THE KINDNESS OF GOD (Genesis 2: 15-17, 3:1-6, Psalm 14, Romans 2:1-4) Throughout the second half of chapter 1, Paul has been talking about the downward spiral of sin and how it has infected the whole human race. He ends that chapter accusing, even those who do not do all of the exact things that he has listed, as being guilty too; because even if we don’t commit the sinful and degrading acts, we have decided that it is okay to just let them slide. We do that, and show our approval of what God clearly calls sin, by doing what verse 18 accused us of – “suppressing the truth.” When we fail to call sin for what it is and make excuses for our behavior and for the behavior of others, we become complicit in suppressing the truth and therefore come under God’s wrath because we have then rebelliously stepped out of the protection of his grace. This is why he begins chapter 2 with the words, “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.” When we think of judging, we usually think of it in the negative, as in condemning. But one who judges has the option of judging something to be wrong or right. So, we can just as easily judge something to be right as we can judge something to be wrong. What Paul is saying here is that however we judge another, we also are passing judgment on ourselves by what we approve and by what we do not approve. If we approve of the behaviors that God has condemned, then we become participants with those who do the forbidden behaviors and come under the same judgment, even if we have not committed the acts ourselves. Jesus made this very clear in Matthew chapter 5 when he tells us that harboring the ugly and impure intentions of our hearts are the same as actually committing the sinful acts. On the other hand, if we judge that we disapprove of these things, we have to ask, “Why is it that we excuse the wrong we do while condemning the wrong that others do?” Paul says that however we judge, we condemn ourselves because we are also sinners. And therefore we are all without excuse before God for both our thoughts and our actions. As Psalm 14 reminds us, “All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” We are all guilty! Verse 2 drives a stake in the ground about what we know that we know: that “God’s judgment against those who do such things (both the doers and the approvers) is based on truth.” So, what is truth? In opposition to the current understanding that everyone is entitled to have their own truth, Jesus tells us in his prayer in John 17:17 that God’s Word is Truth – the truth by which he asked the Father to sanctify or set apart all believers for his service. The truth Paul is talking about here is therefore based on what God has said and what God has revealed to us in all of Holy Scripture. In other words, Paul is telling us that what God has revealed in the past remains true today and forever. God doesn’t change his mind to go along with current cultural trends in order to make his church more palatable to the masses. Because God’s truth is the foundation on which we build our lives and our faith, we must always defer to biblical truth, even when our feelings and desires want to take us in another direction, no matter what it may cost us. And sometimes standing for the truth will cost us everything this world has to offer: friends, family, reputation, jobs; standing in the community – the list is endless. So who, exactly, is Paul addressing here as those who are without excuse? John Calvin says, “This rebuke is directed at the hypocrites who draw attention by their displays of outward sanctity, and even imagine that they have been accepted by God, as though they had afforded him full satisfaction.” James Montgomery Boice is a little less sanctimonious when he suggests that “he is dealing with three classes of people: the pagans in chapter one, moral or virtuous people… and religious people.” In this section, Paul is reminding us that it is not enough for us to be merely moral or religious, we must be completely sold out to God, to his Word, and to his ways. Verse 3 asks: “So when you, a mere man (the merely moral and religious), pass judgment on them (the rank sinners and pagans), and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?” This is a good place for us to consider what standards you and I (the moral and religious) might use to judge the sins of others. Some lay claim to the Ten Commandments, given to God’s covenant people by God himself, through Moses; that covers all the main points in which we may sin against God and our fellow human beings. The problem is that no one but Jesus has ever fully kept all of the ten without fail. Who has not at one time or another raised some “thing” in our lives as being more important than God? If we have, we have broken the first commandment. Have we ever, at any time been disrespectful to our parents or hated someone or lusted in our hearts or taken something that doesn’t belong to us by fudging on our tax returns or keeping too much change that was inadvertently given to us by an unthinking cashier, or even taken a company pen home from the office? And what about those little white lies? If we say that the Ten Commandments is our standard, this standard condemns us all. I’ve had people tell me that they live by the “Golden Rule” that they learned in Sunday school: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Jesus said that in Matthew 7:12. But, have you always treated others the way you wish to be treated; really? Have you never been impatient or gotten angry with someone just because you were in a bad mood? Have you never accused someone falsely or taken advantage of someone else’s weakness? Maybe you have made what you call a shrewd business deal that disadvantaged someone to your benefit. If any of this is true about you, you have broken the Golden Rule and are therefore guilty as charged. The reality we all face is the truth that Paul will tell us when we get to Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We cannot excuse our little sins and condemn the big sins of others, because in God’s eyes all sin is deadly and a little sin will condemn us as quickly as a big sin. In verse 4 Paul helps us to see that when we condemn others whose sins may be different than ours, without also condemning and repenting for our own sin, we are actually showing “contempt for the riches of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads us all to repentance.” God is kind to all creation and he calls us to reflect his kindness to others by the way we order our lives. He has given us a good creation to exist in; that supplies our every need. He has given us complex bodies and minds that work amazingly well most of the time, and when they don’t work the way they are supposed to work, he gives us people who are smart enough to help us deal with the pain and heal. And even when there is no known cure for our ills, God gives us his grace to be able to bear up under our trials and enable us to overcome in spite of the obstacles we face. In his kindness, God is also tolerant and patient. The word “tolerance” does not mean that God accepts everything that comes down the pike and calls it good. It means that he patiently holds back or delays judgment, enduring our terrible conduct and attitudes, in order for us to learn to walk in his ways. God puts up with us because he loves us and in his love he teaches us through the mistakes we make. In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you shall surely die.” We know that when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they did not die immediately. Some tell us that they died spiritually. But, if they mean by that, that their spirit died, that is not completely accurate. If they mean that their close relationship with God died, then I can buy into that. What actually happened was; when Adam and Eve sinned, physical death became a reality for them. Their eventual physical death was the fulfillment of what God had warned. I believe that the Bible teaches us that the good image of God that he created us with became so broken and marred by the introduction of sin that we are now incapable of knowing God and having close fellowship with him apart from Jesus who died for us, taking the penalty for our sins on himself so that the image of God may begin to be fully restored in us through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we might faithfully grow in grace to reflect God’s glory to the world. Because God is tolerant and patient, he gives us time to repent of our sins, seek his face and be restored to open and free fellowship with him. The great theologian, Arthur Pink said, “How wondrous is God’s patience with the world today. On every side people are sinning with a high hand. The divine law is trampled underfoot and God is openly despised. It is truly amazing that he does not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy him. Why does he not suddenly cut off the haughty infidel and blatant blasphemer, as he did Ananias and Sapphira? Why does he not cause the earth to open its mouth and devour the persecutors of his people, so that like Dathan and Abiram, they go down alive into the pit? And what of apostate Christendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy name of Christ? Why does not the righteous wrath of heaven make an end of such abominations? Only one answer is possible: because God bears [with us] with much long-suffering.” Paul ends verse 4 reminding us that it is not God’s wrath, nor is it our fear of God that leads us to repentance, but God’s kindness. Because God is kind, he not only gives us the opportunity to come to repentance, he also patiently waits for us to see the error of our ways, repent of our sins, and come to him to find life. Last week I talked about; how many people look down their noses at the God of the Bible and hold him in contempt because he will not be who we want him to be, so we try to get rid of him so we can have our own way. What they don’t realize is that they are not showing contempt for a judgmental God who wants to spoil our fun, and stands around with a club, waiting to knock us in the head when we do wrong. They are showing contempt “for the riches of his kindness, tolerance, and patience.” And by doing so are choosing death over life. What will you choose? Will you respond to God’s kindness with repentance and obedience, trusting him to keep you in all of your ways, or will you respond to God’s kindness with derision and pride? The choice is up to you.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 14:28:52 +0000
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