Equality of Judgment

Romans 2:5-11

I received quite an education this past week. Ken Odduyo came to my house Friday night at 9 PM and asked for my help. I could tell he was very sick. I had not seen him for about a month and he had lost a lot of weight. His face was thin with his cheeks sunken in. So I immediately went with him to the hospital. I went first to a private hospital where he was examined. The doctor said he suspected Ken had tuberculosis but because he did not have money, he should go to a public hospital. We went to a public hospital and discovered they had seen Ken the day before and told him he needed to go to a hospital specializing in TB. But Ken did not speak Arabic or French and his condition was such that he was a bit disoriented and had not made it to the TB hospital.

So we drove (it was midnight by this time) to the TB hospital in Akari and discovered they were closed and the guardian told us to come back Monday morning. We returned to the private hospital and I offered to pay for Ken to be admitted but they still insisted he go back home. He was not able to show me where he lived, so he spent the night at our home and on Saturday we were able to get him into the private hospital.

Then on Monday morning, I received a phone call asking me to come to the hospital. They asked me to transport him to the TB hospital and when I arrived with him at the TB hospital, he was dead.

The story is longer and more complicated than this, but I wanted to give just a brief version of the story to make simply this point. If I had been the one sick, I would not have been pushed off from one hospital to another on Friday night.

Ken was a black sub-Saharan African and I am a white North American and because of that geographical and racial difference, I get treated much better in this country than did Ken. We live in a world that shows favoritism.

Rich are treated better than poor. Men earn more than women. Tall people are elected to political office  more often than short people. Depending on where you are, it makes a difference what religion you profess if you want to be treated with favor. Who you are related to is often more important than what you know or what you can do. We live in a world that shows favoritism.

What made me think about this in relation to the sermon for today is the wonderful verse that is printed just under the date in today’s bulletin.

For God does not show favoritism.

This verse comes like a breath of fresh air to a world that does show favoritism. But this verse is found in Paul’s letter where you would not expect to find it.

This verse comes in a section of Paul’s letter to the Romans in which he is talking about the wrath of God. What does it mean when Paul writes that God does not show favoritism in a discussion of God’s wrath? And in what way could this be good news, to know that God does not show favoritism in regards to his wrath?

Paul’s discussion of the wrath of God, 1:18-3:20 is divided into four sections and this section, 2:1-16, focuses on those who are disgusted by the descriptions of sin in 1:18-32. These critical moralizers are disgusted by sinful behavior because they don’t see that in themselves there is at least the potential to do the same things others do. And they don’t see in themselves their own disobedience. They claim to be good moral people because of their upstanding character but are blind to the moral flaws in themselves.

Last week Dave Robey gave an overview of this section, let me draw out three lessons for us from his argument.

Let’s start in verse 5.
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.

This is actually a frightening verse. The idea of storing up wrath is a terrifying thought. Why is it that you might not want to live on the side of a volcano? It might be the most beautiful spot on earth with a luscious green forest and a wonderful log cabin overlooking a beautiful lake where deer and other animals of the forest come to drink. Why is it you might not want to live there?

Living on the side of a volcano is dangerous because a volcano builds up pressure, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year until one day it explodes with a devastating force. I saw Mt. St. Helena in the northwest of the USA ten years after it erupted and we drove through mile after mile of trees that had been leveled by the force of that eruption.

If I take a balloon and keep blowing into it, what happens? It gets larger and larger and it gets more and more risky to force more air into it and sooner or later it explodes.

When someone gets angry but does not express their anger or resolve what was making them angry and instead suppresses the anger, what happens? Day after day, more anger is suppressed. Week after week, month after month, the anger builds up under the surface until finally one day there is an irruption and that person explodes with inappropriate anger.

Each day, because of stubbornness and unrepentant hearts, the wrath of God is stored up, adding to what was there the day before, building, accumulating until it will be released on the great and terrible day of the Lord as the prophets Joel and Malachi described it.

Remember that this section of Paul’s letter is directed toward those who consider themselves to be good, moral people. These critical moralizers do not view themselves as sinners nor do they see the need for a savior.

The first lesson in this sermon is directed towards these people. If you have this view of yourself, I want to say to you, that despite what you think, you are in need of a savior. Each day, because of your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself and the day is coming when it will explode against you.

We don’t like hearing about judgment but it is a necessary first step to salvation. We have to know we have a need before that need can be met.

Be kind to yourself. Break through the stubbornness that refuses to allow God’s Spirit to enter your heart. Tell God this morning that you need him in your life. You do need him, you know, and there is at least a little part of you that knows it. So with that little part of you, open yourself to God and allow his love to pour in to your life.

Let’s move on to verse 6 and lesson two.
God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”

What does this mean? God will judge us by what we do? I thought we were saved by faith. Paul said that himself in the verse that preceded this discussion of the wrath of God.
1:17
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

So what does Paul mean in verse 6 that God is storing up wrath against us and that he will give to each of us according to what we have done? Doesn’t this sound like saying we are saved by our good works?

It gets more confusing in verses 7&8.
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.  8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

So what is it? Are we saved by faith or not? Paul writes that those who persist in doing good will get eternal life and those who are self-seeking will receive wrath and anger.

Paul was very clear that we are saved by faith and faith alone. This was the cause of his battle with the Judiazers who tried to retain Jewish Law and insisted that new Gentile believers be circumcised. It is impossible to think that in these few verses Paul is contradicting what he fought so hard for in all his other letters and for which he fights in this same letter.

We are saved by faith and faith alone, but Paul says we will be judged by our actions. We are saved by faith and judged by actions. We are saved by faith and faith alone but will be judged by whether we do good or evil in our lives. Does this sound strange to you? Do you think this is a new obscure teaching found only in these few verses in Paul’s letter to the Romans? Listen to the teaching of Jesus

Luke 6
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.  48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.  49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

When you build a house it is wise to make sure it is on a solid foundation so you don’t have problems later when trouble comes. Faith is not simply saying the proper words, singing hymns and praise choruses with energy and enthusiasm, praying with fervor and reading the Bible and memorizing verses.

Faith is hearing the words of Jesus and putting them into practice. You cannot go to church on Sunday and do whatever you want the rest of the week and think that God will not notice or be terribly concerned if he does notice.

In the Godfather movies, at least the first two, there is a prominent scene in which the Godfather is in church for the baptism of a baby and as the ritual is being performed, the movie flashes to a series of murders that are taking place, all planned by the Godfather who is in church at the time. You see him taking communion while his mind is thinking through the murders being carried out.

It is not enough to say, “Lord, Lord”. It is not enough to say you have faith. It is not enough to say “I believe”. Jesus would respond by asking “why you say you have faith and why do you say you believe when you don’t do what I tell you to do?”

What Paul says in these verses is not any different from what Jesus taught in this lesson. And this is part of the message of James as well.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.  19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

You say you have faith? I say let me see your life. Let me see your checkbook and bank account. Let me see your weekly schedule.

You say you have faith? Let me watch you when you have to make a difficult decision. Let me watch you when you are tempted to do something illegal in order to make your life easier. Let me watch you when you face temptation. Let me watch you when you need to choose between what is easy but wrong and what is difficult but the way of Jesus.

How do I know you have faith? When I was in high school, in my young teenage years, I was very much aware of the contradiction of what some of the church leaders professed to believe and what they did during the week when they were not in church. That discrepancy, that hypocrisy, was one of the things I held on to in my resistence to becoming a Christian.

How do I know you have faith? Someone announces that they have given their life to Christ. They have accepted God’s gift of salvation and we rejoice. But how do I know if someone has made a true commitment?
Luke 6
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.

You can judge a tree by the fruit it bears.

You tell me you have given your life to Jesus and I want to see a change in your life. You tell me you are a Christian and I want to see the evidence.

If you tell me you are a Christian and continue to live in disobedience to God, then I wonder if your commitment is genuine. If you tell me you are a Christian and I see you taking the easy way out every time you have to make a difficult decision, then I wonder if you have really given your life to God.

This is the second lesson from this passage. We are saved by faith but the evidence that we have been saved is found in our actions.

I had a poster in my room from the time when I became a Christian more than thirty years ago up until we moved here. Somehow it did not make the trip over to Morocco. It has a close-up picture of some plants in a field and has this caption: Growth is the only evidence of life. If a plant does not grow it means it is dying.

Examine your life. Can you see evidence that God has been and is at work in you? In what way are you growing? In what way have you seen God speak to you? In what way have you seen God use you in the lives of others around you? Where is there sign of life in you?

If you can see evidence of God at work in your life, then rejoice. But if you do not see evidence that God is at work in your life, get on your knees and pray for mercy.

Let’s summarize. Good moral people observe the sin in other’s lives and are critical but they fail to see that they too are sinners in need of a savior. What they don’t see is that their stubbornness to recognize that they are sinners in need of a savior is leading them to destruction. Their unrepentance is storing up wrath against themselves day by day by day by day by day.

And so God’s judgment will be revealed on the day of God’s wrath. God’s judgment is sure and no one will escape it.

We are saved by faith but we will be judged by our actions. If we are genuinely repentant, the good fruit we bear will bear witness to our faith. If we persist in unrepentance, the bad fruit we bear will bear witness to our unrepentance.

And so
There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;  10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.  11 For God does not show favoritism.

We don’t like the concept of judgment but that is a reality we cannot avoid and there is a breath of fresh air in this judgment. For God does not show favoritism.

Those who do evil, whether Jew or Gentile, will be judged and receive trouble and distress. Those who do good, whether Jew or Gentile, will be judged and receive glory, honor and peace.

All unbelievers are alike. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, if you do evil, you will receive trouble and distress. It doesn’t matter if you are a good moral person not knowing the evil you do or if you are an immoral person. If you do evil, you will be judged and receive trouble and distress.

The bank president who is Grand Poobah of the Rotary Club and whose picture is in the paper every week because of all the good things he does in town and the town drunk who is most often found sleeping it off in some corner of the town park will be judged equally. If they have unrepentant hearts, they will receive trouble and distress at the judgment.

It won’t help you on that day to show your credentials and show how magnificently you have been educated. It won’t help you to list all the powerful and influential people you know. It won’t help you to reveal the balance in your bank account. It won’t help you to show how much you know of haute culture, fine wines and gourmet cheeses, which fork to use first and what dinner conversations are appropriate. God does not show favoritism. All who do evil, knowingly or unknowingly, will receive the weight of the wrath of God.

But we make distinctions because we live in a world that shows favoritism. We view differently the nice teacher of our child or a family member or a favorite actor or singer and so we want to think that God will make an exception in their case because he or she is such a good person. Yes, we can see that a criminal or alcoholic father who beat his kids will receive the wrath of God, but can’t an exception be made for the people we like?

All unbelievers are alike. All unbelievers are heading toward destruction and need desperately to turn to Jesus and receive the salvation they need.

We need to pray fervently for those we love, to turn to God and accept the salvation they need but we should pray just as fervently for those we despise. God does not show favoritism so neither should we.

If you view yourself as a good, moral person, do not be deceived. God will not pat you on the back and be pleased to have such a good, upstanding citizen in heaven. You will not be able to impress him with all you know and all you have learned. You and the town drunk will stand under God’s judgment. So turn to him now and receive the help you need.

For those who do good and demonstrate the faith they received, there is also no favoritism. Every distinction the world makes that separates us was struck down at the cross of Jesus and will be struck down once and for all on the day of judgment.

African, Asian or European; it makes no difference. All of God’s children share an equality. Educated or non-educated, literate or illiterate, cultured or uncultured.

The reason Paul stresses this is because critical moralizers are particularly skilled at making distinctions between people. They see the sin in others and ignore the sin in their own lives. They rank behavior so some wrong things people do are acceptable, “He is only human after all,” and some wrong things people do are unacceptable. “He’s a menace to society.”

Don’t hold onto your goodness. Step off your pedestal from which you view the behavior of others. Step down onto the earth and become aware of your sinfulness, your desperate need for a savior.

For God does not show favoritism.