Surely Not Me
Opening Prayer
Lord, Most Holy and Most High, I come to You in the merits of him who died that I might live.
Read ROMANS 2:1–16
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
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. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 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. 9 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.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
God reminds us to examine our own lives (it is so much easier to examine others’ lives) in the light of his Word.
Passages of Scripture that detail God’s judgment on sin can be counterproductive to holy living if we read them without looking seriously at our own lives. The godly nineteenth-century Scottish minister Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813–1843) once said that he saw in his own heart the root of all known sin. We tend to have special pleading and plentiful excuses when our own lives are examined, but to be extremely critical about the sins of others. In this section Paul invites his hearers to look closely at their own lives and not be judgmental towards those whom God has allowed the self-destruction of their sins.
Much of what Paul writes in this chapter is directed towards Jewish believers who, before they became Christians, would have had very negative thoughts about Gentile behavior and ethics. Some Christians find it hard to deal with the prejudices of a previous faith and all of us can easily assume that right knowledge is the equivalent of right behavior. These writings communicate truth gently. It is a false understanding of the grace of God and the saving work of Jesus if we think that our behavior is irrelevant to our relationship with God (cf. Rom. 6:1). We need to change.
These Jewish Christians are now in a congregation with Gentiles, who have never lived by the Jewish Law. Now, however, they have come to faith in Christ Jesus and are living in obedience to him. This is one of the greatest arguments against religious pride. We cannot put anyone outside of God’s salvation purposes.
Apply
Rejoice in the salvation of those you know from a different culture and learn from their manifestation of the grace of God.
Closing prayer
Lord, in my prayer I take John’s words to heart, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
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