Romans 1:18-32

Romans 1:18-32

The UK, European and American Space Agencies are looking for life on other planets. How will they know when they finds life?   What is life?

According to NASA, living things must exhibit all of the following:

·      Respond to stimulation.

·      Reproduce

·      Grow and develop

·      Advanced life-forms can learn.

·      The ability to consume energy & material, transforming it for growth & reproduction.

But what about human life? Are we any different? Or are you and I fundamentally no different from amoeba, rats or chimpanzees?

If, as many people seem to believe today, we are no different, then we should expect nothing more from life than that we take in energy, grow, reproduce, learn, and respond when poked or prodded.

But this view has serious consequences.

You see, this is a functional view of life – life is all about what things can do.  The end result is that we feel free to get rid of any human life that doesn’t really do anything: an unborn child; a brain injured man; an elderly woman.

Not only that, but if all we are is a life form that responds to stimulation, then we might as well live so that we receive the nicest stimulants and the best responses.

And the tragedy of so much human life is that’s precisely what we tend to do – we live our lives to receive pleasant stimulation: from shopping, alcohol, rambling, food, sex, sport, love, education, gardening, music… whatever prods us to give us a nice feeling, that’s what we crave.

But that’s a half-life of automatic responses and random electrical impulses. It has no meaning & no value. It’s a living death – a life just waiting to die.

And what are the consequences of having millions of people all searching for the most satisfying stimulation they can find?

It’s the chaos that is humanity.

Of course, some of us are more adventurous in our search for pleasure than others – for some it involves sky-diving, extreme skiing or substance abuse.

For everyone it involves exploiting every relationship we have for our own pleasure.

Research shows that even our giving to charity is done to satisfy a need within ourselves.

But all of that is looking at the world from a scientific, sociological and psychological point of view – albeit it pretty superficially.

The Bible shows us a different view of humanity and the mess we’ve created.

Romans 1:18 tells us that all around us, the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness & wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it 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.

Whether we look into space we ought to see something more than a vast space where there may, possibly, perhaps, be life.

As we look down a microscope, we ought to see something more than the cell structure of an amoeba.

As we look at each other, we ought to see more than advanced chimpanzees!

What we ought to see – what is there to be seen – are God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power & divine nature.

Nature doesn’t tell us everything about God, but the careful ordering, the clear design, the beauty, majesty, sheer scale & variety tell us something of the God who must stand before and behind the cosmos.

And when we look at humans & see the intelligence & creativity, the love and relational drive in humans, the inbuilt desire to worship and explore, we see that we were created in the image of God.

But… something has gone terribly wrong with the world. Something has gone terribly wrong in you and me.

Verses 21-23 explain what that is. READ.

We were created in the image of God so that we could be in relationship with God; glorifying him and thanking him.

But humans decided that they were too wise for that. Why worship the invisible God who made us when we can create our own, visible gods to worship and follow?

And since the dawn of time, men & women have created gods – idols – to put in the place of the God who created them.

Of course, when Paul wrote Romans, there were countless gods –Jupiter to protect the state, Juno protector of women, Mars the god of war and so on. And each god needed an image – a statue or relief in stone or bronze, and an altar or temple.

Today, we’re far too sophisticated to worship these gods. Instead, we worship the god Pension (protector of retirement), Apple (millions of what are thought of as cool little images), Self-esteem (the god of happiness), Education (the god of future success), and the pair of goddesses, the pill & penicillin (to protect from every kind of sexual excess) etc.

And we think that these gods we’ve created will protect us and bring us happiness.

And so the only true God handed humanity over to their idols – verses 24-25  READ

And the key verse is that last one: they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the creator – who is ever praised.

You see, humans are so very different from other life-forms - we’re so much more than what we can do.

We’re made in God’s image, and we’re made to worship – to love him.

Everyone worships – that is, everyone sets their heart on something or someone.

Everyone has a reason, a purpose for living. If they don’t, we say they’re depressed and they need help.

But the question is, what or whom do you worship? What or whom do you live for?

What are your aims, goals, purpose?

And what we forget – and this is the very heart of sin – is that God is the only person worthy of our worship.

Anything else is either equal to us (another human being) or less than us. To worship equal or lesser things is not only stupid it’s insulting to the God who is greater than us and who alone is worthy of our worship.

And because we’ve turned away from God to worship such little things, he’s handed us over to suffer the consequences of our actions – and now, today, we will experience something of the wrath of God as it is revealed from heaven against all who have exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

So we’re in a really bad way. We live a warped and twisted life, a life for which we were not designed. A life estranged from God. A life under the wrath of God.

But the wonder of God is that he doesn’t leave us to suffer his wrath.

Because, as you heard last week, the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of anyone who believes.