Romans 2:1-16
In 1989, I was beginning my first full-time job as a youth pastor. It was at a small CMA church in Keizer, OR. It was a true learning experience for me. I cringe sometimes when I think about those years. There was some great ministry, and I still have contact with kids in my youth group back then, but I cringe when I think about how much I thought I knew. We’ve all heard, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” That was true for me. I thought I knew way more than I did. I was 20, leading a volunteer staff of much older adults. Two of those volunteers was a middle-aged couple that I really loved. They played a big part on our volunteer staff. One day, after a couple of years of working with our student ministry, the husband came to me and said he and his wife were filing for divorce.
I was floored. I couldn’t believe it. A couple that had been so involved in ministry and claimed to love Jesus couldn’t figure out how to make their marriage work. It felt like a betrayal. I thought, how can you lead students to Jesus but be unable to figure out your marriage?
Then, a year later, I got married, and I understood … how hard marriage is. I began to understand how you can love Jesus and still struggle to love your spouse. The first year of Stacey’s and my marriage was rough, to say the least. I don’t know if we would be married today if it weren’t for a friend of ours setting me straight on some things and my wife’s patience. We could have easily ended up right where this couple, who I had judged so harshly, ended up.
Chapter 2 of Romans begins with these words from Paul:
Rom 2:1 (CSB)—Therefore, every one of you, who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.
Remember, Paul wanted to bring unity to the church in Rome because there was a tremendous amount of division over issues that shouldn’t cause division. Paul’s strategy is to remind the Romans of the most essential thing in the Kingdom of God and what should bring us all together. That is the gospel message. The good news about God’s deep love for us and how it caused Him to send His Son, Jesus, as a spotless lamb, sacrificed for us and given as a gift so we could find forgiveness and freedom from sin and a new life as the adopted sons and daughters of God.
To understand the beauty of the Gospel, we must understand why it is important and why we all need the “Good News.”
In chapter 1, Paul clearly points out that all men are without excuse for failing to glorify God. All of those self-righteous Jews who were a part of the Roman church would have quickly agreed with Paul, pointing fingers at the pagans for the very sin of which they were guilty. That is why, after dealing with the unrighteousness of the Godless in chapter 1, Paul deals with the self-righteousness of the hypocrite in chapter 2.
“You who judge the pagan nature and homosexual practices,” said Paul, “you who are bitter and angry about someone else’s sin are also guilty.”
Does this mean my condemnation of someone is an indication that I am guilty? Yes.
The Greek word krino, translated “judge,” means to judge in condemnation. It is the idea of judging with a sneer on your face and an angry finger pointed.
That kind of judgment is wrong because, although it might appear in a different form, the same sort of sin is going on within us whenever we judge condemningly.
This is precisely what Jesus means when He talks about judging one another during His Sermon on the Mount.
Matt 7:1-5 (CSB)—“Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.
The Jews, especially the Jewish religious teachers, were arrogant hypocrites. They knew they were God’s chosen people, they had the law, and they weren’t like all of those Godless pagans. And they would point their fingers, look down their nose at them, and judge them condemningly.
But Jesus reminded them of the true intent of the law. Jesus said, in the Sermon on the Mount, maybe you have never actually committed adultery, but every time you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you have committed adultery in your heart.
Jesus reminded them that even though they may have never committed murder, every time they are angry with their brother or sister, they have committed murder in their heart, and they are guilty of murder.
The true intent of the Jewish law was to align the hearts of God’s people with His own.
God is most concerned with your heart.
I took down an ancient cherry tree in our backyard a few years ago. For years, this tree had been beautiful and prolific. It always had tons of cherries every year. After many years the tree started not producing much fruit, and I could tell there was a problem, so I decided to take it down. When we cut the tree down, we found that the tree’s entire trunk was completely rotted out. That trunk had probably been rotting for years, but it wasn’t until I saw inside the tree that I could see the extent of the rot.
Our actions often reveal our hearts, but ultimately, God is more concerned with our hearts because you may look good on the outside but be rotten on the inside. God is most concerned with what is on the inside.
Mark 7:20-23 (CSB)—And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”
So does that mean we should never judge? Even though we are not to make judgments in condemnation, we are to judge for identification.
In Matthew 7:15, Jesus said, “Watch out for wolves in sheep’s clothing.” One verse later in Matthew 7:16, He said, “You will recognize them by their fruit.”
For example, if a guy came to my door wanting to take Olivia out and arrived in a pickup truck with beer cans rolling around in the back and a cigarette dangling from his mouth, I would be justified in judging him for identification and saying, “Olivia, you may want to reconsider this date.”
There is a difference between identifying something as wrong and self-righteously condemning someone with hostility.
Paul says when you judge condemningly, you condemn yourself.
And then Paul says, beginning in vs. 2, that God is the only one qualified to judge. But just because God hasn’t exercised His judgment doesn’t mean it is not coming. When He is ready, God will hold all people accountable for their actions.
Rom 2:5-8 (CSB)—Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will repay each one according to his works; eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.
Is Paul saying that doing good works is the only way to avoid God’s wrath? No. He is saying that all men’s works will be judged. No one will escape God’s judgment. It doesn’t matter how good or bad you have been; your works, what you have done, and how you have lived your life will be judged.
When we are judged, our lives will be compared to the perfect life of Jesus.
How do you think your life will stack up against the perfect life of Jesus?
The Bible discusses this in more detail in Rev 20. It is called the Great White Throne Judgement. All people, living and the dead, will be judged according to their works.
Rev 20 describes books that will be brought out that detail what we have done, but …
At the same time those books are brought out, another book is brought out. This is called the Book of Life. Everyone who has repented of their sin and asked God to forgive them through the blood of Jesus has their name recorded in the Book of Life.
That is, those who believe in Jesus and by faith believe He is God’s Son who died for the sins of the world and was raised from the dead three days later to demonstrate His victory over death. Those who believe this have their names recorded in the Book of Life.
Those whose names are recorded in the Book of Life will not be held accountable for their actions; instead, their lives are judged according to Jesus’s life and actions, which are perfect. In other words, Jesus’s life is overlaid onto our lives, and when God looks at our lives, He sees only Jesus’s life.
This is God’s mercy. God does not give us what we deserve; instead, because of His grace, we receive something we don’t deserve: eternal life in His presence in His kingdom.
And Paul reminds us that when God judges, he does so with impartiality.
Rom 2:11 (CSB)—For there is no favoritism with God.
The only thing that matters is Jesus and what He has done for us. It’s not about us; it’s all about Him.
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Was there ever a more timely message for us?
As our culture seems bent on its own destruction, it is easy for us to look down our noses in condemnation. There is such a divide between what God says is good and what the rest of the world says is good. It can be a real temptation to judge condemningly.
Let’s guard our hearts, and instead of condemning the world, let’s look at it the way our Heavenly Father does: with mercy, patience, and love.
2 Peter 3:9 (CSB)—The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
Jn 3:16-17 (CSB)—For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
As election day approaches, resist the temptation to judge the other side condemningly. Dialogue is good. Having differing opinions is good. Be sure you vote your conscience on November 5th, but do not vilify the other side. Instead, judge for identification, not condemnation.
And it is more important than ever that the church is united in its cause for the gospel. In many ways, the church is more divided than ever. My prayer is that this is not true of New Hope Community Church and is not true of the church in Hermiston. Instead of judging one another over things with very little eternal significance, let’s come together to demonstrate the love of Jesus to one another and our community.
Maybe there is someone in your life that you have been guilty of judging. Maybe God has been putting that on your heart this morning. I encourage you to go to that person today and make that right. Be humble, ask forgiveness, and love that person the way Jesus loves that person. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything that person does or says or even affirm everything they do or say. But you can still show them the same mercy, grace, and love that God shows us.
Chris Hankel 
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