Romans 2:1-16  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. ² Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.… (To read the rest of the passage click HERE)

Here is a reminder of the prayer I prayed on Sunday when I preached that is ALWAYS appropriate when we look into God’s Word:

“Lord, would You capture my mind’s attention and my heart’s affection.”

In chapter 2 Paul addresses those who may be tempted to look down on others. Specifically he is addressing those who after reading chapter 1 might think, “That’s sick. People who do those things are terrible.”

Here are my takeaways from this passage:

1) I am very quick to judge other people. And I am especially quick to justify my sin by comparing my sin level to that of others. Paul is making sure that our reference point is not others but Christ. We will not be judged on whether we are less sinful that others but on whether we have the righteousness of Christ. When we understand this, really understand this, then it should make us less prone to pointing fingers at others because we realize that there are three pointing right back at us.

2) My other takeaway is this – I WILL be judged on the basis of what I do. But, I will not be saved on the basis of what I do! This is a key point that Paul will make throughout Romans. We are saved based on what Christ has done not on what we have done. Salvation is by grace through faith. But Paul does not ever discount works. Our good works do at least two things: 1) They are indicators of the fact that we have been saved – they are the fruit of salvation not the root of salvation. 2) They are the basis for  our rewards in heaven. (See 2 Cor 5:10, 1 Cor 3:9-15, Romans 14:10-12) We are saved by faith. We are judged by works.

This is not a make-you-feel-good kind of passage. This is a passage though that requires serious personal reflection largely because we are a people who by nature are quick to judge others. I am reminded again that I need to keep Jesus first and foremost in my mind and heart so that I have a correct base line for my life.

Next Week’s Passage: Romans 2:17-29
Memory Verses: Romans 8:1-6

To read the entire passage click HERE

There is a phrase that appears 3 times in this passage that always catches my attention whenever I read it. It is found in verses 24, 26, and 28… “God gave them over.” It sort of sounds like man had gotten so bad that God just threw up His arms in frustration and gave up on them. But what does it really mean?

According to the last passage, God has made it abundantly clear that He is plainly visible to anyone who will simply open their eyes. He is not a God to be so easily dismissed when He is right there in front of them. The point of the passage this week is that when men persistently abandon God, God will abandon them. He removes His divine protection from them and allows them the freedom to suffer the consequences of their own choices. They become more vulnerable to the destructive ambitions of the evil one but also suffer  the destruction that their own sin works in and through them.

This abandonment by God is not an eternal abandonment. As long as sinful men are alive God provides opportunity for salvation. The gospel will always be Good News whether they want to hear it or not. Anytime someone turns from their sin, however blatant it may be, in genuine repentance and faith God welcomes them back and rejoices that another lost one has come home.

We only have to look around us to see that people are not concerned about their sin but only about the pain and unpleasant consequences that sin brings. Someone has said that sin would have fewer takers if the consequences were immediate. So God allows men to go deeper and deeper into sin in order to drive them to despair and to show them their need of Him. Even His abandonment has a redemptive quality to it. His ultimate aim is to heal and restore and save.

But make no mistake, as much as we like to talk about the great great love of God, there is also the great great wrath of God. And God will punish sin – either at the cross on behalf of the repentant saint or in hell eternally on behalf of the unrepentant sinner.

Next Week: Romans 2:1-16
Memory Verses: Romans 8:1-5

To read the passage, you can click HERE.

In the previous passage Paul talks about the gospel – the good news, as well as the righteousness of God. In this passage , and in the next few chapters, he spends some time talking about the bad news and about the wrath of God. It would seem that in order for us to really understand just how good the good news is, we need to understand just how bad the bad news is and just how dour our predicament really was.

But that was not where I found my pondering led me – though I suspect in the chapters yet to come that I will get there.

As I read the passage I began to ask this question: To what degree am I a “Christian atheist”? What is a Christian atheist you might ask? Craig Groeshel has written a book titled  The Christian Atheist with the subtitle “Believing in God but living as if He doesn’t exist.” I think that rightly describes a lot of believers these days. I think it rightly describes me much more than I would like to admit to.

Here are the verses that prompted these thoughts…

Verse 18 – I am an enigma. There are times when I rejoice in, obey, and trumpet the truth and then there are times when my wickedness rises to the top and I deliberately “suppress the truth.”  There are times when my regard for the Word of God would not be much different than that of an atheist. Like most people I tend to believe and obey what suits my lifestyle. Just being real.

Verse 21 –  ^“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to Him…”  I find that by nature I am a glory monger! In other words I like to receive glory unto myself more than I want to give it to God. It is a part of my selfish, sinful, wicked nature that defaults to this mode. It is the same with giving thanks to Him. It is not something that just happens naturally. You can see how I could be perceived as an atheist throughout much of my day.

Verse 23 – “and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images…”  Believers do this all the time. I do this all the time. It is called idol worship. You have your idols and I have my idols. Of course we don’t call them idols. We call them things like money, jobs, sex, boy/girlfriend, church, etc. Things that we love more than we love God. Things that we honor and esteem and “glorify” more than we do God.

You may not think of me as an atheist but believe you me I can definitely act like one. I know Paul was making a point in this passage about unbelievers but I felt called out. I guess when I act like an unbeliever I ought to feel that way.

Romans is a great book to help me deal with all this stuff. It is a book about the gospel – and as you can already see the gospel is not just for non- Christians  but for Christians as well. Especially for us Christian atheists.

Next Week: Romans 1: 24-32
Memory Verses: Romans 8:1-4