Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

Respectable Sinners

Have you ever noticed how we like to “rename” our sins? We do that by ascribing the worst motives to others, while using other phrases to let ourselves off the hook. If you do it, you’re a liar; I merely “misspoke.” If you do it, you’re cheating; I am “seeking an advantage.”

You lose your temper; I have righteous anger.
You’re a jerk; I’m having a bad day.
You have a critical spirit; I bluntly tell the truth.
You gossip; I share prayer requests.
You curse and swear; I let off steam.
You’re pushy; I’m intensely goal-oriented.
You’re greedy; I’m simply taking care of business.
You’re a hypochondriac; but I’m really sick.

And so it goes. We all have a thousand ways toexcuse our own behavior while at the same time criticizing others for doing the same things. My sins are respectable. Yours are not. It’s the sin of judgmentalism. Everybody knows you’re not supposed to judge. Well, maybe not everybody. The Jewish Christians at Rome didn’t have a problem judging others. Judging others was therapeutic. It made them feel better. By comparing themselves to those who didn’t measure up to their level of righteousness, they could feel a lot better about themselves.

Last week we dealt with some sticky questions like this one: How can God send someone to Hell for not believing in Jesus, when that person has never heard of Him? And this sticky question: How can God create people with a same sex orientation, then turn around and condemn those people for wanting to do what comes natural to them? If you missed the message, you can listen to it online, or email me at mikesouthards@gmail.com and I’ll send you the notes.

We survived Romans 1. But Romans 2 is staring us right in the face. In Romans 2, Paul teaches that when we look down our noses upon someone else and we think to ourselves, “What a sinner, what a loser, what a terrible person,” then we have committed the sin of being judgmental. That is what Paul is talking about in these opening verses of chapter 2. He’s talking about the judgmental spirit of the Jewish people toward the Gentiles.

Which is worse, indulging in a depraved lifestyle, or demonstrating a judgmental attitude toward those who do? We’ll talk about it Sunday.