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. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 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? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Romans 2:1-4 NIVUK
I recently read of an interesting meeting on a plane. Israeli pop singer Noe Kirel had just performed at the Eurovision Song Contest. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Eurovision, it’s the biggest, and craziest, international song contest in the world, full of wild costumes and dancing. It’s one of the big highlights of the year for the European LGBT community.
Noe Kirel is a huge star in Israel.
She was seated next to a Jewish rabbi.
Imagine the contrast: young pop star, known for her dance moves, and a long-bearded rabbi.
The rabbi leaned over to her and said to her, ‘Well done, Noe. All Israel is proud of you.’
The photo of them sitting together went viral in Israel.
And because of his gentle, non-confrontational approach, the rabbi was able to have a conversation about religion with a big international pop star.
Those of us who have been Christians for many years often forget what it is that draws people to become Christians – and what it is that can push them away.
These verses are in a pretty unique context: in the middle of two of Paul’s sharpest passages of teaching: one directed firmly against the pagan world, and the other against the legalistic Jewish world. And yet, in the middle of this white hot fury, we see a statement of three things that draw us to repentance – and they will likely surprise you.
The first of these is kindness.
Now kindness here is a really attractive feature. The word in Greek can also mean ‘goodness’ or ‘integrity’ and us from a root word that means ‘virtuous’, ‘mild’, ‘pleasant’ and ‘benevolent’.
The word is also translated as ‘goodness’ in the famous passage on the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
God also demonstrated this by sending Jesus to save us (Ephesians 2:7; Titus 3:4).
So what we see here is a characteristic that is transparently gentle and good – with no ulterior motive or desire for personal gain, particularly at someone else’s expense.
Kindness instead is always aimed towards the gain or profit of its recipients, not that of the person showing the kindness. The context of these verses, with the clarity and ferocity of their indictment on both Jews and Gentiles, tells us that this kindness is utterly undeserved. It is not a reward or recognition for good behaviour. It is not, and should never be understood as, validation for a sinful lifestyle. It is instead a singular act of grace aimed in one direction and one direction only:
To cause change and conversion through repentance.
Kindness is part one of the ultimate in conversion therapy that can never be declared as illegal.
The second is forbearance.
Now, this is a very interesting word. We don’t use it so much these days. It means ‘to hold back’ or ‘self-restraint’ or, in the truest sense of the word, ‘tolerance’.
We show forbearance when we endure circumstances that are irritating or annoying and don’t lash out.
Anyone who has been the parent of a young child will know exactly what I mean.
It is often translated as ‘to bear with’ or ‘put up with’, like in these verses:
‘You unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.’
Matthew 17:17 NIVUK
For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
2 Corinthians 11:4 NIVUK
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:2 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/eph.4.2.NIVUK
This word does not mean tolerance in the modern sense of the word. Modern tolerance has an aspect of approval or affirmation in it.
No, this is a tolerance that disapproves, that does not agree, that objects, but that stands back and does not intervene. This is a tolerance that is irritated and supports that irritation to allow someone time and space to grow and change. In fact, this tolerance is aimed at bringing change about.
Let me give you an example. I was actually delighted to notice that my daughter’s boyfriend was not a charmer. He didn’t know how to ‘play the game’. In the beginning, he easily actually not a great boyfriend at all. This, of course, irritated my daughter. But I convinced her to give him time and space to learn and grow and get better.
That’s that this forbearance is. It is like a parent who is hurt with their child’s constant misbehaviour and shenanigans, but prays for them and longs for them to grow out of it.
The last part of God’s behaviour is patience.
However, this is not just the patience we exercise when waiting for a bus or a train or a plane, or even for a relative who has a poor sense of timeliness. Neither is it the patience of a man in a hospital, waiting for his wife to give birth.
No, this patience, often translated as ‘longsuffering’, is more like the endurance shown by a woman longing to give birth.
This is, as I’ve described in previous blogs, patience with muscle.
And it is this patience – this willingness to bear with us defiant sinners – that both allows us to be saved and leads us to salvation (2 Peter 3:15). This patience was clearly shown to Paul (1 Timothy 1:16), and absolutely to everyone who chooses to believe in the Lord.
So where am I going with this?
Allow me to explain.
Today I came across an article on the BBC that caused me some concern. It was about an organisation that is growing in popularity in the United States.
That organisation is the Church of satan.
What astonished me is that many followers of this rebellious church are outsiders who have left the church because they found it too judgemental, and delight in their ‘acceptance’ in a group of outsiders. They don’t actually really worship the devil. However, they have adopted him as their emblem or symbol as part of their rebellion against Christianity and feel that they are cast out of the church as he was cast out of Heaven.
Every right thinking Christian will have enormous problems with this. And we should.
But what if we are part of the problem? What if we Christians caused this?
What if they feel cast out because we cast them out?
Again, we have to tread carefully here. God's kindness, forbearance and patience should never, ever be seen as His seal of approval of our sinful lifestyles. Let me make this abundantly clear: God is not duty-bound to approve of our deeds; we are duty-bound to do the things of which God approves.
Let me give you a prime example. One young lad came out in a newspaper article as believing he’d been born into the wrong body.
That presented a strong challenge to the conservative Evangelical church where he attended.
So what did they do?
His confusion angered them. But they prayed for him. And his youth pastor worked with him through his issues.
By the grace of God, he repented and was baptised.
But tell me this: what would have been the outcome if the church had abandoned Him and thrown him out?
We are facing an alarming decline of morality in the society around us – particularly in the west. We Christians have to face a choice between three possible reactions.
Yes, we can stand on our moral high horse and point the finger. However, Paul makes a serious point in Romans 2: not only will it not work, but we risk being exposed as hypocrites if we ourselves violate God’s laws (Romans 2:17-24).
Isn’t this what we see happening time and time again?
On the other hand, we could simply allow these behaviours to continue unchecked, and even express our approval for them. Many Christians are already doing that, even to the point where they reinterpret ancient Scriptures to fit their cultural viewpoint.
The Bible is clear: this is not the right thing to do (Romans 1:32).
There is only one solution.
And that is to remember why it is that we became followers of Jesus in the first place. If we followed Him because we were scared of hell and wanted an insurance policy, the likelihood is that our faith and our relationship with Him are not deep – they are superficial.
But if we followed Him because of His kindness, forbearance and patience – if we followed Him because of who He is, how He feels about us and what He has done – then we will be committed to obey Him and follow Him no matter what.
And this will motivate us to show the same kindness, forbearance and patience to others.
No matter who they are or what they have done.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me to remember what it was that drew me to You in the first place. Help me to reflect this to the people around me and draw them to You also. Amen.
Questions
1. Why does Paul mention these three aspects of God’s character in the middle of two fiercely uncompromising passages on sin? What is he trying to say?
2. Which of these three aspects drew you to God and why?
3. How can you show others this aspect of God's character?
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