Romans 2:1-4, 7-8, 16 (NIV) 1 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. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
Sometimes life feels like God is punishing us. The notion that when we do something bad God does something bad to punish us is one of the oldest and most persistent rumors there is about God. But, could it be, like many rumors, there is some truth to it, albeit a twisted truth? I want to see if we can lift that twisted truth from the rumor and hold that truth before the truth of God seen in Jesus Christ.
God does not punish for every wrong thing we do. Paul says we are being spared God’s judgment not because we are special, but because God is patient, not because we deserve it, but because God has decided it. But, neither should we show contempt for the patience of God. If there are some who feel that God is always punishing them, there are also those who feel they can live with immunity to God’s judgment.
But, are we any better off for this flat rejection of God’s judgment? Is our society any more sane and stable for having rejected the whole of this belief? We may not be manipulated by the fear of God, but are we moved and motivated by our respect for God? From Genesis to Revelation there is a belief that a day of God’s judgment is coming. There will come a day is the repeated promise of a time to come when all our judgments will be judged.
Christians believe judgment is an act of love. The coming judgment says that what we think and say and do right now is very important. We are held accountable for the way we live our lives. Belief in a day of reckoning was not meant to cause us to cower in fear but to rise up in responsible living. We can deny that day, but we cannot deter it. We can pretend it isn’t true, but we cannot postpone it. There are reliable consequences to bad behavior. Judgment falls. Events happen. Natural consequences occur.
Judgment fell on us in Jesus, and judgment falls on us in Jesus. It falls on us in the example of the life of Jesus, in the experience and expression of God’s grace in the love of His Son for us. In the judgment of Jesus, God calls us to come closer to get a clear look at Him that we might receive a clear look at ourselves.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 2, 1993
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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