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Casting the First Stone

Romans 1:24 – 2:16

Catching Up…

Two weeks ago, we started looking at Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Here are some of the things we learned about the book:

• Paul is writing to the church in Rome, which he did not start and which he had not visited.
• He is writing mostly to non-Jews, so he is forced to explain his arguments in ways that non-Jews (like us) can understand.
• Paul is also taking this chance to outline his understanding of the Gospel – our need for salvation and how God provided for that need.

Paul is using an argument that he has carefully thought out.  Paul is a highly educated man, and he is skilled at putting together arguments that are persuasive.  Here is the beginning of the outline of Paul’s argument.

• God’s anger is stirred up against ALL human beings:
  • No human being has an excuse – whether we have heard directly or only perceived in nature and in others, EVERYONE has some sense that there is a God.
  • So it is not IGNORANCE that stirs God’s wrath, but our deliberate rejection of him – especially when we know the Truth and ignore it.

We found encouragement in Paul’s outline of the Good News that God has done something about this already.  But we also found a challenge – especially for those of us who have HEARD the Truth and KNOW what it means to obey… but we CHOOSE to disobey anyway.

Moving Ahead – The Wickedness of “Them”

Now we’ll read 1:24-32.  It’s not an easy passage for us to hear:

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

There are all kinds of things that we could latch onto here, and all kinds of things that might make us uncomfortable.  But let’s take things in proper order.

First, let’s notice the nature of sin and the judgment we receive.  Three times (v. 24, 26, 28) Paul says that God “gives us over” to the consequences of our sin.  God allows us free choice in whether or not we will obey him.  So when we do or do not obey, our choices make a difference.  And when we choose to disobey, our choice makes a difference.  When you get pulled over for a DUI, God’s not going to intervene and get you out of jail time and fees.  God does not remove the earthly consequences for sin.  This is part of the judgment we face.

So we see that judgment for our sin does not always come from God – it also comes from US.

The Controversial Question of Homosexuality

Now I debated whether or not to use these verses as I went through Romans.  The writers of the Lectionary left them out, and many preachers in our kinds of churches choose not to dwell on such topics.  There are some controversial things here, and some would tend to be sensational and try to stir up anger or righteous indignation.

But when we come to God’s Word, and we find something that is difficult, we can NOT run away from it.  We have to wrestle with it, try to understand it.  We have to pray that God would give us understanding, and that he would give us wisdom to know what to do with the things we DON’T understand.

And so I did a little wrestling, and I began to understand.  I still don’t understand the whole issue of homosexuality, and I don’t pretend to.  I have some ideas, just like all of us probably do.  But I also know we cannot turn off our brains when it comes to God’s Word.  Neither can we ignore all the other things that God teaches us in our lives and conversations.

I have known, and still know, many homosexuals – both men and women – who are Christians.  When I talk to them, I have no doubt that they are Christians.  Some of them HATE what they have become; some are merely comfortable with it; others are happy and seem to enjoy it.  I have sat and cried with a couple of my best friends who are gay, who grew up in the church and who denied for so long that they had these feelings.  They didn’t want to be this way, didn’t want to act this way.  And some are STILL tortured because of this thing they don’t understand.

They are human beings, just like you and me.  They have things they do that they don’t want to do – things they don’t understand – just like you and me.  I’m not making any kind of statement about the sinfulness of homosexuality – it’s not my place, and I’m not 100% convinced of anything.  But about one thing I am certain:  They are human beings, just like the woman Jesus rescued from being stoned.

There are churches so determined to be God’s judges in this matter that they have gone to great lengths.  You’ve heard about them in the news – particularly a church in Kansas that uses its church money to send members around the country to protest at funerals.  They go to these events, making sure the media are present, and carry signs that have all kinds of explicit language and pictures saying that God hates homosexuals.  They bring children to the picket lines, and give them the most explicit signs for shock value.  They have been at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, children killed in bus crashes, people who have died of AIDS – any event they can link as God’s punishment against this particular sin.  And they raise an outcry and wonder why families are beginning to keep the location of a funeral secret!

These kinds of actions, these motivations, I simply can’t understand.  Have these people ever actually talked to someone who’s gay, gotten to know them?  I can’t help but think they’ve focused on one portion of scripture to the exclusion of all others… and it’s the parts they’re excluding that we REALLY need!

Grace and Judgment

I understand that there is a constant paradox (at least for us) between God’s wrath and God’s grace.  But when we focus on one at the expense of the other, we miss the Gospel message completely.  Look at the Gospel story we read earlier in the service – when the people brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery.  It was clearly wrong – no question about that.  The scriptures were clear.

But did Jesus respond with judgment, or with grace?  Both.  He made sure the playing field was even.  For the woman, who had already experienced “judgment” from the mob, he offered grace.  And for the mob he offered a kind of mild judgment.

But I’m not up here this morning to talk about the evils of homosexuality.  I’m not here to talk about how any sin is worse than another.  Come to me anytime, and I’ll be glad to talk with you about my understandings and studies on homosexuality.  But these two verses did not provide me with a revelation about the practice and state of homosexuality in God’s kingdom – Paul didn’t mean for them to.

In fact, I think Paul’s up to something

Paul’s Agenda

We can see what Paul’s up to by looking at the details in the passage.  First, note how Paul lines up the list of sins.  He starts with some of the “hard-hitters,” the ones everyone thinks about.  In Paul’s day, homosexuality was widely practiced and accepted in the Roman Empire.  And for Jews and Christians, there was an obvious conflict.  The homosexual question was just as “hot” in Paul’s day as it is today.  So he starts there.

But he doesn’t STOP there.  Look at some of the other sins he mentions… ones that come closer to home, perhaps:

Wickedness, Evil, Greed, Depravity, Envy, Murder, Strife, Deceit, Malice, Gossiping, Slandering, God-hating, Insolence, Arrogance, Boasting, Inventing new ways of sinning, Disobedience against parents, Senselessness, Faithlessness, Ruthlessness, Blatant disobedience of God’s decrees

And second, look at Paul’s use of a simple pronoun to make a point.  Throughout these verses he uses “they,” allowing us and his hearers to think that Paul was talking about someone else.  That’s one of the ways the Devil works most – is allowing us to compare ourselves to someone else and think, “at least I’m not THAT bad…”  You can almost feel the anger mounting as Paul mentions some of the sins, then the confusion begin as he gets down to things like “gossiping” and “disobeying your parents.”

That’s where he turns around and delivers the punch at the beginning of chapter 2:

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? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

5But 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. 6God “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. But 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; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.

Nit-picking

We could dwell on these individual sins.  But if we did, we’d be missing the point.  Paul is not making theological statements about certain sins here.  In fact, just the opposite – Paul is saying that we have ALL sinned, and we are ALL under judgment.

My girls aren’t at this stage yet, but I know it well.  Two children get in a fight, and no one sees who really started it.  They’re rolling and scratching and yelling and punching, and you pull them off each other.  When you do, what’s the first thing they say?  “He started it.  No, SHE started it.”

And what’s the first thing YOU say?  Do you try to arbitrate between them?  Do you all sit down and try to get to the root of the problem?  No.  That’s useless, because the truth of the matter is that they BOTH had a hand in starting it.

Paul is reminding us of an important fact, one that today’s church around the world (but especially in the U.S.) needs to hear and pay attention to.  It’s useless to point fingers at one another, saying “look what he did” or “look what she did.”  GOD is the judge, not us.  We may see the outward action, but we can never determine the state and motive of someone’s heart when they do something.  Only God can do that.  And only God can say he’s never done anything wrong before.  So only God can pass judgment.

So what’s our job?  Grace.  God gives judgment and grace, and we are only capable of giving grace.  Because when we look at the ledger book of our lives, and see our sins written in red ink, the AMOUNT of red ink is not going to matter.  If we only sinned once we’d still be under judgment.  Fighting over individual sins is ridiculous – like arguing over how many bullets killed a man, or how many matches an arsonist threw on the gasoline.  The number doesn’t matter – it was the first one that tipped the balance.

All we can do is offer grace and love.

Closing

Paul’s headed somewhere with this, and we’ll see where that is in the weeks ahead.  If the first part of Romans offered us a challenge, this one offers even more.  Paul is not trying to differentiate between sins – he’s showing that ALL of us are equally under judgment.  Paul’s not trying to set himself or anyone else up in a place to judge the actions of others – he’s saying that NONE of us can judge another’s actions, no matter how bad they may seem.  Paul’s not handing out grace and forgiveness – he’s saying only GOD can do that.

But there’s more ahead – including some good news!

©2010 Notes From Jon. All Rights Reserved.

The following doesn’t read the same as it came out in the sermon – this is basically an expanded commentary on the text.  I’d love to hear your thoughts…

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Through the Book of Romans
(Hopping, Skipping and Jumping)

When & Why

Paul likely wrote this letter near the end of his third missionary journey, during his long stay in Corinth.  Paul had never been to Rome, even though he had hoped to for many years.  His work in the East had kept him so busy that he had not made it to Italy yet.  But now he considers his work in Asia Minor to be complete, so he hopes to stop by Rome on his way to Spain – which at that time was the Western edge of the civilized world.  It’s almost as if Paul was working to spread the Gospel to the “corners” of the earth. So Paul hoped the church in Rome would be a kind of headquarters for his mission work in the West.

This was also a crucial time in Paul’s ministry:

• He was poised to take the Gospel to even wider regions of the world.

• He had made many enemies among both Jews and Christians, both of whom were distorting his message.

• His message had not, to our knowledge, been completely written down – only in parts, as he wrote to the various churches.

So Paul uses this opportunity to write out some of his thoughts, and “flesh out” his presentation of the Gospel.

Romans is NOT a theology textbook.  Paul took some time to get it together, but it is not an exhaustive account of his theology (in other words, you can’t just look here for all your answers – you still have to look at the whole Bible before you make any theological judgments about what you find in Romans).

The Church in Rome

The Roman church was likely founded by Jews who came there over the course of decades – maybe even a few who were present at the day of Pentecost.

It’s hard to explain how important Rome was in the ancient world.  The ancient mind did not have as global a perspective as we do today – they had maps that were imperfect at best, and they thought more locally.  Rather than thinking of kingdoms or nations with borders, they thought in terms of cities.  A city simply expanded its influence out into the area beyond it.

So the Roman Empire was merely an extension of the city of Rome.  Rome was the hub, the center of all activity in the Empire.  So if you were going to spread word about something quickly in that world, the best place to go would be the hub.  That’s why Paul wanted to go there so badly.

But the Gospel had already gone there.  A movement as quick and as passionate as Christianity in those early days would certainly have reached Rome – everything went through Rome.  A fledgling church had already started there, and apparently had already gotten out of hand.  The fight over the new faith was nowhere as strong as it was between Jews who practiced the new religion and those who practiced the old religion.  The fight between these two groups in Rome was so fierce that Emperor Claudius had expelled most of the Jews from the city in order to keep the peace.

The point:  Most of the Christians in Rome to whom Paul writes are Gentiles, so Paul has to do some explaining at times to help them understand the Jewish background.

All these facts come together to make Romans a beautiful letter, and a very rich expression of Paul’s understanding of the Christian faith at that time.

Beginning the Letter

1:1-7 – Paul leaves no doubt about who he is, who he serves, and who he is writing to.  In fact, in just a short paragraph, Paul lays out the essence of the Good News he preaches.  This is the “Gospel” he will talk about in the letter to come:

• Jesus is God’s Son divinely, and humanly is descended from David

• His coming and work were foretold by the prophets in the Scriptures

• He was resurrected as a sign of his status as God’s Son.

• From his work, we have received both grace and responsibility to take his good news to all the nations.

1:8-15 – Paul explains why he is writing (see above).

1:16-17 – Paul begins by saying he is not ashamed of the Gospel.  Why would he be ashamed?  He’s given us clues elsewhere:

In Corinthians, Paul alludes to the fact that the story of Jesus is foolishness.  Who would die for a bunch of sinful people?  How would one man’s death cancel out the wrongs that someone else had done?

The Gospel is also plain and simple in ways.  There is only one God, not dozens who mingle and bicker with one another.  No great list of tasks must be achieved to make God happy – unlike many religions of the time that required a lifetime of rituals and sacrifices.  The Good News is that we don’t have to navigate all those difficult things to be made right with God.

Our Gospel was not as logical and complex, not nearly so developed as the many alternatives one could find in the city of Rome.  Who would want this simple and foolish religion in place of ones that made much more sense and were so much more tangible?

“I do,” says Paul.  “I’m not ashamed to claim this Gospel.”  And he’s not ashamed to PROCLAIM it.

These are pivotal verses in the writings of Paul, because for the first time we begin to see that the Gospel is not just a set of words.  It’s not a tract that we hand out to people, or a set prayer that everyone has to get just right.

The Gospel does not SHOW the power of God.  It is not the STORY of the power of God.

No, the Gospel IS THE POWER OF God for salvation.  When truly present, the Good News of God is alive and active, and God’s Spirit works to bring about a response in the heart of the one who comprehends it.  Evangelist D.L. Moody described it best – the Gospel is like a lion.  All we have to do is open the cage and get out of the way!

“Righteousness of God” is debated (what kind of genitive is it?), but whatever Paul meant by it, it’s clear that:

• It is GOD’S righteousness and not ours,

• It is mysteriously intertwined with faith,

• We are called, somehow, to live in light of that righteousness.

1:18-20 – There is an age-old debate about what happens to those who have never heard the Gospel.  What about the people who lived before Christ?  What about those who lived after, but never heard about him – whether because they lived too far away, or because no one bothered to tell them?

Paul seems to give a hint of an answer at that question.  He speaks of the “ungodliness and unrighteousness of human beings,” but he doesn’t say those things are because they do not know.  No one, Paul says, can plead IGNORANCE.  Rather, ungodliness and unrighteousness come in those who “suppress the truth.”  Paul says they KNOW the truth – they are NOT ignorant.  Rather, they are choosing to ignore and suppress the truth.

That might be a hard pill to swallow – how can people be condemned even when they haven’t heard of God?  Paul lays out his argument:

While not everyone has heard the specific and full revelation of God through Jesus, EVERYONE has perceived at some level that there must be a creator.

So while every human being may not know what God commands specifically, EVERY human being will be held responsible for how he or she has responded to God as HE HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO THEM.

Therefore, every human being is under judgment at some level – we are all without excuse.

Paul implies that “we all worship something.”  If it’s not God, it’s a substitute for God.  Every human being comes to a realization at some point that he or she is only a small part of the universe, and not in control of everything.  So we find meaning in life by how we choose to orient our lives and our actions.

We all worship something.  It may be God, MONEY, POWER, OURSELVES, OUR FAMILY, OUR REPUTATION… the list is endless.  But while some of these things are good – God created some of these things – they are no substitute for God.

So every human being either responds positively to God, or negatively.  And we are responsible for how we have responded.

24-25 – Again, Paul is eloquent in describing how God acts in response to our unrighteousness.  He gives us a choice of how we will respond – and if the outcome is not what he wants, he will not force it on us.  He allows us to chase after the desires of our hearts.  This determines how we will act.

And Paul is not just speaking of those who have heard and rejected.  God’s wrath is directed against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness.  It’s hard to conceive, and we don’t understand it completely.  But even those who have not heard of Christ will, in some way, be responsible for how they have responded to what God has shown them.  We can only guess how their response will be accepted by God.

And that’s where we go “from preachin’ to meddlin’.”  Because I have to ask myself this question:  If the people who have never heard of Jesus Christ have no excuse, where does that leave ME?  Some people haven’t ever heard God’s call, but I hear it every day – when I look around and see the state our world is in, when I hear someone talk about how they can’t apply faith to their life, when I see someone who’s in desperate need of just the most basic human needs.

I hear the call all the time, and sometimes I don’t respond.  For whom will it be worse – those who never heard, or those who heard and didn’t respond?

©2010 Notes From Jon. All Rights Reserved.

“Can you believe we might have to choose between some woman for president and this athiest guy?”

“Hmmm,” she said, looking down at the order form she was filling out and keeping her thoughts about his comment to herself.

“I mean, she’s some kind of communist, and he doesn’t believe in God. Wouldn’t even take his oath on the Bible, can you BELIEVE that?” he asked, though he wasn’t really asking. And no one answered. He then proceeded to unfold his theory on how Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton (or both) are somehow the Antichrist, using references to the book of Revelation.  His prediction for the November elections – Obama will be President and Clinton the VP, and the world will come to an end sometime in 2009.

I seemed to recall getting both “Obama the Atheist” and “Obama the Muslim” emails forwarded to me, and figuring from the sources of those emails that their claims were false. But just for fun, since the Coffee Shop Pundit wouldn’t allow me to work, I decided to check out the stories for myself. Turns out this guy knows a lot more about Revelation than he does about the candidates.

I was reminded of the little fliers that the Christian Coalition of Alabama used to send to all the state churches every voting season – a “Candidate Report Card,” covering only issues which they deemed “important to Christian voters,” and sometimes smudging the truth a bit. Those made me chuckle, too – until I started seeing editorials and talking to friends at seminary who were using arguments and language that was all too familiar. It was upsetting to know that lots of folks – even my educated seminary friends – let “Christian experts” do their election research for them.

Silly as the coffee house episode was – and I did chuckle while he ranted for a few minutes – it ended up leaving me thoughtful and, honestly, a little scared. I take facts from email about as seriously as I take facts from cartoons. But if the number of these emails I get a week are any indication, someone out there obviously believes this stuff.

What else would these kinds of people believe if you sent it over email? All you have to do to convince some people is use big words and say you know someone at the CIA who confirms it. I’ve read (and heard with my own ears) people IN THE PULPIT make statements that they obviously got from these kinds of sources. And you know that if you hear it from the preacher AND you saw it on the internet, it might as well be written in the Bible.

The reporters and pundits say that religion and the internet will be big factors in the outcomes of this election, and I think they’re right. I’m just not so sure it’s a good thing…

©2010 Notes From Jon. All Rights Reserved.