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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
A false basis for judgement
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.
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."
No right nor the wherewithal to judge in the first place
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.
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.
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.
And that brings us to the third mistake. Look at v4.
They’ve forgotten God’s Grace
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?
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.
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?"
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.
So what is the appropriate response to God’s great kindness and forbearance and patience?
Repentance
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.
The second response to God’s grace is:
Persistence in doing good
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.
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."
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.
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."
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!
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
For more sermons from this source go to www.sttheos.org.au
