Romans 2:17-3:20
This
morning, my Pastor finished part two of the “Fatal Flaws of Religion” message
in our series, When in Rome. It’s
been convicting for me to read through Romans 2-3 and listen to Pastor Dave break down
what Paul wrote about we who judge others. It breaks my heart when
people assume the worst in us when we acknowledge that we are Christians, but at
the same time the majority of us tend to make it hard for the world to believe there is a God
if they’re basing it on how we live out His testimony. It’s easy to turn our
noses upward because we think our denomination is superior, because we use the “correct
and only acceptable” Bible translation, because we are involved in too many
ministries to count, or because we don’t look like them. Paul reminds us that we are no better than the ones we judge!
Tom
Schultz recently wrote an article on his blog, Holy Soup, entitled “Why People Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore.”
He went to the streets and asked people why they weren’t in church and then
compiled the top reasons in this article into four recurring themes. Guess what
#1 was… “Church people judge me.” Ouch…
I was reminded today that I was not
asked to appoint myself to the position of passing judgment on others in my
church or world, nor is it my responsibility to try and be the Holy Spirit in
other people's lives. I need to worry about myself and how I’m going to fix my own
issues. In the last week, I can recall at least two times where I either said
something that definitely was judgmental about someone else or I listened to
someone make “just a comment.” It was wrong, no excuse about it. A good indication that you should stop listening if a statement is preceded by any of the following statements: "Don't repeat this," "I shouldn't say this but," "Can you believe he/she would," or "Bless her/his heart but..." I know you know of plenty more because we are all guilty of having used some. When I think
about the judgments that others have passed against me in the last few years
for reasons beyond my control, I cringe. But, in that same fashion when I think
about how easily I can pass judgment I have to acknowledge what Paul says. I am
a sinner mercifully saved by grace!
Pastor reminded us that religion
and getting caught up in the “law” can encourage hypocrisy and can lead me to
focus more on the offenses of the law instead of grace. “When Christians fail
to practice what they preach the world says, ‘If they live that way then their
God must not be real.’” Even as wives and husbands we can learn a lot from Paul's writings. I have to humble myself and ask God to reveal to me how I am judging my own husband. Could it be that I think of myself better than Derek and allow that view to dictate how I treat him? Have I judged Derek unfairly without considering that "there could be more to what I'm seeing?" Marriages aren't immue to the sin of passing unfair judgment. I'm sure you know that as well as I do.
One question for reflection from
Pastor’s handout: would you agree that there is little difference before God
between religious idolatry and worldly immorality?
**Here's the extra** I’m including a video I recently
saw on YouTube of a sketch that LifeChurch.tv did, “Interview with Satan on his views about the Church.” It is humorous, but very convicting. Kind of scary to
consider that what the actor in the video says speaks a lot of truth into how
we as Christians act even within the church. Watch it and think.
What we worshipped to today:
"Our God"- Chris Tomlin
"How Great is Your Faithfulness"- Matt Redman
"I Want to Be Used by You"- Deluge Band
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