Living without Absolutes?
Notes
Transcript
Good Evening Everybody! Go ahead and grab your Bible’s and turn to Romans Chapter 1.
Over the past few weeks we’ve been studying 1 peter, but tonight the Lord has steered me in a different direction.
Over the past few generations, there seems to have been a shift in the way that we think.
We haven’t really noticed it, because we’ve grown up thinking the way that we think. However, if you have spent any amount of time with some of the people in your life who are 30+ years older than you, you’ll notice that sometimes there is some sort of wall that keeps us from being able to communicate well.
It’s like they just don’t get what we’re trying to say.
Well, that’s because in many ways, the culture over the past 30+ years has redefined some important words. and in some cases, like tonight, have attempted to erase words from our culture.
Tonight, we’re going to be looking at the Concept of Absolutes. Specifically, Truth.
We’ll spend more time in the future unpacking this idea, but for tonight, i’m more concerned with making you aware that it even exists.
So basically, an absolute is “a value or principle which is regarded as universally valid” or “something that exists without being dependent on anything else.”
An example would be that there is “Good and Evil” “Right and Wrong”
and while most of us wouldn’t argue that these things exist, there are many people in our world who are challenging that anything in our world today is absolute.
Truth is considered to be an absolute: “Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.
I hear this statement all the time, “this is my truth.” and while this statement may not seem offensive or offensive, it is actually suggesting something very alarming.
Let me give you illustration, When a Judge, in a courtroom, give his “verdict” we are working off of the assumption that this decision has come from the Law that is already written. But what if the Judge made decisions based off of what He deemed “Right” in the moment. All of the stuff that is influencing his life in that moment would make it’s way into the decision, right? The argument that he had with his wife that morning. The recent loss of Her Mother.
When we place ourselves in charge, even though we believe things work out for the better, we ultimately become miserable.
We see that in our passage tonight
Tonight we’re going to be looking into Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. He begins his letter by telling the Christians there that He “Longs to see them” He cares deeply for them
And i know that it’s easy to disconnect, and wonder why we care about what happened in Rome in 58 AD. But know that the culture that we see in Rome is very similar to what we’re seeing today in America. Morals and values were going out the window. As we will see in this passage tonight, people were violent, rude, arrogant, gossiping, sinners. Who cared more about themselves than anyone or anything else.
So let’s check it out
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
The first parallel that we see between us today and the roman culture is what i call:
The Compromise
The Compromise
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
The Wrath of God is reveal on those who “Suppress the Truth”
The Wrath of God is reveal on those who “Suppress the Truth”
The culture that we live in today wants you to believe that truth is what you want it to be.
However, we cannot, and should not, govern ourselves. We make to many bad decisions, and are naturally selfish in the way that we think.
Can you imagine if a murdered was asked why he killed someone, and his answer was because He “Felt” like it was the “right thing to do” and because that was his “Truth” he was set free?!
When we surrender God’s absolute truth for our own desires, we are making a Compromise that will come back to haunt us. Because you can’t only compromise for what you want, it has to be for what “everyone” wants
When we make that compromise we then move into what i call:
The Exchange
The Exchange
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
We exchange God’s Glory for the:
Activities that we love
Relationships that are Toxic
Pursuits of Money and Power that will leave you empty
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
We exchange God’s Truth for:
opinions of other people who are just as broken as we are
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
We exchange God’s Design for:
versions of life that will only bring us:
pain
confusion
loneliness
We cannot live both in God’s will and in our own: THERE MUST BE AN EXCHANGE
The Result
The Result
The Were “Given up” to the desires of their Hearts and Minds
The Results of the compromise and the exchange are:
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
When we make the decision to let go of Absolutes, then we must do that with everything. We can’t be selective about what we want to be true, and what we don’t want to be true.
The Alternative
The Alternative
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
We can make the choice to fall in line with our culture and the results are clear. We will fall victim to all of the things that we’ve already talked about.
However, if we will choose to be countercultural and live Knowing that God’s Truth is Absolute and is what’s best for us, then we can live the life we were meant to live. A life of Love, Joy, and Hope!
Will you surrender your selfish and destructive desires, for a Life that is so much better than you could ever have imagined. Will you surrender your life, All of your life, to Jesus tonight?