God’s
Judgment Against Hypocrisy
Romans 2:1-16
Jim Davis
How many of us would like to be judged
by the standards we set for others? It is not hard to figure out
how others ought to be living; the standards by which they should live,
actually seem quite simple to us. The greatest difficult is applying those
seemingly simple standards to our own lives. Personal application of the
principles we impose on others is the real test of our sincerity concerning
truth. We may know the simple answers for the religious world to find unity
in Christ, but how do we fare when it comes to unity. This is the real
test of our belief in unity. So it is with a multitude of dilemmas in which
we find ourselves.
Romans 2:1-3
You, therefore, have no excuse,
you who pass judgment 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 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?
(NIV)
"The problem, however, is that once you admit
that there is a clear standard, truths that are hard and fast to which
you can appeal in judgment of others, then you have to be willing to sit
under the same standard yourself. And that is what everyone who issues
judgment longs to avoid. Loud denunciation of the horrible failings of
others does not in any degree alter the facts concerning ourselves." (Steve
Zeisler, High-Minded Hypocrisy, http://pbc.org/dp/zeisler/4292.html)
The Essence of the Passage
The essence of this passage has to do
with hypocrisy. This is not a lesson on how we should resist judging
our fellowman. Nowhere in this passage is Paul rebuking the readers for
judging sin as sin. This is no parallel discussion to Jesus' teaching in
the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus condemns critical unjustified judgment.
The heart of the lesson deals with failing to live up to what we recognize
as true. If we are capable of judging what is right and wrong in the lives
of others, surely we are competent to discern between right living and
wrong living in our own lives.
The Jews had no difficulty believing in one
sovereign God. The Jews had the advantage in that they had a written code
by which to live. They prided themselves because of their possession of
the law. It had been preserved and passed down by Jews. They felt that
a mere possession of the law constituted righteousness. However, they had
rewritten the code to fit their own desired lifestyles.
The greater the knowledge -- the greater the
sin. The end result of the Gentile and Jewish approach to living was identical.
One was just as ungodly as the other. In reality, the Jews who possessed
the law were more ungodly, for they not only understood the sovereignty
of God; they also had special written revelation. However, their belief
in God made them no different from those who refused to believe in God.
Both were without God and without hope.
Living Powerless Lives
A life without obedience to God is hopeless
because it is absolutely powerless. God's eternal power and nature
had been made known to both Jew and Gentile. The Gentiles refused to accept
the testimony of nature; the Jews refused the written testimony. Both had
denied the power of God. It is absolutely essential for both to turn from
their self-centered existence and accept the power of God now available
to both through believing the gospel of Christ. (1:16-17)
Hypocrisy is powerless to salvage our
lives. Hypocrisy is pretense. It is a form of godliness without
power to change. Hypocrisy seeks to resist change. It may look for what
is wrong in another to justify the wrong in us. In the outset of the lesson
I asked this question: " How many of us would like to be judged by the
standards we set for others?" A more penetrating question is, How
would you like to be judged by the standards you know are right and expect
others to live up to, but you are unwilling to adhere to? Such
judgment will leave us powerless to salvage our lives.
There are two ways in which we can experience
the power of God in our lives. One way is through obedience. When we obey
God, God's salvaging power through Jesus Christ is exerted in our lives.
The second way we may experience God's power in our lives is through disobedience.
Disobedience brings God's power through discipline.
Romans 2:6-9
God "will give to each person
according to what he has done." . . . 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; (NIV)
One way brings good news. The other brings
bad news. The power we discover in each is the power witnessed in the resurrection.
We have a choice to experience God's salvaging power or his wrath power.
The psalmist says, "One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord,
are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has
done." (Psalms 62:11-12 NIV) Solomon wrote, "If you say, 'But we knew nothing
about this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he
who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to
what he has done?" (Proverbs 24:12 NIV)
Galatians 6:6-8
Anyone who receives instruction
in the word must share all good things with his instructor. Do not be deceived:
God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please
his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who
sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (NIV)
We must not overlook the fact that trouble
and distress for those who do evil, is experienced in their earthly existence.
Paul writes, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against
all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them,
because God has made it plain to them." (Romans 1:18-19 NIV) God has turned
the Gentiles over to their own self-destructive ways to run headlong after
their own selfish desires. Look at God's temporal judgment against the
Jews throughout Old Testament history.
I was at the laundry washing some quilts.
A lady had a roll of quarters lying on the laundry table. She walked off
and left them on the laundry table, as she busied herself with her laundry.
When she came back, I said, "You must be a trusting soul to leave your
money like that." She replied, "No, I know God will punish whoever gets
my money three times over." She said it in humor, but her basic concept
about God is right. We pay for our wrongdoing. Some believe that you pay
seven times over. Of course, there is really no way to measure the distress
and trouble we receive because of our wrong. It is as immeasurable as the
power of God.
The difficulty with disobedience is that God
punishes us in the present. If we refuse to allow God's discipline to persuade
us to repent we will store up God's wrath against us for his righteous
judgment in that final day.
Why is this punishment brought upon the disobedient?
Simply because they know better! The Gentiles knew God through nature and
deliberately denied him. The Jews had special advantage in that they had
special revelation from God and lived no different. Both refused to obey
God's law written on their hearts.
A few years ago a man drowned off Clearwater
beach. The tide was going out and the current was strong where the water
was rushing out of the narrow passages of the intercostal water way. He
got caught up in the current and was actually pulled away from shore. He
began trying to swim against the tide to get back to shore. He soon became
tired and drowned. Experts said that he should have relaxed and floated
out with the tide and waited to be rescued.
The sovereignty of God is moving this world
toward a final destination. If we refuse to go with him it is like swimming
against the current. The world may persuade you to think that swimming
against the current is the way to live but you will drown. The world may
even make it look like the easiest way to live. But it will leave us powerless
to salvage our lives. We may stay afloat, but we will lose ground fast.
We may even invent ingenious ways to stay afloat, but God's grace is our
only hope. We may even try to convince ourselves we are going in the right
way. He can rescue us.
Notice the warnings against harmful desires
that plunge us to destruction in the following verses.
1 Timothy 6:8-10
But if we have food and clothing,
we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation
and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that
plunge
men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root
of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from
the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (NIV)
Experiencing the Salvaging Power of God
I'm speaking about bad news. This
part of what we are talking about this morning is not the most popular
aspect of God's grace today. I thought I would tell you the bad news first.
Could a God full of grace allow us to run headlong into destructive living
without making an effort to discipline us for the purpose of salvaging
our lives. Would he not prolong humanity's suffering by not allowing us
to reap what we sow?
I have saved the good news to last because
I want to impress upon you with the availability of God's power to salvage
lives. What do we do when we reach a point in life where we know we do
not have the power to make it on our own? How about discovering God's power
for living?
When the reigns of leadership fell to Joshua
after the death of Moses, Joshua was faced with the responsibility of leading
the children of Israel across Jordan to the promise land. Forty years in
the wilderness of S-I-N had taken its toll. The Sinai dessert may have
been harsh, but at least it seemed familiar and safe. So God out of the
riches of his kindness reassured Joshua by telling him "No one will be
able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses,
so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 'Be strong
and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land
I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous
. . . Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God
will be with you wherever you go.'" (Joshua 1:5-7a, 9 NIV)
Amazingly, God's kindness, tolerance and patience
had sustained them for forty years as he disciplined and punished them
for their sin. Now God's power is ready to lead them into the promise land.
The richness of kindness of his power was astonishing.
The nature of God's power makes it attractive.
Romans 2:4-6
Or do you show contempt for
the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that
God's kindness leads you toward repentance? 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. God
"will give to each person according to what he has done." (NIV)
When we stubbornly refuse to repent of our
hypocrisy we show contempt for the riches of God’s grace. God’s kindness,
tolerance and patience had been spurned. Those were the very things that
should have led them to repent.
The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto
salvation. Although contempt was shown for his grace, we should realize
how God wishes to exert his power in our lives.
God exerts his power through the riches
of his kindness. (2:4) The kindness of God's power is designed to lead
us to repentance. But God's kindness cannot be held in contempt.
My four-year-old grandson, Dakota was helping
me move my office a few days ago. He climbed upon the U-haul and ask, "Papaw
can I help you?" I said, "Of course!" I handed him my smallest inkjet printer.
He was all smiles. I placed it in hands carefully --- with some doubt whether
I should. He proceeded to go down the ramp and tripped and fell. My printer
hit the ground and just fell apart. The housing around the printer ended
up in several pieces. Dakota, got up with a fearful look in his eyes and
began to cry. I could tell he was afraid I would be mad. So I brushed him
off and told him it was okay. I assured him that I could put it back together.
I knew I had trusted him with something I
had no business trusting a four-year-old with, but I thought it would be
okay, especially since I had let him put it on the truck earlier. I knew
he really wanted to help, so I entrusted him with something important.
If he had gone to back of the truck and thrown it off, well that would
be a different story. That would have been contempt for my kindness. Who
wants to tolerate another’s contempt? But he was struggling to live up
to his responsibility. What more could you ask? (A few days later I did
put the printer back together, and surprisingly it works, although the
power source plug is not was originally.)
God's exerts his power in tolerance. But
God will not tolerate our indulgence with sin. Job says, "Nevertheless,
the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will
grow stronger. (Job 17:9 NIV) It is obvious, holding to God's ways is a
condition to growing stronger in him.
The reason why God is showing us the qualities
of his grace, and not judging us immediately, is not because he approves
of our sin. It is because he understands the nature of our struggles. If
there were no struggle, there would not be any need for patience or tolerance.
God's power is exerted through his patience.
God is patience in dealing with our weakness, but he will not tolerate
hypocrisy. Jeremiah lived in difficult times when he wrote, "The LORD is
good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good
to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD." (Lamentations 3:25-26 NIV)
Hebrews 6:11-12
We want each of you to show
this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We
do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith
and patience inherit what has been promised. (NIV)
The kindness, tolerance and patience of God's
power are designed to lead us to repentance. It is encouraging when we
understand God knows our deepest darkest secrets (2:16), and is willing
to save us through the riches of kindness.
Romans 2:6-7
God "will give to each person
according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good
seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. (NIV)
Hebrews 7:25
Therefore he is able to save
completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to
intercede for them. (NIV)
Isaiah 3:10
Tell the righteous it will
be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.
(NIV)
Conclusion:
The power of God is not a quick fix or easy
solutions for all the world's problems or even for all the church's problems,
not even for all of my problems. It is the deep, abiding, sustaining presence
of God every step of the way. "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age." (Matthew 28:20) It is kind, tolerant and patient to struggling
souls.
For a person initially coming to Christ the
future is strange territory. The past seems safer and it is known, but
ahead of you is the unknown, unsafe and unfamiliar. It can be intimidating
as we look into the unpredictable future. But the good news of the gospel
is that we don't have to face the unfamiliar all alone. We face it in the
power of God.
Two lifestyles are paralleled in Romans 2.
One way may seem very unfamiliar as we think about living up to the standards
we recognize as right. The other way may seem like the quick fix we have
been looking for to solve all our problems. It says, just accept yourself
as you are, but expect the world to live up to your standards of right.
The quick fix has to do with the way we want others to live, while ignoring
the way we live. One way will leave us abandoned by God. The other way
promises us the presence and power of God.
Justice - When you get what you deserve
Mercy - When you don't get what you deserve
Grace - When you get what you don't deserve
God gives us what we don't deserve. It is
a power to overcome the harshness of our own hypocrisy.
