WHAT GUIDES OUR LIVES?
Romans 2:12-16
A couple
weeks ago we read in Romans 2:10 and 11 that while the Jewish people hold a
special place with God, we who are Gentiles also have access to everything the
Jewish people have available to them at this time. God gave the law to Moses
around 4,000 years ago and that law has been the guiding force to the Jewish
people ever since. The Jews wanted God to tell them what they could and could
not do. They wanted to know what things would save them from punishment. The
verses we read today explain how God views the law and what its value is. We
see that all who sin, whether they understand the law or not or whether they
even know what the law is will be judged by God. We see also in these verses
that being a Jewish person or being a Gentile does not really matter to God.
What does matter is how you obey the law. For the Gentiles, who at this time
were not allowed to have access to the law of Moses, we see God writes his law
on the hearts of those who are not of the Jewish faith. It is the attitude of
the heart that God is looking at.
I have begun
to read the book, Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. This book was
written in 1952. Many of you know who C.S. Lewis is. He wrote not only truly
Christian-based books but also a variety of other books, including a series
that not too long ago was made into a movie or series of movies called The
Chronicles of Narnia. As I was reading the verses we are looking at today,
I was struck by what C.S. Lewis said early on in the book, Mere Christianity.
From his own observations, he is saying exactly what Paul is telling both Jews
and Gentiles in Rome. God’s laws are obvious to virtually everyone, whether you
have been exposed to the Jewish faith or Christianity or not. I would like to
share just a little from his book. He says, “This law was called the Law of
Nature because people thought that everyone knew it by nature and it did not
need to be taught. They did not mean, of course, that you might not find an odd
individual here and there who did not know it, just as you find a few people
who are color blind or have no ear for a tune. But taking the race as a whole,
they thought that the human idea of decent behavior was obvious to everyone.
And I believe they are right.” C.S. Lewis continues to make the case for a God-inspired
natural law everyone understands.
Before I
share these final thoughts from C.S. Lewis, I am not sure everyone realizes he
started his adult life as an atheist, but he could not ignore God’s hand on not
only his life, but in the world he lived in. Continuing on he says, “I know
that some people say the ideas of a Law of Nature or decent behavior known to
all men is unsound, because different civilizations and different ages have had
quite different moralities. But this is not true. There have been differences
between moralities but these have never amounted to anything like a total
difference. If anyone will take the trouble to compare the moral teaching of
say, the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Chinese, Greeks and Romans,
what will really strike him will be how very like they are to each other and to
our own.” C.S. Lewis was a man who wanted to understand why things happen as
they do and why people do what they do. Nearly 2,000 years after God inspired
Paul to write this to the church in Rome, C.S. Lewis observed the exact same
thing. God sees what we do whether we have some formal law or not. God has
written his law on every person’s heart. By what we read this morning, some
might say, “See I do not need to go to church. I do not even need the Bible.
God will let me know what I need to know when I need to know it.”
When we
continue on in Romans, we will see that is not what Paul was saying and that is
not what God wants us to do. The reality is the less we know about God’s word,
the more likely Satan is to come in and trick us and deceive us. Paul was
talking about people who, at that time, had not opportunity to know much of
anything about God. What Paul was saying first of all, to the Jewish Christians,
is do not look down on the Gentiles. We were given the law and did not do a
very good job of following it. God wrote his law on the Gentiles hearts and if
they observed that natural law, they would be in a better place with God than
us. This again is Paul talking to the Jewish Christians.
The question
for you and me today is what do we believe and what is it that guides our
lives? These verses we read today shows us God loves all of his creation, and
he has made a way for each of us, no matter what our life has been like. As we
continue in Romans, we will see more and more God’s love, his patience, and his
grace for us. Paul closed out these verses that we read by saying this. “God
will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ as my gospel declares.” Jesus
Christ is the one who paves the way for us. God wants us to be ready to face every
challenge that comes our way. God has given us his holy word so we can stand
against Satan’s lies. What guides our lives? I pray it is a relationship with
Jesus Christ and the law that is not only written on our hearts, but also in
the Bible that give us all the encouragement and direction we will ever need as
revealed by the Holy Spirit.
Announcements
Every Tuesday 9:30 Bible Study. All are invited to attend.
February 27 7:00 p.m. Denomination-wide worship via Zoom
February 28 10:00 Tom West will be our guest speaker.
2:30 Moderator’s Q&A via Zoom. Talk to Carol for the
links.
Lenten Devotionals are available in the back of the sanctuary.
New directories are in your mailbox.
Copies of the February newsletter are in the back.
Submissions for March newsletter are due March 3.
March10 Full board meeting
March 16-20 District Potluck via Zoom. See details on bulletin
board. Carol will send you the links if you are interested in attending any or
all of the sessions.
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Pastor Larry Traxler- (217) 454-2362
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