Hi and welcome to the We Are Zions sermon podcast.
We are a local church based here in Chennai, India.
We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will
encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you.
We continue our series titled All Roads Lead to Rome, which is
a study in the book of Romans. As we study this letter written
to the Jewish and Gentile believers in the city of Rome,
we ask that you put yourself in their shoes, for our context is
not that different after all. Our hope is that through this
series you would experience the fullness of knowing who God is,
what He did for you through Jesus, and how you can live a
life that honours Him and blesses others.
High Church, such a joy and a privilege.
To be bringing God's word to you.
Even as you started a new series.
Called All roads lead to Rome. A study on the book of Romans.
I believe God is wanting us to dive deeper into his word so
that he can work in and through us.
There are so many areas of our life that he wants to, you know,
really cut through, really want us to deal with it so that we'll
be transformed to his image and so that we'll be able to do all
that he's called us or to do. And I believe when Paul was
writing this book to the Roman churches, I believe that there
were many congregants there, a lot of people who had moved in.
And even as you heard last week, there were few who actually were
participants and recipients of the Holy Spirit in the upper
room. And from there, as they
dispersed into different parts of the world, I believe he was
talking to a church. And this church is resembling
the times that we are living in right now.
I pray that even as we dwell into the second part that his
words will come alive because I believe he wants to set us free
in the book of Romans in the first party saw that some
recurring teams that keep coming along, which we need to really
look into and allow his word to, you know, penetrate our hearts
because we can easily be used to these words, that the weight of
these words will just be just passed through it.
And some of those words were the law.
We saw righteousness and faith are some of the key words of the
book of Romans, which probably occurs time and again.
And when we see the law, because we are living in this new
covenant in the New Testament, the law sometimes seems, you
know, it's something which we can overlook because we feel
it's only for the Old Testament. But God wants us to keep our
eyes on that, because some of us are still.
Holding on to so many patterns that the law brings about
righteousness. This is our standing with God,
and Paul emphasizes this a lot because he wants us to be
conscious of the righteousness that.
We need to have and many a times we take it for granted.
And I believe as we read and meditate in the book of Romans,
he wants us to move towards righteousness.
It's not we move away from, but we move towards.
And faith is something which he stresses a lot, that a lot of
times faith occurs in the book of Romans.
And I believe anything we have to participate in with regard to
this has to come from a place of faith.
We have faith for so many things in our lives.
And I believe if this area in our lives is where we need to
see God come through, He wants faith in our lives to be
exhibited time and again. It's not a one off thing, it's
not a seasonal thing, but it's an everyday thing.
And last week we saw from the book of Romans, Tina put this
beautiful word with regard to faith.
She said that you have to have this gradient of faith happen.
And I don't know which aspect of the gradient you are in.
Some of us, you know, when you see a gradient, it's usually
from dark to light. And some of us have those
portions where we've encountered the light and we sometimes get
comfortable and we stay there. But God's wanting us to.
Move more towards the other side of gradient where we will see
all of His glory. The first thing we saw is that
faith grows. When we live our lives in faith,
we don't just live it. OK, you know what?
OK, this has to happen because this is the course in which life
happens. No, we live in faith where we
trust God, we believe in His Word, we take Him at His word.
The promises we hold on to. It takes time to come through,
but we still hold on to it. The second thing we saw is that
the faith that that we want to exhibit in our own lives has to
be tested and it grows in community.
You rub your shoulders against others.
You do life with others. You participate in others life
stages. Be it happiness, joy, grief,
sorrow, strength, worry, it all happens and that's why the week
to week time and we get to spend time with one another.
And you know, rubber shoulders is so important because it's
that encouragement which causes us to move.
Further, to take that step of faith further.
And so today we're going to be looking in to Romans chapter 2
and a half of Romans chapter 3. And the key was that I've taken
is from Romans chapter 3, verses 21 to 23.
And this is what it says. But now apart from the law, the
righteousness of God has been made known, to which the law and
the prophets testify. This righteousness is given.
Through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe, there is no
difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God. I'm reading verse 23 again, it
says for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God
and when we read this was a lot of us probably have read it.
The prelude to this in 22 second-half.
It says there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.
We see in verse 21 it talks about the prophets testify about
this. We see that the law testifies
about this because at one point God wanted to demarcate his
people. But he soon realized the very
law that he'd given them to follow so that it will benefit
them, so that they'll be blessed, stifle them.
And I believe a lot of us today are in the same place where we
believe being a Christian is stifling, being a Christian is,
you know, it's, it's putting a. Lid over what I can achieve?
Being Christ like is tough. Being Christ like is God.
Why should I be doing this? But it's that beautiful tension
that we live because it's in this tension that we learn to
submit to Him. It's in this tension we learn to
submit to our God, the Creator. It's in tension that we realize
that we have a maker up above who has far bigger plans for us.
And so today, when when Paul was writing this, he was talking to
an audience which probably had a mix of Jews and Gentiles sitting
within the church. And there were probably problems
that were rising time and again because of these differences.
Because let's face it, where we go, we take our baggage with us.
Where we go, we bring our history with us.
Where we go, we bring our lineage with us.
You know, it's one thing to look into our Indian sub context and
you'll see that wherever you go in the world, you know, when you
meet a fellow, if I'm speaking Tamil, if I find another person
speaking Tamil, we'll first ask a set of questions that go in
one particular order. Hey, you speak Tamil.
Which part of Tamil Nadu are you from?
OK, if you're from there, which town are you from?
And if you're even more curious, you might even go down to which
part of forecast are you? And there is some joy in finding
that comfort knowing that this person is from the same time
that I am. But Jesus said we have to break
free of that because when? He came, he came.
For all, one is not about the other.
And that's what was 23 establishes for all of us have
sinned. Anyone who's born into this
world is sinned. And we've fallen short of the
glory of God. And which means if you've fallen
short of the glory of God, which means we need to rise up to see
the glory of God, which means we need to understand that we are
in desperate need of a Savior because we are in a sinful
state. The amplified there are some key
things which I have underlined and I've kept the righteousness
of God has been clearly revealed.
So for us to see this righteousness in our own lives,
for you and me to experiences in our own lives, we need to
understand that it's been revealed to us.
This righteousness comes through faith in Christ Jesus.
It doesn't come through anyone else.
If you go under anyone else, you'll definitely be mark it.
You'll definitely demarcate between a Jew and a Gentile,
between who you are and who others are.
But if you find righteousness of God, which comes through faith
in Jesus, you will see that there's no partition.
All He came for everyone. And that's the beautiful work at
the cross, that when he died, he didn't die for a select group.
He just died for all of mankind who are all sinners.
The perfect Lamb, the perfect Saviour died for you and me.
And so when Romans 2:00 and 3:00.
But what does Paul really emphasize?
On all this. He emphasizes to a group of
people who actually had a Jewish heritage, who believed in the
law and who had lived their lives by that.
So anyone who came outside of that fell short.
You know, it's one thing to fall short in front of God.
It's another thing to fall short in front of people.
And a lot of us today are governing, are making sure we're
making life choices or doing things the way it has to be done
because we're scared we'll fall short in the eyes of people.
We are not scared of falling short in the eyes of God.
We're so scared of falling short in the eyes of people.
And so when we start living this faith out, when we start living
this faith and say, Lord, this righteousness that comes through
you because I have faith in you, what are you wanting me to do?
And so God has his guard rails. He's wanting us to see it.
And what he wants us to see is that if all I've sinned, which
means I need to understand that there is a certain amount of
grace that I'm receiving from God to actually stand here and
worship him. Which means you who sitting
there have a certain amount of grace which God is giving to
you. I love this song by Graham
Kendrick. Even as I was, as we were here
yesterday and as we were praying, I was reminded of that
song. It says only by grace can we
enter. Only by grace can we stand, not
by a human endeavour. And the problem is the law
causes us to always do it out of our own sense.
So we think we've earned it. No, it's only by his grace, but
by the blood of the Lamb is how we stand.
We cannot stand in our own strength.
So today, if you're looking at someone else who's seated next
to you or if you're probably seated there and you're
thinking, you know what? I think these other Christians
are like this. Oh, that's because they're
coming from this background. God is asking us to revisit that
thought. He wants us to say, hey, all of
you in the equal plain, when I saved you, all of you in that
same debt, all of you were in that same zone, everyone
entirety of mankind was in sin and I've redeemed all of you.
And the reason why Paul, as I mentioned, there were two groups
of people were the Jews who grew up thinking, you know what, that
they, if they followed the laws of Moses, as we heard last week
from the Torah, from the Pentateuch, they if they stuck
to that they lived, right? But we see time and again,
Israel couldn't live right. They couldn't just follow the
God of Israel. They had to bow down to
everyone. They had to intermarry.
They had to do everything because that's what our heart
desires, that's what our flesh desires, that's what our body
desires. And we see that's where God
comes in. The Gentiles, who are they?
They're the ones who lived in their own culture, but somewhere
down the line they got impacted by the love of Jesus or they got
impacted by what God has been doing through the Israelites
that they started following the God of Israel.
And it's in this context when. Jesus comes into the world and
when his disciples start taking his message.
The church which meets is collective of everyone of Jews
and Gentiles. And Paul is telling he's
addressing them. He's telling them, hey, one is
not about the other. You all are same.
And as you read some of the
episodes of Paul, you'll see that time and again he's
addressing different groups. He's addressing the group who
are masters, the other group who are slaves.
He's telling they all exist within the church.
They all have received the love of Christ.
But how do I still do? And Paul tells the masters,
treat your servants like how God would treat them.
He tells his slaves work like how you would work unto your
master who's in heaven. Not when someone is watching.
Even when someone is not watching.
As we keep reading through Romans two and three, I want us
to keep our eyes open because God wants to do something in it
through us. This entire book of Romans is
literally a surgery. You know, it's like between a
surgery where he's opening and he's wanting to he's wanting us
to investigate ourselves to see what area of our lives should he
really work. And we see Paul draws certain
themes out and I want to draw these certain themes out so that
God can work in and through us. The first thing that we see is
we are in Romans chapter 2. We see God alone is the judge.
Even as we read in Romans 2, it says that sin takes us through
this dark spiral. The Gentiles felt that they were
being judged by the Jews who were there.
The Jews felt that the Gentiles are not matching up to what they
are committed to following Jesus in.
And so this is what he goes on to say.
He tells the Gentiles this in Romans chapter 2 verses three to
four. 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 do you think that because
he's such a nice God, he 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 radical life.
Change and I love how Eugene Peterson had titled this God is
kind but Not soft. And the interesting thing is the
fact that a lot of us want a God who's soft.
A lot of us want a God, you know, who, so that we can soft
pedal so that, you know, if there are bigger issues, we can
just touch God. And, you know, there, there's no
firmness. So Oh yeah, I think God won't
mind. And we just brushed through that
statement that he passed out or you know what, we start seeing
one thing, but we are doing something as thinking, OK, you
know what? I don't think it matters.
You know, my convictions are strong, but I that's OK.
It doesn't matter. Or we come on hard because
thinking, you know what, I think they are more liberals.
I'm more conservative. I think I have the favorite, but
no, God's asking is you cannot judge.
You don't get to judge because the grace that's been extended
to you, it's out of my pure mercy and grace.
And he goes on to say, if you point this finger out, we take
God's kindness for granted. There's a certain amount of
kindness God's shown towards us when we went with us and with
our brokenness, when when we went to his throne room and
said, God, this is who I am. I'm people pleasing.
I'm always making sure you know what?
I don't want to hurt anyone. And I've not been and I've I've
been wearing this mask so well. And when we realized that when
we go to God, he's kind enough to forgive us, but the same
thing when someone else is doing it.
We are so harsh with our judgement and I would ask you,
would we allow God to work in and through them?
Because this God who is kind yet not soft, is wanting a radical
life change and He wants us to change inside out.
He just doesn't want to change our outside appearance.
Today. You can change your outside
appearance all you want. You can do all of that outside,
but it will not fill everything that is so desperately broken
inside. And I would ask, would you allow
God to come in? You probably are thinking, you
know, all my life have been judged by people, but just move
to a place if you're following Jesus, I love God alone to judge
you. Don't don't take people's don't
equate people to God because people can their words can tear
you down and everything, but God is the only one who can build
you up and he'd set you free from all of that.
He goes on to say in Romans 2, verses five to six that there is
two things that causes us to be in the space where we pass
judgment to others, and that's one thing is stubbornness, and
we have an unrepentant heart in Romans 25 to 6:00.
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you
are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's
wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed.
God will repay each. Person according to what they
have done. We somehow our pride gets the
better of us. We become stubborn.
We say in order, we can't change.
This is how we will do things. But Paul is telling people, hey,
and the final day, God is going to judge us.
You can judge. You can be harsh.
And so even as the world is going today in the direction it
is God's raising up a generation who will be people of
convictions themselves with them, but will be willing to
offer grace because they know only God can change that other
person was on the receiving end of that.
And so today, even as we get up and rise up as a church, maybe
be a people who are hard on our own selves, we will go back to
the throne room and say, God, work in me, do this in me.
But when others come, Lord, let me offer grace and point them to
you because you're the one who can fix things for them.
And he goes on to say in Romans 2 verse seven, there is a way
where you can be persistent and overcome the sin in our lives.
Because when we think about it, this whole idea of us thinking
that you're better off than someone else, we automatically
devalue that person in the image that God's created them to be.
Romans 27 says to those who by persistence in doing good see
glory on an immortality, He will give eternal life.
And this is a beautiful verse because our goal at the end of
the day is eternity. Our actions here will have
consequences here, but we also realize that our actions tend to
go beyond our lifetime. If we decide to not follow
Jesus, we can be assured my generation or the immediate
thing, my entire family will be away from the faith.
And it's easy to do that because we can get so caught up with
everything that's happening in the world.
But then when we receive his truth, when we understand what
eternity is, when we have faith and we've seen God come through,
we are persistent. We are constantly working
towards overcoming sin in our life.
As as we see through Romans two, we see sin is a is the clear
indicator which causes us to always step back.
Sin is the clear indicator which always causes us to see someone
else less than and see us as doing better off.
We somehow think because of that, that sinful nature, we can
we have this way of, you know, putting ourselves on a higher
pedestal. So today, if there's one thing I
would ask, can we replace our stubbornness?
If there's an area in your life where you've been struggling, I
pray that you would have a repentant heart and not an
unrepentant heart. Would you be persistent that
you'll be able to push through that you'll be able to do it in
the small things? Start daily, start daily, do
things daily. You know, we use this word a
lot. In fact, one of our friends came
home last week and he was just joking.
You know, whenever I come to you, you always tell me to focus
on the mundane. And the true thing is we need to
build grit for the mundane. If we can capitalize and master
the mundane and have that grit to face every day, we'll be able
to do far bigger things for Christ when he starts expanding
us, he tells in the Passion translation.
For those living in constant goodness and doing what pleases
him, seeking an unfading glory and honor and imperishable
virtue, will experience eternal life.
Living in constant goodness and doing what pleases Him.
What is constant goodness? Constant goodness comes from a
place of knowing what His Word says.
Taking Him at His Word, where faith is exercised over His
Word. You take it, you believe it, you
know this is your sustenance. And that's why we emphasize a
lot reading God's Word for yourself.
If you're tuning in here just once a week, you will receive
something, but it won't sustain you for the weak.
Your daily sustenance has to come from His Word.
And that's why we have the Word of God in every digital form.
We are living in 2024 and you can never say we don't have
access to God's Word. Take it in.
There are different formats. For those of you who love
listening, listen to His Word. Let it speak into you, the very
fragment of your Spirit. So even as we move towards
persistence, maybe seek for unfading glory, which comes only
when we keep our eyes locked onto Jesus, we will be judged by
him. God alone will judge us.
And that's what we read in the Book of Revelation, chapter 20.
We will all be standing face to face one day with Him, where
he'll open the book, and accordingly we'll be judged.
You know, a lot of us have been growing up at homes where they
have traumatized us, probably saying every little thing will
be played back as a movie for us and every wrong thing we've
done. But, you know, with that fear,
we sometimes may not live the life God's called us to live.
And I want to push you to a place of living it in fullness,
in that constant goodness. And that will come to knowing
that you're forgiven, that you can live the life that you're
called to live, which means you're constantly opening your
life up for His grace to work in and through you.
That stubbornness that you have, God's willing to start start
wiping it down. He starts working on you every
day. That relationship that is
causing you to break, He's starting.
Hey, you know what? You don't need to get angry.
This place. Let me start working on you, the
sin area in your life. I want you to be an overcomer
and not be defeated by it. So today as we move towards
that, let's remember that we are not called to judge anyone.
He will judge us. We are called to live the life
that he's called us, which is one of constant goodness and
doing what pleases him alone. The second theme that we see in
Romans chapter 2 is God has no favorites.
God has no favorites. Him in Romans chapter 2 verse 11
says for God does not show favoritism.
You know, the problem with favoritism is 1 receives it, the
other doesn't and no one it's like the seesaw effect.
You know, you can't, you can't have a perfect balance with
favoritism. And so today we need to
understand that God does not show favoritism and Paul
emphasizes this. And this is probably the crux of
the church, because everyone who walks in receives grace from
God. God doesn't favor you extra and
gives you extra grace. Just because I'm standing on
this side of the pulpit and talking to you doesn't mean I am
favored and you're less favored. No, we all are favored in
Christ. We all are favored in Christ.
You are marked for a particular journey.
I am marked for a particular journey.
In the Roman church, the Jews and Gentiles thought one was
favored over the other and as much as God.
In today's context, if you have to see with all that's happening
around, it looks like one is favored over the other.
But God loves everyone that He's created.
Everything falls under His sovereign plan.
You know, why does bad overcome good?
Why do good people suffer? Why do things happen that falls
under His sovereignty? But He's a God who shows no
favouritism. And what does that mean,
especially for all those who are coming into the four walls of
the church? He's wanting to say this, God
shows no favoritism. You know, for those of you
seated there in the online who are listening, I want to
challenge you. If you felt, you know what, I'm
actually unable to be plugged into a church because I was not
favoured, I would ask you to rethink it because our
favoritism would have been from a man.
But God shows no favoritism. So boldly walking knowing that
you're favoured by God and everyone is favoured along with
that. He shows no favoritism in the
amplified. It says for God shows no
partiality, no arbitrary favoritism with him.
One person is not more important than another.
We tend to, you know, show favoritism to those or
partiality to those who lean into US, who do, who run
alongside us, who do things with us, who who have the same
frequency, who who have the same get go attitude.
But God saying everyone is the same, I show no favoritism.
So which means I can do 10 different things for God.
I'm favoured by him. There's another person who can
do two different things for God. He's favoured and I need to come
to a place of being secure in that Comparison kills favoritism
breeds comparison. Favoritism breeds jealousy.
It breeds selfishness, it breeds malice.
So today, remove that narrative saying, no, I think God favors
someone. No, God does not favor anyone.
God shows no favoritism. And the reason why I want to
emphasize this is because we as a church are moving into a
season where if we have to have impact in what God's calling us
to do, the four walls of our church have to be one of being
secure in Jesus, which means anyone who walks in has access
to his grace. And we'll also see that this is
a community that shows no favoritism.
So if God shows no favoritism, which means I should not show
any favoritism? Jew or Gentile, I shouldn't show
any favoritism. I can't show for those who are
probably from a Christian family or those who are new to faith.
Everyone are recipients of that. Paul wants us to be centrally
drawn to this realization. Because the minute we start
doing that, we start forming groups in different categories,
and God wants us to see that that's not what he's created.
As you know, the beautiful thing about going into God's presence
is we are seen and we are heard. And one of the things I've been
talking to our youth and even to our discipleship teams is the
fact that we as a church, when anyone who walks in, have to be
seen and heard. Because that's the very nature
we get to experience when we are with God.
When we are with God, when we enter into His throne room with
praise and Thanksgiving and with prayer, we are seen and we are
heard. And what does that cause us to
do? It causes to receive from Him.
And so we who are partakers of His body, when we are when we
carry Him within ourselves and we are called to be the salt and
light here on this earth, we too have to be people who will be,
who will allow others to be seen and heard so that that's a
direct reflection of who God is in and through US.
You know, theoretism has a ugly way of manipulation.
And I still remember when, as I was preparing, I was reminded of
the situation in my. 3rd, 4th, 5th, you know, I was, I was the
same height of my youngest Calvin, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm
more on the darker side of the colour tone.
And you know, as you entered the school bus, these guys were the
bullies. And I still remember their names
very clearly. And you know, there'll be these
seats where you can 22 of you can sit and these guys will sit
and they'll put their leg on the other seat and they won't allow
you to sit and they'll tell, hey, you know what?
Don't come and sit next to me. You know what?
I don't want your colour to rub off to me and things like that,
you know? The the typical being bullied
scenario in school. And for some reason that group
seemed to be such an in thing that I wanted to be in that
group, but just they just kept bullying me with my color, with
my color, with my weight and with everything possible.
And they used to call me an 8 ball because if you play
billiards or snooker, the 8 ball is a black ball and.
That's how they used to call me and.
I still remember. Fast forward three years into
it, by seventh I've had a growth spot.
I'm taller than all of them. And then suddenly when I came
back after for my summer holidays, I remember them
including me into their groups because I had height and I and
they knew that I can help them even though they were a year
older to me. And also they knew that they
needed someone else who's a little taller to play football
with them. And it got me thinking that if
we favour certain people, it'll be based on certain
characteristics which may be appealing to us or be it it
comes out of a selfish place. I worked my way through, I used
my height to work my way through into that group so that I can be
part of it. They had a selfish motive of
having me so that I can play right now because I was a head
taller than them. So today we realize the minute
we start showing favoritism, our hearts are fragmented.
And so today I want to ask you, what is it that area of your
life that God's called and showing you that you've been
favoring someone else? Because when you read the New
Testament, God wants to break that very pattern, especially us
as a church. Why?
Because we can be Hindus, we can have roadblocks to the very
revival that God has to make happen in the days to come.
We see in one Samuel, you know, when David was being anointed by
Samuel, Samuel in this human nature, and it's human nature,
we are fighting our very own human nature.
Samuel an anointed Saul. One Samuel chapter nine was 20.
So what it talks about Saul, a choice handsome man among the
sons of Israel. There was not a man more
handsome than he from his shoulders and up to his head.
Other than every other people, he was a typical Samuel had
anointed him as. King.
And when Saul didn't fit the bill, when God had his hearts on
someone else, you can see Samuel being having the doubt God is
this guy going to fit the bill because he doesn't look anywhere
close to that. But God tells Samuel so one
Samuel 16 seven. Therefore the Lord sees not as
man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Lord
looks at the heart. And I'm reminded of the
Scripture which God Jesus says, for my ways are higher than your
ways. The way that God sees it is
entirely different. So don't we have to fight our
very nature? If we have to be the church
Jesus is wanting us to build, Jesus has to be central in it.
He wants us to come to the place where we show no favoritism,
because God shows no favoritism. So no favoritism in what?
Because when favoritism is shown, contempt comes into
place. What is contempt?
Contempt is disregard for something that should be
considered. We have contempt maybe based on
the way they look or the way they appear, the way they carry
themselves. Oh, they're not wearing this
brand of clothes. Oh, they, they come dressed in
the same thing pretty much too often.
Or their social standing. Oh, they don't have a car.
Oh, they don't have a bike. Oh, I think they're not well to
do. Or their economic standing.
Oh, what kind of a job is he in? Is he able to make his ends
meet? Oh, why is he?
Why is he staying in that part of town?
It's so no colour. Oh, you know what?
I only mingle with those who are of the same skin texture because
if I take selfies, we all look same cast.
You know what? I want to grow up to a place
where, you know, I'll just marry this same person on the same
cast. And for a long time that's been
happening. But the more we see and read
God's word, you'll soon realize God didn't show favoritism in
that when he came, He came for all.
So let not cast For those of you who've been holding on and
holding off, your man is based on caste.
I would encourage you to go in prayer and ask God.
God help me to break out of that nature.
Don't look at other people's scenarios and think, you know
what? It doesn't work for me.
So I think this is not a place I can handle it.
God wants us to move and rise up from, you know, favouring and
having our own brackets. God wants us to break free of
that so that we will be able to see what he is building in and
through US. You know, in Acts 10, which is
very pivotal in the New Testament because this is where
Peter encounters Cornelius. And Cornelius was a man who
prayed, who did good. He lived, right?
But still there was something missing.
And God heard that, and he causes Peter to have a dream.
And when Peter says I won't touch these clean, unclean
animals, God says, haven't I created everything?
And Peter comes to that place in Acts 1034 to 36.
This is what it says. Then Peter replied, I see very
clearly that God shows no favoritism in every nation.
He accepts those who fear him and do what is right.
This is the message of good news for the people of Israel that
there is peace with God through Christ Jesus who is Lord of
fault. And even as I mentioned earlier,
especially with that life stage when you feel you know what, why
am I not enjoying when when God is a God who shows no
favoritism? Why is someone else having
something and me not having it? It also comes down to the same
thing which he says here. It comes down to in every
nation. He accepts for those who fear
Him and do what is right. Look introspect within yourself.
Do you fear Him? Are you doing what is right?
Are you doing what is right According to him, not according
to you. Because my right can change
tomorrow. My right can change a year from
now. Do what is right based on what
God is telling and what His Word is telling.
He wants us because His place of moving us towards this third we
will rise up so that the church will be one where we'll be to
live the life to its fullest. Just imagine a church not
showing favoritism for accepting everyone.
Hate to tell everyone I'm so glad you're here.
Even you've received salvation, even you've received this grace.
We are all recipients of it. Remember one thing that if we
don't extend grace to people, we will never receive grace from
people. It's the same thing as we
received grace from God. We are called to X give it out,
extend that, extend that. And so I want to also draw some
put some guardrails around that. Don't extend it so much to a
place where you know you're trampled upon.
Have God reads. I love the Holy Spirit to shape
that for you because in that you'll be able to see his
fullness come through. And I want to move to a place of
understanding. How can we apply this into our
lives? When we read in Romans chapter 2
verse four, it says that in the last, it says God's kindness is
intended to lead you to repentance.
One of the ways we can overcome all this that we've seen in
chapter two and three where he contradicts time and again, he,
he tells the Jewish and the Gentiles, hey, the Gentiles
think they're better off. No, you are spiraling down.
Rise up. God, there's no favoritism.
God is the only one who can judge you.
For the Jews who thought they've lived their lives and they're
making the best choices because they're coming from the right
tribe. Hey, you think you're doing
right, but you're still stealing from that.
You're teaching whatever you want.
You are misusing things. It all comes down to that.
How do we live this life? For those of us who've showed
favoritism all our lives or we've been brought up that way
and now that this becomes a revelation, we need to see that
God's kindness that's extended to us is one of repentance and
we see how do we overcome. This is when we go and allow the
Spirit of God to work in and through our lives.
It says here when He works in and through us, the first
application we see is the circumcision of our hearts.
The Jews believed that they had to be circumcised to be one, to
be known as God's people, that they have been set apart.
But the Holy Spirit is saying, I want your hearts to be
circumcised. Romans chapter 2, verses 25 to
29. And this is what it says.
Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew,
is great if you live in accord with God's law, but if you
don't, it's worse than not being circumcised.
The reverse is also to the uncircumcised to keep God's ways
are as good as circumcised. In fact, better.
Better to keep God's law uncircumcised than break it
circumcised. Don't you see?
It's not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew.
You become a Jew by who you are. It's the mark of God on your
heart, not a knife on your skin that makes a Jew.
And recognition that comes from God, not legalistic critics.
And I'm saying this specifically because a lot of us have so many
things that we think we've got sorted out as Christians.
Oh yeah. Even baptized, we participate in
the communion, we do all that, but our hearts have not been
circumcised. And today God wants to put that
knife into our hearts to say these areas I want to remove.
It's OK if I do this. You know what?
I know I can ask for forgiveness when I go on Sunday to church.
No, but God wants to surgically deal with that so that He'll
make us a better person. He'll make us a person who's
impartial. He'll make us a person who
doesn't favour. And when we allow him to
operate, He is setting us up so that we'll be able to lead well,
so that many more will be able to follow Him.
I'm reminded from 1 John chapter 2 verses 13 to 17 it says.
In the later half it says don't love the world's ways, don't
love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out
the love of the Father. Practically everything that goes
on in the world, wanting your own way, wanting everything for
yourself, wanting to appear important, has nothing to do
with the Father. It just isolates you from him.
The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way
out. But whoever does what God wants
to set for eternity. So if there's a clear indicator
of what we have to do, why we have to have this surgical knife
upon our hearts is because our wants are always tied to that of
the world. Our wants are always tied to
wanting something that we squeeze it.
We can call it, it's the Lord's favor.
It's the Lord's blessing. It's a lot.
We, we, we have a ways of doing it.
Only we know whether we've squeezed it or not.
But God's saying and nothing more can be more important than
for you to see me with all your heart.
And I pray that we will be ones who will live our lives, but we
will seek God. We don't want the world's ways.
We don't want the world's goods. We don't want the world to
squeeze the love of the Father out of us.
So today, what is it that's squeezing the love of the Father
out of you? Is it your work?
Is it the pile of EMI debt that you have?
Is it the the thrill of not having things that are latest
coming out? Is it the is it the fact that
you know what, I've worked hard, but I've not got the right
increment? And you see suddenly all these
pile up because when these pile up automatically, favoritism
piles up automatically, judgement piles up.
So let's go back to the root as. We allow his surgery to work in
and through US. He starts shaping.
He says, son and daughter, would you come back to what I love?
Meditate on his word. He'll show you how to embrace
people. You'll soon start realizing it's
beyond all that we have. And even as we see this wrong,
Paul takes us through this journey and tells the Roman
church, let your heart be surgically cleaned because he
wants to remove all the barriers of favorite favourites.
What are some of the barriers of favourites?
Only this particular people group needs salvation or
everyone needs salvation. Missions is not just to those
who can't read or write. Missions is just not just to the
villages Mission is also to the cities.
If someone just tells you, you know, going to a villages
missions, you're you're hearing them wrong.
Missions is to everyone. It's not favouritism when it
comes to missions. It has to be done the Jesus way.
Jesus was able to balance what he reached, those in the poorest
of rank and even to the people who are the learnt.
We too have to be like that. It's just not to the sick
people, but it's also to the healthy people.
Sick people need a healer. Sick people need hope.
The healthy people also need to understand that God is in
control of everything, that they are not in control of
everything. It's also to the settled and
unsettled. What is the settled?
The settled. Oh, OK.
You know, I think I have everything in control.
I think I've built my six month emergency fund.
I have a plan ready for my retirement.
You need to know that eternity is not in that, but it's secure
only in heaven into the unsettled who's grappling with.
OK, I'm just running from pillar to post to realize that the
peace that passeth all understanding comes from God.
So today, even as you work in this, we will soon realize that
the church that God's wanting to build will be people of all,
will be people of all these categories, rich, poor, healthy,
sick, settled, unsettled, all need Jesus, all our needing of
his grace. And may our favourites not be
the one which becomes a barrier over there.
You know, even as I close, I want to.
Close with this particular illustration, my boss back in
2019 when he was doing a presentation gave this
illustration. And in fact, even before I spoke
just yesterday night, I texted him to just to make sure I got
it right and he talked about these Aspen trees.
You'll see the image. They come on the screen right
now, and these trees have an extensive root system.
Even when you look from the surface when you're traveling or
when you even have these drone shots grow above, you'll see
that they all look very similar. They all look like they're
thousands of individual trees, but they're actually a single
living Organism. They are the largest living
thing on the planet. Actually, they say they have
their root system, which are recorded up to 40 meters from a
parent tree. They all received their
nourishments from the parent tree and that's what the Church
of God is supposed to be like. What Paul is writing to the
Roman church is not one where they they, they might have been
different sizes, they might be, but they all received their
nourishment. They are centrally connected.
If we judge, we won't be centrally connected.
If we have favouritism, we won't be centrally connected.
And I believe today when we have to be centrally connected, we
are centrally connected through the Spirit in Christ Jesus who
brings righteousness today. And as this tree lives, when you
look, it looks beautiful. And I think that's what the
Church of God should look. Everyone who comes in gets
plugged in. They get their nutrients, they
get everything that they need, they receive grace from him
alone and they live out their life to the fullest.
So today may sin not have a seat at your table.
Sin is black and white. Sin is sin.
There's no grace in here. There's no a shade of sin.
No, there's no gradient in sin is the sin is sin big, small,
it's a sin. But if you find sin at your
table, it says here, let's go with the repentant heart.
God's willing to change us inside and out.
I just want to leave a verse with you.
You might be like, OK, Geshrem, you know, you've spoken about
this. How do I live this life?
You know, Paul told it to the Roman church.
But I'm coming from a background, you know, that this
is this is this is so tough to live by.
I would say Micah 68 has the answer.
It says no people, the Lord has told you that it is good that
this is what he requires of you to do what is right to love
mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Three things he requires you to do as follows of Jesus.
You know, to make sure that you're not judging and you know
being judgmental to make sure that you're not showing
favoritism to make sure that you know you're you're not moving
aside and orchestrating things around.
He's saying, do these three things that we'll do what is
right before God and we'll do what is right for people because
God is watching, that we'll be merciful, that we will love
mercy, that we will extend mercy, especially when we time
and again come to a place of why is this person doing this to me?
Why are they? We would extend mercy and pray
for them. Honestly pray for them.
Take it to God and say God, you can change them.
And the third thing is that we walk humbly with our God.
We'd say, God, without you, this is not possible.
I need you. I'm desperate for you.
And so church, even as we conclude and pray, I just want
to pray a prayer of blessing all your life because I believe even
this week God was working in my life and showing me, have I have
I do I show favoritism? Because every time I show
favoritism, that is a selfish agenda.
There's a selfish motive. Am I being judgmental because
because I've got two things right and another person has got
nothing right, Am I being judgmental?
And God reminded me I've extended grace to you.
Would you extend and I would charge you Church, the church
that God's building is one where we're all the same and we will
all be in front of him in heaven.
So let's try with that, that even as anyone who's longing for
him comes in, they will get a taste of that.
They will get a full taste of that.
They will receive that. And this is the nature of God
that He does. He alone can judge, and that He
shows no favoritism. So let's pray our loving
heavenly Father. Lord, we thank you a lot for
this time. Lord, even as you've heard your
word, I pray to sink deep into US.
Lord, I pray, Lord, there are so many areas that are hardened in
our lives which we believe needs circumcision through your
spirit, Lord, and I pray that heart circumcision will happen.
Will you come in Lord Jesus and remove those areas surgically
remove those areas. Lord, I pray where our love we
forget that we all are living in glass houses.
I pray that Lord, we, we've received that grace and I pray
we'll extend that grace to others.
I pray for those the pride is kept in and we've thought
haughty and we've, we've, we've thought highly of ourselves.
Would you forgive us right now, Lord?
Forgive us, Lord, I pray that Lord, you would work in and
through US, strengthen us, Lord, Pray especially Lord, in this
season that as we look through this, Lord, these, these words
seem so heavy for us. Lord, we've been growing up and
certain things are so ingrained to us.
But I pray the kindness that you've extended to us that we'll
be able to repent, we'll be able to turn back and every step of
the way you will teach us that we'll be able to live this life
to the fullest. Go before us, Lord, your most
holy name, we pray, Amen, Amen. Pray that you step out in this
week with boldness, knowing that God alone is our judge and God
shows no favoritism, and that God's called us to go back so
that His Spirit will work in and through our hearts so that we'll
be able to live the life that He's called.
And I charge you that even as you live this right, do what is
right, love mercy, be merciful, and may we walk humbly before
God. Pray that you have a blessed
week. God bless you all.
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