Introduction
As our reading begins, the apostle has been talking about the ways that human rebellion against God has led people-groups and nations to make up all sorts of different ideas about what God is like and all sorts of different ideas about what the life He has for us looks like, as well…
To the Romans 2:1-16 [NLTse]
You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. 2 And we know that God, in His justice, will punish anyone who does such things. 3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? 4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that His kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done. 7 He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. 8 But He will pour out His anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. 9 There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 10 But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it. 13 For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in His sight. 14 Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know His law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. 15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. 16 And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.
Sermon
The first Christians in Rome were likely Jews who had been converted on the Day of Pentecost during the famous sermon the Apostle Peter gave that day. After the Pentecost festivities, they would have returned to Rome continuing to practice their Jewish food, ceremonial, and morality laws while proclaiming that Jesus, their Messiah, had come and was with them! That would have been in AD 33. Over the years that followed, Gentiles would have likely joined them in their faith, but since Gentiles weren’t required to keep the food and ceremonial laws, the Gentiles would have practiced the faith somewhat differently.
Sometime in the 40’s (ten or so years later), the emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome – even Christian Jews – and so the Roman churches came to be made up of only Gentiles for the next ten years until Claudius’ death in AD 54, when his edict was repealed and Jews were permitted to return. This letter, from the Apostle Paul to the Christians in Rome, addresses the tensions the congregations in Rome were facing as the Jews returned, and as the Jewish and Gentile Christians began to clash on account of their culturally different ways of expressing their faith in Jesus.
As we are reading the New Testament together in 2016, and as I’ve committed to preach on something we’ve just read the week before, we’ve only gotten to the middle of chapter 3 in Romans so far. So, let me summarize that part of Paul’s argument that we have read:
Whether you are a Jew who knows and has always had God’s laws, or whether you are a Gentile just getting to know God’s story-with-humanity and striving to live in-step with the Holy Spirit, you are a sinner: A rebel against God and against His ways; perhaps a big sinner or perhaps a little sinner, but “no one is righteous – not even one.” (3:10) You are not a better Christian if you had or didn’t have God’s law. You’re not a worse Christian if you had or didn’t have God’s law. “No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” (3:11-12) Whether Jew or Gentile, whether Jewish Christian or Gentile Christian, the only hope for anyone – for everyone – is the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross making a way for us back to God. Bragging about your ancestry or what you do or don’t do, having confidence or putting your hope in anything other than Jesus Christ crucified-and-risen is foolishness and emptiness and death. But bragging and having confidence and hope in Christ is glory, peace, and everlasting life!
Let me unpack this a little bit more.
The Lord Jesus once told a story about two men who came to Jerusalem to pray. He said, “One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank You, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to Heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’” Jesus said, “I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home [declared innocent] before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:10-14) What’s Jesus getting at here?
He gives us a picture of one guy who knows his Bible well, who has really cleaned up his life, and who practices spiritual disciplines and gives money to the poor. And He gives us a picture of a second guy who’s a liar and a cheat and who steals from his family. They both go to church one Sunday and are praying, and Jesus tells us that the “good guy” goes away still in his sins (though they may be few) and that the “bad guy” goes away completely forgiven (though his sins had been many). Why?
Of course, Jesus tells us. He tells us that the “good guy” went away still in his sins because he knew about all the changes that had happened in his life – that is, he knew he knew the Bible pretty well, he knew he’d left behind him a lot of terrible sinning that he used to do, he knew that he gave money to the poor – he knew all these things and he was proud of the man he had become. And because he was proud of himself he went away still guilty in God’s sight.
But Jesus tells us that the other guy was so convicted of his own sin as he came into the church that he wouldn’t even look up towards Heaven as he prayed, but was sad and ashamed for all he’d done. And, because he kept God high and himself low, Jesus tells us that God forgave him his sins and that he went home that day declared innocent of sin by God. Because those who make much of themselves will be made little of by God, but those who make little of themselves will be made much of by God!
It is so great to be loved and adopted by the Father! But if it leads us to be proud and a “holier than thou” attitude then even our righteousness is causing us to sin. No, the only way to be truly great and to stay truly great is for us to humbly recognize our own sinfulness, and for us to humbly recognize that only Christ has made us and can keep us declared innocent of sin on account of His once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross. Not I, but Christ; if we’re going to boast let us only ever boast in the Lord.
The kindness of God in the cross of Jesus Christ can lead people to think too little of sin. But it is intended to lead us all to greater and ever-greater turning from sin. The kindness of God in the cross of Jesus Christ can lead people to take God’s love more and more for granted. But it is intended to fan the flames of our hearts into greater and ever-greater love for Him. The kindness of God in the cross of Jesus Christ can lead people into seeing their own sin as small and far less offensive than the sins of others around them. But it is intended to highlight to us our identity as sinners – whether our sins are grievous or mild – and to drive us to Him as our only our only hope for rescue and peace.