Good morning and welcome to another beautiful day in the Lord! Psalm 118:24 says “this is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” This verse was made into a fun little song with a catchy melody and I love to sing it around the house. Marge was on a mission trip to Belize in college and she learned to sing it in Spanish and I when I try to sing it in Spanish I always butcher it and we get a big laugh. But isn’t this saying so true? I hope that this rings true for you today. God has given us this day as a gift. A gift to worship, serve and be glad in Him. Also, part of the equation is to be good to others. Love God and love others today and you will be well on your way to rejoicing and being glad all throughout your day!
Margie & I had a date night last night, what a blessing this beautiful lady is to my life. God so richly blessed me 24 years ago when this beautiful spirit walked into City Market in Crandall, Texas! So where was dinner? There’s a new BBQ place here in Ft Worth called Heim that is all the rage and let me tell you, it should be. The food is fantastic, a fresh approach to Texas BBQ in a hip little setting on Magnolia Street in a new development just south of downtown. Their signature item is ‘bacon burnt ends.’ They are basically big chunks of perfectly smoked bacon. Big chunks of juicy, tasty, smoky, bacon. Man, are they good! Oh yeah, they also have some of the best green chili mac & cheese you will ever put in your mouth. What a great time we had sharing a meal, talking and just focusing on each other. Take some time out of your busy schedule and just be quiet and be still with the one you love.
Yesterday we looked at Romans chapter 1 so today we move onto chapter 2. In chapter 1 Paul clearly stated that man is unrighteous before God and in no way worthy of Heaven on his own. In chapter 2 Paul reveals the self-rightousness of man and God's judging of that. By the way if you have missed one of the studies and want to go back and catch up, the new website, the5MC.com allows that quickly and easily. Once on the site just select the book of the Bible you want and then find the chapter!
So Paul starts right out of the gate with judging. Romans 2:1 “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.” Paul is stating an absolute here. No human that has ever lived on this planet can be a proper judge of others. The only perfect judge would have to be perfect himself which we know after chapter 1 yesterday is not humanly possible due to the sin nature we all inherited because of the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden. When Paul uses, ‘O Man” it is a Greek anthrope meaning both women and men, basically read it as mankind. Paul is telling us that no one in all of mankind can judge because we are all flawed and incapable of doing it properly. This can easily be tied to Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”
This in itself could be the whole chapter. What a statement we have here. So, if no man or woman can properly judge then who should be doing it? Exactly. Nobody. We are all flawed and are therefore flawed judges. This is what’s so ironic about our courts today and throughout history. The justice can only be as good as the person that meters it out. I mean just go back and look at the trial of Jesus. We know that he was innocent, in fact perfect, yet because of mans sinful desire to eradicate him he was crucified. Man is incapable of true justice, only impartial injustice.
So this brings up two interesting points concerning judging. First, in the verse above it says “do not judge lest you be judged.” This is a hugely mis-interpreted verse, by the way, as most people think it means don’t dare judge someone’s lifestyle or they will have open season on judging your life; some type of afforded judging retaliation. Not true. We just saw that Paul says you shouldn’t judge, period. So who will be doing the judging? You guessed it, God. God is the only perfect judge and He will judge us according to our actions. As far as judging, it basically says that if you judge others, God will in turn judge you by the strictness that you judge others. Not good. I think the lesson here is clear, don’t judge.
Now point 2. Because I’m not supposed to judge anybody, am I supposed to simply tolerate every sin that I see in others and even embrace their choice to live in sin? Wow, what a question, especially in today’s world where we think that people should be allowed to live anyway they want and we should be forced to accept it. This is a real slippery slope and can easily lead someone into judging. As we’ve studied throughout the 5MC, when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart and will now guide and convict you regarding the sin in your life. It will be pretty much impossible for you to embrace or live in sin the way you did before you accepted Christ. For those living in this world that have not accepted Christ it is much easier for them to live a life full of sin because they don’t have the conviction of the Holy Spirit to move them away from sin. As we see people living their life in a way that would displease God, we don’t judge, we pray. We pray what Paul and the disciples prayed over 2000 years ago. For the lost to be saved and for the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives to conquer sin, resulting in them living righteously before God. They prayed for men and women to be saved and repent, to turn away from their sin. None of this involves us judging. Just loving them and praying for them and continuing to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His grace. So I say all this to say that no, we don’t just sit back and mindlessly accept any type of lifestyle that is forced on us. This is not showing the love of Christ to simply let people die in their sin. We combat sin in the world in two ways, love one another as yourself and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. None of that involves judging.
Now Paul goes on to to talk about the perfect impartiality of God’s judgement. Romans 2:6-11 “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek (gentile), but glory and honor and peace for everyone, who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek (gentile). For God shows no partiality.” Paul is crystal clear here about the judgement of God. It will rain down on us all, no one is immune.
It makes me think of when I was a kid and did something bad. At the time I knew it was wrong but I did it anyway. Now it might be a little time before mom and dad found out but you guys know how this works, they WOULD find out. And when they did I would have to pay the price for what I did. You have an earthly father and God is our heavenly father and the process is no different with God. All of the wrongs commited against God and each other will receive the punishment we deserve. It’s kinda funny, we accept the whole parent punishment thing when we are kids, I mean it’s just part of life right? But when we grow up to be adults we act like it’s the Wild, Wild West...anything goes! I mean now that I’m grown up I can do whatever I want right? No rules, no laws and no repercussion, right? Not so much. There is still accountability whether you want to admit it or not. We are never truly free from the ravages of sin and the judgement of our Heavenly Father. God loves us enough to correct us and rebuke us to keep us from experiencing even more pain in our lives. You know I’m pretty dang certain that if I did something really stupid and got thrown in jail, both of my loving parents would be the first to tell me I did something stupid. They love me enough to always tell me the truth. Why do you think God is any different?
So in chapter 1 Paul tells us that all of mankind is hopelessly unrighteous before God. In chapter 2 he tells us that God will judge all of us equally for our sinful actions before Him. Sound a little grim? Stay tuned for chapter 3 tomorrow when we see the ‘good news’. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” Amen and Praise God for this verse! God knows our condition but out of His love and grace made a way for us to have eternal life with Him in heaven thought His son Jesus Christ.
If you have ever wondered about how to know Jesus as your personal savior and would like to explore it
, feel free to contact me anytime and I will be so happy to meet with you and talk more.
I prayed this morning that your 5 minutes in His Word would ripple through your day and bless you many times over as it permeates you heart and guides your day.
Grace be to you.
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