When We Exclude God
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For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.
For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.
And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong.
They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.
Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die —they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.
Four Things are Guaranteed to Happen When Humanity Excludes God from Society
God’s wrath will be revealed against all who promote and engage in ungodliness and wickedness to suppress truth (v.18)
because God can be known and has shown Himself (v.19) - God does not hide himself
His power and divinity has been known through what He has made (v.20)
:. Man is without excuse (v.20)
Man knew God, but did not honor Him, nor acknowledge Him as God (v.20) - A dishonoring of God and the things of God
:. Man became futile (nonsensicle) in thought and their minds were darkened (v.21) - Society becomes nonsensicle and dark
Human wisdom will lead to foolishness of thinking leading ultimately to idolatry (v.22-23)
Foolish meaning dull of mind
Idolatry - the worship of something else in God’s place
Idolatry will flourish (v.23) - What do we see today? Everything but God being worshiped as god, particularly ideology and science. Science and the “expert” have become the go to for knowledge, understanding, and application instead of God, His Word, and science (the study of God, the universe, and everything He created in it, and sustains).
Degradation of society, humanity, and impurity of peoples hearts (v.24)
When man excludes God from society, man will worship man, the creature instead of the Creator (v.25)
We will worship fallible ideology, theology, and leaders.
Wars happen because we dismiss God for ideology, theology, or a charismatic leader.
Liberal and Conservative wars and divisions exist because God has been dismissed.
Communism, Facsism, Socialism, and any other kind of “ism” exist, grow, and take root because man chooses to worship the creature instead of the Creator
Poverty, the poor, the homeless, the less will always exist because the creature is exalted instead of the Exalted One, who teaches what true love is and how to truly love.
We worship stars and starletts, and the self-help gurus because we believe worldy success, popularity, riches, and independence means happiness, peace, and contentment.
Degrading passions (v.26)
Degrading means dishonor, disgrace, vileness.
God will give society, the people, over to the lust of their hearts (v.24). What is thought and desired becomes reality.
God ordained biblical sexuality and relationships degrade for the unnatural. God is given the credit as the creator of the unnatural, as the author of the impulse. Truth is, as the Bible says, God gives humanity over, or gives them up, to their own degrading passions of power (v. 26).
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own plans.
We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.
For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, so that each of you knows how to control his own body in sanctification and honor,
Why does God give humanity over to it’s own passions? Because humanity suppresses the truth of God, knowing God, and exchanged the truth of a Creator for the creation. Man “did not and does not see it fit” or “worthwhile” to hold onto God, He will not hold onto man and will allow humanity to do “the things that should not be done”; giving them over to a “debased mind” (v.28).
The question thus seems logical, Why would one follow the principles, values, morals, ethics of man, who refuse to acknowledge God and has thus been given over to a worthless mind? Why would one embrace the solutions of men, who suppress the truth of God, who are given over to the lusts of their hearts, claiming to be wise, but have become fools? Why would one accept the degrading of one’s body, when it seems the majority of science today, is about glorifying the creature, and/or the created, and not the Creator? Would a debased mind and degraded passions not apply to people of science? Law? Government? Medicine? Psychology? Sociology? Policing? Pastoring? Teaching?
The Bible says “that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and that all will continue to sin until the day that Christ returns. There was only One without sin and that was/is Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). He or she that claims to be perfect is a liar (1 John 1:8; 10; 2:4). Would the same principle apply that the less I walk with God, listen to God, study His Word, the more worthless or debased my mind, my thinking becomes? The more susceptible I am to degrading passions and decisions? An important question to consider: How excluded from my decisions and choices is God? Do I make decisions after or before I seek the counsel of God? Should I be making any decisions ,at all, not to mention big ones, without having been soaked in my relationship and communication with God?
Humanity does the things that should not be done, humanity, not God, because we do not care to acknowledge God, nor His opinion. Man chooses to blame God for the evil and wrongs in our world, and takes credit the good and right. The truth is God is responsible for every good in our world, and man for every evil and wrong. God gave humanity up to a worthless mind…and...
They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.
Not only does humanity do all these things, but we also applaud those who do like wise (v.32).
So why the rant? Because the church seems to forget that we live in a fallen world, with fallen men and women, fallen theology, fallen government, fallen science, and fallen thinking and we are embracing the ways of fallenness, instead of the ways of faithfulness in faith and following God. Ancient Babylon, present Babylon, and future Babylon were/are built on the fallenness of man who wanted to, wants to, exclude God from society, from culture, from history. Are we contributing to the exclusion of God from our society and our culture, our families? Neighborhoods? Jobs? Relationships, whether professional or communal? Do we realize when we embrace the ways, thoughts, solutions, and living of the world we are clinging to creatures and not the Creator? We follow futile thinking, senseless and darkened minds?
What is the way of Christ? Philippians 4:8
Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things.
To dwell is to occupy your thoughts on these things. What am I occupying my thoughts upon? What is my brain focused on? What am I focusing my eyes upon? The world or Christ? The world is focused on what is depraved, worthless, vile and wicked. We are to be focused upon what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, of moral excellence and due praise. Am I contributing to worshiping the creature or the Creator?
Sermon in a Sentence: Degradation of society, culture, and oneself is inevitable as long as I continue to worship the creature instead of the Creator.