In the above passage, Paul continues his exposition on the state of mankind since abandoning God as Creator and Lord. Since the beginning of time, humans failed to honor God, choosing their own gods, making them in their own image. Likewise, they chose to worship heavenly bodies or other creatures. They even made grotesque images to worship from their own imaginations. Because of this rejection of the Creator, Paul writes, they became filled with every kind of wickedness. We call this wickedness sin, a willingness to obey the authority of self-will over the will of God. They suppressed the truth of life by delving into all kinds of evil, greed and depravity. Of course this self-oriented, wayward life brings judgment from our Father God, for sin brings disharmony and destruction to his creation. Death is the product of sin. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. (Romans 1:18-19) In the previous breakfast, we wrote about the resulting disharmony of sin to the point of suppressing the natural use of man’s sexuality for unnatural behaviors. Of course, such an act of sexuality, intercourse with ones own gender, if carried out to its fullest extent, challenges the perpetuation of the human specie. Perhaps this kind of self-will, self-love, can be considered the pinnacle of man going his own way, choosing his own lifestyle rather than God’s intentions. But in today’s focus, we can see other challenges that man has ingrained into his own existence, challenges that threaten his welfare, even the survival of his race. Not only are humans full of all kinds of wickedness, They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Man’s willingness to follow his own way, his own gods, indicates giving himself over to a depraved mind. His father is not only Adam, who forsook God’s will and authority in his life, his father is also the Evil One. As Jesus said to the self-righteous Pharisees, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. (John 8:42-44) Of course, the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus at that time. We might say that we would not want to kill Jesus, but mankind in general has that spirit of destruction within him. Inherent in man’s nature is a self-willed spirit that rejects God’s spirit, bringing death and disharmony into life. This is a cancer on man’s soul, brought into his very existence by the sin of Adam, a cancer eventually contaminating all things with death, even nature. Later in Romans we will read that the whole creation groans to be delivered from this bondage to sin.
Paul’s explicit description of man’s lack of being right with God paints a picture of gloom and darkness without God in the scene. Obviously, Paul wants the Romans to understand that they need a Savior, someone who can redeem the nature of man, making people right with God the Creator. Of course, we know who that is: Jesus, the Christ, the Lord. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17) Jesus came to bring light to that picture of gloom and darkness. When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) We who are IN CHRIST JESUS will never walk in darkness because we will always have the light of life in us. We will always know who the Creator is; and because of our faith in Jesus’ life and work, we will always be right with God. As followers of Christ, we have the righteousness of God within us. Yes, we have all sinned and we still struggle with fleshly waywardness in our lives, but we have a righteousness within us that does not come from our works, but from Christ’s works. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22-23) We are justified before God; we do have right standing with him. As Paul said, we do have the nature of Adam embedded within our lives, but we are not without hope, for Christ has come to redeem us, not to condemn us. Therefore, whosoever believes in him, will have life eternal, for Jesus has come to bring life and to terminate the cancer of sin. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (Philippians 3:9-11)
How wonderful it is to know Christ and the joy He brings to our lives. Walking with him in the power of the Holy Spirit should put a governor on our flesh. We should no longer let our fleshly desires rule our lives, not that we are saved by works, but that we honor Christ and the Creator of our lives by avoiding the excesses of the flesh. Sinfulness, waywardness, unthankfulness lead to sorrow and finally death. God’s children are not of that mode. We are those with faith in God and a song in our hearts. We are those who sing the song of the thankfulness of the redeemed. I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40:1-3) As we hold fast to Christ, we live his life the best we can as ambassadors for God to this world. When the weaknesses of the flesh penetrate our thoughts and behaviors, we look to Jesus. We give him our temptations, our inappropriate actions. Life should be joyous because of whom we serve. He brings harmony in life; He brings creation in life, not destruction. Jesus came to give life. Jesus is the truth of life. Jesus said, The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) The world hates him as a Savior, for it wants to save itself. As a wayward child, the world says: “I am in control, I do not need your help Jesus. I reject your description of our lives. We can please God by our own efforts.” The Pharisee spirit is resplendent in the world’s system. Yet, as we look around, what do we see? Wars, rumors of wars, poverty, slavery, wickedness of all kinds. For thousands of years, this kind of activity has gone on, but the world will not repent and turn to the Creator. Instead, through their own gods, their own activities, their imaginations, they tell God through their words and their deeds, “We do not need your help, your righteousness, your Son. WE CAN DO IT!” If you see any of this self-willed attitude in yourself, turn to Jesus, repent, and yield the reins to him. Jesus will lead you on the path to peace and joy in the Lord. It is a good thing to return to the joy of your salvation.
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