Mood:
not sureTopic: MyWords::RE::God'sWords
MOTIF
> [Chris Louvier]
> That’s what Romans is about … Jews/Gentiles: “We don’t need people who aren’t like us”: Paul’s answer: You need a renovation of the soul. Here’s how God wants to renovate your souls—if your souls have truly been renovated you will love one another.
> You know that your soul needs renovation: People you can’t forgive, habits can’t kick, feelings that keep coming back … evidence of your need.
> Different sorts of renovation: (1) SURFACE RENOVATION: Paint, carpet. (2) TOTAL RENOVATION: Sometimes, something deeper … can’t simply be adapted … from perspective of present needs, it’s dead [that’s what problem was in Pre./Ch. Wing]. So, for the sake of new life, the old had to be destroyed.
> We’re like that: Not: layer paint, carpet—many have tried that already [stop behavior, church for few weeks, read book, complete class]: Not enough.
> Why? [Ep2.1] What we need isn’t one more program to add to our present existence; we need new life.
> Ro1.16-17: “Gospel … dynamis [life-giving power] … It’s through faith that the righteous live.”
DILEMMA
> PROBLEM: EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE LIFE, DEATH DOESN’T STAY DEAD: I’d like to think … have faith … suddenly, death to life … there’s a sense in which this is true … it’s as if some of that death remains in us … that’s why “live” … the process of moving from death to life is a process, painful and difficult … total renovation.
--> [Chaplain … finding out about what happens when someone’s heart stops … as followers of Jesus, this is what is happening in our lives … God is transforming—renovating—us from death to life … painful process, not easy. TOTAL RENOVATION]
> What it requires isn’t only some point in past when we recognize Jesus as Lord … day-by-day, drawing our life from God (Dt30.20).
> When we don’t … death creeps back in … it doesn’t stay dead. That’s what’s happening in Roman church.
> Romans 1-2: Here’s what the old—the dead—looks like! Stay away from it!
> Let’s look at Paul’s words, look for life.
TEXT
> Ro1:18-32
1.18: WRATH: Why does sin anger God? HOLY … also: He sees his plans/and what sin does. [two weeks ago, RickWh and I …]
1.19-20: TRUTH REVEALED IN THEM: Every human knows that there is a life greater than what they’re experiencing [sunset, stars, sea—Is6.3, “whole earth”] … refuse to see that this is the truth of God in every person. Jewish rabbis: Sheva mitzvoth b’nai Noach, there is Torah written on the soul of every human: (1) worship one true God, (2) do not murder, (3) do not steal, (4) sexual relationship belongs within marriage relationship, (5) speak respectfully about God, (6) do not consume blood, (7) do not lie.
--> Yet, even these, humanity ignores; therefore, “without excuse.”
1.21: Notice humanity’s first sin, first result of denying God: “They were not thankful.”
-->All humanity’s problems of sin and death begin with this one: Not thankful. [Eve and Adam … the trees God had given/Israelites … manna/In Promised Land … one God].
--> Every sin begins with a refusal to be thankful for what God’s given us/how God’s created us.
1.22-27: Paul describes homosexual practice—which, at its root, is a refusal to be thankful for the fact that God created us male and female. [This is a good gift, wonderful gift.] God intends for relationship of husband and wife to reflect his love for his people, the way that God loves us—in intimate closeness and communication, of two becoming one not merely at the level of bodies but of soul: “Let Us make humanity in our image, male and female.”
--> God chose his love for humanity to be reflected in male/female—this stands at the core of our being … which is precisely why the powers of death and darkness try to crowd out God’s glory in this part of people’s lives.
--> For God creating us male and female, we should be thankful, rejoice in this.
--> To choose anything else is to be unthankful.
1.24, 26: This angers God—God gives the worst punishment he can give: He lets people keep sinning … he lets them continue until all the pleasure is gone, nothing left but the pain. [CSL: God lets them live forever in “the horrible freedom that they have demanded.”]
1.28: By this point, Christians in Rome were feeling pretty good about themselves: “We must be living in God’s life! After all, Paul’s mentioned idol-worship and homosexuality”—the Jews in this congregation had never done these things; most Gentiles had, but they’d left them behind.
--> Then, Paul says: “Here’s the evidence of the worst sort of death, darkest results of unthankfulness—‘never should be done’” (1.28).
1.29-31: Gets quiet, because we see ourselves in these.
--> Unthankful for what we possess (“greed, envy”): Live in a world of greed. [Kid {screaming like a ____ … didn’t know sold souls to devil so young these days} messing with my spiritual life … “Why need?” “Because I don’t have it!”] Magazines show us perfect houses, and we become unthankful for the home we have. Billboards show perfect cars, and we become unthankful for the vehicles we have. An entire industry—credit cards—has capitalized on making us so unthankful that we will spend money we don't have on things we don't need to impress people we don't even like. (Average balance moved from $3,000 in 1990 to nearly $8,000 today, with 2005 being the first year in which Americans as a whole actually spent more than they earned.) I'm not saying it's wrong to use credit card or buy new car or look at larger house. I am saying that, much of the time, our motive isn't because we need this or that but because we are unthankful for what we possess.
--> Same commercials … unthankful for the people in our lives: TV producers parade perfect bodies across the screen, and we become unthankful for the spouse that God has given us—or, if unmarried, unthankful for the fact that God in his goodness has said, “Wait.”
-->--> Not only lust [greed] but also … ["murder, fighting, malice, gossip, backstabbing, deception, ... disobedient to parents"]: We may not murder someone in the body, but we are more than willing to do it with words. Again, it is a failure to be thankful. When someone talks down another church member, you are not thankful for that person. (You don't have to be thankful for what they do.) When your words tear down someone in your family—your spouse or children—you are not thankful for them. (There are put-downs and negative comments we'll make to family members that we wouldn't dream of speaking to someone else. When was the last time you told your spouse, children, parents ... "I am thankful"?)
--> Unthankful for God’s grace: “unforgiving” [How thankful you are for God’s grace is shown by how much grace you show to others]
RESOLUTION AND APPLICATION
> Renovation begins with three words: “THANK YOU, GOD.”
