November 24 - Romans 2:1-4:25

Good morning everyone, 

The church in Rome was not one Paul had established, it is thought to have been started by Jews who came to faith during the Pentecost. Paul had heard of them and from Corinth writes this letter to basically introduce himself, establish his doctrine and encourage them. Paul was crazy committed to the calling God had for him in his life and was hoping to team up with the Christian church in Rome to get the Good news out to Spain and other areas yet to hear the Gospel.

In chapter two, Paul calls the people of the church out. It begins, “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.” Paul was emphasizing that we have all sinned repeatedly, and apart from the blood of Christ there is no way we can be saved from the consequence of sin.

Now, I am just going to throw this out there, when you call yourself a Christian, you had better be acting like one. You are saying, “These are my standards, my guidelines for life,” and I am telling you Christian, everyone will be watching, waiting for you to fail so they can point a finger. We have all seen how the news media becomes piranhas when a "Christian" pastor commits some sort of sexual sin. Right? They shine the lights so bright on his error in judgement, then pull everyone who calls themselves a Christian under that umbrella. Everybody loves to hate a hypocrite. 

It is not surprising that there are hypocrites today, as there were in Jesus' day. The Old Testament prophet Daniel even predicted that there would be more hypocrites in the end times, as the cost of faith could well be your life. Jesus also predicted that many would fall away although they would claim to be His disciple at the judgment. In Matthew He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ The Bible clearly indicates that those who practice hypocrisy really aren't Christians at all, but will be judged to be non-believers and sent to hell.

Please don’t misunderstand sinning with hypocrisy. I am not suggesting that we can all live “perfect” lives all of the time. It is actually impossible. There was only one perfect person to walk the face of this earth, his name is Jesus. Most people think a hypocrite is someone who preaches one thing and then does another. That is not a hypocrite; that is called a sinner, which we all are to some extent. The hypocrite is the person pointing the finger at others, perhaps even believing they do not sin. Make sense?

Everyone has a log in their eye ... EVERYONE!!! Jesus said in John 8:7, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Also, “We are all guilty of sin. If you say that you are without sin, then you are unsaved and calling God a liar.” God calls all men sinners. Paul says, “I preach against sin, not people.” What I am suggesting is, check yourself. Philippians 1:27, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.” Friends, no one is any better than another. Don’t go there. You don’t want to be a “hypocrite” because they are not “hip with it!” (Oh forgive me for that last sentence, it was baa,baa, bad). Let’s love our brothers and sisters in Christ enough to recognize when something may be “off” in their lives. Then come alongside them, talk to them,council them before they make a life changing error in judgement. Amen?

Have a good day and to our loving Abba Father be all the glory, honor and praise.

God bless you all …..