Honesty? Certainly Not! Romans sermon series (No. 3)

Honesty? Certainly Not!
ROMANS 2:17-3:4 “Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God..."

Introduction
Before I say a word of my own let me quote you some song lyrics. They go like this:

If you search for tenderness
It isn't hard to find
You can have the love you need to live
But if you look for truthfulness
You might just as well be blind
It always seems to be so hard to give

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you

I can always find someone
To say they sympathize
If I wear my heart out on my sleeve
But I don't want some pretty face
To tell me pretty lies
All I want is someone to believe

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you

I can find a lover
I can find a friend
I can have security
Until the bitter end
Anyone can comfort me
With promises again
I know, I know

When I'm deep inside of me
Don't be too concerned
I won't ask for nothin' while I'm gone
But when I want sincerity
Tell me where else can I turn
Because you're the only one that I depend on

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you
– Billy Joel, “Honesty”
http://www.lyricstime.com/billy-joel-honesty-lyrics.html

We will come back to that…

Introduction
Rom 2:17 “Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God…”
Who was the Apostle Paul writing to? Who were Paul’s readers?
We know he wrote to the Christians in Rome, but who were they?
You know how important it is to address your letters or parcels correctly?
You may be concerned that your letter or package goes to the wrong person or maybe it could be lost if it is not addressed properly…
And so the Apostle sends off his letter to the Christians in Rome, to the church in Rome which has been established by the preaching of Christ through the word of God. 1:7 “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

They had no postal service as we have today, and no fax or email, but God saw to it that it got there safely. Paul gave it to Phoebe, a Greek woman, who God protected until she got to the Christians gathered in Rome. We read about her in ch 16:1-2.
We’re coming to that last chapter, I am trying…I promise…

Now, who were these Romans that Paul was writing to?
Were the Roman Christians all from the same background?
Did they all worship in the same way and have the same coloured skin?
Did they have and the same education, and home background? More importantly perhaps, at least outwardly, did they speak the same language? Since that is a big giveaway, as it still is today.
We often judge people by the language they speak and how they speak it.
So were they all the same, NO, some were Gentiles, and not Jews.
By the way the Apostle writes, the non-Jews were in the majority and the rest were Jews.
We know of the two groups because Paul refers to Jews and Gentiles right at the very beginning.
He makes no distinction between them for they are one in Christ. He says in Ch 1:5-6 “Through Him (Jesus Christ) we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ…”
All the nations are ‘goim,’ in Hebrew, they are Gentiles, the ethne, not Jews.
In a crude sort of explanation Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people, anyone else was gentile or other, pagan.
Greeks saw themselves as sophisticated and well educated, anyone else was a Barbarian the ‘barbaros’ Paul refers to in Ch 1:14 unless they could prove themselves otherwise.
They were considered foreigners because they were not Greek.

Gentiles including Greeks and Barbarians are considered by Jews as foreign and so by implication pagan…
In Ch 1:13 in the Greek they are the ‘ethnecin,’ from which we get the word ethnic.
We here today, belong to the pagans according to the Jews of Paul’s day…
The Thayer Dictionary definition is:
“in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles.” (Thayer in E-sword Bible under Rom 1:5 on the word ‘nations.’)
And remember Jews take their heritage from the OT.
Further, in verse 13 Paul says why he is writing to them: “that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other ‘ethnecin’ (or ‘goim’ in Hebrew) Gentiles.”
He says they are ethnically different from the Jews so by implication religiously different, unorthodox, pagan.
So a distinction is made there and then he says in v14 “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
Now, here is a distinction!
The gospel or the Good News of Christ is for the Jews first and also for the Greeks or non-Jews, ethnically and religiously different, from them as we are.

Different language, different religion, different worship, not Jewish! At the beginning, says Prof. Petros Vass-il-ia-dis Associate Prof. of the University of Thessaloniki:
“In the first two decades after Pentecost the early Christian community understood its existence as the perfect and genuine expression of the people of God. With a series of terms taken from the Old Testament the early Christian community believed that it was the “Israel of God” (Gal 6:16),
the “saints” (Acts 9:32, 41; 26:10; Rom 1:7; 8:27; 12:13; 15:25),
“the elect” (Rom 8:33; Col 3:12 etc),
“the chosen race” (1 Pe 2:9 ),
“the royal priesthood” (ibid) etc; namely the holy people of God (laos of God), for whom all the promises of the Bible were to be fulfilled at the eschata (the end of the age.)
During this constructive period the concept in which the early Church understood herself was that of a people and not of an organisation.”

[An examination of both the Old and the New Testament terminology makes this quite clear. The chosen people of God were an ‘am (in Hebrew, especially in the prophets) or a λαός (in Greek), whereas the people of the outside world were designated by the Hebrew term goim and the Greek one έθνη (ethne) (cf. Acts 15:14) http://users.auth.gr/~pv/Pneumatological%20Ecclesiology.htm]

See also:
http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/vassiliadis_reconciliation.html

The After Pentecost Miracle
God did a huge miracle in the hearts of the Apostles after Pentecost. In Acts 15:14 after the Holy Spirit had fallen on the non-Jews in Jerusalem, the Apostle James said:
“Simon Peter has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.”
God was taking out, calling out people from every ethnic grouping. This was hard enough to swallow for the Pharisees who complained bitterly about it, but even the Apostles had an argument about it! Could God be calling these people with all their different ways into His kingdom just as Jews were called?
Paul was very accepting of the fact that non-Jews could be saved as He was a long way down the road to converting many others to the faith, well before the Jerusalem Christians and the Apostles in particular, had understood the import of what God was already doing. (See Acts 14: 19 to 15:1-35)
So it’s not that Paul begrudges us Gentiles having access to the good news for our salvation. On the contrary, Paul is called the Apostle to the Gentiles.
He is called to the very purpose of preaching the good news to non-Jews, even though he is a Jew himself. We talked about that the last time we looked at Romans.
Paul’s Heartfelt Problem
In ch 9:1-2 he wishes he could substitute himself for his brothers if some of them could be saved by doing that. In ch 10:1 he says: “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.”
So although there are many reasons why the gospel is for the Jews first, there is something wrong here. There is something terribly wrong with what is happening to the Jews as a people.
They have a zeal for God but not ‘heart knowledge’ of God, says Paul.
Paul is terribly worried about this. He is burdened by it, so he says:
Ch 9:1 “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.”
Why, Paul, why?
3 “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites…”
What? Why do you speak in such an extreme way Paul?
4 “to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen”.
The problem was that as a nation his people were cut off from God and through they had a zeal for God they did not know God in their hearts.
The question is:
Is that true of you? Are you just like the people you live among?
Should I be concerned about you?
Do you know God in the way Paul says you can know Him?
It is possible, says the Apostle, to be zealous for God but not know God.
We can know God by having an active faith in the living Christ!
He said it, not me!

Be honest.
How much do you think about Christ during the day, during the week?
Do you know Christ in your heart and are you communicating with Him?
Could God be saying these words to you?

“Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you.” Amen.


We will look at this section and go further into chapter 3 next week…