A Matter of the Heart
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The wedding ring has an interesting tradition. It dates back to nearly the time of Christ. Even before then, rings were given as signs of devotion, but not marriage. So one could take a lover and be devoted to her and show it through giving a ring. But the wedding ring as we know it came about around the 8th century. This was before there was any wedding ceremony. A man and woman who desired to be married simply declared their intentions and the man gave her a “wed” or a “token of devotion”. Usually that “wed” was a ring and so the two became synonymous. Sadly though, there often were not witnesses and was no officiator so at some point, either person could state that the offering of the wed never happened. Then in the 12th century, the Church of Rome added a ceremony and made marriage a sacrament. They kept the tradition of offering the wed, the ring. The Puritans didn’t have wedding rings. Rings were considered too flashy. Instead their husbands would lovingly give them a thimble. It wasn’t for centuries though that men started wearing wedding rings. Until then, it was usually only women who war the ring. But then World War 2 broke out. American men were going overseas and began wearing rings to remind them of their covenant vows to their wives at home.
When we think of baptism, we think often of the same idea. We often describe baptism as an outward sign of an inward change. That is why we are Baptists. You won’t hear people who baptize infants describe baptism in such a way. The same should have been considered true about circumcision. Though circumcision was a little different, it was a sign to remind Abraham and his descendants of God’s covenant with them. That’s what we are talking about this morning.
Over the past few weeks, we have been looking at how God is interested in obedience to his law, whether that obedience is to his law that is written on paper or parchment or stone or whatever outward means of writing there was or whether that law was simply written on our hearts. And as we saw, every person naturally takes God’s truth and suppresses it in unrighteousness. Showing that there is indeed a rebellious heart, a rebellious soul, hidden beneath this flesh and bone. But that is what God is seeking. We saw a couple of weeks ago that when Jesus comes back to judge he will make the secret things known. So if God searches and judges the hidden realities of every person then every person ought to be more concerned about who they are inwardly than what they appear to be outwardly. In order to switch our mindsets from outward to inward, we need to accept three matters that Paul brings up. We need to accept how God reckons and reckon the same way. We need to accept how Gentiles will one day rule in the God’s courtroom. We need to accept how God regards us and dismiss how society does.
1. How God Reckons
2. How Gentiles Will Rule
3. How God Regards
So please stand with me in the honor of reading God’s Word
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
But 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.
How God Reckons
How God Reckons
The first matter that we see in this text this morning is the matter of how God reckons circumcision; and as we will see, we could extend that to any external religious practice. If God searches and judges the hidden areas of a person, then it is important for us to understand how God reckons external religious practices that we are so prone to follow.
A few weeks ago, during Advent, I had given you a gift. It was the gift of “because/for.” I told you that often times you can find the main theme of a passage when you see the word because. It is the cause that gives an effect. Often we look at the effect and neglect the cause. And it is often the cause that is the main point. But I said that often times this is the case, but not always. This is one of those not always times. Paul wrote,
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
That “for” there is not causal. To change the word “for” to the word “because” doesn’t make sense. Instead, this “for” is a clarification and not a cause. Paul just grilled the Jews severely for their hypocrisy and declared that the Gentiles are blaspheming God. If we were to ask why, and Paul said, “Because circumcision is of value if you obey the law,” it doesn’t make much sense, does it? Instead, Paul is clarifying the how and not the why. Paul began an argument in verses 17-19, but suddenly changed course.
But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God
and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law;
and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
We know where he is going with this. But he goes off on a tangent as if he cannot believe the hypocrisy of the Jews. They had the law. They boast in the law. The know his will and approve it. They’re instructed by the law and so on. Paul’s point was that the law was written for them and they had it and they blew it. It’s as if he imagines the response to his inflammatory statement: “How dare you! We are the people of the covenant! We have the sign of the covenant! We are circumcised!” And his response then is verse 25. Let’s read it again.
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
Paul is giving God’s perspective, not man’s. From man’s point of view they had been circumcised on the eighth day just as the covenant demanded. From that point on, they were good. Like the old story of the wife complaining to her husband he never tells her he loves her, his response is “I told you at the altar; if that changes, I’ll let you know.” “I was circumcised on the eighth day, if that changes, I’ll let you know.” That answer isn’t good enough for the wife and not good enough for God. How God reckons needs to be how the Christian reckons, always. How God reckons circumcision is that it is only of value if the law is kept. But God does not reckon circumcision of any value if the law is broken.
Going back to marriage, we know that a person can wear a wedding ring. Nothing actually stops a person from going out a buying a wedding ring if he or she wants to. The wedding ring does not make a person married. Neither does baptism make a person saved. Neither does circumcision make a person a Jew. We could take it one step further and say that a married man could certainly wear a wedding ring and act as if he is not married. There are many men who wear their wedding bands and look at pornography, go to strip clubs, or commit the physical act of adultery. In that moment, there is an act of betrayal to the covenant vows. Does that mean that forgiveness from the spouse cannot happen? No. Many married couples work through the pain and develop even stronger ties of covenant renewal. But if we were honest, we would have to say that the man or woman who wears the wedding ring can indeed not act the part of a wedded spouse. At that moment the ring means nothing. The ring is of value when the marital vows are taken seriously.
So it is with God’s covenant people. God does not reckon a Jew a Jew just because he’s circumcised. It’s a matter of the heart. This is we are to reckon too. It’s a godly, bi`blical recognition. We are not to judge a person to be part of the covenant on outward religious ceremony alone. Circumcision is right and good for the Jew who is obeying the law. Baptism is right for the Christian who is committed to Jesus.
If we reckon as God reckons, then it puts us in opposition to the society around us. Our society looks outwardly. Sixty-five percent of American adults consider themselves Christians. Yet, what is that based on? Much of it is based on outward religious ceremony. Baptism, walking an aisle, going to church, being generous, volunteerism, etc. Some might be considering themselves Christian because they were born into a Christian home or went to a Christian church growing up or even a parochial school. Yet John wrote,
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Christians are not born of blood. They aren’t born into Christianity. They are not Christians by the will of flesh. One doesn’t just will himself or herself to believe. One is not married into Christianity (that phrase, “will of man,” is better translated “will of the husband.”). The only way to be a Christian is for God to do a dramatic work in your heart.
All these outward marks, declarations, religious rights are valuable only if something has happened inwardly. But if they are outward only, they are of no value. God reckons these things as if they never even happened. Circumcised without obedience to the law? You just got cut. Baptized without faith? You just got wet.
However the opposite is true also. Paul wrote,
So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
That “so,” is a conclusion. If the Gentile doesn’t get circumcised but keeps the law, then that obedience is reckoned as circumcision. In other words, the Gentile is considered to be in the covenant. This may not seem right to people. How can obedience be seen as circumcision? Jesus gave a short parable and asked a very important question at the end.
“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.
And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.
Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.
Notice, the “changed his mind” in verse 29. Something inward happened to the first son. The second son was actually inwardly more rebellious than the first. He said the right things giving outward honor, but never intended to go. The first son outwardly defied, but realized his mistake, changed his mind, and went. And so, the first son was reckoned obedient from the heart.
We need to remember that there were stern Jewish Christians that had a hard time letting go of the ceremonial aspects of the law. Circumcision was important. It was so important to them that they could not see how a Gentile could truly be Christian if he was not circumcised. Paul argues that keeping the law is really what is important. Circumcision is simply a sign of covenant faithfulness, but it is not covenant faithfulness itself. Just as a wedding ring is a sign of marriage but is not marriage itself.
We see the same thing when Jesus was on the cross. The one thief puts his faith in Jesus but has no opportunity to be baptized. The baptism didn’t save him. His faith in Jesus did.
Sadly, too many people base their eternal state on a religious experience. This is both a personal problem and a corporate one. It’s personal when the person believes that because they were baptized or raised in the church or were born into a certain family that they are Christian and their eternal life is secured. But it is also corporate when the family or the local church or even the universal church simply points to a religious experience as proof. He was baptized when he was seven. She went to church until she was 18. He was catechized. She was confirmed. Rather than dealing with the horrid reality that a religious outward expression is no proof of salvation, we lull ourselves into a complacency rather than urgency.
How Gentiles Will Rule
How Gentiles Will Rule
This leads us to the second matter that Paul brought up. The first was that if God searches and judges the hidden realities of every person, then we need to see how God reckons and align our reckoning with his. The second is that if God searches and judges the hidden realities of every person, then we too need to understand the judgment to come. In essence, we need to understand how the Gentiles will rule as part of God’s courtroom.
Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
At one point in time, Jesus was approached by the Pharisees and Scribes and asked for a sign. Jesus’s response was horrifying to say the least.
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Nineveh would judge the righteous Pharisees and Scribes. Those who were thought to be the most righteous and religious of any Jew. Those whose job it was to interpret and write and live by the law would be judged by the Ninevites who were considered some of the most evil people in the world. Why? Because they repented and believed in Jonah’s message, but the Pharisees and Scribes refused to believe in the gospel. The same would be with the Queen of the South who was amazed at Solomon’s wisdom and lavished him with praise and gold. She did not treat him with contempt as the Pharisees and Scribes did with Jesus. So those who were Gentiles would rise against the Jewish leaders and condemn them because it wasn’t a matter of circumcision that gave a person a right to judge, but a matter of the heart.
What Paul was doing in these verses was destroying any sense that Jews were superior to Gentiles. Because of the covenant God made with Abraham, and its sign of circumcision, many thought they were superior. Paul destroyed such an argument. In fact, spiritually speaking, they were inferior if, as Jews they broke God’s laws while Gentiles were keeping it. Their hearts were condemnable while the Gentiles were righteous.
Now we have the causal statement. Here is the main point in this passage:
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
But 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.
Why is it that a Gentile can condemn a Jew in the future judgment? “Because” it is not a matter of the outward circumcision. A true Jew is one inwardly. Circumcision is a matter of the heart. It is not a circumcision that a rabbi does during a bris. It is something that the Holy Spirit does when a person is born again. This isn’t just Paul’s conclusion; he didn’t just pull this thought out of midair. This was what Moses taught fifteen hundred years before.
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?
Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.
Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
The physical act of circumcision was simply a promised sign of what was to happen. It was given so that every man when looking down would be reminded that he must circumcise his heart. Just like a man or woman looking at their left ring finger is reminded of their covenant vows to their spouse and so act at all times as a married man or woman.
But a man can't literally cut his own heart. That’s why Paul wrote that it was the Holy Spirit who was doing this.
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
This is what happened on the cross. Paul brought this very thing up in
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
This may at first sound confusing, but what Paul wrote here is that your heart was circumcised by God when Christ put off his fleshly body. In other words, when Christ died and the soul was separated from his body, God made it possible to circumcise your heart. The circumcision of Christ is not the circumcision when he was eight days old, but the “circumcision” of death. It wasn’t the cutting away of the foreskin, but the cutting away of the entire body. Baptism is symbolic of our circumcised hearts. So we are right in saying that baptism is an outward sign of an inward change. Though we may be physically uncircumcised, we are spiritually circumcised because of what God has done.
So what does all of this mean? It means that as Paul wrote in
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
But 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.
It means that those who have received Jesus as the Lord are reckoned as Jews and therefore receive the promises that were given to Jews. One such promise, among many, is the promise to rule, to judge as we reign with Christ. Some have difficulty with the promises of the Old Testament. Which apply and which do not. Often this comes from the idea of Dispensationalism which separates Israel as a people and nation from Gentile Christians. But Paul here says that a true Jew is one inwardly. Thus, a Gentile can be a truer Jew than one physically descended from Abraham if the Gentile is circumcised by the Spirit and not by the letter of the law. This was Paul’s point to the Galatians.
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
And again in
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
This is why Paul can tell the Corinthians:
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
How God Regards
How God Regards
Which leads us to the third matter Paul mentions. The first was that if God is searching and judging the inward areas of our lives, we ought to reckon how God reckons. We too better start looking inwardly and not at external religious matters. The second was that if God is searching and judging the inward areas of our lives, we had better come to an understanding of how Gentiles rule. They have a place in God’s court because it is not a matter of being physically circumcised according to the letter of the law, but spiritually circumcised through faith in Jesus. Thus, the spiritually circumcised is the true Jew. But now we need to see that if God is searching and judging the inward areas of our lives, we ought to be more concerned about how God regards us than how man regards us.
But 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.
Paul makes a pun here. He’s making a play on words. The word “Jew” is derived from the head of the Jews, Judah. If you go back to Leah’s declaration when Judah was born you’d see her say, that because of Judah’s birth, she would praise the Lord. Judah sounds like “udeh” which means praise. Paul here was telling the Jews to live up to their own identity. Seek God’s praise, not man’s. Humans look at the outer person. They see the religious expressions. Are they circumcised? Are they baptized? Did they take communion this time? Are they doing this thing or that thing? Are they avoiding those things and these things. That pressure to receive man’s praise is great. We don’t want to be shamed. We want to be respected and praised. So we go through the religious movements without much concern about how God regards us so long as man regards us well. Paul reminds us that God sees deeper than a person ever could. Let us seek God’s praise over those around us.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we conclude this passage, we have seen how important it is to look into the matters that Paul expressed in Romans 2:25-29. If God searches and judges the hidden areas of person then we need to consider how God reckons a person’s righteousness, how Gentiles will judiciously rule if they are in Christ because they are true Jews, and how we ought to be concerned with how God regards us rather than people.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus, understand that all of your religious practices, all of your righteous acts, all of your strivings to get God to love you more are worthless. But if you will put your trust in the work of Christ Jesus, your heart will be made new and you will be in God’s family forever.
This morning’s sermon is one in which pendulums can swing too far to either side and so we must be careful about what we are hearing in our hearts. On one side, we can be very pharisaical. Pharisaical people seek to earn God’s love through the outward expressions of religion. On the other side, we can be very antionomial. Antinomials don’t believe that there are any rules and that life can be lived as they want because God’s grace covers it all. Both of those views are heretical. We need to live in between these two sides. There will be times when we will probably lean one way or the other, but the moment we find that we are we need to turn and come back to the reality. The reality is that the God who circumcised your heart, is putting new affections, new thoughts, new delights, new ways in it. He is making all things new. And those new things that are being put within you, you have the opportunity to express in your actions and many will be religious: baptism, the Lord’s Supper, going to church, giving tithes or offerings, and so on. It’s not because you are seeking to merit God’s favor or love, but because it is natural for whatever is in a person’s heart to express it with his or her body.