No, not Pie Day, Wednesdays at Village Inn, but Pi day, March 14, in honor of pi’s numerical value 3.14159… The three dots are important. The digits go on forever without repeating: it’s what mathematicians call an irrational number.

Pi’s irrationality didn’t stop the Indiana Legislature from attempting to pass a law fixing the value of pi at 3.2 (not even good rounding!). It was February 6, 1897, and the statehouse actually voted in favor. Fortunately, before it became law, a professor from Purdue who just happened to be in the Capitol building that day, talked them out of it.

Passing a law fixing the value of pi to one decimal place is akin to attempting to repeal the law of gravity. Some things just are…and can’t be changed by laws.

I’m reminded of the current effort to pass The Equality Act, which includes:

An individual shall not be denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual’s gender identity.

Does a man become a woman just be declaring himself to be one? If so, women’s sports are dead and so is a woman’s safety in a public restroom.

I keep praying that our government will come to its senses.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (1 Timothy 2.1, 2, ESV)

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” (Matthew 19.4, ESV)

We’ve been exploring Romans 2 and the four points that Paul was making to the religious Jews of his day:

• Knowledge without action is not enough.
• Teaching without lifestyle is not enough.
• Ceremony without heart change is not enough.
• Heritage without obedience is not enough.

Today, we’re looking at Heritage without obedience is not enough. (Romans 3.1 – 8)

Yes, I can see that we’re in Romans 3, not chapter 2, but Paul is just finishing up by affirming that it’s good to have a heritage, but that the heritage without obedience isn’t enough:

What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? (Romans 3.1 – 3, NIV)

John the Baptist made that point clear to his Jewish audience, and the Cotton Patch translation makes it clear to some of us. The Cotton Patch translation was done by Clarence Jordan, who lived in south Georgia and operated a co-op farming community where (poor) blacks and whites lived together. Dr. Jordan was way ahead of his time. He paraphrased a few New Testament books to help people get a feel for the life and times of Jesus: Jerusalem became Atlanta and Jews were white people. John the Baptist’s message about heritage sounded like this:

This guy John was dressed in blue jeans and a leather jacket, and he was living on cornbread and collard greens. Folks were coming to him from Atlanta and all over north Georgia and the backwater of the Chattahoochee. And as they owned up to their crooked ways he dipped them in the Chattahoochee. When John noticed a lot of Protestants and Catholics showing up for his dipping, he said to them, “You sons of snakes, who put the heat on you to run from the fury about to break over your heads? You must give some proof that you’ve had a change of heart. And don’t think that you can feed yourselves that ‘we-good-white-people’ stuff, because I’m telling you that if God wants to he can make white folks out of this pile of rocks! (Matthew 3.4 – 7, Cotton Patch Translation)

Don’t be content with a good heritage (if you have one) or with having the Bible in your house. Read it! Spend time daily prayerfully reading and asking God what he wants you to do with what he just told you.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3.16, 17, NKJV)

We’ve been exploring Romans 2 and the four points that Paul was making to the religious Jews of his day:

• Knowledge without action is not enough.
• Teaching without lifestyle is not enough.
• Ceremony without heart change is not enough.
• Heritage without obedience is not enough.

Today, we’re looking at Ceremony without heart change is not enough. (Romans 2.25 – 29)

For us, ceremony might include the way we do communion or how our church administers baptism. For the Jews, it was circumcision, and there are three explicit verses on circumcision in which Paul clearly makes the point that ceremony without heart change is not enough. Rather, it’s obedience, faith, and new life in Christ.

For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. (1 Corinthians 7.19, ESV)

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Galatians 5.6, ESV)

For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. (Galatians 6.15, ESV)

We’ve been exploring Romans 2 and the four points that Paul was making to the religious Jews of his day:

• Knowledge without action is not enough.
• Teaching without lifestyle is not enough.
• Ceremony without heart change is not enough.
• Heritage without obedience is not enough.

Today, we’re looking at Teaching without lifestyle is not enough. (Romans 2.17 – 24)

I remember helping someone move a long time ago and thinking to myself as we were packing and loading, “Boy, this guy sure has a lot of junk!” A few years later, I was moving locally, and some friends were helping me. Sure enough, somewhere in the process one of them said, “Bob, you sure have a lot of junk!” Oops.

Here’s something Paul might have said today, “You who teach against lying, do you lie?” We say, “Certainly not!” Really? Have you ever forwarded an email without fact-checking it first?

You shall not spread a false report. (Exodus 23.1, ESV)

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom… The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. (James 3.13, 17, ESV)

 

Yesterday, I opened with a challenging paragraph from Romans 2 and suggested four points that Paul was making to the religious Jews of his day:

• Knowledge without action is not enough.
• Teaching without lifestyle is not enough.
• Ceremony without heart change is not enough.
• Heritage without obedience is not enough.

Today, let’s look at the first one: Knowledge without action is not enough. (Romans 2.12 – 16)

Remember, Paul teaches later in Romans 3 that all are saved by grace through faith, but God is very interested in our works.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5.16, ESV)

Robert Lewis, a pastor from Little Rock, used to say, “Note that Matthew 5.16 doesn’t say, ‘…hear your words,’ it says ‘…see your good works.'” Here’s an example: A bible believing, bible teaching church met at a YMCA. A fellow came to the Y one Sunday to work out, but it was closed. As he was leaving, he saw the people coming in for the church service and noticed that the sidewalks were covered in snow. He saw a shovel and just grabbed it and started shoveling. Every person who went by thought he was a Y employee and chewed him out for not having done it sooner!

So the unbeliever (maybe) is doing the good works, actually loving his neighbor. Meanwhile, the church members would have been glad for him to “hear their good words inside the building” but I’m afraid their bad words outside the building carried more weight.

We need to be careful not to let our religion block out the gospel and a relationship with God! It’s possible there are people who have been trusting their religion, their church affiliation, their baptism, maybe their good works, instead of trusting Jesus and accepting salvation by grace. If so, the message of Romans 2 is a serious warning. Jesus said it earlier, and the MSG brings it home very forcefully:

This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up “in the faith” but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.” (Matthew 8.11, 12, MSG)

If you’re following along in the through-the-Bible reading plan I am, you’ve read Romans 2 recently and been confused about such paragraphs as this one, which sounds a lot like you can earn your salvation through good works:

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. (Romans 2.6 – 11, ESV)

But it can’t mean we can earn our salvation because just a few paragraphs later, Paul is clear:

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3.20 – 24, ESV)

So what is Romans 2 about? It’s Paul talking to religious people and explaining that their religion is not enough. Specifically:

• Knowledge without action is not enough. (verses 12 – 16)

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. (Romans 2.13, ESV)

• Teaching without lifestyle is not enough. (verses 17 – 24)

You who teach others, do you not teach yourself? (Romans 2.21, ESV)

• Ceremony without heart change is not enough. (verses 25 – 29)

For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. (Romans 2.25, ESV)

• Heritage without obedience is not enough. (Romans 3.1 – 8)

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? (Romans 3.1 – 3, ESV)

I think these four points are worth a deeper look so we’ll spend time exploring over the next few days.

Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done. (Romans 2.1, 2, MSG)

Yesterday I shared the observation from a young high school student about Jesus’ leadership style:

Jesus wasn’t looking for change in the moment; he was setting the foundation for change to come long-term. – Quinton Williams, high school junior, March 2021.

By contrast, Jesus condemned the Pharisees, the conservative religious leaders of his day for doing just the opposite: focusing on the externals to the exclusion of transformation in their own lives:

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15.1 – 3, ESV)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23.23 – 28, ESV)

I was talking with my young friend Quinton Williams, who now lives in California. Quinton is a junior in high school, and usually, we talk about mathematics. Although right before he moved from Colorado Springs to Sacramento, I gave him a copy of my latest book Everyone on the Wall.

Out of the clear blue a few days ago, Quinton told me he had read the book and shared some of the things he had gotten out of it, including the message in Part 4: Everyone a Disciple-maker. He was fascinated by the idea of one person helping another helping another. “This would start a chain reaction.” Yes!

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

But then we started talking about leadership, and I recommended he read the Gospel of Mark and look for examples or principles involving Jesus’ leadership. He made this profound observation (which he did NOT get from my book!):

Jesus wasn’t looking for change in the moment; he was setting the foundation for change to come long-term. – Quinton Williams, high school junior, March 2021.

I couldn’t agree more. The Pharisees, about whom I wrote yesterday, were more interested in specific behaviors in the moment. They were interested in the externals. I’ll write more about that tomorrow.

Jesus, on the other hand, was about exactly what Quinton had observed: setting the foundation for long-term change. The word is…transformation.

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?” (Mark 8.17 – 21, NIV)

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4.19, ESV)

Jerusalem…the town where no good deed goes unpunished:

Then the blind and the crippled came into the temple courts, and Jesus healed them all. And the children circled around him shouting out, “Blessings and praises to the Son of David!” But when the chief priests and religious scholars heard the children shouting and saw all the wonderful miracles of healing, they were furious. (Matthew 21.14, 15, TPT)

Maybe this is too obvious, but there’s something wrong with religious people who get “furious” when they see “all the wonderful miracles of healing.” Jesus confronts these killjoys with the parables of The Two Sons and the Rejected Son (Matthew 21.28 – 42) ending with:

“This is why I say to you that the kingdom realm of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will bear its fruit…” When the leading priests and the Pharisees realized that the parable was referring to them, they were outraged and wanted to arrest him at once… (Matthew 21.43 – 46, TPT)

Outraged, indeed. It’s all about fruit. Who is bearing the fruit? Often, not the religious leaders who are “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (1 Timothy 3.5) What is the fruit? Scripture is clear. It’s NOT doing all the religious things and avoiding some arbitrary list of behaviors.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6.8, ESV)

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (Isaiah 58.6, 7, ESV)

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. (Matthew 25.35 – 36, ESV)

Last Sunday as part of his welcome to the congregation, our pastor said, “Something Bob Ewell told me has really stuck with me. Bob was quoting someone else…” I always wonder at times like these: “What did I say, and is he going to get it right?” It turns out that he was repeating something my friend Ray Bandi told me, and it’s a good word:

At the end of the day, has God heard from you today? And have you heard from God? – Ray Bandi, a pastor-coach in New Hampshire

It’s very simple, and just hearing it again reminded me of something else Ray said:

Just because I’ve heard it before doesn’t mean I’m thinking about it today. That’s why we need reminders. – Ray Bandi (see my blog on July 26, 2020)

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. (Psalm 5.3, NKJV)

Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. (Proverbs 8.34, NIV)