“When It Comes To Matters Of The Heart, There Are No Excuses”
-by Reverend A. LaMar Torrence
Text: Romans 2:1-29
As we continue our traverse through the chapters of Romans, we are learning that regardless of who we are, we are in God’s sight. In fact one could say that in the first chapter of this book, we learned the answer to the first question God asked man when our lord came into the Garden of Eden: “Where are You?” and not only are we learning where we are, but also why we are where we are! We are learning what makes us act the way we do, and think the way we do. Paul puts it in these terms, “men suppress the truth” That is human beings goes through a process of denial. We hear the truth about ourselves; yet, we repress it.
We are a people who like to make excuses for plight. Nothing is ever really our fault. Think about it, historically, we have always blamed others for our own decisions. Adam blamed Eve for enticing him to take of the forbidden fruit. Eve blamed the serpent. And we are still playing the blame-game. We are dysfunctional because of generational curses passed onto us. The prisoner now blames his parents for his illegal activity. Divorcees blame each other for the demise of marriages. Our children’s yearning for materialism is blamed on television. We blame school violence on the lack of prayer in school. Sex and Drug use among our youth is blamed on the Internet, television, and Hollywood. Sinful behavior is now being referred to as compulsive behavior and chemical imbalances. Whenever we do something wrong we are apt to point the finger elsewhere. Fingers are being point to the increasing Hispanic population for higher rates of unemployment. Declining neighborhood property values are being blamed on the increasing number of minorities. The democrats blamed the republicans for increase in taxes. The republicans blamed the democrats for the country’s deficit. We are a people who like to point the fingers at others for the problems we have to deep with.
We are a people of excuses. In an article published in a magazine called American Demographics, it was pointed out that tardy Americans love a good excuse. Corporate America is witnessing the creativity of workers in making up excuses for their lateness. In a survey done by Accountemps, some of the favorite excuses used by employees included, “My best friend stole my car.” “The wind was blowing against me.” “I backed through my garage door.” And “I was in the process of getting arrested.” The New York Transit Authority reported that up to 125 people each week request a written excuse explaining the late subways being the cause of their tardiness. We love to give an excuse.
Well, I have come to believe that much of the ineffectiveness of today’s church is derived our compulsive excuse making for not doing that which we are called to do. We have excuses for not giving our tithes, not using our talents, and not giving time to God. And yet, we who profess being saved knowing the truths of God have a tendency to judge the unsaved because what they do.
The unsaved may lie, steal, fornicate, murder, slander, and cussed. That’s okay they are suppose to. They party all Saturday night and sleep in on Sundays. That’s okay they are supposed to. The un-churched rarely open their bibles or perform any form of devotion. That’s okay they are supposed to. That’s why we called them the un-churched and the unsaved. I mean, I don’t expect them to get to church on time. I don’t expect to see the un-saved or the heathen to come out to bible study. I wouldn’t expect the un-church to give ten percent of their income and a sacrificial offering towards the Cool-Air Project. Why should they? After all, they are the unsaved, the un-churched, the world, and the heathen. They are supposed to be hell raisers because they are presumably going to hell. They should be living up to the expectations of performing shameless acts.
But what shocks me is that when I take that same standard of expectations and measure God’s church, the so-called saints, we tend to come up short. Literally, as Christians growing into the standards of God, we are dwarf in our efforts. No, wonder Paul states, “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another, for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge are doing the very same thing.” The true of the matter is the saints are performing some the same shameless actions as the sinners in the world. We too have a tendency to be filled with all manners of wickedness. We have committed social acts of injustice, economic deeds of robbery, and spiritual acts of murder. You don’t have to be a Jeffrey Dahmer or a Ted Bundy to be a serial killer. The church is filled serial killers and criminals. Through our gossip and lies, we have murdered each other’s character and killed each other’s spirit. Every day our cruel tongues seek to steal somebody else’s joy with negative criticism and skepticism. Because we refuse to be cordial to strangers in our midst, souls that could be saved are killed because of our evil attitudes. We are murderers as well as thieves. Come on, we all know that verse: “Would a man rob God?” At Cross of Life Lutheran Church, he would. And he would catch an attitude if you caught in the act. With every dollar we hold back from the collection plate, we commit economic violence through our lack of support to organizations that feed those hunger, clothe those who are naked, or provide shelter to those without homes. Every time a newborn baby is cast into the garbage can, we participate in its death because we refuse to talk to our teens about sex. Every time a crack vial is sold or a person overdoses, we participate in that persons demise because we won’t tell our kids about the consequences of alcohol and drugs. We participate in the political rape of our country. We even assist in the police brutality we witness because we are too lazy to vote. When it comes to the church, we too are filled with all manners of wickedness and evil.
Paul states it best when he calls the church to check itself. (Tell somebody, you better check yourself.) Paul says, you then who teach others will you not teach yourself? How can we expect others to behave ethically and morally if we fail in the task? The real truth is that our community is indifferent about God because we have become complacent. There is no fire for Jesus on Plainfield, because the flames of revival have gone out at 1240 east Seventh Street.
The ineffectiveness of our witness in Plainfield, stems from the conditions of our hearts. Oh, we honor god with our lips but our hearts are far from him. Whatever is inside your heart must eventually come out. If you are angry inside, that anger will eventually reveal itself. If you are bitter, that bitterness will bubble to the surface. If you are a greedy person, your greed will show itself in your actions. If you are a bigot, you can’t hide your bigotry forever. What ever you are on the inside will be seen in the way live. That’s why are stiff in our worship. Our hearts aren’t with God. For a heart of praise doesn’t need a devotional leader doing flips and leaps in order to get it to praise God. That heart will be bursting over with worship for God. Thus, it is Paul’s diagnosis that many of us need a heart transplant. We need a major operation on our cardiovascular system.
One theologian puts it like this, “many churchgoers need the church going on inside their heart.” We need Jesus to build his church inside our hearts. Oh, we worship in edifices built by men and labeled as God’s church but we, as the living temples of Christ, are incomplete places of worship. The physical church building is surrounding us but the ecclessia - the spiritual church made up of living stones is not composing our lives. Now, don’t get me wrong. Many of us have confessed Jesus as lord; yet we have not allowed him to be lord over our lives. That’s why we are doctrinally wayward, politically oppressed, and socially abused, and morally confused. Because we have not allowed Jesus to complete his work in us, because we have not allowed him to build upon that confession of faith we made with our lips, we often fall prey to superstitious beliefs, backslide into sin, or remain stagnant in our spiritual growth. Because we will not remain still on the potter’s wheel and allow the potter to melt and mold us, many of us still sleep around. We still get drunk and or get high. We still cuss and fuss. We still gossip, lie, and complain. We still plot, murder, and steal. We still don’t the difference between a commandment and a testament. We still have to look in the table of contents to find the book of genesis and revelation.
But if we would really allow god to prepare us to be sanctuaries, pure and holy, tried, and true, we would then make a difference in our families and communities. We would be more than just a place for parties but we would be a fellowship intimately involved with Christ. We wouldn’t always be anxious about many things like Martha but we would take time to sit and listen to Jesus, like Mary. We wouldn’t have so many diverse backward views about God and the bible, but we would be able to touch and agree and say, “thus saith the lord.”
That’s what I like about today’s text. It gives us the opportunity to touch and agree. Today’s lesson is a chance for us to clear up some confusion, set some standards, and stand on some common ground. The fact that we come from different backgrounds is no longer an excuse for indecisiveness. The fact that some of us where baptize as Catholics, Methodists, Moravians, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, and Lutherans, is no reason for us to not set some things straight. Today we are going to set straight what God we worship. Christ is going separate the wheat from the tares. Today, we must decide what God will we serve.
Paul gives us two marks to distinguish those with Christ in their in our hearts from those who give lip service? There are two things every real Christian should have present in their lives. They are spiritual people and they are seekers of praise from God and not from men
First, real Christians are spiritual. God is spirit and they that seek to worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth. When we say we are spiritual we are talking of having God within our heart, the all- powerful presence, who is the great “I am”. Having the “I Am inside tell us who we are”. Being spiritual is being plugged in to the source of all life. And being plugged in means having a relationship of communication, intimacy, and worship with God. Spiritual Christians are those who receive Jesus and believe in Jesus. We must receive him as the Word of God. To receive the word is to receive it in three dimensions.
We receive the word as scripture, as proclamation, and as Christ.
To receive the word of God is receive it as the written word,
The spoken word, and the manifestation of Christ.
Now many of us received the written word of God but not the spoken word of God.
We accept the Bible, as the written word of God.
However, as soon as the preacher pronounces the word
and calls us to respond to it.
we catch an attitude with God’s preacher.
We do it all the time.
Many of us are doing it right now.
(Come on now) We can all agree that the bible says, ’ Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.’
We can all agree that scripture tells us, ‘let the redeemed of the lord say so.’
Yet, when the preacher tells us to ‘let us praise the Lord,’
or say ‘amen?’,
many of us won’t clap our hands.
We won’t shout for joy,
We won’t say anything or do anything to praise the Lord.
Why? Because we won’t receive the spoken word of God.
Oh, we like a good word,
But we don’t like doing the good mentioned in the word.
We like a well-constructed sermon,
But we won’t let the sermon construct our lives.
We are hearers of the word but not doers of the Word.
But I am reminded of the words of James,
“Be ye doers of the word and not hearers”
Spiritual Christians are those who do what they hear because they have received Jesus as the word of God.
But, we must also believe in Jesus.
We must believe that Jesus is really
And truly the Son of God, and that He is God.
You see, many receive Jesus but they don’t believe in Jesus.
The Muslims receive Jesus as a prophet,
But they don’t believe he’s the Son of God.
Some Jews receive Jesus as a teacher but not as the promised Messiah.
Even the Jehovah Witness receive Jesus as the Son of God
But they don’t believe He is Lord. For us to have a life - life in Jesus - we must believe that Jesus is Lord. Because only belief in Jesus makes sense of life. Only trust in Jesus gives purpose and meaning to life.
If Jesus was only a righteous man, Then there is no need to give him our complete obedience. If Jesus is just a religious myth, Then there is no need for us to trust him at his word. If Jesus matters at all, He matters supremely. And if he matters supremely, the most important thing in life is knowing him. If we believe that Jesus is the son of God then we would want to know him; not just about him but know him intimately.
We would come to Bible Studies and know him
We would come to Sunday School and know him.
We would pray without ceasing and know him.
We would learn to trust and obey and to take him at his word.
We would know him.
To believe in Jesus is to know him.
It is to know that he is none other than God alone. Real Christians are spiritual. True Christians practice what they preach. They live the word of god in their lives not to have a form of godliness but to get praise from their maker.
Paul says, “His praise is not from men but from God.” True Christians seek to please God.
God wants us to please him by seeking to do his will in our lives.
And I don’t know about you but I want God to be pleased with me. I once read a sign that said, “I apologize for the inconvenience but today, I cannot please you and tomorrow doesn’t look good either.” My goal is to please him so that he can be pleased with me. I’m not seeking to score brownie points with the synod. I’m not trying to brown nose the members of the council. I’m refused to try to cozy up to our prominent contributing members. Regardless who you are, I know who I am. I am a child of God in whom He is well pleased. Oh, you may not think much of me but God does. You may think that I preach too long, talk too fast, and Stutter too much; but in God’s eyes I am His beloved son. You may think I am little too young, a little too fat, a little too shy, a little too Afrocentric; but in God’s eye I am his chosen servant - chosen to please him.
Oh, I want to please him, because he delivered me from sin.
I want to please him because he picked me up, turn me around, and place my feet on solid ground. I want to please him with my worship. I want to please him with my preaching and my teaching. I want to please him my singing and my shouting. Now that may seem strange to you church but if we could just have an agreement church. I want hinder you on your way to hell if you don’t hinder me on my way to heaven.
Don’t hinder me while I praise him. Don’t hinder me while I thank him. Don’t’ hinder me while I give him the glory.
