it tells us what we’re to do to earn God’s favor — not because it lists the things we’re to achieve in order to be right with God — but because those who recognize what God has done for them in sending his Son — Jesus Christ — who realize that their achievements and passions will never be enough — and instead put all of their trust in what Jesus accomplished on their behalf — these are the people for whom the law is no longer viewed as a means of salvation — but instead is seen as the way those loved by God — and who love him in return — are to live.

We know the Pharisees didn’t understand this about the law because they did what we all like to do: make sure we tip the scales of the law in our favor, right?

Where we have a bunch of rules that we’re good at following and then tell ourselves that following these rules — and only these rules — is what makes us right with God. And these can be good, moral — even biblical — rules. Like reading our Bibles and showing up to church. Or giving money to charity or volunteering our time at a local homeless shelter. The options are nearly limitless to the kinds of rules we’ll use to say we’re right with God.

Like always voting for a certain political party — because we all know that’s what makes you right with God — or not watching anything above PG-13 or — if you do — make sure you squint your eyes when too much skin is shown — because we all know that squinting our eyes pleases God. If you want to pray a dangerous prayer — ask God: God, how am I trying to be righteous by following a list of rules that I’ve picked to be in my favor? Like the Pharisees — what of your Word do I ignore because if I didn’t I’d clearly see how the scales are not tipped in my favor?

Here’s another way to think of this. On a bad day — a day where you missed your alarm, was late to class or work, yelled at your spouse or kids or best friend, said a four letter word when that car swerved in front of you causing you to spill scalding hot coffee all over your shirt on your way to Life Group — on a day like that — how much does God love you? Compared to a day when you woke up fifteen minutes before your alarm and spent that extra fifteen minutes in prayer for every co-worker by name and then went on to your BSF study on Revelation, and as your driving your kids to school you had the sweetest time of worship because K-Love played all the right songs as if the Spirit of God chose them just for you, and while grocery shopping you paid for the groceries of the person in front of you who couldn’t find their wallet, and handed out water bottles to all of the students running around the neighborhood for cross country practice — on a day like that — how much does God love you?

We’re so used to the conditional love of others and — in not meeting their expectations — their abandonment — that we confuse God’s unconditional love as if his love for us is based on what we do.

And we Christians — and you don’t have to be a Christian to do this — but I’ll just pick on my people right now — we Christians can be silly when it comes to saying that following this list of religious rules is what make me right with God and earns his love. And I wish silly was where it all would end — but we can be divisive because of our rules, proud because of our rules, unloving because of our rules, and self-deceived because of our rules.

Add to all of this — as Paul says — how we pursue being right with God based on our achievements — and often do so with great passion and zeal. In verse two of chapter ten he writes…

Romans 10:2 (NLT)

2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal.

And — passion — or enthusiasm — especially in our culture today — is viewed as the trump card — as the determining factor for whether or not something is true. Yet — just like the Israelites in Paul’s day — passion without knowledge — is just overzealous ignorance.

Again — Paul says it this way.

Romans 10:3 (NLT)

3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.

And there’s a lot of ignorance going around these days — a large amount of “refusing to accept God’s way and clinging to their own way” when it comes to what makes a person right with God. Oh it’s full of passion — but that doesn’t make it any less ignorant. And I say this — not to be proud — but because passionate ignorance is damnable. I don’t care how passionately you believe something — that doesn't make what you believe to be true. And — in our day — there’s a pursuit that’s nothing more than an act of futility: thinking that our achievements and passions will make us right with God.

A RIGHTEOUS PURSUIT

Which leads us to the counter to this pursuit of futility — an actual righteous pursuit in being righteous with God. Meaning there is a right way to go about pursuing a relationship with God. And — given what we’ve seen — that righteousness is not to be pursued by our achievements — no matter how passionate we may pursue them — how are we to pursue righteousness? Paul tells us — wasn’t that kind of him? In verse thirty he writes…

Romans 9:30 (ESV)

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;

In verse thirty-three he says…

Romans 9:33 (ESV)

33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

And in verse four — of chapter ten — he writes…

Romans 10:4 (ESV)

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

The only way to pursue being right with God is by faith. Faith in who? Not in ourselves. Not in our achievements. Not in anything we do. For it’s faith in the stone — Paul says. The Rock. The One who — when believed in — means a release from the shame so many carry with them everywhere they go because of all the things they’ve failed to achieve. Faith in Jesus Christ — for he is the end of the law — meaning he perfectly fulfilled the law and achieved what none of us could do — and he did so without tipping the scales of the law in his favor. He did it all — everything we read in the law — and he did it all perfectly. And — that means — Jesus is right with God his Father.

And — back to the idea of promises and truths that should floor us — and cause us to drop down to our knees in thanksgiving — and to wake up to the reality of the futility of making up our own set of rules and spending so much time judging others for how crappy they are at keeping our rules instead of facing how crappy we are at keeping God’s rules — all who believe in Jesus — are given his righteousness. Through faith in him — God the Father credits you with the righteousness that Jesus achieved.

In another place Paul says it this way.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)

21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

On all of the peer evals — Jesus always ends up on top — number one — it’s not even close. And though he has every right to take what he’s earned and keep it all for himself — which is exactly what we’d all do — in fact — we’ll even take what we haven’t earned and keep that for ourselves to — thank you very much — but not Jesus.

In love for you — in love for his people — in love for the children of the promise — the remnant he’s chosen — he blesses his people with his righteousness because they believe in him. And — in being blessed with his righteousness — in being loved by him — we pursue obedience to all he’s commanded. We work — yes! But we work because we’re loved — we’re loved — we’re loved. We pursue obedience — absolutely! But we do so — you do so and I do so — because I am loved by God. I am loved by God. I am loved by God.

CONCLUSION

One final thought — and this takes us right back into the middle of the tension of where we’ve been and where we’ll continue to head in these chapters of Romans. For — remember — Paul is explaining why the Israelites — God’s chosen people — have — as a group — not every individual Jew — but overall the Israelites rejected Jesus as the Messiah — and Paul is explaining how this is the case.

He’s defended God’s sovereignty in his plan of salvation. There’s always been a true Israel within the larger nation of Israel.

He’s defended God’s sovereignty in his plan of salvation for individuals. Isaac not Ishmael. Jacob not Esau.

Paul’s defended God’s sovereignty in his choosing to be merciful towards some and not others — not based on what a person does — but a decision solely up to God.

And — now — in demonstrating a path of futility that many are on — of pursuing a right relationship with God based on what they do — Paul — and again here’s the messiness of all of this — Paul prays that they might be saved. Did you catch that? In verse one of chapter ten Paul says…

Romans 10:1 (ESV)

1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

I know it’s been quite some time since we returned to Romans — but do you remember how Paul began this section of his letter? By demonstrating a deep love for those who are lost — for those who don’t yet believe in Jesus. And — here once again — we see his love for them. For his heart’s desire is that they may be saved by believing in Jesus. This is what he prays about — the salvation of those who are caught up in a futile pursuit of being made right with God. He prays that God would save them from their futility.

Which means that we too — can believe in God’s sovereignty in salvation as we love people — and desire for them to understand how they are made right with God. Not based on their achievements — no matter how passionate they may pursue them. And not based on a set of rules that they — or others — make. But that they would understand that they only way to be made right with God is by faith in Jesus Christ.

PRAYER

God, this cultural treadmill of our value being determined by what we’ve achieved is so exhausting. So many are desperate to get off — but they know of no other way to live. Yet you’ve offered us another way — resting in who you say that we are — trusting in your value of us.

Holy Spirit — the treadmill we’re on is going so fast that — if we’re honest — it’s scary to think of how to get off of it. Maybe we’ll go flying off the back in a mess of a crash. At least — for now at least — we’re keeping up. Would you give us confidence and trust in you so that we’re willing to crash? Not that we will crash — but may our fear of crashing — because we step off the treadmill of what we do and achieve being the definition of our value to ourselves and the world — may our trust in you be greater than our fear of what may come if we step off the treadmill.

And — Jesus — when we really ponder what you’ve done — especially compared to what we’ve accomplished — it does seem ridiculous to think that somehow we’ll out perform you. Why even try — that is the question. Not in a sense of hopeless self-defeat — but in a hope-filled sense of victory. For your works and achievements — perfect obedience — a life pleasing to your Father — a sacrifice made for our sin — the defeat of Satan, death, and Hell — you give to your people. No pretending that we’ve done or earned anything — no need to pretend. Nothing but sheer joy in your love for us.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — may you draw more and more people to your love for them so they might experience the joy of what Jesus has achieved on their behalf. Life — life to it’s full. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

May you go trusting in Christ’s work on your behalf — experiencing the freedom of God’s love for you — not because you’ve earned or deserve it — but love that he’s said is yours. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.