Introduction:
I imagine some of you other men have gone through what I
experience on at least a weekly basis. I don’t know how many
times I’ve come home oblivious to any special thing being done
around the house. I’ve eaten dinner, played with the kids,
watched tv, read books and finally gone to bed only to have Marita
say, “Did you even notice that I did such and such?” Ooops. I
finally got her back a few weeks ago when I snuck out an old
broken computer that had been sitting on our kitchen counter about
which Marita had been complaining for weeks. She didn’t say a
thing about it until I finally asked if she noticed. I’m sure we
all have dozens of stories like this in our own families. When we
fail to mention or even notice the kindnesses of our spouses,
children and parents, it can seem like we are unappreciative. Lack
of appreciation is bad within our families, but even worse when it
is in our relationship with God. In Romans
2:4, Paul explains how we show appreciation for God’s
goodness. Examine the verse in context to learn how God has
treated us and what we are to do in response.
Discussion:
I.
The goodness of God
A.
Before examining how we should respond to God’s goodness,
we should examine the goodness God bestows. Romans
2:4 uses three terms to describe what God has done and
continues to do for us: kindness, forbearance, patience (ESV).
1.
Kindness:
This refers simply to the good things God has done for us. James
1:17 helps us recognize the extent of God’s goodness to us.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming
down from the Father of lights…” (ESV). This includes the food
we have eaten, the clothes we wear, the health we have maintained,
the homes we live in, the friends and family we have, etc. Of
course, the ultimate display of God’s kindness is the sacrifice
of Jesus (Romans 5:6-8).
2.
Forbearance:
This refers to maintaining self-control even when subject to
provocation. Turning the other cheek is an example of forbearance.
When someone is trying to get you to react negatively or violently
and you maintain calm and kindness, you are being forbearing. This
takes God’s kindness to another level. Not only is He kind to
us, but He continues to be kind to us even when we provoke Him
through our sins. Consider Matthew
5:45 in which God sends the kindness of rain and sun on the
righteous and sinful alike. Romans
3:25 describes the forbearance of God who passed over former
sins in order to bring Jesus into the world as a propitiation for
our sins. That passage speaks on a big picture level of God not
judging the world for sin but waiting to bring Jesus in. We can
bring the principle to a much more specific level in our lives
recognizing that God did not destroy us when we first committed
sin, but has waited and given us the opportunity to hear about and
respond to Jesus.
3.
Patience:
This is very similar to God’s forbearance. According to
Thayer’s Lexicon, this is the “self-restraint which does not
hastily retaliate a wrong.”
II Peter 3:9
demonstrates the importance of God’s patience. He is not slow
about keeping His promises but rather is patient giving everyone
time to come to repentance. An illustration of His patience is
given in Luke 13:6-9.
God is like the vineyard owner who allows a fig tree to go years
without bearing fruit before bringing punishment.
B.
Notice Paul doesn’t merely claim God has bestowed
kindness, forbearance and patience upon us, but has done so
richly. The idea is that God has bestowed these mercies and
goodnesses upon us in superabundance. We have no lack of kindness,
forbearance and patience from God. The question, of course, is do
we fully appreciate the goodness of God?
II.
Presuming on God’s kindness.
A.
Within the context of Romans
2, Paul is rebuking the Jews in general for despising the
goodness of God. I particularly like the English Standard
translation of this verse claiming his Jewish readers “presume
on the riches of his kindness…” The idea is they were making
false presumptions about the kindness, forbearance and patience of
God.
B.
I like this translation simply because I have seen numerous
examples of those who made presumptions and yet, didn’t seem to
despise God’s goodness. They just used it to lead them down
erroneous conclusions about their lives. In what ways do people
presume on the riches of God’s kindness, forbearance and
patience.
1.
View
blessings as “proof” of God’s approval:
Have you ever talked to someone who doesn’t accept what the
Bible teaches about issues of salvation and serving God, but they
use their good job, nice home, good clothes, cool car, etc. as an
indication that they must be right with God? They allow all the
seemingly good things that have happened to them to rest in their
own form of religion instead of getting into the Bible and serving
God His way. Consider again Matthew
5:45. God blesses both wicked and righteous with good things.
We must not presume that the kindnesses of God means our heart is
right with Him.
2.
View
lack of immediate judgment as God’s approval:
Perhaps stories like Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus
10), Uzzah (I
Chronicles 13) and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts
5) have led some to believe that when God disapproves of
something He will bring immediate judgment on someone. Have you
ever heard someone justify some action by saying, “I did such
and such and no fire came from heaven” or “I did such and such
and the roof didn’t cave in”? They are presuming on the
forbearance and patience of God. We need to recognize Nadab, Abihu,
Uzzah, Ananias and Sapphira were the exception, not the norm. God
does not immediately judge all sins. Just read through Kings
and Chronicles and see
how often God allowed sins to go unpunished for a time. Judgment
always eventually came, but a lack of immediate judgment did not
equal approval.
3.
Relies
on God’s patience to let them repent in the future when they
have sinned all they want:
Have you ever met anyone who says they will become a Christian
some day, but right now they are just having too much fun? They
want to enjoy the world and its fleshly lusts as long as possible.
They hope they will eventually get to a point where the sin will
no longer exert its pull on their hearts and then, when they can
more easily overcome sin, they will turn to the Lord. Paul deals
specifically with that in Romans
2:5. What few of these realize is the more they give
themselves over to this sin, the harder their heart becomes, the
less likely they will ever respond to the gospel call. Impenitence
does not bring us to a time when overcoming sin is easier. It
makes it harder and harder to overcome. Paul describes what
happens to those who take this approach in Ephesians
4:8-19. These are presuming on God’s patience to mean they
will always be able to easily accept His message of forgiveness.
But the more they sin the more calloused to the gospel they become
and they are merely storing up more wrath for themselves.
4.
Relies
on outward rituals to grant salvation:
Have you ever met someone who got baptized and “goes to
church” regularly but lives like the world the rest of the time?
They can answer the doctrinal questions correctly. They declare
they want to go to heaven and believe they are, after all they
give money to the church, they take the Lord’s Supper every
week, etc. The problem is, these people have not truly repented.
They have not changed and become spiritual people whose lives are
governed by the Spirit. They are still fleshly and impenitent.
They are presuming on the kindness of God that He is too kind to
let them go to hell, after all, look at all the good things they
do. These are like the Pharisee of Luke
18:9-14 who can point to a myriad of outward signs of
righteousness but will go away unjustified because his spirit was
not affected.
5.
Allows
grace to be a license to sin:
Have you ever been in a discussion with someone who doesn’t
submit to God in some issue and the response you receive is,
“That’s why Jesus died?” Or others who act as though all the
differences in interpreting the scripture are covered by the grace
of God as if we do not really have to study and grow? I’m not
here referring to the mistakes of maturing Christians as they grow
and change their lives in accordance with increased knowledge (cf
II Peter 1:5-8), but those who allow the grace of Jesus to be
permission not to study and grow. They sweep differences under the
rug, they cover up sin and fleshly desire with a wipe of the grace
cloth. These are presuming on the riches of God’s kindness
thinking His grace means they don’t have to understand and obey
His will. Paul dealt with this in Romans
6:1-2. God’s kindness is not a license to sin. Rather, it is
a reason to obey.
C.
Let’s make sure we do not presume on the riches of
God’s kindness, forbearance or patience. When we do, we aren’t
just making a casual mistake. We are actually despising the
goodness of God.
III.
Appreciating God’s goodness.
A.
According to Romans
2:4, the kindnesses of God are meant for one purpose—to
bring us to repentance. Repentance is a change of mind that leads
to a change of action. How often have we heard that repentance
literally means to “think through again”? As sinners, we have
lived based on one mindset. God is bestowing His kindness,
forbearance and patience that we might think differently. He wants
us to have transformed minds (Romans
12:2). He has bestowed the blessings of His Son and Spirit
that we might think differently. He has bestowed His forbearance
and patience that we might have time to rethink. But all of it is
for this purpose, to rethink and repent, submitting ourselves to
Him as righteous (Romans
6:16-18).
B.
God has not granted these kindnesses so we may wallow in
our sins. He has not granted these kindnesses as excuses for sin
and continued immaturity. He has granted this kindness that we
might change and grow in His grace and knowledge (II
Peter 3:18).
C.
How do we show that we appreciate God’s kindness? Not by
defending the divisions of the modern religious world, not by
saying no one is allowed to judge, not by saying the way we live
doesn’t matter because that adds to the sacrifice of Jesus. We
show appreciation for God’s kindness by actually changing. By
getting into His word and letting it transform our lives producing
the fruit of the Spirit.
D.
Have you ever known anyone who was a big mooch, but never
seemed truly grateful? They always hang around those they can get
the most out of, but they never give anything in return. They
rarely even offer a thank you. This is the kind of person we are
to God if we get dunked in baptism, “go to church” and then
live however we want while trying to meet some minimum
requirements we think will bind God to let us into heaven. If we
truly appreciate the blessings of God, we will change. It may be a
long slow process for some of us, but we will go through the
process.
Conclusion:
This brings us down to some introspection. Do we appreciate
the riches of God’s kindness, forbearance and patience or are we
presuming on them? Are we letting His kindnesses change our
hearts, minds and lives? Or are we hoping to cash in on His gifts
while selfishly doing nothing in return? Where are you in this?
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
Franklin
Church of Christ
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