Scripture: Romans 1:14-32
Today we begin a new series – one that is focused on
the Book of Romans. Paul had written
this letter to the Christian church in Rome, to let them know that he was
planning to visit them to bring some encouragement and strength to these Jewish
and Gentile believers. The book itself
has always been recognized as one that takes a powerful stand against the
corruption that works its way into faith by worldly means, and makes a
faith-filled case for following the way of God that comes to us through Christ.
This series may, or may not, include the entirety of
scripture found in this book, but it will be including every great lesson that
our lives need to consider in this time of conflict and extremism that is
plaguing the Church today. While we will
be focusing on specific lessons each week, it should, by no means, be taken as
being a prioritized listing of which issues are more important than any
other. Any deviation from the
word of God is a sin, and as sin goes, any single sin is as destructive to our
soul as the committing of every single one of them.
For me, Paul’s overriding theme for this letter is
simply this – that the good news of Jesus Christ was never intended to be a
burden for us, but rather it should be seen as a gift of hope and glory that
comes directly from our one and true God Himself. Following the Lord’s commands may not be as
universally accepted as it should be, and many times, it is seen by our friends
as a way that is either silly or downright stupid! But as we will see, Paul considers the way of
God as a hope that he never knew in his entire life of following the strict law
of the Pharisees.
We need to remember that Saul had been a chief
persecutor of believers before he met the Risen Christ while traveling the road
to Damascus. It was there that he
planned to arrest and destroy anyone who professed Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior, (Acts 9:1-19), and yet, God had
better plans for the man, and in meeting Jesus that day, his entire life was
changed to one that no longer hated the word of God, but one who began
preaching the truth of God that is found only through faith in the one and true
Son of God, Jesus the Christ.
So let’s begin by opening Paul’s letter at the
beginning.
Read Romans 1:14-17
He begins this epistle with the thought that he makes
no distinction between Jews or gentiles, which was about as unorthodox as he
could possible be. Remember that he was
a Pharisee who took his position in Judaism very seriously – that if you didn’t
make every attempt to strictly follow the law and all subsequent
interpretations and teachings, those laws that they had proclaimed for years,
you were in trouble, and if you weren’t a complete Jew, you were already irrevocably
condemned.
Paul had come to see his first obligation as one
that brought glory to his Eternal and Almighty God, and the continuation of
that obligation was to share the word of God in Jesus with as many people as he
possibly could – with no exceptions whatsoever!
In this, he had taken a stand against the policy that the Jerusalem
Council had set in place, that the only ones who deserved to come to Jesus were
the Jews!
And now, Paul was on his way to the center of pagan
worship, the center of power and brutality, the center of military might and
oppression, the center of governance and religion for the entire empire, to
bring encouragement to the church that already existed in the empire’s capital,
Rome. Was he afraid of what might come
against him while there? There’s no
indication that he was – rather it appears that he was eager to take that step
into the proverbial “lion’s den”. There
was no shame or reluctance in his faith, and he wanted others to be that
confident and secure in their conviction that Jesus was the true and only son
of God, and that His word could be trusted.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is
the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew,
then for the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16) Are we that committed to our faith in
Jesus? In Paul’s 2nd letter
to the Corinthians, he makes it very clear that faith in Jesus will never keep
us from ever experiencing persecution and oppression – rather that it will
almost be a certainty that the most extreme forms of opposition will be forced
upon our lives. (2 Corinthians 11:22-29) He never shied away from any hostility or
conflict. He saw it all as an
opportunity to not only share Jesus with others, but to be an example of the
grace-filled and righteous life that faith in Jesus would bring.
Read Romans 1:18-23
And he wastes no more time, or paper or ink on the
generalities of faith, but goes right to the crux of the matter – sinful
hearts. And what is the first issue that
he addresses? Suppression of the truth
about Jesus! He allows no one to have
any excuse for their failure to follow the Lord – he says that the qualities
and ways of God should be obvious to everyone, even if they have never known
the Son of God. The proof is all around
us, and we have far more evidence of God’s work and word than they did. We have scripture, we have centuries of faithful
living and just as many years of failed faith behind us. And the Church of today is struggling because
of this very problem. There are an
unbelievable number of people, both within and outside of the Church, who
refuse the full and precious truth of who Jesus is and all that He has done for
our salvation.
The Bible is available to nearly everyone throughout
the world, and the number of those don’t have a copy is falling each and every
day. And quite honestly, those who are
in the Church have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing what the word of God
asks of us. In verse 21 that we just
read, Paul is very blunt when he writes 21 For
although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him,
but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Futile and foolish – he might just as well
have said their understanding was meaningless and worthless! Denying God, when you have his truth right at
hand, and worshiping the ways of earth instead of the way of God, is about as
worthless as this life will ever get!
Read Romans 1:24-32
I threw all of this together because these are all
examples of a failed existence – that Paul’s condemnation of all of these
practices fits into the same few words – “25 They exchanged the truth
about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather
than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” And because people have chosen to live in a
sinful existence, God has given them over to a “depraved mind”. This doesn’t mean that the Lord put an
evil mind into their being – it means that He withdrew his own grace and mercy
and truth and authority from their lives, and allows them to make their own way
in this world, for whatever worth they can find within it.
And
what are some of the lifestyles that he includes? He starts with sexual immorality and shameful
lusts, and then proceeds on to list “every
kind of wickedness, evil, greed … depravity … envy, murder, strife, deceit … malice … gossips, They are 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant
and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their
parents; 31 they have no
understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree
that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do
these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Think about this list for a moment! Can you name a single sinful area of our
lives that the apostle has overlooked? I
think he ran down through the entire 10 Commandments and has shown us what the
people of this world have substituted for each of the 10! (Exodus 20:1-17) This is what happens when
we take the notion that we know far better than God does!
Those who have fallen into these sinful
ways need to fall on their knees and BEG the Lord for His forgiveness and
healing because of all of the evil that they have done against Him and against
the deceived people of this world. And quite
honestly, this includes every single one of us, for we all have ventured
outside of the word and way of the Lord – not once, not twice, but over and
over again.
When God “gives us over” to our mind and
way, that will never be a good thing. It
means that we will lose the only spiritual reference and foundation that we
will ever have. Without a Godly
foundation, there will be no limit to the “depravity” that our lives will turn
to. And the Judgment will bring to light
all that we have done, and what brought about that break from the divine truth
of God. In Galatians 6:7-8, we
read “ 8 Whoever
sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap
destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap
eternal life.”
Its our choice! Its
our heart that decides whether we deny God and Godly truths, or claim them and
rejoice in them! And when we choose the
way of this deranged and perverted world and begin living the lies that they readily
spread regarding the perfect and glorious ways of the Lord, we are also
choosing to be less of a person than God has created us to be. And unrepentant sin has a way of spilling out
of our own lives, and contaminating those who are closest to us, which demeans
and degrades us even further.
If any of us is “ashamed of the gospel”, we are also
rejecting the power and salvation that living in the gospel of Jesus Christ can
bring to our lives. And that will be the
greatest shame of all.
Claim Jesus today, and begin living the gospel that He
brought into this world. Exchange the
sentence of death that we so deserve, for the promise of eternal life that is
offered to all who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior in the fullest way
possible. (Matthew 28:18-20)
May it be so today!
