Humble Pie (HS Sunday School 2/22/09)

This Sunday I brought the high school students more bad news. Last week we talked about God's just wrath and our idolatry (click here to read). This week as we looked at Romans 2:1 - 3:20. Paul declares that everyone is guilty before God; no one can measure up to His standard and be righteous in His sight. The point I wanted the students to take home is that despite a Christian upbringing or knowledge of the Bible, our sin makes us guilty before God. On our own we are no better than those outside the church. We have no room to boast. In fact, because we have been blessed with being brought up in the church, we have a greater responsibility to live out God's Word. Paul warns the Jews in these verses not to be self-righteous in themselves. A problem we face in the modern church. Paul says the Jew claim to be "a guild for the bind" (vs.2:19-20) but they don't practice what they preach (vs. 2:21-24). Paul then quotes Isaiah 52 saying, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." All of this is true of the church today. Finally, Paul puts a nail in the coffin in the first part of Chapter 3. He states Jews and Gentiles are under the power of sin and then tells us of our condition in verses 10 -19. It is not a pretty picture.
So Sunday was a humbling day for all of us. It is important that we understand how dire our condition is so we can know how great our salvation is. In two weeks we will look again at the good news of God's provision of justification. (this Sunday we will have a combined Sunday School as I am preparing to for the Youth and Children Worship Service).

~Bear