Adult Uniform Sunday School Lesson for August 5, 2018

                         God's Justice

Adult Uniform Sunday School Lesson for August 5, 2018

Purpose

To commit to leading a nonjudgmental and repentant life

Bible Lesson

Background: Romans 2:1-16

Romans 2:1-12 (CEB)

1 So every single one of you who judge others is without any excuse. You condemn yourself when you judge another person because the one who is judging is doing the same things. 2 We know that God’s judgment agrees with the truth, and his judgment is against those who do these kinds of things. 3 If you judge those who do these kinds of things while you do the same things yourself, think about this: Do you believe that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the riches of God’s generosity, tolerance, and patience? Don’t you realize that God’s kindness is supposed to lead you to change your heart and life? 5 You are storing up wrath for yourself because of your stubbornness and your heart that refuses to change. God’s just judgment will be revealed on the day of wrath. 6 God will repay everyone based on their works. 7 On the one hand, he will give eternal life to those who look for glory, honor, and immortality based on their patient good work. 8 But on the other hand, there will be wrath and anger for those who obey wickedness instead of the truth because they are acting out of selfishness and disobedience. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 10 But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 11 God does not have favorites.

12 Those who have sinned outside the Law will also die outside the Law, and those who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law.

Key Verses

But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. God does not have favorites. (Romans 2:10-11)

Some Comments

By

Burgess Walter

This month we will look at Paul’s teaching, and we will begin with Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. At the time of Paul writing this letter he had never visited the church in Rome. He had received information about the church from others. Paul’s ultimate reason for writing was he was looking for financial help for the poor Christians back in Jerusalem. The church at Rome was one of the more wealthy of all the new churches.

If you read the first chapter of Paul’s writing, you can readily see that Paul is buttering up those Roman Christians. While Paul was not the founding pastor, he used good salesmanship tactics in addressing this church.

However, as we look at chapter two, Paul has abandoned the flowery speech, and has gone to a more familiar line of teaching.  The problem as Paul sees it is they are being judgmental. Paul abandons his flowery speech to basically calling them hypocrites.

Being judgmental is something almost all of us can be found guilty. We like to think we are not, but the truth is we are very judgemental. It is not just about race, religion or politics. We judge others by the way they live, the number of tattoos, the length of their dress, the way they dress, their cleanliness and their weight and their habits. Just a few of the ways we judge.  

As Paul begins to teach and preach to the Roman church, he states upfront in verse 20 of chapter 1 regardless of your situation you are without excuse for not worshipping the creator God. (1:20 Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—God’s eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through the things God has made. So humans are without excuse.)

Paul’s concern was  whether Jew or Greek, whether knowing God through the Law or knowing God through faith as a new Christian. It ought to change your life. Knowing God should change your heart. If’ it doesn’t maybe you need to rethink your relationship.

Doing good is not restricted to Christians, or Jews or any other form of religion or belief. Those that act selfishly and disobedient are obviously not doing the will of the Creator. God wants us to be holy just as He is holy. Our Key Verse says it best. But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. God does not have favorites. (Romans 2:10-11)

My hymn for this week is one of the newer ones “Open The Eyes of My Heart”