Title: Defining the Problem
V18 “For those who are such…”
Paul is drawing our attention to people within the Church that he sees as a danger to the work of God. Now, in order to no mis-diagnose, overreact, or under-react, we need to ask several specific questions, so that the principles that Paul is teaching us in Romans can be directly, and correctly applied to Heritage (or any church we may find ourselves a part of).
1. Who is Paul referring to?
The answer is in v. 17: “Those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned.”
Now, we spent a great deal of time exegeting this verse two weeks ago, and I don’t want to re-preach that lesson, but let me just say this:
The underlying theme of v. 17 is that doctrine is important.
Without doctrine we cannot hope to define what is profitable, and what is hurtful to cause of Christ.
There is a movement amongst many Christians in America today, which essentially says that far too many of our churches have made themselves ineffective in ministry b/c of their hopeless clinging to doctrine and teaching, instead of an emphasis on people, love, and relevance to the society we are trying to impact.
Friends, there is nothing more relevant in the universe than right doctrine, his Word, his son, and his spirit.
Furthermore I’d argue that we can’t begin to hope to “go forward in the name of Christ” if we don’t know who Christ is! Right doctrine, is knowing and obeying Christ as God reveals him in scripture.
2. Why are these people causing trouble?
(Read v 18)
They do not serve the Lord, but rather, they serve their own bellies.
The answer is simple, they are their own masters. (So they think.) And not just that, but they serve the most carnal of their desires: Their bellies.
I had a conversation over the summer with Nick and he brought to light an interesting insight that he’d read from C.S. Lewis. Lewis said than men were lead by two forces: Their bellies and their minds.
The mind is logical, rational, calculating, but leaves no room for emotion, faith, or instinct. Men who are lead only by their mind are often seen as scientific, cold, distant, and smart, but not necessarily wise. Perhaps you know some “mind men.”
The gut, on the other hand, is impulsive, emotional, pleasure seeking, and instinctive. Men led by their guts are seen as irrational, non scientific, emotionally led, and don’t necessarily think in a linear fashion. They too are seen as fun, and enjoyable people, but not necessarily wise.
How then do we achieve true wisdom? Lewis’ answer is that we need to be lead by the culmination of both of these entities, taking from them the good, and sacrificing the bad. Lewis says we need to be lead by the heart.
The heart is both logical and faith-led, both calculating and emotional, both instinctive and spiritual. It is the meeting of our mind and our gut, and if these two things meet at the heart, and Christ resides in that heart, we will make right decisions, and be led and influenced by His holiness.
3. How do they deceive?
A. Smooth words.
I find it noteworthy that Moses tells God, “I can’t be your representative, I am of poor speech.”
Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
-Exodus 4:10
And again in the New Testament, Paul says something similar when he remarks that he is not of “polished speech” but rather comes in power.
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
-I Cor. 1:17
So the chief patriarch of the Old Testament (Moses), and the writer of 2/3 of the New Testament (Paul), both claim the same deficiency:
They don’t have smooth words. Yet this is the dominant characteristic of what we’d call a “good preacher” today.
I’m not saying that all pastors with smooth words are false teachers. Many of you have complimented me over the years saying that you appreciate my ability to effectively orate an exegesis of the Scriptures, but you know what?
I have to fight a temptation to make something appear smooth when it is rough.
I have to fight the temptation to weave a poetry of words that makes my messages very easy to digest.
I, like you, have a responsibility to obedience to this word, and this word is often awful, it is often hard to digest, hard to obey, and hard to preach.
I know I shouldn’t worry about offending my audience, but I sometimes do. I know I shouldn’t encourage divisions over secondary issues, but when I preaching a passage that speaks clearly to that issue, do I not have a responsibility, both to God, and you, to tell you not only what I believe that passage says, but how to apply it to your life?
Too often the temptation is to make my position easier to preach, by the use of smooth words.
And we all must understand that smooth words aren’t always honest words. They sound nice, but often mean little.
We need to look no further than two arenas to understand how utterly useless smooth words can be: Politicians, and athletes.
Can you think of any group of people that can say more without saying anything at all? For me, when I watch a politician I get so frustrated b/c I feel like I need an Orphan Annie Decoder ring to understand what he or she is saying, and then when I figure out what their position is, I then have to ask myself, “Do they believe it?” And if I get beyond that question I can never answer the next question, “Can they really do anything to change it?”
And then there’s the athletes. I think hell for me would be to listen to athletes being interviewed all day long? Why because they only say five things:
1. One game at a time.
2. We’re just trying to get better as a team.
3. It is what it is.
4. We can’t dwell on the past.
5. It was a team effort.
Just once I want to turn on the radio and hear an athlete not insult me attention. So, Nick, Joe, Brandon, others, here’s what you need to say after the next big win:
1. We are totally going undefeated.
2. Man, I was wide open all day long. Grand Canyon open.
3. It is what it is. And what it is, is awful, we’re not a good team.
4. We stunk today, and I just want to go home and play xbox.
5. I carried the team today.
At least those words are honest, at least those words don’t insult our intelligence.
B. Flattering speech
The second thing that Paul earmarks is what he calls “flattering speech.” Let me ask some questions to help implement a checklist against flattering speech:
1. Does the speaker compliment himself, or God?
2. Does the speaker compliment others, or God?
3. Does the speaker “make you feel good” or “make you see God?”
4. Is the speaker stylish and pleasing, or honest and effective? (Can you be both?)
4. Who do they deceive?
So, in following the logical flow of Paul’s writing, the final question we have to deal with this morning is a tricky one: Who are the “hearts of the simple?”
Is Paul talking down to these people, calling them simple minded?
Is he talking about their lack of maturity, or age, or wisdom?
KJV/NKJV: “Hearts of the simple”
NLT: “innocent people”
NIV/ESV: “naive people”
NASB: “hearts of the unsuspecting”
RSV: “hearts of the simple-minded”
So, you can see, with this much discrepancy among our major English translations, that we definitely need to look to the original language to help us out.
The Greek here is Kardia Akakos
“Kardia” is easy enough, translates as “heart” and is the root for our word “Cardiac”
“Akakos” is a bit trickier. It appears only twice in the Bible, here in Romans, and again in Hebrews 7:26
“For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens…”
And Here are the two accepted definitions of Akakos:
1) without guile or fraud, harmless, free from guilt
2) fearing no evil from others, distrusting no one
Well, to me, it’s obvious that the first definition best fits the Hebrews verse: God is “Akakos” because he is not trying to dupe us, we can trust his intentions.
And the second definition sheds some light on the Romans passage: That Paul is telling us those who are targets of smooth speech and flattering words are those who don’t see it coming, those who fear no evil from outsiders.
Now, to me, this could be anyone.
1. The Brand New Christian:
It could be a brand new Christian who is just so anxious to learn that they’ll soak up any teaching without questioning it because they are yet untrained in how to compare what a mans says versus what scripture says.
2. The Wise Old Deacon
This could also be a deacon, a christian for 50 years, who hears a new doctrine, presented with smooth words and flattering speech, and is taken in by it, is attracted to it, and succumbs to the teaching, because there is no healthy skepticism to accompany discernment.
3. The Pastor
Folks, sadly, I must also tell you, that this can, and does even happen to pastors, leaders of flocks. We’ve had a situation in the past year in our own association where a well liked, well respected, theologically sound, reformed pastor left his church over what I perceive to be a false doctrine.
In all three of my examples here, my warning to you, my point to you this morning, echos Paul’s: Measure everything you hear, see, and read against scripture to prove its worth! (And I am not excused from this teaching, either.)