Leading to Repentance

Romans 1:28-2:4 New International Version (NIV)

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

God’s Righteous Judgment

2 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

The lectionary that I follow uses about 25% of Paul’s writings to the Romans.  The scripture that I just read to you is not part of that 25%.  However, it is a pretty humbling set of verses.  We often point to God’s love and grace as the factors that lead us towards repentance but I really enjoy how Paul wrote these words.  “Or do you show contempt for the riches of God’s kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”  Kindness.  God’s love and grace are aspects of a much larger, overarching, theme of kindness.  Kindness is a general term and we see it in action most days.  However, there are moments, even days, that kindness seems to the furthest thing from us.  So, if kindness is a path to repentance and a relationship with God, then we ought to do our best to spread it.  

Today, the Beef Expo will be wrapping up at the Fairgrounds.  During the Expo, and just like during the Fair and various other cattle shows that we host, the cattle are led by a lead rope.  They are literally being led down a path to the show ring.  Some of them go down that path with very little hesitation and seem calm, cool and collected as they proceed down the path.  On the other hand, some of the cattle fight the process.  There head is high, they are agitated and they are constantly pulling against the lead rope.  Some even escape from those leading them.  It is not always a lack of preparedness that differentiates those cattle who lead well verses those that do not.  Sometimes the cattle get spooked for an unforeseen event that catches them completely off guard.  Since I didn’t show animals growing up, I am really gaining my first exposure to this at the Fairgrounds and the metaphor provided here is pretty fitting for our scripture this morning.  We can lead someone down the path of repentance through our kindness but this doesn’t always mean we will undoubtedly know the final result.  Just as the cattle being led, some set of circumstances keep people from taking that path.  Our job is to continue leading, not to judge those who fall short.  

Despite not knowing the end result, we must not give up.  Romans 1:28-32 tells us what happens if we give up, if we no longer think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God: “...they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”  Since 1949, 19 of the 30 deadliest mass shootings have occured in the last 10 years.  The morbid top 10 list of such shootings includes an elementary school, now a high school, two universities and a music festival.  Depending on which side of the political scale you fall, will determine who or what you feel is to blame for such tragedies.  As heartbreaking as the loss of life is, it saddens me to see this constant blame game played out with our neighbors.  Again, no matter the side, we are using the loss of precious life to push political agendas without remorse.  It’s appears as if we have no understanding, no fidelity, no love and no mercy.  I am fearful of where this is leading us.  I would love to tell you how I really feel but can’t because I know how upset that would make most of you.  I know how that would alienate you and I am not willing to do that.  So I am forced to stand up here and speak in generalities and platitudes which literally makes my heart hurt because we are doing absolutely nothing.  We find it more imperative to make sure the world knows where we stand on these sick displays of human slaughter rather than taking the lead.  I am left only to tell you this: if you think guns are to blame do something about it... if you think mental illness is to blame do something about it.  Rather than simply stating what is to blame, do something about it.  I don’t care where you stand if you are willing to do something about it.       

I don’t think force feeding the public with God is the answer either.  It’s like that calf being led to the show ring, some will follow the lead and others will resist, only growing the divide.  The approach of using kindness as the path towards repentance is the appropriate route to take here.  William Barclay sums of Romans 1:28-32 by saying, “There is hardly any passage which so clearly shows what happens to a person when they leave God out of the reckoning.  It is not so much that God sends a judgment on a person, as that a person bring judgment on themselves when they give no place to God in their scheme of things.  When a person banishes God from their life they become a certain kind of person, and in this passage is one of the most terrible descriptions in literature of what kind of person they become.”  Let’s review that description as Paul wrote it: “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They are gossips, slanders, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.”  That list is a far cry from leading others to repentance using kindness.  Please do not twist what I am saying here... A blind faith shielded by some misrepresentation of kindness or grace or love is not the answer either.  Rather, a proactive and constantly evolving faith is what I mean.    

Here is where the role of the second half of the scripture I shared with you comes into play and it is the reason I included it in our non-lectionary text for this morning.  You see, as Paul wrote, he was addressing the Jewish population directly.  In the scripture I re-read to you a few moments ago, the Jew would have agreed that those living outside their parameters was directly inline to take the brunt of God’s condemnation.  They would have read those final verses in chapter one and agreed wholeheartedly that it was in fact the Gentiles to which Paul was speaking.  It is the reminder coming from the beginning of chapter two that catches them off guard.  I will again let Barclay do the honors of explaining what I mean, “With every word of that condemnation the Jew thoroughly agreed.  But they never for a moment dreamed that they were under a like condemnation.  They thought they occupied a privileged position.  God might be the judge of the heathen, but God was the special protector of the Jews.  Here Paul is pointing out forcibly to the Jew that they were just as much as a sinner as the Gentile is and that when they are condemning the Gentile they are condemning themselves.  They will be judged, not on their racial heritage, but by the kind of life they live.”  Paul may be speaking to the Jewish population but it resonates loudly with us as we sit here today.  As I mentioned earlier, we are condemning the other side of this political argument of what is to blame for these tragedies and we fail to see that we too fall under that same condemnation.  Wednesday evening I said that we often focus on the wrongs of those whom we disagree with rather than focusing on what we do well and I think that fits here.  In all that we do, it is more important that we play to our own strengths rather than focusing on someone else’s weaknesses.

This costly mistake is our fate.  May we allow our strength to be the kindness that leads others down the path to repentance.  But if we are taking others down that path, may we first look at God’s kindness to guide us down that same path towards repentance.  And do so daily if need be.