Good Deeds
Romans 2:6-11 “Good Deeds”
Last episode:
On the previous episode, we talked about the topic, “Who are you to judge” based on Romans 2:1-5. About how as Christians, we are supposed to have a higher standard of living that includes our morals and ethics. But, we need to be extremely careful that we don’t become self-righteous and start judging others when we know that we are sinners and mess up too. Because there isn't one of us who is guiltless, when we speak out against sin, it needs to be done with a humble heart. We are to show people the same kindness, tolerance, and patience that God has shown to us in our own wrongdoing.
Objective:
In this episode, we are looking at how God will judge everyone based on their deeds. We will contrast Righteous vs unrighteous believers, and God's judgment through what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 2:6-11. The title of this episode is “Good Deeds”
History/Context
Paul’s audience is still those High Moralists in the church who think they are better than everyone else but were still practicing the same immoral acts as the unbelievers. In chapter 1 verses 18-32 Paul gives us a list of the things they were doing. This group mainly consisted of Jewish believers. More than likely, there were a few Gentile believers in the mix as well. After warning them about passing judgment on others, Paul warns them in Chapter 2:6-11 that they are going to be judged by God according to what they have done in life. Let's look at these 6 verses.
Verse
Romans 2:6-11 (ESV)
He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking (contentious or quarrelsome) and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.
Point 1: God Judges according to what is done in life.
Some people may look at verse 6 and think, “Wait a second, salvation comes through faith in Jesus and not by works. Isn’t Paul contradicting himself here?” The answer is “No.” Paul is not contradicting himself. We know through other verses (like Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:16, and Titus 3:4-5) that Paul teaches that salvation comes through faith and not by works. What Paul understood was that the condition of a person's heart could be seen through their habitual conduct, whether it was good or bad.
Jesus teaches on the point that Paul is trying to make in Matthew 16:24-27 (NLT)
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.
The people Paul was talking to are the people who believed in Jesus, but they didn’t want to give up their old ways. They hung on to their old life and continued in the sins they were committing. In the process of going after the world, they ended up forfeiting their souls to Hell. It is the deeds that people do, that proves whether their allegiance is with God or the world.
The Jews had been warned about this before several times. Once was in Job 34:11(ESV) “For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.” And another time in Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV) that says, “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
These Jewish believers didn’t think that these warnings applied to them. So Paul had to bring these “Higher than Thou” moralists down a few notches.
Today, we need to realize that we are going to be judged by God at some point. We are not saved by good works. But, when we fully commit our lives to God, we want to please him by obeying him. When God judges us, He is going to take into consideration our actions and how well we have obeyed him.
Point 2: Eternal life for those who seek God
Paul uses verse 7 to encourage people to patiently seek to do good works as they follow Christ.
Verse 7 (NLT):
He (God) will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers.
By seeking to do good, it shows the results of a new life in Christ, and that a person's heart is redeemed by God and they now have eternal life. The true faith of a believer generates good works. These good works that believers do, show others along with God that they are also seeking after what God offers in the forms of glory and honor and eternal life. They are choosing a life of righteousness.
While teaching about what the Parables mean, Jesus talks about the seed that falls on good soil saying in Luke 8:15 (ESV),
“As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”
As Christians we must hold onto what God says through his word, continually seeking God's will in our lives, and looking for ways we can do good in order to live out our faith.
Point 3: Seek the world brings God's wrath.
In verse 8, Paul starts to bring the hammer down as he contrasts what happens for those who don’t seek after God with a warning.
Verse 8 (ESV):
but for those who are self-seeking (or contentious) and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
In verse 7, eternal life is promised to those who are doing good and following after God. But here in verse 8, God’s wrath and anger are promised for those who have turned away from Him. Especially those who are claiming to have a special place with him. These people are self-seeking and only live for themselves. The phrase, “By living for themselves,” means they are rebelling against God which is unrighteousness. They prefer to live according to the pleasures that they find in the world. This pushes God away and neglects the truth. These are people who won’t apologize and turn from their worldly ways.
Jesus talks about the seed that falls on bad soil in Luke 8:14 (ESV),
“And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. “
Those who are not seeking after and obeying God end up not doing good deeds. Their deeds are based on their unrighteous sinful actions.
If we start to ignore what God is saying and start living the way we want to live, participating in worldly sin, then we are going to be in trouble. Eternal life is only promised to those who have faith in Jesus and follow after God’s will for their lives. When we live for the pleasures of the world, and push God away we will be repaid for what we have done. Our actions will eventually show whether or not we are truly living for God.
Point 4: The Payment for Deeds
Now, we see that Paul has mentioned two groups of people. The first group are those who seek after God, and the second are those who seek after themselves or the world. Each one of these groups will receive a payment based on their actions.
Verses 9-10 (ESV) say,
“There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil,…, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good,….”
Paul starts with the second group of people. Those who are the thorns. They live for themselves and care more about the riches and pleasures of life rather than God. And they never produce good fruit. Their wicked deeds will be repaid with the wrath and fury of God’s anger. Upon their judgment day, because of the choices they made, even though they know who Jesus is but did not follow him, they will be repaid with an eternity separated from God. Paul says that the payment for those who do evil will be tribulation and distress. There will be suffering and affliction both here on earth and in eternity for those who reject God.
Then in verse 10, Paul ends with the first group of people. Those who are good soil. They heard the word of God, they held tightly to it with a good and honest heart. Because they followed and obeyed God, they produced good deeds. When they stand before God on their judgment day, God will pay them for their good deeds in the form of glory, honor, and peace which includes eternal life in heaven with God.
Quick side note: Many people misread vs 10 where it says, “everyone who does good.” They misread it to say “everyone who does the best they can.” This compares various human behaviors and creates a scale of good and evil which is not good theology. God’s ways are Black and White with no gray. His perceptions see straight through what we may perceive as gray areas. Sin is dark, evil, and no good…it is unrighteous. Good is light, pure, and does good… which is righteous.
Point 5: No Favoritism
In verses 9 & 10 I left out something that Paul said, because I want to look at it with verse 11. Two times Paul said “for the Jew first and also the Greek,” some translations use the word Gentile.” and then in verse 11 he said, “For God does not show favoritism.”
God does not favor the Jews over the Gentiles like the Jewish Christians believed. This isn’t the case at all. The Jew and the Gentile are both loved equally by God. Paul is addressing the thought that many Jews believed, which is that their religious heritage is what guarantees their salvation. But this is not the case. Paul wanted to drive home the fact that with God, there is no place for prideful superiority amongst Christians. That is why He looks at the deeds of each person to see if their heart is following and obeying Him or following after the world.
After Jesus came to the Apostle Peter to teach him about reaching people who were not Jews, Peter said in Acts 10:34-35,
“Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to Him (God).”
This is a reminder for us that our family, national, or cultural faith does not mean that we are Christians. Many people in the United States claim Christianity because they believe that the faith of their forefathers is good enough for them to call themselves Christians. But this is far from the truth. To be a Christian, it requires a person to have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord, God, and Savior. If they haven’t made that confession of faith, then they are not a Christian.
Two Types of Workers
Everything that we’ve looked at in Romans 2:6-11 reminds me of the way people see their jobs.
We’ve all worked with two types of people on the job. The first type is the team player, they do their part but also are happy to help others. They are making sure the job is getting done, eager to learn new things and are helping the team succeed. The second type of person is showing up late, leaving early, not holding to their own deadlines, unwilling to work outside their job description, and just working for the weekend. When it comes time for a promotion, who do you think will be chosen? What if downsizing needs to happen?
In our lives who would we rather be? The contentious one only looking out for ourselves, as scripture put it? Or doing good? Where we are promised peace and honor?
Side Note
So I want to take a second to explain something. When my wife looked over this message, she mentioned that there may be some who hear it and think, “Great! The Scales are not weighted in my favor. There is no way I can be good enough.” Here's the deal… When we have faith in Jesus and repent of our evil ways, all of our past sin is thrown out as if they never happened. Hebrews 10:14-18 is a great example of this:
For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says, 16 “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 17 Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” 18 And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
Jesus, by dying on the cross, became this final sacrifice for sin. Even after our confession of faith that cleans us from our sin, if we sin again all we need to do is ask for forgiveness and do our best to change our ways with God's help.
Conclusion
In looking at Romans 2:6-11 we have seen how God will judge us through our actions, that through our actions we prove whether or not we are truly following Christ, and we have seen the payment we will receive. Similar to the illustration of Tim and Doug working for Mr. Rands, we will eventually have to stand to make an account for our actions. God will judge us based on first our faith in Jesus, and second through our actions that prove where our allegiance truly is.
Growth Points
What are some of the things that you had to give up to follow after Jesus?
In what ways can we seek to do good that honors God?
How do people tend to “choke out” the truth in their life?
What are some actions or deeds that show whether or not a person is living for God?
How can we hold tightly to the Word of God?
