Romans 2 – The Great Explosion of Human Nature 人性的大爆發
Wednesday, 31st May 2023
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Church is made up of people, without people there will be no church. We must know people and know the human nature. Paul reminded the people of Roman church to wake up and take note of the human nature. There were a lot of problems in the Roman church, but at the end of the day, it was people, human nature, that caused all the problems. Paul discovered this truth and revealed this truth to help the brothers and sisters in the church.
Section One V1-16 What Men Do God Will Repay
We must not judge others, instead, we should first look at our own lives. What is inside our lives? We are so ministry oriented, and we don’t see our true self, and we don’t see who we really are. We don’t know who we are anymore, we try to cover ourselves, to show the best of ourselves, and at the end of the day, we don’t even know ourselves. We are full of lies and we don’t have a foundation to stand on.
Paul knew God will judge, he was teaching the church to listen. Our authority also knows our problems, they are also trying to teach us the truth, but are we willing to face our own problems? We say God is love, but what are we doing with the love of God? Not to do whatever we want to do but to repent and return. God’s grace allows us to live again, but do we have an appreciative heart? God has been enduring us, we must not challenge God, because in the end time, we will all be judged and we will have to take responsibility of our own lives.
Section Two V17-24 Can Say But Cannot Do, Profane God’s Name
We all have a lot to say, we have our own interpretations of things and of people, everyone is so good at talking about what others are lacking, but fail to see our own limitations. We thought we know a lot, but do we really act it out? We must not become the people who are so good at talking but no good at acting it out. People are watching us, as Christians, we are setting an example of people around us, they are looking at us and they are leaning from us.
Do not trip over those unbelievers, do not lead others into death, do not let our lives become stumbling stones of people around us. We use magnifying glass to look at other people’s problems, it we allow ourselves to be under so much grace, to make so many mistakes, and to backslide again and again. Jesus already told us that He’s given us the strength and authority to do all things, but do we take up this authority and be determined to change our ways?
Let us stop magnifying ourselves, let us stop seeing ourselves more than everything else, Jesus wants to come to our lives, but we see ourselves so much that we cannot see Jesus. Jesus is always there, He never leaves us, but when we only see ourselves we will fail to see Jesus. We will then think we are alone, and we can never share the goodness of Jesus with those around us. Do not have the victim mindset, we cannot do anything without Jesus and we must know that.
Section Three V25-29 Not in the Letter but in the Heart
We like to receive praises from others, we want people to say that what we do are good. We chase after methods, ways, and we don’t seek what’s in the heart. We thought by doing this and doing that we will please God, but at the end of the day, we are still trying to receive the crown from God by using our own ways. When we are at church, we have expectations for the worship, for the message, for the pastoral caring… This is should not be an exchange, but a response to God’s love.
Our hearts are evil, our human nature is wicked, we are full of unbelief, and we worship God like worshipping the idols. In Romans 2, the human nature was revealed, it was exploding in front of us, so we know the heart of God. It’s time to turn back, it’s time to repent, and it’s time to really see the true self, so we can hide under God’s protection, to renew our strength in God.
罗马书 2 – 人性的大爆发
2023年5月31日 星期三
潘锡安牧师
教会是人组成的，所以人很重要，我们也要明白“人性”。我们不要在一个doing的模式下建立教会。在这一章，使徒保罗继续对罗马教会的人说话，也是对我们这些跟从神的人很大的提醒，因为我们人性中有很多丑陋的一面被隐藏了，这一章的经文帮助将这些隐藏的东西都摊开在神的真理真光中。
一、v.1-16 人所行的 神必报应
V1 当我们想要批评论断别人前，要先看看自己的生命如何。其实我们不喜欢看自己的真实面目，反而用很多东西遮掩自己，最后所呈现出来的“我”是虚假的。
V2 “我们”指的是保罗等神的仆人。我们的权柄知道真理，我们是否愿意去听、是否愿意受教、从他们那里知道自己的真面目？
V3-4 我们常说神是爱，然而保罗在这里提醒我们，“他的恩慈是领你悔改”。我们如何看待神的恩慈？
V5-6 我们一直挑战神，因为我们不相信神是会报应的，他会照着我们的行为报应我们。我们是否整天活在批评论断中？是否整天质疑我们的权柄、同工、教会其他人？还是愿意谦卑让我们得牧者来教导我们、帮助我们看到自己生命的问题？唯有当我们悔改，我们才被高举。我们愿意真实面对自己的行为、生命吗？
二、v.17-24 能说不能做 亵辱神的名
我们对别人能讲出很多大道理和规矩，然而自己却做不到。“神的名在外邦人中，因你们受了亵渎”，因为我们周围的亲友和那些未信主的人会看我们，我们的一言一行反而绊倒他们。我们看别人用放大镜，看自己反而什么都觉得好，总给自己的软弱很多理由。我们说自己是在“进步”，却忘了其实我们的生活好像一台戏呈现在世人面前。主耶稣已经将权柄赐给我们，但我们是否愿意将里面的“我”放下、交给神？还是在听到教导、被指示做一些不情愿的事情时，我们就说“我受不了了”？我们看到的是否只是“我”而看不到身后的耶稣？求神帮助我们能教能说也能做出来。我们里面若充满的“我”，总有一天我们压抑的情绪就会爆发，唯有当我们谦卑承认自己不行，在我们里面没有“我”的时候，别人才能从我们身上看到神。
三、v.25-29 不在乎仪文 在乎内心
我们给别人很多条条框框，却没有真正的敬拜、称谢神，没有真实的悔改。我们所追求的是外在的方法，以为自己做了某件事，我们就是虔诚的基督徒。然而这样的我们只活在doing里，尝试用我们的事工去换取神的冠冕，神要的却是如新郎新娘般亲密的关系。我们跟从神，只以“我”为中心，但神要的是心灵与诚实的敬拜。我们是否看到自己披着宗教的外袍，内心却充满不信，只将神当做偶像来拜？神并非要定我们的罪，而是希望我们能悔改，因为他要祝福我们，让我们被高举。让我们能悔改、回转像孩子一样来到天父的家中！