How you doin? I can't
say that I recall reading the first chapter in Romans before. I know I
have, but after reading it today I can imagine why I forgot it. If
anyone has any questions about God's view of homosexuality or idolatry,
it will be answered in Romans 1.
After a remarkable qualification of who Paul is and who Jesus is in verses 1-4... we are qualified. Verse 5-6, "Through
him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call
all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6 And
you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus
Christ." That's a good word. If anyone wonders what we are called to do,
this should help. Of course there many different ways of getting this
done, but one goal.
Paul is such an incredible example of following Jesus. In verses 11-12 Paul says, "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that
is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith."
WOW!!!!!!! Can you imagine if our church here in the U.S.A. took these
verses to heart. It gets better. Verses 16-17, "For I am
not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings
salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the
Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness
of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,
just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”'
POWERFUL!!!!!!!
We're
getting to the good part. Verse 18 speaks of God's wrath coming to the
Godless and the wicked and those who "suppress the truth by their
wickedness". Verses 19-20 are the bomb, "since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For
since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal
power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made, so that people are without excuse." COME ON!!!!!!! I
appreciate the fact that God's "invisible qualities" are "clearly
seen". For me, not having excuses is a good thing. If I allow my mind to
make excuses I start staring at them instead of the truth. That's a
good word.
Now
the "what not to do". Verses 21-32 give a vivid explanation of fallen
sinful mankind. Verse 21 starts with, "For though they knew God,". So
Paul's talking about believers. I find it mind boggling to see people
who I know for sure have had an encounter with Jesus, fall away from Him
or out of touch with Him. The end of Romans 1 is a warning to me. These
verses alert me to "what not to do". I can remember in my very early
sobriety, I was often asked "what are you going to do?" I remember the
relief I felt when I figured out it was OK to answer "I don't know what
I'm going to do, but I know what I'm not going to do". At that time I
knew I wasn't going to drink or do do drugs. For me that allowed for
God's grace, mercy, and glory to rest on me. COME ON!!!!!!! Now my "what
not to do fits more in line with this Scripture. Verses 22-23, "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a
mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles." No good. Verse
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." I certainly will be putting this on the "what
not to do" list.
The
result of our free will gone wild is NO GOOD. Paul tells us throughout
this chapter about God's respect for our free will. Verse 24, "Therefore
God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual
impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another." Verse 26,
"Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts." Verse 28 really brings it home, "Furthermore,
just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of
God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what
ought not to be done." WOW!!!!!!! I can testify to the fact that
Satan has a 1-2 pouch. He will distract us with one attack, while
seriously hitting us with another. By attacking us with "what to do"
(humanities version of closeness with God through good deeds), we over
look "what not to do". This is Satan's version of the "3 Stooges" trick.
Holding his left hand in the air to draw our attention to it while he
hits us with his right hand.
Verse 21 finishes with, "they
neither glorified him
as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and
their foolish hearts were darkened." This speaks to deed/acts vs
relationship. God invites us to be in an intimate relationship with Him
through the reconciliation His Son provided for us. AWESOME!!!!!!! I can
just imagine calling Audrey and Paulie (when they're adults) over to
have dinner with Stacey and I. One of them responds with a list of
things they didn't do... "I didn't lie, drink, curse, cheat on my
spouse,... etc. The other responds with a list of things they did do, "I
gave money to the poor, I feed the homeless, I volunteered at my
church,... etc. Both answers are great answers but Stacey and I still
miss them, because they didn't except my invitation. We still long for
fellowship with them. We still want to spend time with them. I believe
God gave me children so I can relate to Him. He feels toward me the way I
feel toward my Audie and Paulie. They are 4 and 5 years old and the
thought of not having a close relationship with them later in life makes
me sick. I don't want to make God sick. I don't want to be one who
"exchanged the truth of God for a lie". Nor do I want to be one who
"did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God".
I
don't want you to misunderstand me. I believe deeds and acts follow
close fellowship with the Lord. I do not believe that close fellowship
with the Lord follows deed and acts. In the dictionary in my Bible
fellowship is defined, "friendship; association; companionship".
Webster's defines fellowship like this, "1: companionship, company; 2:
a: community of interest, activity, feeling, or
experience". We as Christians through that word around as if we have a
working knowledge of it. As followers of Jesus we shouldn't need to say
it, because we live in it. COME ON!!!!!!!
Verses 3-4 can't be left out, "regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and
who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in
power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord."
WOW!!!!!!! Except His invitation to fellowship with Him today.
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