MPC 14th May 2006.May 14 - Romans 1:1-18-3:20 - "The Problem with People"
Phil Campbell MPC 14th May 2006.
I've always been a Clive Robertson fan. And I was reading the other day he's got a new show on ABC TV. It's called Agony Aunts, and it's an advice show. Aimed, says the review I read, at middle aged couples who need a change. Which sounds exactly like the typical ABC viewer. Agony Aunts features a panel of advisors who dish out their wisdom to six couples facing what the review calls various cross-roads in their lives.
The beauty of it is, says Clive, that these couples are so representative. That the messes that they're in are so typical. Clive says, all round Australia, wives will be nudging their husbands and saying that's exactly what you do. Which he says has led him to a disturbing discovery. He says, the thing I've discovered, is that "all the men are like Homer Simpson." He says, "In every case, I feel sorry for the women. And I just don't know how you change men."
Well, there's probably a bit of nudging going on right now as well. Or wives wishing they could give their husbands a good kick with nobody noticing.
But I want to say as we start out to look at quite a large slice of Romans today, it's not about gender. It's not about problems with husbands and wives; it's about the problem with humanity.
Clive says, "How do you change men? I don't know the answer."
The Apostle Paul says, "How do you change mankind? I do know the answer."
Now as we work our way through Romans, it's helpful to understand that Paul divides mankind into four kinds of people. Which you can see on the screen.
First there's the Jew and the gentile - who form the two horizontal rows. Which is the way the Jews used to so neatly divide things up. The Jew. And the non-Jew.
But for Paul now there are two more categories as well. The Jewish Christian. And the gentile Christian. In the column on the right.
Four Categories. Jewish and Gentile non Christian on the left. Jewish and Gentile Christian on the right. And the fact is, Paul's got a goal. Which is to move from having four categories of people to having three.
In fact, it's his deepest desire. That instead of having two types of Christian that there's only one type of Christian. With all the old distinctions behind them.
And yet in Rome, it seems it's not to be. Because there are bitter distinctions being made. That are all about what you used to be. And are particularly about the ongoing place of the Jewish Old Testament law.
The Law that divided the Jews from the gentiles more than anything else. And made it very clear that those gentiles were a rotten lot.
Which is exactly what Paul seems to be confirming when we pick up in the middle of Romans chapter 1. And yet we're going to see it's not what he's confirming at all. The Jews want to say the law marks out the gentiles as rotten and we Jews as righteous. Which is actually not the story at all.
Because the fact is, Paul wants to point out that the whole world's got a problem. Not just the men, as Clive Robertson was suggesting.
And not just the gentiles, as the Jews might be suggesting. So as Paul starts out applying the blow-torch to the non-Jewish world, you need to wait to see where he's going to end up.
The reality is, says Paul, the gentile world is out of touch with God. He says you can see it in what they worship. You can see it in the way they live. You can see it in their rampant sexual promiscuity.
And they're without excuse. Because they should have known better.
Verse 19, he says they can't claim ignorance. He says, what may be known about God is plain to them... because God has made it plain.
You can argue as much as you like, says Paul, but "His eternal power and divine nature… verse 20… have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
No matter what jungle you've been living in. There's no jungle in all of creation so deep and so dark that you can't see the hand of the creator. And know that you should worship Him.
And yet they worship and serve created things. Instead of the creator. They devote their lives to serving material things like idols carved from wood and cars and houses and movie stars and the latest in technology. Instead of the Creator. Who's eternal.
Verse 21,
...their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although though they claimed to be wise, they became fools… and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
And it's not that they don't have any evidence that God exists. It's that they don't want him to.
I don't know if you've ever tried this line with friends who might say they're atheists. I can tell you, I have. And I'm persuaded it's true. I remember the day I said to my friend Andrew, I said, I'm not going to waste any more time debating with you over whether God exists. Because I'm convinced that you know he does. Just as much as I do.
And Andrew stopped in his tracks. Because it was true.
That's the Gentile world. And God has given them over to exactly what they wanted. And to the lifestyle that flows from ignoring the creator and worshipping lust and greed instead.
And there in a nutshell is the essence of the problem with the world. The gentile world. Which is our world. The world the Jews in the Old Testament were called out from. To shine like a beacon of righteousness. And be different. To be different from the envy. Different from the lust in verse 26 and 27. Different from the homosexuality and the murder and the strife. Different from the gossip. Different from the boasting. Even different to the kind of people who in verse 30, disobey their parents.
The Gentile world has ignored God. And they should have known better. They're senseless, verse 31, they're faithless; they're heartless. They're ruthless.
And deep down, they know it's wrong. And they know it deserves death. And yet they not only keep on doing that stuff, they approve of others doing it as well. Like the smoker with lung cancer, offering a kid his first cigarette.
Make no mistake, says Paul, God's angry with that stuff. Because that's not the way the world was meant to be. God's going to judge that stuff.
But there's actually something worse. Which Paul moves on to in chapter 2. And will you notice, there's a very clear movement in his language from they. To you.
As you run your eye back through those last few verses in chapter 1, the word that keeps popping up is the word they. By which he's referring to the gentiles. But from chapter 2 there's a change of focus. From they. To you.
By which we'll see he means you the Jew. Sadly, I think, including you the Christian Jew.
I guess it's easy for someone who's been brought up knowing the Old Testament law to look down their noses at the kind of people we've been reading about. With their foolish hearts and their degrading lifestyles.
I guess it's pretty easy to pass judgement on people like that if you're born and bred knowing right from wrong. As you did, if you were brought up a Jew.
But here's where Paul gets to his point. He says we know people like them face God's judgment. But what about you?
Read what he says. Chapter 2 verse 1.
You thereore, have no excuse… you who pass judgement on someone else. For at whatever point you judge the other you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Now I know we're not exactly the Jews Paul's addressing here. But I wonder if you feel a bit of an embarrassed tingle when you hear those words. I wonder if you've been sitting there hearing the description of those rotten gentile types and thinking it's terrible... all those gay people. It's terrible all those people these days living in sin.
But look what he says. He says, let God do the judging. And you Jews… cut it out.
Read from verse 2.
Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?
The problem is, the self righteous Jew wants to complain about the foolish hearts of the gentiles… but they've got something worse. In verse 5. Stubborn, unrepentant hearts. Which means in spite of the fact they've got God's law, in spite of the fact they want to boast about being God's special people; they're facing God's anger as well. Because even though they've got God's law, they're not living it. Which is what the Old Testament scriptures had been saying over and over again.
And so Paul says this. In verse 5. He says, "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
They pour scorn on the gentile world. They boast about the fact they have the law. The problem is, they haven't done the law.
Verse 6. Paul quotes to them from the scriptures they're so proud of.
God "will give to each person according to what he has done."
Paul says, You're right, you Jews. God is going to judge good and evil in the world. But it's not going to go the way you think. Jews on the one side and gentiles on the other.
He says in verse 7,
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. No matter who they are. But for those who are self seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile - but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good - first for the Jew. And then for the gentile.
Because God, he says, does not play favourites. And having the law is no help at all.
In a way it sounds like a lose-lose situation. Verse 12. Sin apart from the law: perish apart from the law. Sin under the law: judged under the law.
Verse 13 to 15, he says, the Gentiles mightn't have had the law you've had. But they've had its requirements written inside them. They've had their conscience; they've always had a sense of right and wrong. And they'll be judged by that.
Law or no law. Everyone's going to face God on exactly the same footing.
Which is interesting. But verse 17 is where he puts the heat on. Here's where he gets to the point.
Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth- are you ready for it? You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
You Jews, you brag about having God's law. And yet God's name is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you.
The fact is, Israel - that was meant to spread righteousness like a light to the world - has turned God's name into a swearword. Which means their circumcision and their law and all the things that mark them out as Jewish is of no value at all.
And among Christians, there's no room for that sort of arrogance at all. And certainly no room for the Jews to be boasting about their past. Because the law they're so proud of… they've broken anyway.
Pick it up in Chapter 2 verse 25.
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. If those who are not circumcised - if a gentile were to - keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
In other words, a gentile doing the right thing… beats a Jew doing the wrong thing… every time. So who is the real Jew? Who's the real member of the kingdom of God? It's not an outward thing at all.
The fact is, and we're going to see this as Romans unfolds, the fact is, God's long ago promise to circumcise hearts has finally been fulfilled. God's long ago promise in Deuteronomy Chapter 30 verse 6, to write the law in human hearts has finally been brought about. Through the work of Israel's Christ. And the surprise is, that the gentiles are included. That these Gentiles who are under the wrath of God, these Gentiles with their foolish hearts, these Gentiles with their darkened hearts and their corrupt and lawless lifestyles… they've been invited to the party. On exactly the same basis as the Jews. Which means there's a radical redefinition.
Keep reading in verse 28. Because here's the crunch.
A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.
There's the one who's going to persist in doing good; there's the one who's going to seek glory, honor and immortality. There's the one God's going to be praising on the judgment day. The one who with a humble heart has turned to the Lord Jesus… and been given a new heart. By the spirit. Jew or Gentile… doesn't matter a bit.
The reality is, in the end, there are only three kinds of people.
Those who were Jewish. Those who were Gentile. It's all in the past. Because now the only category that counts is the circumcised heart by the spirit. Those who are Christian.
And so the only advantage in being Jewish, Paul says in the first few verses of chapter 3, is that the Jews were entrusted with the promises of God all along. So they should have known better.
So here's the bottom line. Chapter 3 verse 9 to 20, Paul is summing up.
"What shall we conclude then?", verse 9. "Are we any better?", we Jews? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and gentiles alike are all under sin. We might have had God's law, but we didn't do it.
In fact, he says, our scriptures have always said that.
As it is written,
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."
You might think those gentiles are rotten, but the fact is, our scriptures said, "all have turned away," verse 12, including us. "They have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
And yet these Jews are self satisfied. Self righteous. And looking down on everybody else. So proud of their law, that Paul has just said lumps them in with everybody else. Even Jewish Christians. Who even want to now impose their law on Gentile Christians. They've missed the point.
Read his wrap up in chapter 3 verse 19.
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law (we Jews) - so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Through the Law we Jews were meant to be humbled.
Through the Law we Jews were meant to be made ready… for what verse 21 calls a righteousness apart from the law. Which the scriptures always looked forward to. A righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There's no difference. Because all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. And are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
All of which Garnet is going to explore in more detail next week.
So where do we finish?
Clive Robertson says, "the thing I've discovered, is that all the men are like Homer Simpson. And I just don't know how you change men."
The Apostle Paul says, "The thing I've discovered is that all mankind, and not just the gentiles, all mankind is sinful from the heart. And the only way their hearts can change is by the Spirit."
Which means it's no longer a Jew/gentile thing. And it's no longer a law thing. It's a heart thing. It's summed up in those words of chapter 2 verse 29. "No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God."
Which means, will you notice, if you want to change the world, rules are not the way. It's so tempting, isn't it, to be people who just dish out the rules. Which again, is exactly how Christianity has been seen in the past. Maybe your experience of it too.
Not that rules are a bad thing for running a society. For keeping traffic flowing on the roads. We need rules like that. But when it comes to righteousness, when it comes to pleasing God, Paul is saying to us, rules are not the way forward. Even if the rules you're talking about are Israel's Old Testament law. What's needed is transformation of the heart. You've got to start at the heart. And go from there. Which is what ultimately distinguishes the true Christian from the Muslim whose agenda maybe is to bring the world under Sharia law. I can tell you, there are Christians with the same sort of agenda; just a different set of laws. But the apostle Paul is saying no, the tranformation that's needed is a tranformation of the heart. And it comes when people come to faith in Jesus Christ who pours out the Spirit; and the real righteousness flows from there. In a way that no amount of laws and rules can ever match. Creating one family of Christians with no dividing lines.
Which brings the second point of application. Because for Paul, that meant there were real implications for the Jewish Christian who wants to be self righteous and look down on his gentile brother.
Or even the self righteous Christian today.
Friends, the fact is we live in a fallen and sinful world. We live in a world that's bent on pushing aside the knowledge of God like there's no tomorrow. A world full of lusts and homosexuality and lies and deceit and dishonesty and disobedience. Which is the way it always was.
And yet self righteousness is never the way forward. And so often we Christians are guilty of that. And we're seen to be. And the perception is we're judgmental and we're sanctimonious and worse than all of that we're hypocritical as well. In a way that forms a real barrier to anyone who might otherwise be longing to turn from their sinfulness and come into the family. I mean, what sort of welcome would they find?
To which the Apostle Paul wants to say to you the words he says to the Jewish Christians in verse 9… Are we any better? Not at all! Which are the perfect words to be keeping in mind as we build up a unified church family of forgiven people who are trusting Jesus as their hearts are being worked on by God's spirit. No matter who they were before.
Can I finish by passing on the fact that both Greg Clarke, who was here on Thursday night, and Paul Harrington, who was with us from Adelaide a couple of weeks back, made very similar comments to me afterwards. That they had a very real sense that we are a church that at the moment is doing well on some of those things. And they both made the comment that here at MPC there's a welcoming warmth; a sense of people accepting one another; a sense of family; that both Paul and Greg said they thought was quite outstanding. And is clear evidence, I think, of God's Spirit at work. And we need to guard that. Like the treasure that it is.