THE
OTHER TWIN TOWER
(
Rom 1:16-20 )
By
Ps Nelson Koh
Introduction
You may wonder what the text has got to do with the Twin
Towers. If you recall the message I shared entitled “A Resolution for the New
Year”, it was on the theme of LOVE – a foundational truth about God. That was the first tower. But that’s only
half the story for here is another important twin tower!
It is so common for us especially in the context of the
gospel today to hear that GOD is LOVE – full-stop! The trouble with it is that
we can go over-board and forget that it is not the full story. In fact, there’s
more to it – another twin tower. But first let us look at the first tower:
The
Tower of Love
There is also a commonly used phrase called the
‘unconditional’ love of God. Actually, nowhere is that word found in the
bible…hence we have the case of a homosexual couple who approached a pastor to
marry them. The implication is that since God is love and God is not
judgemental, therefore you must marry them! Also, we often have lyrics of songs
which suggests that we can come to God, “just as you are”. A further suggestion is that we are ‘special’
so God loves us. Wrong! He doesn’t love us because we are special but rather we
are special because He loves us!
In short, there can be an over-emphasis on GOD is LOVE
especially when there is no mention that God hates sin and He is disgusted with
such as immorality, injustice and every form of malice, evil and idolatry.
Questions then like “How can a good God send anyone to hell?” arise…as though
there is no judgement or hell itself.
There are several possible results when there is an
over-emphasis on GOD is LOVE, especially when shared with unbelievers, as
follows:
1.
We
become de-sensitized to the evil around us
We become tolerant of sin,
indulgent, compromising, permissive and we might even say “boys will be boys!”
No, that is certainly not the kind of God we worship.
2.
There
becomes a lack or loss of reverence for God
Reverence means an ‘awe’ or
‘fear’ of God. Today, this has been
largely lost in some churches. If we have lost it, is it any wonder then if the
world has lost it too. Heb 12:29 quoting from Deut 4:24 describes God as a
consuming fire! And we know in Ps 111:10and Pr 9:10 that the fear of God is the
beginning of wisdom (or understanding in Pr 1:7). This is a challenge to the
church – that God is not some kind of ‘lovey-dovey being’ or ‘good old chum’!
No, God who is a consuming fire must be taken as a whole.
3.
There
is a lack of or no repentance
Many come to the altar to
accept (or assent) but few repent. The bible says “Repent and be baptized… for the forgiveness of sins!”(Acts 2:38)
We must always take the whole meal and understand that there can be no
forgiveness of sins without repentance. Many go through a confession of faith
only but one needs to show proof of repentance. No, you can’t come as you are.
So, the question arises as to how can we be more
effective in bringing the gospel to the nations? To be more effective we would
require something more than just the message of GOD is LOVE. It requires the
other half of the story – the Other Twin Tower and that is that “GOD is RIGHTEOUS”.
The
Tower of Righteousness (The Other Tower)
The text speaks of the gospel as the power of God unto
salvation. Paul is not ashamed of this gospel because it can convict and move
hearts unto repentance so that the sinner can be forgiven and saved. This
gospel reveals a righteousness from God, a righteousness that is by faith. So
God is righteous (Ps 11:7, 119:137, 145:17, Is 45:21, Zec 9:9, 2 Ti 4:8, 1 Jn
2:1) and demands the quality of righteousness among his people.
A righteous God is a holy God, one who is completely
right and perfect in all his ways. To be righteous or having righteousness is to
be ‘right with God’ or of ‘right standing’ with God or to be approved by God.
It is interesting that in the OT, the word righteous or righteousness appears
402x and in the NT, together with the word Just, it appears 214x.
There are different kinds of righteousness. The first one
that is mentioned in Ro 1:17 is a righteousness that is by faith and is called Positional Righteousness. Martin Luther
zeroed in on this verse to declare it as the ‘heart of the gospel’ – that there
can be no other way that all men can be saved accept by grace through faith.
This brings to believers a sense of security.
However, we need not only to be ‘covered’ or ‘clothed’
with righteousness but for righteousness to ‘grow’ in us. Remember – we are
under construction and we need to be continually sanctified daily unto holiness
and righteousness.
The other forms of righteousness include, ‘Moral Righteousness’ which is essentially
what Paul addresses in v18-20. Moral righteousness has to do with personal
integrity, purity, character and ethical (or right) living. Then there is Social Righteousness which speaks of
identification with and helping such as the poor, the oppressed, disadvantaged,
disabled etc. And then there is Devotional
or Religious Righteousness which covers matters such as giving, tithing,
prayer and fasting.
How then does a knowledge of the truth that God is
righteous and demands righteousness among his people help us in our daily
living in particular, the proclamation of the gospel? Well, firstly…
·
Because he is righteous, it means that he can
be completely trusted to do what is right. We often hear questions like what
happens to ‘innocent’ new-born babies who die…do they go to heaven? Well, the
bible doesn’t reveal to us the answer. But what we can be sure is that God who
is righteous will do the absolutely right thing. The question is do we trust
him enough to do all that is right?
·
Because he is righteous, he will judge the
living and the dead (2Ti 4:1, Acts10:42). God is described as the Righteous
Judge in 2 Tim 4:8 and there will be a day when he will judge the world (Acts
17:31).
One day, all of us will have
to give an account before God of what we have done or not done before God’s
Great White Throne (Rev 20:11-15) and all our secrets will be laid bare (Ro
2:16). Nothing and no one will escape him. Those whose names are written in the
Lamb’s Book of Life will be judge according to what they have done based on
rewards while those who evil doers, immoral, idolaters will be cast into the
lake of fire. The good news is that all evil will be punished.
We may ask “Why not punish
and get rid of these evil doers now”? Well, the parable of the wheat and weeds
is a good illustration of why God has not removed evil doers immediately
because if he does so the ‘good’ (potential believers) and evil alike will be
removed. As believers, we therefore have a responsibility to bring the gospel
to the unsaved for only when the gospel has reached the far reaches of the
whole world and the times would have reached its fulfilment will the end come.
·
Because he is righteous, he disciplines those
whom he loves (Heb 12:5-11). This can come in all forms – through hardship,
opposition from sinful men or persecution…that we may share in his holiness(
v10) and afterwards produce a harvest of righteousness and peace…v11.
God’s intention is that
through discipline, we may produce a harvest of righteousness and peace. His
intention finally is that there will be a new Heaven and new Earth made up of
righteous people to dwell in. His intention is to mould, shape and refine us
that we may be presented as a radiant bride pure and holy before the
bridegroom. Hence he will do what it takes to chide, rebuke and correct us to
produce a righteous people as it was from the beginning.
Close
The cross proves the
righteousness of God. Why? It is because he has dealt with sin and death by
paying a price. Likewise, if sin is to be dealt with in our lives, there must
first be repentance before there can be forgiveness. For there to be repentance
there must be conviction of sins and for there to be conviction of sins the
gospel of truth and righteousness must preached to unbelievers. Not just that
God is Love but God is Righteous!
So let us keep in balance
these twin towers of Love and Righteousness. We need a sense of security that
God is love but also a healthy fear and reverence of God so that the unbeliever
will hear, repent and receive the forgiveness of sins and then live in the love
of God and grow to be like him through bearing and growing in fruits of
righteousness.
Amen.
