Unashamed: Romans 2:1-29
Unashamed: A Series on Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome
excited to preach to HS again
staying in Unashamed series
Open up to Romans 2 we will be camping here today.
While you do this, imagine yourself in Rome. Walking down a cobblestone street. Feeling the individual stones between your toes. You are so focused on that that your barely notice the lady calling you over to her. She looks familiar but you can’t remember her name. You remember that she is the leader of one of the House Churches here in Rome that is for the Jewish Followers of Christ. She talks your ear off for a bit and tells you that your followership of Christ is not right. She tells you that what you are doing is not following the Law of God and you are living in wickedness. You snap back at her that she is the one who is living antiquated and in the old ways. You two cannot agree on anything and you storm off to your house church. The leader of your church comes in and is extremely excited. He exclaims that the letter from Paul that has been rumored is here. He begins to read it, and you are listening but not fully.
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Your attention is now full. You remember back to just a little bit ago and think to yourself was Paul watching us? Now is the time to pay attention you think.
How amazing
listening to the letter than WHAM smacked in the face with something you just did minutes ago
I know this happens to me when i read scripture
Sometimes when im reading, WHAM smacked in the mouth by God’s Word
I think he was intending to slap the listener’s awake here
The verbal smackdown comes because
Paul hears about the fighting between the two camps
Jewish
Gentile
The Jewish followers are claiming they are superior to the gentile followers
the gentile followers are claiming they are superior to the jewish followers
He wanted to hammer home that the judgment they are handing down to one another is not right
Paul goes on
Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Here he is saying
“Come on now, don’t you know that by judging others for things you are doing the same thing you are judging them for?!? You should be accepting God’s love, grace, and kindness and repenting for your own faults!”
We judge people as human beings
it is part of our broken nature
this doesn’t make it right though
Rumors and gossip run amuck at school and in your social circles
When you hear these negative comments you judge that person’s character
Maybe the person giving the rumor is
lying
Maybe the person the rumor is about is
promiscious
lying themselves
gotten into trouble with school administration
gotten into trouble with the law
When we hear these things we judge others and this can easily turn into Gossip
this is not right in God’s sight.
this is not right morally either.
When you Gossip you are doing just as much wrong as the person who started it in God’s sight
Have you ever played the telephone game?
even with 4 people playing the phrase is not the same as when it started
This is what happens when you Gossip
the information gets twisted and contorted to fit each person’s individual narrative
And when we do this we are passing judgment on others
Because of our broken nature we tend to not think of the consequences of our judgment of others.
Paul reminds the Roman readers of this consequence
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. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”
He calls the readers Stubborn and unrepentant
is that not the truth of us today?
I can be stubborn
especially when i think im right
I was having a conversation with one of my employees about how a certain thing worked with cooking. He was telling me the right way and I was telling him the way that I thought it worked. We argued for about a half hour and we both got frustrated. We left the conversation both upset with each other, and I went home. The next day I saw him again and we were still frustrated with each other and did not say much to each other. I was working and had to do the process to prep something for the weekend. While doing the process that I was advocating for I realized I was wrong and he was right. This is the part of the story where I swallow my pride and go to him and say my bad, I was wrong you were right. Right? Wrong. I allowed an unrepentant heart to take hold of me and I didn’t apologize to him and swallow my pride. Yesterday I texted him and told him he was right and his way was correct and more efficient. But, that was because of this text. In the moment I allowed stubbornness and unrepentantness to take hold of my character at the time. This is why staying in the Word is helpful to the broken nature that we all possess.
Paul goes on to remind the readers on how God’s judgment will work
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.
Last week we talked about wickedness and Godlessness
The judgment of godlessness will be swift
but the judgment of the wickedness will be dependent on repentance.
We live in a self motivated society
we tend to lie and cheat
we tend to manipulate and be prideful
These actions lead us on a slippery slope of God’s judgment and wrath.
But when we focus on glory, honor and peace we are led to community
Glory and honor can get messy
the glory and honor here is not self
it is the glory and honor of God
This is modeled to us by Christ
he sought the glory and honor of God in everything he did
he also intended to bring peace
he attributed everything he did to God
This is the road we need to be firmly planted on and walking
Paul goes off on a tangent next
It seems clear to me that Paul was writing about judging others and knew what each group of followers were judging the other about.
Paul knew the law well as a jewish follower of Christ.
got frustrated when writing
Spirit convicted
he was fed up and knew they knew better
He knew better before his conversion about persecuting others
his eyes were opened at his conversion by the Risen Jesus
I imagine him throwing down his pen and yelling before writing this next part.
He focuses directly to the Jewish follower
Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
He is outright calling them out here.
he is saying if you call yourself a Jew and one of God’s chosen people then listen up.
He goes on to say
you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
He is saying so eloquently
YOU HIPOCRITES!
You claim to do all this but yet do the exact opposite with your judgements
He is saying get your nose out of the air
look inward
He is saying Stop being so arrogant and judgmental of those who were never given the law directly.
As hes yelling at them he twists the knife a little bit
As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
Paul is paraphrasing several OT verses but a main one is Ezekiel 36:22
“Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.
he is saying yeah you know the law, but are you following it?
Are you adding to the reason why God’s name is being blasphemed?
He is instructing them not to be that reason.
He focus’s even further
one of the main arguments was the Jewish followers thought they were higher because they were circumcised.
He tells them that he knows circumcision is part of the law
But if your circumcised and not following the law are you really circumcised?
He also says if someone is not circumcised and doesnt know the law, but yet follows the law anyway, arent they already circumcised?
He gives this thought provoking question
A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
Law, and circumcision in this case, is something that is inward not outward. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior we receive the Holy Spirit on our hearts. This is what our circumcision is. We are circumcised from the worldly ways and evil.
I will leave you with this thought-provoking question. Are you truly circumcised in your heart from the worldly ways and of evil? Are you judging others, Gossiping, or being self-seeking? If you are I would argue that you are not truly circumcised. I challenge you to refute judgment of others and Gossip. Don’t spread the Gossip you hear and seek the honor and Glory of God. If you fall into the slope of judgment and Gossip repent your judgment and gossip to God and to others. Try your hardest to allow the circumcision of your heart to take hold of your life.
Will you Pray with me?
Father God, thank you for this day. Thank you for the ability to meet with these students. Thank you for each and every one of these students, leaders, and volunteers. Thank you for your Word and the conviction that the Spirit puts on our hearts. Thank you for the circumcision of our hearts. I pray that any student, leader, or volunteer that is falling into the judgement trap have the conviction to repent for it and can speak to someone about it. I pray that those who have been on the receiving end of the judgment and gossip can find peace in you. I pray that those who are self-seeking can find honor and glory in you and strive to walk with you. I pray all this in the powerful name of your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.
