by Dane Massey
(Dane Massey is the former Pastor of Mulvane Christian Church. He is now in ministry in Houston, Texas.)
From my late teen years I have been involved in construction. Sometimes as a side job, sometimes as a means to meet and minister to people and sometimes as a means to pay the bills.
I have remodeled houses and turned them into rentals, I’ve gutted and rebuilt houses and flipped them, and I’ve built new homes from the ground up. Whether I’m in Houston or Kansas, if I’m in an area where I’ve done work, I drive by those houses to see what they look like today. Two things always grieve my heart:
1.) When the houses are not well taken care of. The yards are overgrown, filled with trash. The house needs paint, the roof obviously leaks, etc…. It’s personal! I know the sweat, the expense, and the hours that were spent getting that house just right. I realize that I no longer own the house or as a landlord had limited control. But when I build something it’s a reflection of who I am. The disrepair comes as a personal affront, as if the work is being disrespected, or at least unappreciated.
2.) When the houses are not used as they were designed. I once walked into what, at the end of many hours of labor, was a beautiful, large grand room. It had a greasy engine block in the middle of the floor and a half-assembled motorcycle in one corner.
It was not designed to be a mechanic’s shop. The craftsmanship in the trim work, the well worked and painted drywall, and the detailed flooring were not responding well. They were not designed for such use.
In Romans 1:18-25 we find that God has the same thoughts and response to us when we fail to honor His creation and its design.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, 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 people are without excuse.”
“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 a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”
“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 about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen”
This failure to honor God as the Creator and therefore to honor Him by our attitude towards and in the use of His creation goes far deeper than a lack of knowledge. Paul and all of scripture points to willful suppression and rejection of this truth!”
Why would man suppress this truth and reject it?
1.) If there is a Creator then that makes us the created which in turn makes us accountable. Man loves to believe he is autonomous, an authority unto himself and answerable to no one.
2.) If there is a Creator then there is a design, purpose and order for which all things are and were created. To violate that truth not only destroys what was created but distorts and damages all of creation to our own hurt.
Romans 1:18-32 clearly teaches that all sin begins and ends with the rejection of this truth. Note the long list of sin in verses 29-31 and the “attitude toward those sins and the participants in them in verse 32. The source behind such action and attitudes is revealed in such statements as:
“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind…..”
Two things really seem to leap out in these verses
1.) A genuine lack of humility and gratefulness. To know God and yet refuse to glorify Him as God is the ultimate act of pride and arrogance. Ungratefulness is the natural attitude of such pride.
2.) The defiant and angry attitude that seems to lie just below the surface in these descriptions of humanity.
It’s amazing how these two issues seem to be so evident and prevalent in our culture and nation today.
When these verses are read, many times, the entire focus is on the outward depravity and sin but the cause of such action is dismissed. The description of the mental condition of those who reject the Creator and His design are very telling:
The issue here is not a lack of intelligence or education. The issue is confusion. When one rejects the Creator and His design then there is no standard by which to interpret or discern the order or design of His creation. One can be incredibly intelligent and educated and still foolish.
I’ve worked with such, even in construction. They had degrees in engineering yet couldn’t use such simple tools as a hammer or a level. Why? They didn’t understand what the tools were designed for neither did they discern (see in their minds eye) what was being created although they could read a blueprint / architectural drawing. In order to use the tools properly and to build accordingly you have to understand design and what the Creator actually intends to produce.
Some, of course, reject this view of creation, to their own destruction. They look at creation and don’t see the Creator or His design so they end up with millions of years (some say billions) and amazing theories. They fail however to take into account what the Creator has clearly revealed in His Word. The impact of sin and the devastation of a worldwide deluge upon His creation and its design.
It’s easy to look at such foolishness as the evolutionist pictured in Romans 1 and pass judgement. To point out the depraved and broken lifestyles listed here, that flow from such thinking, but Romans doesn’t end at Romans 1:32. Romans 2:1-5 (and the rest of chapter 2) speaks to the religious conservative who would sit in judgement:
“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”
What should be the response of all humanity to the revelation of God through His Creation and Design?
Humility and Repentance!
The amazing overarching truth to Romans 1:18-2:5 is that this is the introduction of the “Gospel of Christ which is the Power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
Humbling oneself before the Creator, as His creation, and honoring, with a grateful heart, the rest of His creation and design is not a separate issue! It is the starting point of the Gospel for the Creator died for His creation that He might redeem all of it!
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