THE REALLY FAKE AND THE TRULY REAL
We have come to understand from the letter to the Romans that humankind is wicked and sinful. God has given people over to the pursuit of sin to get their fill and to discover for themselves that those pursuits are empty and unfulfilling. So Paul, let’s move on to the gospel and focus on the good news of Jesus Christ, how he saves us from our sin.
But no, Paul is not willing to let us go that easy. Come on, Paul, we say, we get it, we are sinners, we know how morally bankrupt we are. We get it – or do we? Paul doesn’t seem to think so.
The gospel can never be accepted until you admit your need. We have to come to a place where we realize our utterly powerless and helpless we are spiritually. Trouble is, we don’t like to admit our weakness; we don’t really want help. We can handle life’s troubles on our own; we want to appear in control. Consequently we resist God’s help, especially if we can’t earn it.
It is precisely for this reason that Paul will not let go of the theme of our sinfulness just yet. He has described three types of people who resist the gospel message. One type are the wicked who defy God and encourage others to practice in the dark, hurtful and destructive activities of life (1:32). The second type was described to us last week in Pete’s message telling us to get off our high horse. These are the moralists who do good and look down on those who are not seemingly as good as they are (2:1ff). Inwardly they are filled with the ugliness of the sin they presume to despise. The third type is unenlightened pagan (2:12-13) who have not heard the gospel.
Today we look at the fourth type of person who resists the gospel which is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. This fourth type is the super-religious person.
Why dwell on sinfulness so heavily? Why does Paul keep hammering away at this subject?
There are possibly two reasons: One is that the gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone has not sunken into our thick skulls as being truly good news, and it will not until we acknowledge in the core of our being that we are really, truly sinful and hopeless without God. The other reason is that we are so resistant to seeing it and feeling it.[i]
In this segment of our series we now focus on the really fake and the truly real. As Fritz Ridenour once wrote, it is possible to be a Christian without being religious; and it is possible to be religious without being Christian. How does Paul deal with this in Romans 2:17-29?
1. The Fatal Flaws of Faking it
How do we know when we are faking our faith and resting on ritual? One way to tell is how we feel about our sins. In a report on the Catholic Church by Catholics it was demonstrated that there was a diminished sense of sin. Attendance at communion services had never been better but trips to the confessional were down. What the surveyors concluded was that parishioners had fallen for the gospel of self-acceptance and could not think of any sins they needed to confess. Students at a Boston college similarly were asked to write a philosophy paper on when they had done something wrong or evil. Many couldn’t because they could not think of a time when they had done anything wrong.
What these incidents illustrate is that a consciousness of sin is at an all-time low in all churches. What would you say if we were to have a time of confession right now? Would you be hard pressed to think of sins? For us, and the people Paul was addressing, sin was a reality that was overshadowed by certain confidences that give us a numbed feeling of safety. The super-religious believe that they are above sin. Here’s why.
a) Eight confidences – Paul pulls the props out from under the religious one by one. He starts with this, “Now you, if you call yourself a Jew…” The name “Jew” originated with the tribe of Judah, but became a general name for all Israelites following the Exile in Babylon. When they returned to the Promised Land they were all known as Jews. In their minds it came to mean that they were a distinct people. There was pride in this name. Are there some who feel self-assured before God because they are Mennonite? (tell Baptist joke)
Being Jewish, or Mennonite, or Baptist, does not give us any special exemptions with God. What’s in a name? But we have the Word of God, we might say. Paul picks this one out too, “…if you rely on the law…” What does possession of the law do for the Jew? They thought they having the law was protection against disaster. You read your Bible every day, that’s good, but so what? Does that exempt you from the wrath of God?
How about your relationship with God? The Jews bragged about their relationship to God as special people, as Paul said they “boast in God.” This goes back to being Jews, being God’s special people. They thought this gave them superiority over other people.
Do you know God’s will and can you discern what is right from wrong? So could the Jews. Paul points out confidences 4 and 5 “…if you know his will and approve what is superior…” And how do they know what is right and wrong, what is superior? They know this “because you are instructed by the law.” Knowledge of God sets the super-religious on a soap-box to tell others what they know about God, to point out those right and wrong things, and to reign over others it seems. But Paul says, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1).
What these six confidences amount to is pride. Pride in a name; pride in possessing the law; pride in a superficial relationship; pride in our knowledge. Pride leads to destruction. Pride blinds us to the reality of our condition.
The next two confidences lead to presumption based on pride. If we believe ourselves to be moral compasses for the world then we presume to teach others what is right. Paul outlined these confidences this way, “if you are convinced you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth…” What did Jesus say about these so-called teachers, these Jews? He called them blind guides – the blind leading the blind (Matt 15:14). The Jews were convinced that they were the religious instructors of the world, appointed by God. Jesus said, you don’t know what you are doing.
b) Do you practice what you preach? Here’s the punch-line of what Paul is saying to the Jews. We can easily put ourselves under this question too. Do you practice what you preach? All eight confidences reflect something good. There is nothing wrong with being a Jew, or knowing your Bible, or reveling in your relationship with God. But is it real or is it pretense?
The punch line comes in five rhetorical questions in verses 21-23. They say one thing and do another. They teach, but do they teach themselves? Here’s the problem. We can know the Word of God, rest in it, boast in it and know how to teach it, but if we don’t teach ourselves it is just a formality. If as we read God’s Word it does not break us, humble us and lead us to a childlike trust in God’s grace, if we do not see daily that we need to be led to the gospel of God’s grace through faith in Christ, then we are not fit to teach others.
They were pretenders, these Jews. They could point out other people’s problems. They appeared spiritual and diligent. If those Jews were here today they would be ideal church attenders, go to every membership meeting and teach SS every year. And that’s all good, but it was a pretense. They would look like good Christians if they were here, but they would be playing a part.
How can you tell? They didn’t practice what they preached. They were the ones Jesus warned about when he said, “Do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach” (Matt 23:3).
c) Does your life honor God? People are watching. If they know you are a Christian, they are watching to see if your faith makes a difference in your life. Does your life honor God?
“You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,’” (2:23-24). This was a serious charge, one that the Jews tried very hard to avoid committing. To blaspheme God was the worst thing a Jew could do. The quote comes from Isaiah 52:5 when God’s people were in captivity in Babylon because of their bad behavior. Because God had sent them into exile, all the Gentiles around them thought that God was unable to rescue them, so they mocked God.
This is what happens when we bring dishonor to God through actions that don’t match our teaching. People see our hypocrisy and instead of being drawn to God through us, they despise God because of us. We can go to church, read our Bibles, and do all the right things, but still profane the name of God by living a double life.
Pride, presumption, pretense and profaning the name of God are fatal flaws of those who fake it. Religious ritual does not save you and it doesn’t impress anyone else either.
2. A Rite Religion or a Right Relationship
a) The purpose of Circumcision – If possessing and knowing the law was a reason for self-confidence among the Jews, circumcision was the most distinguishing mark of Jewishness. With this ritual, the Jew felt particularly safe from God’s wrath.
I have always wondered what prompted God to choose this sensitive area of the male anatomy to mark the people of God. So this week I did what anyone would do when they don’t know something – I googled it. I found a website called circumcision.net and found some interesting answers.
Called Mitzvot, the purpose of the humbling of this particular limb was to weaken the lust associated with it. Circumcision was performed by many people groups but none so consistently as the Israelites. Circumcision signified the removal and wiping away of those things that were impeding and defiling celestial love, or love for God. Whatever covers up, obstructs, and defiles this love is signified by the cutting away, or circumcision, therefore represented removing anything that came between men and God. God used it as a mark or a sign, authenticating that the person had made the Old Covenant with Him. It was done on the eighth day to indicate that Israelites were born into a covenant relationship with God. They had to do nothing except to be born.
If Jewish pride centered on circumcision, Paul knocks down this pride. It was an outward sign, a ritual that they thought was a ticket to heaven. We could fall into the same trap when we think that an outward sign like baptism or communion or church membership somehow saves us. But the truth is, the rite without the reality is empty to God.
b) The power of Circumcision – or of any ritual is not in the outward performance but in the inner reality. That’s why Paul says, “Circumcision has value if you observe the law…” (2:25). Obedience is what makes ritual meaningful.
Paul gives an example of the power of obedience in verses 26-27. He writes that a person who is circumcised but breaks the law should be regarded as someone who is uncircumcised. And a person who obeys the law is like a person who is circumcised even if he isn’t physically circumcised. That uncircumcised person stands as a witness against the circumcised person who broke the law. Circumcision minus obedience equals uncircumcision, while uncircumcision plus obedience equals circumcision. Ultimately, it is neither circumcision nor possession of the law that shows that you are God’s child, but obedience.
Obedience does not save you, but obedience is evidence that you are saved. No matter how religious you are, it is believing God and living for him that saves you.
One thing about Paul’s argument should puzzle us. Is it possible for a Jew to fulfill and obey God’s law completely? No. Then is it possible for a Gentile to actually obey the law and therefore behave as if he were circumcised? No, that’s not possible either. Paul’s point is not that anyone, circumcised or uncircumcised can obey the law completely, but simply that the Jews cannot rely on their rituals to be saved. No one can.
So how shall we be saved?
c) The True Jew – Let’s look closely at the last two verses: “A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God” (28-29).
The true Jew is redefined here in these words. If you believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation you are by this definition a Jew, someone who belongs to God. In this redefinition of what it means to be a Jew, an authentic member of God’s covenant people, there are four keys to being a Jew.
A true Jew is not defined by something outward and visible, but inward and invisible. We know that, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).
A true Jew is not circumcised in the flesh but in the heart. God’s intention was that the heart would be marked as belonging to him. Long ago he said to the Israelites, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendents, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live,” (Deut 30:6). Note that it is God who does the circumcising. No one can take credit for the change in you and the power to obey, but God.
A true Jew is circumcised then by the Spirit. That is, the law, the Word of God is helpful for showing us God, teaching us right and wrong, and is a great comfort to us, but it does not save us. Salvation is accomplished in us by the Holy Spirit who works in us to set us apart for God to obey God. Sinner, you cannot save yourself.
Finally, a true Jew wins the approval of God and doesn’t give a speck of dust for the praise of man. Human beings look to those outward things, visible, material and superficial. What matters to God is a deep, inward, secret work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Rite religion or right relationship. If we are only religious we will focus on the eternal things so that others will praise us for our sacred devotion. The true believer is one who has an inner relationship with Christ, which will result in praise from God.
To avoid being really fake and become truly real before the Lord, what can we do?
Live what you believe. Not so others will praise us, but so that God will be honored. Bill Hybels wrote a book called, Who you are when no one’s looking. Do we practice our faith consistently in public and in private? Do we trust God with every area of our lives?
Practice what you preach. If you teach others how to act, how to live or how to speak, make sure that you follow your own teaching. If someone catches you breaking your own teaching, own up to it and make it right. Confess that you too are weak and likely to fall into the same traps as others.
Let the Word of God break your heart. Allow the good news of Jesus Christ to remind you that you are in need of his grace all the time. We do not lord it over others because we are on the same level as everyone else. Just because you are a Christian doesn’t make you better than the unbeliever. He needs Jesus; she needs Jesus, just like we need Jesus.
Be sure that you have a relationship with Jesus and not merely religious rituals. It’s time to stop pretending and get into some deep conversations with your Lord. He’s waiting for you to talk to him.
Allow the Holy Spirit to change you on the inside. Admit that you cannot be holy unless the Holy Spirit comes and circumcises your heart.
Oh that we would be the people Ezekiel prophesied about so long ago: The LORD said, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people and I will be their God” (Ezek 11:19-20).
AMEN
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