Romans 2:1-16
Intro Questions
#God #People #Time #Place #Obedient faith #Sin #Key Idea
God’s Righteous Judgment
1Therefore 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. 2We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3Do 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? 4Or 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? 5But 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.
6He will render to each one according to his works: 7to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8but for those who are self-seekinga and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11For God shows no partiality.
God’s Judgment and the Law
12For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
- God is ... What do we learn about God in this passage?
- We are ... What do we learn about people in this passage?
- I will ... What has the Holy Spirit revealed to us in this passage? How can I apply it to my life this week?
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Doing The Right Thing
On Mother’s Day, José Nuñez Romaniz was helping his grandfather with some online shopping when he noticed his account was a little low. The 19-year-old student at Central New Mexico Community College decided to make a quick trip to the nearest Well Fargo® ATM to make a deposit. When he got there, he spied a transparent plastic sack on the ground next to the machine. In the sack—cash. Lots of cash. Bundles of $50 and $20 bills. Lots of bundles. José whipped out his phone and called the 800 number on the ATM and the Albuquerque police.
The police arrived and took possession of the money. They discovered two things quickly: the money was mistakenly left by a technician refilling the ATM, and it amounted to $135,000. The Albuquerque Police Department drew attention to the young man’s honesty and he has been praised and rewarded on all sides. At least three businesses have contributed $500 each to help pay his college tuition, he’s received gift cards, sports tickets, a proclamation from mayor Tim Keller and a job offer from Police Chief Mike Geier. But his best reward was his mother’s call to tell him she was so proud of him for doing the right thing. You see, it’s not so much that he did the right thing; the real benefit is that he’s the right kind of person.
“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” (Romans 2:9-11 NIV).
One of the persistent themes of the Bible is the observation that generally when you do what is right, good things come from that. Also, generally when you do what is morally wrong, bad things come from that. Yet we don’t seek to do what is right hoping for some kind of repayment or reward; we do what is right because it is right. Moral right and wrong are simply a reflection of the nature of the God who made us along with the rest of the universe. These are principles woven into the very fabric of nature and we ignore or violate these laws to our peril in this life and to our doom in the next. Since moral righteousness is not instantly self-enforcing like, say, the law of gravity, some people think they can choose another moral path without consequence. Not so.
God calls us to moral integrity because He wants all His children to be the right kind of people. The right kind of people hold to His standards of righteousness and reflect His family values. When they’re confronted with a temptation, they don’t have to stop and ask what might be the best thing to do. They just continue to act in harmony with God’s will and that ensures that they do the right thing. Generally, things go well with us when we do that, because God shows no favoritism and His moral rules continue to operate within the universe. It turns out that to do the right thing is actually the right thing to do!
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