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I haven't watched much of the winter Olympics
this last fortnight, but I did happen to be watching the
night there was all the controversy about the figure
skating. I saw the Russian pair do their thing, then
watched as the commentary team analysed their performance
in slow motion showing all the mistakes they'd made. Then
I watched the Canadian pair do what appeared to be a
flawless routine, only to be awarded the silver medal
behind the Russians. Well, it seemed fairly obvious even
to my untrained eye that a great injustice had been done.
And so it did to a great majority of others. So much so
that there was a call for an inquiry. People wanted to
see justice done and in the end the Canadians were made
equal gold medallists with the Russians. |
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We feel a great sense of outrage, don't we, when
we see some injustice done. We've seen it in the last few
weeks with the controversy over the Governor- General's
role in dealing with child sex abusers. We don't want to
see people getting away with what we perceive as evil
deeds. We've seen it this last week with Kevan Gosper's
son being admitted to Melbourne Uni ahead of others who
had equal or higher scores than he. |
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We've seen it with the boat people scandal - the
asylum seekers who didn't in fact throw their children
overboard. People have been crying out for an
explanation, for the truth behind the claims by the
government before the election that these people were
throwing their children overboard to get our sympathy.
We're outraged by the thought that it was in fact the
politicians who were looking for our sympathy and playing
up these fictitious reports just to get votes. |
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And if the truth should turn out to be that they
knew the real story all along, then we'd be crying out
for justice to be done. |
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Paul is writing to the Romans, to a church made
up of Jews and Gentiles, to convince them that salvation
comes by God's grace alone. He wants them to understand
that salvation is law-free, grace based and Christ
centred. So he's begun by pointing out how the efforts of
human beings to obey God are essentially flawed, that
rather than responding to the truth of God as witnessed
to by the creation, we've suppressed the truth and
followed our own foolish thinking. And he can just
imagine some of the people in the church there thinking
to themselves how right Paul is; how terrible the world
outside the church has become, how deluded people are,
perhaps even how deluded some of them used to be, before
they saw the light. How just God would be to bring down
the fire of his judgement on these people. And he
imagines, especially, how the Jewish Christians in the
church may be reacting to his statements about the
foolishness of pagan religion. |
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This is how people so often react in fact. They
look at other people's foolishness or wickedness and pass
judgement on them. The evils that Paul has pointed out
are so obvious that anyone can see how far those people
have gone astray. But, Paul points out, they're making a
mistake in judging these people. In fact they're making
three mistakes. Can you see what they are? |
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A false basis for judgement |
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The first mistake is that they're using a false
basis for judgement. They're judging these people as
though they're different from themselves. That's so often
the way we judge others isn't it? It's as though we have
faulty vision. Now I can speak with some authority on
this. There was a time, you see, when I had 2020 vision
at all distances. Just 8 or 9 years ago I could examine
the fine print of the newspaper very comfortably without
squinting. I could see as far into the distance as the
horizon allowed. But then I got old! I developed
presbyopia, literally old-age vision. My eyes could no
longer focus on anything close to me. I can see very
clearly anything that's some distance away, but when I
look up close it's all fuzzy. Well, it's a bit like that
when we judge other people. We can see quite clearly all
the faults that they have, but when we look down at
ourselves, or even look in the mirror, it's a bit fuzzy.
The specks are a bit harder to see. Of course, Jesus
warned us about this didn't he. He told us to be careful
about offering to remove a speck from our neighbours eye,
when our own eye has a plank in it. |
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So, here, Paul warns them that when they pass
judgement on others they're in great danger, because the
judgement is likely to apply equally to them. I can't
help thinking that a good number of the people who are
now crying foul about the children overboard fiction, are
the same people who responded to the opinion polls at the
time applauding the government for the hard line they
were taking and who rewarded the government for that
strong stand by re-electing them against all the odds.
"Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when
you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you
condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the
very same things." |
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No right nor the wherewithal to judge in the
first place |
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The second mistake they make is to think that
they have a right or even the wherewithal to judge in the
first place. He reminds them of what they already know,
"that God's judgment on those who do such things is
in accordance with truth." Yet we're mere human
beings. This is one of those places where the NRSV, in
it's efforts to avoid gender specific language, has
actually missed the point: that is, the contrast between
God as judge and us as mere mortals, limited human
beings. v.3 should read something like: "Do you
imagine, you mere mortal, that when you judge those who
do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape
the judgment of God?" In other words, how can we
possibly hope to take on a role that belongs only to God,
when our grasp of the truth is so limited. One of the
rules of thumb of any relationship breakdown is that
there are always 3 sides to the story : his, hers and the
truth. Only God knows and understands all the depths of
the human heart and mind. Only God knows everything that
happens. Only God can judge what someone intended by
their actions. |
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There's a serious warning here for those who
tend to be quick to judge, quick to raise their voices
when they see some injustice being done. The judgement
you make may well have some merit, but ask yourself
whether you have the merit that allows you to make
it. |
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You no doubt remember the incident when some
Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus for judgement. She'd
been caught in the very act of adultery. There would seem
to be little doubt about her guilt and Jesus acknowledged
it. But what was the judgement he gave? "Let anyone
among you who is without sin be the first to throw a
stone at her." But no-one did, did they? Not one of
those people present had enough merit to pass judgement
on her. All of them stood in the same need of God's grace
and mercy as she did. And even Jesus chose not to carry
out the judgement on her that she deserved, though he was
qualified to do it. Why? Because judgement belongs to
God. And especially because the whole reason Jesus had
come was to take the punishment that the woman deserved
on himself. So don't imagine that just because we've been
brought to God and taught his commandments and know the
gospel, that that gives us the right to judge anyone
else. The moment we begin to judge others, we place
ourselves under that very same judgement. |
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And that brings us to the third mistake. Look at
v4. |
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They've forgotten God's Grace |
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He wants to remind us of the basis on which we
live within the covenant people of God, whether we're
Jews, or Christians. I've asked you this before and I'll
no doubt ask you again, several times probably before we
finish this study of Romans. On what basis are you able
to call yourself a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ,
a child of God? |
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It's not on the basis of your obedience to the
law is it? At least I hope it isn't, because if it is,
you haven't got a leg to stand on. Not one person in this
room has got anywhere near the level of righteousness
that would allow us to stand before God for even a
millisecond. No, the only basis on which we can claim to
be a member of the covenant people of God is the basis
given here in v4. Look at it. "Do you despise the
riches of his kindness and forbearance and
patience?" This is the basis on which we stand: The
riches of God's kindness; his incredible forbearance and
patience with us rebellious human beings. We'll hear more
of this kindness and forbearance in the next few chapters
of course, but can you see what it does to the grace of
God shown to us, if we turn back to law and judgement
when we look at others. It scorns it, despises it. And it
ignores what God's grace should lead to, that is
repentance. |
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It's all very well, you see, to cry out for
justice, but the danger of asking for justice is that
when God metes out justice he does it without favour.
Justice for all will be a terrible concept on the last
day. Listen to how Amos describes it: (Amos 5:18-20 NRSV)
"Alas for you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do
you want the day of the LORD? It is darkness, not light; 19as
if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or
went into the house and rested a hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a snake. 20Is not the day of
the LORD darkness, not light, and gloom with no
brightness in it?" |
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If we begin to desire God's judgement to be
brought down on our fellow human beings, we risk it also
falling on us. Because in the end God will judge all
people in truth. |
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So what is the appropriate response to God's
great kindness and forbearance and patience? |
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Repentance |
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v4: "Do you not realize that God's kindness
is meant to lead you to repentance?" The appropriate
response to God's grace in the first instance is to turn
to him in repentance. To bow before his feet and ask for
his forgiveness for our sins. Someone once said that it's
very hard to look down on someone when you're kneeling at
Jesus feet. The alternative to repentance is stubborn
refusal to admit our failings, to think that we're good
enough by ourselves, not to mention better than the next
person. But all that does is to store up wrath for
ourselves, wrath that we'll receive on the last day when
God's righteous judgement is revealed. |
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The second response to God's grace is: |
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Persistence in doing good |
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He says: "to those who by patiently doing
good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will
give eternal life." Now this is one of those places
where there's a certain amount of ambiguity. He could be
saying that there are some people, who consistently live
a life of righteousness, who will be found to be OK with
God. The trouble with that idea is that he goes on in ch
3 to say that no-one is righteous. The other way of
reading this is to understand him to be talking about
those who respond in faith to the grace they've received,
and by the Spirit's help set their minds on the things of
God. |
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In fact he makes it clear in v11-16, that the
fate of all people, Jew, Christian or pagan, is the same.
God will judge them in truth and without partiality. All
people will be judged according to the way they've obeyed
God's law. For those who have been given the written law,
for Jews and Christians, the basis of judgement will be
our obedience to that written law. To those who live
outside the community of God's people, those without the
written law, the basis for judgement will be their
response to God's law written on their hearts. He says
it's quite clear in the response of people from every
culture, to injustice, to evil, to things like murder and
theft and adultery, that the requirements of God's law
are written on the human heart from the beginning. So
they are a law to themselves. They too are without
excuse. In the end, we can all expect just one thing from
God's righteous judgement on the last day: to be found
wanting. "All who have sinned apart from the law
will also perish apart from the law, and all who have
sinned under the law will be judged by the law." |
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Well, again we return to ch1, vs16&17, to
the gospel of grace. Our only hope, on the last day, will
be to stand under the grace of God. We share that plight
with every human being on this earth. There are no levels
of righteousness that will matter on that day.
Respectable, upright, middle class Chris Appleby has no
more chance of surviving God's judgement on the last day
than the worst criminal on death row in some terrible
prison somewhere. It's no use me pointing to how terrible
someone else may be, because the moment I shine the light
of God's law on their faults, several of mine will be
brought into view as well. |
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No, my only hope is to turn to God in
repentance. My only hope, and yours, is to call on the
riches of God's kindness and forbearance and patience. To
turn to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because it's
"the power of God for salvation to everyone who has
faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it
the righteousness from God is revealed through faith for
faith." |
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Do I want truth and justice for all? Not if it's
based on my ability to obey God. What about God's grace
shown in Jesus' death and resurrection on my behalf, to
cleanse me of my sins and bring me safely to God? Yes
please! |
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My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
No merit of my own I claim,
But wholly trust in Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand |
