You're Not Going to Like "Therefore" When you Hear it!

You’re Not Gonna Like “Therefore”

April 13, 2020April 14, 2020
by Laurie Suzanne Scott

In my Bible study today with my spiritual mom we were reading Psalm 39. This Psalm of David was written after David had sent Uriah (the husband of Bathsheba) to the front of the battle lines where he would likely be killed, which he was. So David got what he wanted, which was Bathsheba.

In Psalm 39 verses 1 and 2 David wrote “I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.”

I hadn’t put 2 and 2 together when I first read it. Why would David keep his mouth shut when confronted by wicked people? After all, David was a man chosen by God to lead Israel, I didn’t get why he wouldn’t tell evil people that they were evil, that they were against God.

Then it came together for me, David realized that he had no right to condemn others for their sins against God, because he knew well (and had just been chastised by Nathan) that he had himself had sinned against God.

And THEN, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a pastor friend of mine a couple of days ago about Romans chapter one.

The Bible says you’re sinning and going to Hell

Romans chapter one is a popular verse among Christians who like to point out the faults in others, why those people aren’t really Christians, why they can’t get into Heaven. It talks about (among other things) “sexual immorality” which makes it a favorite of some Christians to condemn those who are transgender, and also use it against those who are gay.

In chapter one the Apostle Paul talks about all the things people (all people) have succumbed to: including evil, greed, depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossiping, slandering, hating God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, disobeying parents, no sense of fidelity, no love, no mercy. And even though every one of these things deserve death, people keep doing them and keep approving of people who do.

Oh wait you are saying (if you’ve checked your Bible), I left out a couple of things.

Paul started with people degrading their bodies, how “women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones” and “Men committed shameful acts with other men”.

I’m not going into the whole homosexuality argument, for one I’m not gay and two, not fully equipped theologically to properly address it, others better than me have already gone there. Except I will say that the Bible doesn’t approve of heterosexual sex outside of marriage either (i.e. sexually immoral, exchanging the truth for a lie, degrading your bodies with one another), and I’ll leave that there.

So, even with all that (and nothing having to do with someone who is transgender) that is one of the chapters used to say why God disapproves of people who are transgender.

So after all that, that LONG list that if you say you’re not on, then I would say you’re being arrogant, and THAT puts you back on the list (or maybe you’re even boastful that you’re not on the list).

After reading chapter 1 many Christians close their Bible and say “see?” “There you go!” “The Bible says you’re sinning and going to Hell.”

But here’s the problem, we run into chapter two. And not just casually, but headfirst into a word that forces us to slam on the brakes as hard as we can—at least if we’re interested in what Paul was trying to say and think it’s important to consider since it made it into our Bible.

The very FIRST word of chapter 2 is “Therefore”

If I was walking up to a podium to speak to a group of people, and the first word out of my mouth was “therefore”, everyone in the room would be totally confused. What do I mean “therefore”? Therefore what? This makes no sense! What are you saying?

The definition of “therefore” is 1) “for that reason” or 2) “because of that”. It’s an adverb. It’s a modifier or qualifier. It’s meant to put things into perspective.

Here are the first 4 verses of chapter 2: “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

The point Paul was making was the same thing David was saying. David had no right to speak to the “wicked” because he was a sinner and knew it. Paul is saying the same thing.

David had no right to speak to the “wicked” because he was a sinner and knew it

If you’re a “good Christian”, you’re probably the first to admit that you’re a sinner too, yet you may still seem to be okay pointing out that someone else is a worse sinner than you—and it doesn’t bother you. Probably because you’ve never really absorbed Romans chapter 2.

The “Therefore” in chapter 2 is simply Paul continuing from what he just said in chapter one. So to understand what he was saying when he says “therefore”, you have to go back into chapter 1.

Let me state right here that I KNOW being transgender isn’t a sin, but even if you think it is, that doesn’t change what Paul meant to say. Why? Well that’s the whole point!

Verse four is the key, it’s GOD’S KINDNESS that leads us to repentance. So if you think someone needs to repent, it’s not yours to condemn them.

What does “condemn” mean? Well, if you don’t let someone in your church because you think they sin, you’re condemning them. Maybe you let them in the doors, but you don’t let them participate in the life of your church because you don’t like their particular “sin”. Well, YOU are who Paul is talking to. Paul is saying YOU won’t escape the judgement of God.

Where is your faith? Where is your faith that when someone who you think is living a sin, and yet they claim Christ as their Lord and Savior, that God can’t speak with them. That they can’t “work out their salvation with fear and trembling” as Paul wrote in Philippians 2:12 with the Lord themselves. God will work with them if He needs to. Paul’s point was to work on yourselves and stop looking at others so you can feel like a “better Christian”. Paul’s first desire was to help YOU be a better follow of Christ, not to criticize others.

“Therefore” is God’s way of preventing you from feeling more spiritual. “Therefore” is God’s way of saying “stop being a hypocrite.” “Therefore” is God’s way of saying “you take care of you, I’ll take care of her”. “Therefore” is God’s way of shouting “HEY, BEING GOD IS MY JOB!” And yet so many of us can’t help ourselves.

Being judge and jury is NOT our job. When someone claims Jesus, it’s not ours to dissect it to see if they’re the “right kind” of Christian, or if they believe all the “right things”.

What IS our job is to welcome our Christian brothers and sisters with open arms into our churches, into His fellowship, completely. Not partially, not half-heartedly, but fully.

Anything less than that, ignores “therefore”, and what God wants us to truly focus on, which Jesus told us in John 13:34, to love one another, so that others will know that we are His disciples.

-Blessings

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