God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie(Romans 1:24-25 – ESV)
Often we hear that if people are not repentant then God is going to visit America with judgment, or the church with judgment, or many other variations on this theme. The truth is, judgment is already here, and that is why we see what we do.
In this text those who dishonored God were given up to dishonor themselves. The impurity Paul is speaking of in this text is mainly sexual, sensual disorder. This type of disorder is a prime example of spiritual disorder. In many lives this is the starting place for the downward slide. However, all the disorder we see in the world, in the social chaos, sexual confusion, and sinful carrying on are a judgment of God because we exchanged the value of God for other things; we turned our knowledge of God into images.
Now let’s get the order of this disorder right in our minds. People believe that we do these vile things we see, and so God is displeased, and He is, but the process is vice versa. God is displeased and we do these vile things as a result.
When God speaks of judgment, often it is not that God will lay His hand on us, but take it off us. He will leave us to our own depraved devices. The restraining power of God's grace is being lifted and man is being left to himself (a temporal and an ongoing fulfillment, a parallel of what we see in Romans 1:18-32). Judgment is here, the wrath of God is being incrementally revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold down, or suppress, the truth with their unrighteousness. It is not that these vile things bring God's wrath, but that these vile things are signs of God's wrath. The Hand is coming off but some will be saved out of the midst of this corruption even as the whole is being damned.
When Paul wrote this it had happened before, but he says it was happening then, and it is happening now, the question is, is it happening to you? We make an image of God even as Christians and we serve and worship it instead of God as He has revealed Himself in the Bible, and we only see the Bible as we want to.
Get it right – It is idolatry first, immorality second. Everything sinful hinges upon this exchange in all its forms. We don’t like God as He chooses to reveal Himself, and/or we don’t like the restrictions God places upon us, and we create a god of our own image. Apply this to order your sanctification. Stop the idolatry first, and you’ll stop the sin. We want to stop the habitual sin first, so that we can please God, but we need to please God, and He will stop the habitual sin. Get the order right and you will be in order. We have habitual sin because of how we habitually see God. With God’s guidance you can judge yourself rightly, so don’t delay.
13 comments:
J.D,
Good solid teaching.
Thanks, Jazzy, your comments here are always an encouragement to me...I look forward to seeing that you have engaged the material, and consider it an honor that you give it the time...
Folks, in posting every day, and by using the overflow of my pastoral ministry and writing, we will most certainly see some articles that are more "wham!" than others, and others that may seem more pedestrian, but in taking on the whole counsel of God, all are needed for a proper diet and steady growth upon the Firm Foundation...
"When God speaks of judgment, often it is not that God will lay His hand on us, but take it off us."
I believe you are spot on here. I wonder how many Christians understand this truth.
Thanks for this helpful teaching and exhortation.
Amen!
”…often it is not that God will lay His hand on us, but take it off us.”
Well said!!
”We make an image of God even as Christians and we serve and worship it instead of God as He has revealed Himself in the Bible, and we only see the Bible as we want to. ”
and
”We don’t like God as He chooses to reveal Himself, and/or we don’t like the restrictions God places upon us, and we create a god of our own image. ”
I laugh, because of the timing of these statements! They are not only solid, but they also fit quite nicely with the post I just put up regarding an image of Christ.
Yeah, I saw it Craver, and thought you were just a copy cat....
;-)
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!
If this is what your services are like, I will have to check one out in person. I love to hear a hard-hitting, straight pitching, and running for God preacher. This one is a home run for sure.
Thanks, Sista....these Romans posts you see are all word for word sermons cut up into individual posts....
Come on down anytime...
even so--
”…often it is not that God will lay His hand on us, but take it off us.”
I also think this is a helpful way to look at the issue of God's "wrath." If one looks at the vast majority of narratives in the Scriptures, the judgment of God is most often revealed in the consequences that come to individuals/nations when they separate themselves from the protection of God:
Adam and Eve enter a new and painful existence because they remove themselves from Eden, where God's presence dwells.
When Israel sinned, God's presence removed from the Temple, and the nation was wide open to attack from its enemies.
Etc.
Moreover, I think this view of wrath helps to make more intelligible what is meant when one says that Christ saves us from the "wrath of God." Rather than saving us from the vindiction and caprice of an angered deity, Christ rescues us from the God-severed existence which we have created for ourselves through our desire to live as our own gods.
There is truth in what you say here, e~d...check out the post "umbrella policy" for further discussion related to and in accordance with this context, and let me know what you think...
Oh, the post is from Monday March 12, the same week as this post...
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