Sermon 3-4-18 Pastor Ray Lorthioir Trinity Lutheran Church W. Hempstead, NY Based on Romans 1:22-25 Worshipping Created Things In our examination of Romans chapter 1 we discovered that Paul recognized and taught that Yahweh s historic toleration of paganism had come to an end with His sending of Messiah Jesus. Paul understood himself to be at the forefront of those calling the gentile nations back to the worship of Yahweh, Creator of all things seen and unseen. Again, Paganism is the root belief that the universe has no uncreated, eternal Creator, but is itself uncreated and eternal. This uncreated eternal universe contains unknown mechanisms within itself responsible for the creation of all reality including life itself. This pagan belief was and remains at the root of all pagan religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism, all forms of Spiritism and classical Idolatry. It s quite telling that wherever Christianity has gone, significant numbers of people give up paganism and adopt the worship of Yahweh, the one true uncreated, eternal Creator of the universe. As we have seen, with the coming of Messiah, Yahweh is no longer tolerating the godlessness and wickedness of the human heart responsible for paganism. He is calling all people everywhere to repent of their godlessness and wickedness. In its place Yahweh is offering us the life He created us for an existence of righteousness and goodness bound up in His eternal love for us. So that gentiles could know what to repent of, the Apostle Paul created for all time a description of what happens when not only individuals, but whole cultures turn against Yahweh and deny Him. Last week, we saw in Romans 1:18-21 that suppression of the knowledge of the Creator God has many direct consequences in human life, behavior and civilization. We were shown that the first thing we lose is the will and desire to glorify Yahweh as the Creator of all things. The second thing we lose is thankfulness to Yahweh for our very existence and the meeting of all our needs. The third thing we lose is the ability to think correctly about all of life. Thus, all human philosophy, learning and culture descends into the darkness of rebellion against Yahweh. And now today, we continue in Romans 1:22-25, 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 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. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. Amen. In verses 22 and 23 Paul is describing classical idolatry. The idol gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia were often human-animal 1
hybrids a lion with a human face or human body with a bird head. The Greek and Roman deities were humanoid without animal traits mixed in. The Indians of North America didn t make idols, but their gods were based on animal traits. Now, the keys to classical idolatry and all idolatry occur in verse 25. Key number one. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Key number two. They worshiped and served created things. If we examine our own culture we ll see both these keys active in it. We ve already seen how worldwide paganism adopted the doctrine of an uncreated, eternal universe. Why do human beings love this doctrine? Paul gives two reasons. First, as we were told in Romans 1:18, we re by nature godless and wicked because of the sinful nature. Second, as we re told in verse 24, God gives us over to the sinful desires of our hearts especially sexual impurity. Therefore, in order to revel in unrestrained lust we ll trade the truth of the uncreated eternal Creator for the lie of an uncreated, eternal universe. For, the universe doesn t care what we do with our sexuality. On the other hand, Yahweh, the creator of our sexuality cares very much. After all, as Creator, male, female and procreation are Yahweh s inventions, not ours. So, we now have several more effects of paganism to add to our list. First, we cease to glorify God. Second, we fail to give Him thanks. Third, our philosophy, thinking and culture are darkened. Fourth we exchange the worship of Yahweh for the worship of created things. Fifth, we like to worship representations of created things, the idols we make for ourselves. Sixth, we lose all righteous perception of our sexuality. Now does this in any way sound like contemporary culture? If it does, we must be going pagan again. When humans give up glorifying Yahweh, why is it that the worship of created things happens? As Paul taught in verse 21 humans are meant to glorify God. This is not because Yahweh is so insecure that He needs our glorification of Him as some kind of human dictator would. Rather, it s so that we can know who we really are. We are His creation. Our spirits, our souls, our bodies exist because of Him. In Yahweh we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28) Therefore, when we glorify Yahweh we are acknowledging the truth. We are acknowledging reality. To glorify Yahweh makes us whole and complete in Him. Indeed, glorifying Yahweh is the only way all God s creatures, seen and unseen, can be whole and complete. Now, once the truth of God has been exchanged for a lie, the inbuilt need to glorify Yahweh does not disappear. Rather it morphs into new forms. And, this is where the worship of created things comes in. The authority and power of God are seen everywhere in the universe, both far away and close at hand. Our lives are sustained by that power whether we believe in God or not. Therefore, when Yahweh is no longer acknowledged as Creator, the universe itself can become our god, our object of worship. Long ago Hindus and Buddhists started worshipping and serving the universe. It continues in the modern new age movement. Worship of the universe is worshipping and serving a created thing. Sometimes our lives are threatened by the powers in the universe. Historically, humans have lived in fear of flood, wind, fire, earthquake, volcano, famine, plague and death itself. Throughout history humans have attributed a supernatural origin 2
to both the benevolence and threat found in our environment. Indeed, Christians attribute both to Yahweh. But where the knowledge of Yahweh is suppressed, humans have historically attributed disaster to malevolent, capricious gods and goddesses who need to be appeased by sacrifice even human sacrifice. These gods and goddesses are creations of the human mind. Thus, in classic idolatry created things again got the glory. Our present culture has not yet turned to this kind of idolatry. Under Philosophical Naturalism there is nothing supernatural about the threats of nature. Therefore we re usually content to refer to them as the forces of nature, except when a lot of people die. Then we blame the God who we say doesn t exist. However, there is an ancient form of creature worship that our culture has turned to. It s the worship of ourselves, and this takes many forms. There have always been celebrated figures in music, literature, theater and art. But modern media has changed the landscape. Information can now be gathered in your home and disseminated to millions of people instantly. Therefore, the internet has made it possible for anyone to be a celebrity. Fame, recognition, power and notoriety are powerful seducing forces. Many now crave these things because the internet is the medium by which to gain them. Of course, only a few succeed. But there are now legions of wannabes. What we need to recognize is that the entire celebrity thing is the worship of created things ourselves or our fellow human beings. Consider how it all works. If one of the Kardashians indeed, whoever heard of the Kardashian family before so-called reality TV but if one of the Kardashians feels she has not been in the public eye enough lately, all she has to do is let the paparazzi follow her to some place where she takes off most of her clothes or all her clothes. And presto. News sources desiring to make money make sure she s back in the public eye. And there are thousands of Kardashian wannabes. No internet news site would be complete without them. Together, all these women create a generic female goddess of youth, beauty with extraordinary manipulative sexual power. They are objects of desire and lust who promise great satisfaction. On the other side of the coin, the men of the entertainment industry must portray themselves as powerful, engaging, and to one degree or another, dangerous bad boys. In this way females can imagine themselves giddily swept away in the arms of such divine majesty. Then, there is the exploding porn industry. As Romans 1:24 tells us, when we human beings deny Yahweh, the uncreated, eternal Creator God, He gives us over to all kinds of sexual excess and degradation. Yet, the actors in that industry crave to be seen and adored. Is this not idolatry the worship of created things? And the world over, millions are willing to give the actors what they crave. Is this not idolatry the worship of created human beings and the worship of something Yahweh created namely, human sexuality? Let s also consider what has happened to the ordinary citizen. Beginning in the 1920 s a rebellion against Christian sexual morality began that found a full flowering in the baby boomer generation as they came of age in the late 1960 s, the 1970 s and 80 s. In those decades two new things were added to the mix. The first was effective 3
female contraception. The second was feminism the idea that a female could be anything a male could be including sexually aggressive. It all promised sexual nirvana as the social moralities inherited from the great Christian revivals of the 19 th century were overthrown. But now fifty years after the 1960 s, where are we? We re certainly not in social and sexual nirvana. There seems to be more stress, distress and confusion between men and women than ever before. There s a high divorce rate, and so there are plenty of people who won t touch God s plan for marriage with a ten-foot pole. Others have come to look at a sexual liaison like they look at a shot of alcohol. You drink it and leave. Still others in anger or disgust have entirely turned their backs on any relationship with the opposite sex. More children are being born who don t know who their father is. More women are supporting themselves by having the state pay for these children born without a father in the picture. Just where is this nirvana, this promised land of sexual bliss? It cannot be found when your Creator abandons you to your own rebellious worship of created things. Indeed, there s a special kind of hell on earth when the godless attempt fellowship and intimacy with one another. For we cannot get around our Creator s purpose and plan for us sexually. If we try, we only wind up in the dissatisfactory position of degrading our bodies with one another. So what can we say? As Solomon declared, there is nothing new under the sun. The paganism, the idolatry, the unwitting worship of demons, and the sexual excesses of the first century are the same today. They re just in forms not as readily recognized as those of classical idolatry. But here we can also say that the gospel of Jesus Christ remains the same today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. The good news Paul preached to those weary of degrading themselves in the first century is the same good news we preach to those weary of degrading themselves in the 21 st century. Yahweh sent His Son, Jesus, to destroy the power of human godlessness and wickedness so that we might again be able to embrace our Creator. He sent Jesus to destroy the monopoly of the sinful nature over our souls. He sent Jesus to destroy the powers of Sin, Death and the Devil. As we re told in Romans 5:8, God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is love for the unlovable beyond measure. The good news is that no matter where we have been, lost in the paganism of the present time, Jesus has been sent to bring us home to our Creator Father. Does the universe care whether you live or die? Certainly not. But, God does, and He cares very deeply. How do we know? We re told in 1 John 3:16, This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And again in 1 John 4:9-10, 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is the only one who can forgive and heal our rebellion. He s the only one who can restore us to the truth. He s the only one who can exchange our idolatry for relationship with our one true uncreated, eternal Creator. He s the only one who can restore our darkened thinking. He s the only one who can restore us to thanksgiving 4
and glorification of our Creator. As we re told in 2 Corinthians 5:17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! And there s much more in Jesus. We re told in Titus 3:5-7, 5 He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. In Jesus we become our Father s heirs, heirs of forever-righteous eternal life. But this does not happen without a washing of rebirth and renewal by God s Holy Spirit. There are no unregenerate people in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, it is time to come out of paganism. It is time to embrace Jesus the Savior who will lead us out of the darkness of this present world. Amen. All Bible quotes are from the NIV. 5