Dear Beloved New Salem Church,

This week’s lesson is Romans chapter 2. Let us take a look at Holy Scripture.

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”[a] 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.

Paul continues his warnings to the people about God’s righteous judgment for all of humanity, Jew, and Gentile. He is saying God will make things right with us one way or another. If we are persistent in honoring God, there is a blessing. For those who are self-seeking and following evil, look out! Let’s take a look at the underlying problem that we could have overlooked. It is certainly pretty clear that if we do good we will reap good, and if we reject the good, we will reap anger, trouble, and distress so let us take a peek at what Paul is pointing at today.

He mentions stubbornness at the beginning of his narrative. Stubbornness is one of those “sins” that never seem as bad as sins such as murder, stealing, and lying. Yet, when we stir stubbornness with self-seeking behavior, everything changes. When we stir stubbornness in with rejecting what God has directed us to, then we have big problems.

The dictionary says this about stubbornness: Tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield. That, my friends, is the underlying problem with mankind. We are unwilling to yield to God which puts us above God, the Maker, and Creator as we saw in chapter one. So let’s ask this question, who is always right? Certainly not you or I. The next chapter says, “There is no one righteous, no not even one.” (But God)

The fix for the above disaster in life is simply this: “change”. The church word for this is repent. Turn from that wrong, ask God to forgive your foolishness and stubbornness and put things in the proper perspective. Be selfless and honor God. Seek out His ways and He will guide you and (Psalm 23) lead you in paths of righteousness. If you don’t seek His ways, then you’re stubborn! You should expect trouble and heartache and even wrath. Remember, the Lord will always do what is right. He shows no favoritism. What is God desiring for you and me? If we examine ourselves with God’s truth now and make changes (repent) we can expect glory, honor, and peace when we face His righteous judgment.

Love always in Christ Jesus, Pastor Jeff