¶ Discussion on Sin, Judgement, and Hypocrisy
Be careful who you point your fingers at . So , when you point your finger at , the other ones there's three fingers pointing right back at yourself .
Welcome back to the move where we're vibing in and with the book , ten minutes at a time .
Yeah , today we're looking at the very end of Romans , chapter one , versus 24 , all the way to 32 . Have you read it ? I read it . There's some stuff in there that's that kind of hits hard . Okay , so before we dive in , check it out .
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It's actually free . Read it and do it . Yeah , simple , so welcome back . Hopefully you enjoyed that passage . As always , we're going to start with our 10 minutes and let's go , okay , okay , you first .
Okay , as I'm reading through this text , I'm observing what's taking place presently , at least in North America , and I get the sense that this is something that's a larger discussion within Christendom around the world .
There is this large discussion it's not even really a discussion , it's like this tirade from the church outward specifically with a group of people , a group of people who looks different than us and who sins different than us , and I've noticed this . Why is it that we're so harsh on people who sin differently than I do ?
And especially this passage that is used to address a certain group of people right . We're talking about the LGBTQ plus , whatever all those other letters are community yeah .
This is one of those passages that I've heard over and , over and over again and , to be clear , I'm not trying to say that the message of this text , like I'm trying to go away with or to redefine , like I believe , what I would say the vast majority of you guys watching believe and affirm about human sexuality and God's ideal for man , but this is the text
that I've heard so many times in that discussion People use as ammunition .
Yeah , and I think again , my desire is always to frame If we could frame this passage in light of the history of Paul's people , Because Paul lives , paul . The Gospel of Paul's not abstract , it's very much embodied , like he's experienced it in his body and his flesh . He was a murderer , he had this revelation , he has this thorn in the flesh .
If you know , in the future he has this thing , it's working out . So he's working it out in his body and in the history and connection to his people . And the history and connection to his people draws back to the beginning of the book , where there seems to be a division between what are called the nations and the people of Israel .
We would use language now with an us versus them kind of motif , like oh , we use things like , oh , we're better than you , we're holy than you , we're this kind of spiritual arrogance and pride where , oh yeah , I mean you don't know what I know there's an us versus them , you're not living .
How I'm living ? Yeah , because I have a certain truth . And Paul comes from this group where Israel had the oracles of God and the nations ie the Gentiles , ie the uncircumcised ones , ie the unclean ones , ie you and me , you and me , right , I mean , we would be in that category , we'd qualify .
But Paul's saying that my mission is to the Gentiles , to tell them about this great and glorious gospel , but to also highlight to them that , hey , you are in a darkened state and your sort of sinning is actually what's gonna cause the wrath of God that's being revealed to come in this executive judgment .
And we hear that and we fashion ourselves now those who believe in the gospel , so we're included into some notion of spiritual Israel , and then it's really quick to identify ourselves no longer as the nation , but to identify ourselves in their lives , israelites , and so we make that same exact mistake , same mistake where we outwardly point and say your sinning is
actually bringing the wrath of God , and I know you've heard this in different places that the sort of sinning that we've done as a nation is bringing actively the wrath of God .
Yeah , that's actual language , that's being used .
America isn't elevated to its former position glory and not fulfilling the promise and destiny .
Why do you think that we run to that so fast ? Why do we get to the point where it's us first them like , without even trying ?
What's interesting is that Paul addresses that straight up when he says that our minds become darkened and they're futile . Right , we're claiming to be wise , we end up being foolish . I was reading here , verse 24 . But all of this happens because , one , we don't honor God and two , we don't give thanks . And now for the Israelite that looks a particular way .
Right , but let's just talk about us , okay , when we don't honor God , john later on , who has a close affinity with Paul in his theology , right . John who , a disciple of Jesus , a follower of Jesus , calls out that if we don't love one another disinterestedly , we ourselves don't actually know God .
And Paul's highlighting that , like , do we actually aim to love one another disinterestedly and or do we actually put up a roadblock between us and them ? Because this roadblock of us and them and Paul said this up is not as clear as you'd like to think .
Yeah , that divide that separates the civilized folk from the barbarians . Actually , if you take a closer look at it , there's not really even a divide . We are one in the same .
Let's call it , that divide that separates cisgendered , straight people that attend church and are part of the body versus the sexually quote , unquote deviant who are outside because they belong to the LGBTQ plus community . And then we say you're the nations , we're Israel . You need the gospel to come in , but your sinning can no longer be in this fashion .
The text that people will talk about is for this reason . God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their woman , exchange natural relations with those that are contrary to nature , and men likewise gave up natural relationships with women and were consumed passion for one another , committing shameless acts with men receiving themselves due penalty for their error .
And we can highlight that and I think correctly so . We have a 2000 plus year history of Christendom that has interpreted that according to the integrity of one the book and to the history and the great minds that have come .
So I affirm the Christian teaching and sexual ideal and yet it's just a little uncomfortable because of what he also highlights in the text .
That's not the end of his thing when I was in high school , I had a teacher who said be careful who you point your fingers at . When you point your finger at , the other ones .
There's three fingers pointing right back at yourself , and this is really what I see , one of the areas of growth in the church and in our conversations with the sexual minority , because in the exact same list it's not even divided . In the same list , paul's mentioning a couple other things that hit closer to home , at least for me , right ?
Maybe you , mr Viewer or Mrs Viewer , have achieved a level of sainthood where you're not struggling with any of these things .
And look , let's call this out verse 29 . They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness .
That's what it is .
If we go back to verse 18 , is why the wrath of God is being revealed , because of unrighteousness . And then he goes on to explain unrighteousness and we would say , yeah , unrighteousness of sexual deviancy , of course . And yet he goes on to highlight what Evil , and evil in scripture is not like the most malevolent evil that we can surmise .
Evil in scripture is really just holding back a little something for yourself and not giving to that which is in need . Like that's the beginning of evil . Right , covetiousness , you see that that follows . That's something that's real .
I mean , how many times have you scrolled on Instagram and be like dang Mine ?
Yeah , Really wish . And then you have a certain resentment to the person that has it right and that covetousness actually eats away at you . Yeah , here's envy right .
Murder obvious , strife obvious . What about this deceit , gossiping ? And here's one that hit me hard when I was , especially in high school , disobedient to parents .
Is that because you're Asian upbringing ?
You know it was because I didn't become a doctor . That was a real conversation to my family .
You're being disobedient because you didn't go to that school , like I , didn't honor my father and mother , and we can have a discussion on what that looks like and what that means , but in high school , at that time it's , when you graduate from high school what kind of doctor are you going to be ? That's crazy .
So here's the thing that I wrestled within that time and , of course , obviously clearly I'm not a doctor . So I've made my peace with it and I've kind of come to terms with that . But the point is , is that disobedience to parents ? That's on the same list as the quote unquote sexual deviant
¶ Maliciousness and Distinctions
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And let me draw attention to maliciousness for me , because when I hear maliciousness , you know what I hear . That has the common phrasing of maliciousness is when we throw shade , yeah , we're like , oh man , shade . You know that whole thing . That's actually maliciousness towards somebody and that comes in indictment in the same passage as sexual deviancy .
In order to highlight , at least for me , I'm not an Israelite .
No , I'm actually a Gentile . You're in this paragraph just like everyone else .
Yes , Like most of us , and if I don't honor and give thanks , I'm up the river just like everybody else . So for me to make this clear distinction between me and the sexually deviant is not as neat as I would like to do it in order to self justify my behavior in light of others . As I pursue the project of making America Great , I said it .
You didn't want to say it . Here's what's encouraging is that this is actually Paul's point , and we're gonna see this in chapter two that our reaction , the human reaction , was also a reaction that was taking place back then . The Jews felt some way about those outside the walls . We'll get into that in the next 10 minutes .
I see what you did there at the end . You see , that Is that good . Yeah , you like that ?
transition yeah , outside the . We'll be there for the next 10 minutes .
We'll see you guys then .