Romans 2:25-29

How much weight do you put into other people's opinion of yourself?  While this passage talks about everyone's "favorite" subject, circumcision, the centerpiece of this is all about what happens in our hearts and who we want to affirm and applaud us.  Warning! Today requires honesty!

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

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How much weight do you put into other people's opinion of you? And remember, this kind of question only has as much value as the level of honesty with which you apply it to yourself. Now, while you're thinking about that, I wanted to share some values that I hope that we can really grab onto here on Meet Me in the Word. The first one is kindness. Be kind to yourself. If you fall behind, if you miss a few days, don't feel the need to go back and re-listen to or re-watch every single episode. That can become so overwhelming so fast. It might be beneficial for you to go back and read the passages that you missed so that you're kind of caught up for the next episode that comes along and you can just feel good about all of that. I've generally tried to keep each each passage of scripture on the shorter side in part so that we don't have this huge buildup when something happens during our day. We're trying to develop this daily this daily rhythm together. By the way, if you're more of a visual person, each day's episode or devotion now has actual video on YouTube. Just look for that same Meet Me in the Word icon. It looks exactly the same as it does on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Amazon Music, whatever you're tuning in on. I also want to encourage us to make this a commitment. So let's mark this by kindness and commitment. Carve out time in your day for this. Make it a priority. It would help me if you subscribe, and I think it would help you as well. And finally, if you are inclined by the spirit, and after just kind of thinking about it a little bit, I would benefit by your contributions. You can do that a couple of different ways. They're there in the show's description. So just go ahead and think about it. I'm not looking to replace your tithes and offerings at all, but your donations would help me to kind of make this a sustainable long-term kind of a thing. Alright, enough of that. Let's jump into the passage together. We're in Romans chapter two, verse twenty five through twenty nine, and go ahead and grab your copy of God's Word. Let's pray and then we'll get into it together. Jesus in heaven, thank you so much for all that you are and all that you've done. We want to know you better. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. All right, Paul writes in verse twenty five of chapter two. Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision are a lawbreaker. A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God. Go ahead and take just a moment to listen quietly to the Lord and see what he might be revealing in your heart and in your life, and then we'll continue together. Let's make a few observations about what's happening here. And a couple of things. One, yes, Paul is still talking to the Jews in the congregation about their Jewishness, and he's taking them to task. If you feel like, man, this has been a minute, you're right. All of chapter two, starting right at the beginning of it, Paul is addressing those believers in particular and really challenging challenging them to think about the way that they might be relying on their Jewish roots and either kind of just children in in that space and just thinking that's enough, or using it in a way that was difficult for their Gentile brothers and sisters. Let's also understand circumcision really quick, because did you notice that word gets said a bunch here in this particular passage? Paul is emphasizing this aspect because it was the physical sign of the covenant and was one of those sticking points for some, not all, but some of the Jewish followers of the way. That's what they were called in the early days. They weren't called Christians until a little bit later. They were followers of the way, but they felt that new Gentile believers needed to convert not just to Jesus, but to a more Jewish form of following Christ. And there were like legitimate reasons for them to be thinking that way. That was part of their heritage, that was part of God's covenant with them from beforehand. And so that's kind of really what's going on here. Is there's that tension, Paul's trying to address it, and he's taking taking a minute to talk about all of that. Circumcision, just so we we get this straight, uh, while it does make all of us dudes wince a little bit, is first and foremost a religious rite. It's a marker of commitment. It's almost like a rite of passage, so to speak. Like you once were this, and now you are Jewish, you are a member of the Hebrew family and commitment. You're you're marked in that in that sense. So that's what is kind of contained in that whole discussion about circumcision itself. But the meat of today's passage, like the punchy part, really comes at the very end in verses 28 and 29. I'll just remind us of that. A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. And right in that verse there, verse 28, in those couple of sentences, uh, we understand what a Jew isn't, according to Paul's understanding. He's saying it's not this. It's not just that you've had this religious right, it's not just this aspect of things. There's something more to it than that. He says, No, verse 29. A person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, not by the written code. So now he's talking about what a Jew rightly is. There is more to this than something happening in a ceremony, right? There's something that should be happening that we pray will be happening in the context of our hearts, in the context of our souls. And then he comes to this last sentence, and my goodness, Paul cuts right into that very human need, which is also a struggle, right? It's a human need, but it's also a struggle. It's our need to be applauded or at least affirmed, right? Our need to hear that we're doing good. And he writes, such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God. My goodness, that is incredibly convicting. How often can we slide into that mentality where we're doing things not because we just simply believe that they're right in and of themselves or that they're pleasing to God, but we're kind of hoping, if we're honest with ourselves, that somebody else will notice, that we conduct ourselves in a way as to be seen and to be lauded, right? Praised for the things that we're doing. And Paul just cuts right after that and says, Look, you need to be seeking God's approval, nobody else's. Don't worry about them over there. You, you follow Jesus, and when you do that, then that's a good way for you to just conduct life in general. Let's reflect on a couple of things. I have three kind of points I wanted to bring to you and to us here today. The first one is especially for those of us who've grown up in the faith or we've been at it for a while. So, how have the rules of Christianity influenced my personal faith? How have the rules, and I'm putting rules like this, right? Rules in quotation marks, how have the rules of Christianity influenced my personal faith? Now there are things in scripture that instruct us, you know, do these things. And it's not just Old Testament stuff, right? In the New Testament throughout, there are things like teach one another, show hospitality, uh, forgive each other. There's a bunch of different instructions in there and then things that we ought not to do. But sometimes we can really get into that place where the rules begin to really overtake everything else. So just food for thought, again, how have they shaped your personal journey with Jesus? Secondly, have I let the Spirit do that transformative work in my heart? When Paul says that idea that that we're called to be, have the circumcision of the heart, right, by the spirit? That's a that's a really poignant way of of of communicating that idea that we need that change to happen deep within us, deep within who we are. And have we invited that to take place? Or have we I'm gonna say that's reduced our spirituality to a list of things that we do or do not do. Finally, who do I want praise from the most? And by the way, I don't think it's awful to receive it. When somebody gives you a compliment, when somebody notices the things that you're doing, I don't think you need to shut that down necessarily. They're just practicing their own gratitude or their own, you know, appreciation of what what you've been doing. But what are you seeking yourself? Who are you looking for that praise from the most? My prayer for myself is that at the end of every day I can just reflect and say, God, did I do the things that made you grin today? And if I didn't, then I need to confess some things. But if I can just genuinely say, Yeah, I I was faithful. I did the things that you made me to do, uh, that's a really, really good place, a really good way to live. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for today. Thank you for all that you continue to do in our lives. God, show us what it looks like to trust you and to look to you for everything. Amen.