Feeding the Sheep - Unmerited Favor
God is Kind, but Not Soft
"Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.
You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.
You’re not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it’s going to blaze hot and high, God’s fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what’s coming to you—Real Life for those who work on God’s side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!
If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you’re from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up. Being a Jew won’t give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind."
Romans 2:1-11
[This is the 3rd message of this series]
We will continue this lesson, but for a more orderly study please go through all the previous messages first if you haven't yet or as needed.
Once Was Lost, Now Found
God's mercy is extended to everyone, even to those who may be willfully being unresponsive to His call of reconcilation. (And it is available to everyone, Jews and Gentiles).
We, who have already accepted God's grace and mercy, have been reborn and have eternal life. But do not let this favor go to our heads. We we're all as hard headed as those among us, who are still refusing God's gift of salvation.
And we are no better than them. Besides our salvation is not something we should be boasting about anyway. We have absolutely nothing to do with this as it is God's gift -- something we have not earned. This is why it is called unmerited favor.
We do not deserve it, yet God offered it to us. In the same way we should have received punishment, yet the finished work of Jesus has paid it all on our behalf -- like a ransom paid off to our captors for our full freedom. It is a debt that we cannot pay, paid in full by Christ, the Messiah.
Not An Excuse to Sin
The proper response to all these is that we shouldn't take God's goodness for granted. He is not mocked. (This gift is freely offered but it is not cheap, our freedom was paid for with a high price, it is priceless).
God's judgment will befall those who do not accept His gift as well as those who misuse the gift they have received.
The result of receiving this gift is a changed life, a radical change from the way we have been living -- this change brought about by being reborn spiritually (a change not of our own doing).
But our flesh is still flesh and have a mind of its own, still trying to do things out of habit or because these may be the easiest ways.
Reborn
The Holy Spirit is nudging us to walk in the Spirit and convicts us when we walk contrary or when we are walking in the flesh. We can only walk away so far from the path God wants us to walk on until we will be callous enough to no longer hear the gentle proddings of the Spirit of God. And we are free to do so, just expect that we will be moving outside of God's grace and mercy.
Romans 2:12-13
"If you sin without knowing what you’re doing, God takes that into account. But if you sin knowing full well what you’re doing, that’s a different story entirely. Merely hearing God’s law is a waste of your time if you don’t do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God."
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