Romans 2:1-5
It is often stated by the world outside
of the Church that Christian people are the most judgmental people on earth and
are also hypocrites. How does that set
with you? Before you say that is not who
we are, maybe you and I need to stop and take inventory. Shall we just begin with the basic, do you
judge others who steal, and yet you take what is not yours from your employer,
little stuff like pens, Scotch Post-it notes, and they find their way into your
home for your own use. Did you see, I
used Post-it notes and you can bet some of them ended up at my home, they were
mine to use for business, but the day I used one for non-business, I became the
person who was the thief.
What about enhancing a story or a
report to make yourself look better than both God and you know to be true? Does that not put you in the class of a
person who lies, and yet we judge others for lying? Now let’s get to an ugly word, discrimination,
do you categorize people by color or race, are you prejudice? If so, then how can you judge men like our
President who has by his actions shown he is an Al Sharpton who is a race
divider. What about hate, do you hate
people who have wronged you? If so, that
puts you in a dangerous place, 1 John 3:15, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and
you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Do not be deceived
about the term brother, for it is clear he is talking about fellow
believers. I’ve heard it stated, and
read that you will not find any middle ground, for love is the gospel mandate.
It is never too late to remind us that the
apostle Paul is putting on paper what the Holy Spirit is instructing him to
write, and to whom is he writing, the Roman house churches. So do you need this, should you give deep
thought to what the apostle is saying?
And the answer is always the same: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.
Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ
is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
So as you ponder on these verses in Romans,
search your own heart and make up your mind, you will be light in this dark
world, you will not bring shame on the name of Christ. As stated in 2 Peter 2:12, in the Amplified
Bible, “Keep your behavior excellent
among the [unsaved] Gentiles [conduct yourself honorably, with graciousness and
integrity], so that for whatever reason they may slander you as evildoers, yet
by observing your good deeds they may [instead come to] glorify God in the day
of visitation [when He looks upon them with mercy].”
Now examine what is being written to
you; “Therefore
you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment
on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same
things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on
those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O
man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that
you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume
on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that
God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But
because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself
on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.”
From The Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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