City Life Starter

I. The Word: Romans 2:24-27

24 For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.

25 For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law?

II. Reflection Questions:

1. Why is God’s name blasphemed?
2. Are my actions aligning with what I say I believe?
3. Do I find in myself a greater inclination to sacrifice or obey?

Romans 2:24 is one of the most challenging text to the religious person today. It’s easy to think that people blaspheme God because they are atheists, unbelievers, haters, etc. However, Paul says, “No, it’s the hypocrites fault!” When you judge harshly and require heavier loads then you yourself lift on others, they hate Him because of you. If He (God) looks and acts like you, they are not interested at all.

This is a far cry from people simply not wanting to believe, the religious person (without relationship) actually encourages unbelief. We are called to be ambassadors for Christ in this world as His hands and feet, heart and mind. If that is not taken seriously and applied soberly, it is better to not call yourself a Christian (“little Christ”) at all.

Does this mean there is no room for error? Absolutely not! If the requirement of following Jesus was perfection He would be a very lonely leader indeed. Perfection is not a requirement, but it is an expectation (Matt 5:48). For example, my son loves to play basketball and is slowly getting better and better at shooting. Last year he played on a team and made his first point of the whole season near the end of the season. He was so afraid to miss, in previous games, that he would not shoot the ball last all. I had to coach him up and encourage him to shoot if he was open knowing that it was okay if he missed. He understood this of course, because half his team threw up Stephen Curry type half court shots the whole game and missed badly. He didn’t want to follow their lead and miss, but the difference was he was under the basket and, well, they definitely were not.

We all know that we will not ever be able to make 100 percent of the shots we take. Perfection is not the goal, but perfection is an expectation and this is why we are frustrated when we miss. That’s actually a godly trait that I believe our Heavenly Father loves. As a dad I can relate. When Addison shot it and inevitably missed, I still loved that he conquered the fear of failure and went for it. I was also glad when he was upset that he missed the shot as well. Why? Because it showed he cared enough to not want to miss. Too many people play the we’re-all-just-human card as an excuse to fail. This falls into the category of forgetting that God does expect us to try. He expects us to obey, to get up and push beyond our feelings and comforts and look at Jesus as our great Lord who lives in and through those who push through to the end. He sees the greatness that His son bled and died for and desperately wants us to experience it too.

For those shooting half court shots while yelling at others who miss their lay-ups I would say to not get mad when others don’t love playing basketball with you after a while. Certainly don’t expect people to love God and want to do life with you if you are not living out the life you proclaim either.

Check out how The Message bible brings Jesus’ words from Matthew 23 to modern vernacular:

Matthew 23 MSG

1-3 Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.

4-7 “Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help.