Ladies and Gentlemen, Please Direct Your Attention to the Creator of Creation

One of our family traditions over the years has been annual camping trips with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. When I say camping trips, I have to make clear, we're not the hard-core "hike into the wilderness and unroll your sleeping bag beneath the stars" campers. We're the KOA campers, the Jellystone campers. The gatherers around an iron fire-ring campers whose neighboring campers are ten feet away at the next campsite, and where the waterslide and gift shop promise to open the next morning at a decent hour. We like to camp where we can buy bacon at the camp store if we forget to pack it in our ice chest.

With that said, one of the best parts of camping is sitting around the fire in the evening and staring at the dancing flames as s'mores are roasted and as popcorn is passed and as stories are told. We watch the flames and we laugh and talk and generally pass time until someone suggests a card game.

The interesting thing is, we are always surprised at how dark it has become. The sunlight has faded, it's deep dusk, and someone has to go light the lanterns so we can see the game pieces. It's like the sun sneaks away when we're not looking, and we're left a little confused by the swiftly surrounding darkness.

To play the game, we need the light. Let that sink in for a second before continuing. I know, me too. Okay, now I'm ready.

Romans 1:18-32 is dark. It's very, very dark. In fact, it might be wilderness camping dark, surpassing any KOA or Jellystone campground darkness there is. Paul begins by diving into the wrath of God, which... just isn't very fun. These are some hard-to-hear things. 

Paul says: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the Truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them. 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 men are without excuse" (Romans 1:18-20).

I remember having this conversation way back in my church Sunday School when I was in the seventh grade. The teacher asked us if we thought that people who had never heard the Gospel should be held accountable for their sins when they died (I don't remember who that teacher was, but good lands, they asked some tough questions!). Ultimately, as we discussed this as a class, we came to this passage in Romans: "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..." 

I remember studying the human eye in one of our science units in high school and being absolutely blown away by how every tiny, intricate, microscopic detail had to work in constant and cohesive collaboration with each other in order to bring about the miracle of sight. I remember watching a documentary about the vast reaches of space; it was mind-blowing! Neither account was produced by a person of faith, but the presence of a Creator was so very evident in the creation He produced.

"So that men are without excuse." We know the Creator... if we look for Him. We know if we look with open hearts. Isaiah 6:9-10 says: "Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." Healing comes with perception of the Creator, not just the creation.

But Paul says... they don't look. "For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles" (Romans 1:21-23).

Counterfeits of the Creator. This is how the enemy works his most brilliant strategy. If he can pull our attention away from God to things that we think look like God, but aren't... what a victory for him. Do we see this happening? I'd argue: yes, constantly. This is why it isn't just important, but essential, to know the Word, to read the Word, to immerse ourselves in the Word, so that we know the Truth, and the Truth will set us free (John 8:32). Jesus says: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). If we know Him, we also know a counterfeit when we see it.

John MacArthur, in his book Reckless Faith, writes: "Federal agents don't learn to spot counterfeit money by studying the counterfeits. They study genuine bills until they master the look of the real thing. Then when they see the bogus money, they recognize it."

We have to study the Word. And by Word, I don't just mean Scripture (yes, Scripture, but also), I mean, "the Word Who was with God in the beginning," that is, Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

I had a conversation yesterday with someone about "we" v. "they," and how easy it is to point to another person and say: they struggle with something, but not me. We stand on the right side of the issue, but not them. I want to be clear; I agree with my friend. It is far too easy to point at everyone else's sins before we take care of our own sins, to see the plank in someone else's eye before we take care of the speck in our own. I also believe that Paul, in this Romans passage, is unequivocally stating here that they is they because they refused to acknowledge God. They continually and decisively shut their eyes to their Creator. If we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior, no one can snatch us out of His hand" (John 10:28). As long as we do this, we are not they in the way that Paul is describing them. 

Over and over and over again, surrounded by His creation, continually shutting their eyes to His existence, denying His name, and worshipping instead the god of Evolution, the god of Atheism... When verse 23 says that they "exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles," Paul wasn't just talking about the idols made of iron or gold or precious metals during that time, when people set up these things and bowed down to them. I think this is just as applicable to the condition of our hearts when we close them off from the Lord and turn instead to the creation and declare its supremacy... rather than the Creator of the creation.

So "they" are given over. "Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts, to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the Truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -- Who is forever praised. Amen.

"Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion" (Romans 1:24-25).

It's getting dark. Sooo dark. The game pieces that are so very evident in the light can hardly be seen, and so the game hides under cover of darkness as the players stumble around in the dusk without finding them.

The game pieces are there, but the darkness makes it seem as though they are absent.

Paul pulls no punches in this last paragraph of the chapter: "Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. 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 are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but also approve of those who practice them" (Romans 1:28-32).

Look, some activities in the Word are open for cultural and time-period interpretation... head coverings (1 Corinthians 11), braided hair and jewelry (1 Peter 3). I mean, even jumping back into the Old Testament, there are a slew of things done by Godly men who seek to follow the Lord most Christians would agree are sins. Polygamy, anyone? David, is that you? Abraham? Jacob? But, but...

Other things transcend culture. The New Covenant is laid out; Christ opened the veil in the temple, we can live a life of holiness and integrity in right understanding and relationship with God, because as Paul says in Romans 1:17: "For in the Gospel (Reminder: The Gospel is the good news that Jesus died to pay the price for the sins that we've committed, and because He did this, if we accept His work on our behalf, we have eternal life)... For in the Gospel -- (the good news) -- a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith." 

In other words, even though it's dark out there, and getting even darker... we have the light. We have the righteousness from God that He IS REVEALING to us! 

There's a lamp in the screen tent, and it's bright, and you can see all the game pieces on the table, because its brilliance covers the whole area. We don't have to stumble around in the dark, tripping over tent pegs and firewood that hides in the darkness. We have access to the light, through the Gospel of Jesus.

He is our hope. He is our salvation. I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes! 

Here's something: I was driving in my car the other day -- by myself  (a small miracle) -- and as happens when I get any chance to be by myself for any stretch of time, I pray out loud. I like to pray out loud; it's therapeutic. :) Anyway, I was driving through the city, and suddenly, like a lightbulb, it hit me:

"See, Jesus," I said, "here's what concerns me. I see so many people in the church focused on the things You told us to be concerned about -- which is good! It's even great! But we've become so concerned about the things themselves, that we've forgotten to look at the Person Who told us to be concerned about them in the first place. We've forgotten to keep our eyes on You as we focus on the package You've given us."

This is the very thing that Paul accuses "them" of. They "exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."

Oh Lord, bring our attention back to You. Help us to do the work You've given us to do while we keep our eyes riveted to You. While we keep our attention on the Creator of creation, not the creation itself. Don't let us stop at "In the beginning." Help us to remember that "In the beginning, God..."