Image of Idols (part 2)
Welcome back to the second part of the image of idols and the book of Romans chapter 1.
Before we begin, let’s turn to some humor from South County Churches
The Politician and the Pastor
A politician and a pastor die at the same time. St. Peter welcomes them and shows the politician to a luxury suite. The pastor gets a standard room. The pastor asks, “Why the special treatment for him?” St. Peter says, “We get pastors every day. We’ve never had a politician make it up here before!”
4. Theology as Explained by Children
A godly person should have only one wife. This is called monotony.
The people who followed Jesus were called the 13 decibels.
One of the opossums was St. Matthew.
A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because, even though it was a very large mammal, its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, “When I get to heaven, I will ask Jonah.”
The teacher asked, “What if Jonah went to hell?”
The little girl replied, “Then you ask him.”
And, 34. Bran Muffins
This 85-year-old couple, having been married almost 60 years, had died in a car crash. They had been in good health the last ten years, mainly due to her interest in health food and exercise.
When they reached the Pearly Gates, St. Peter took them to their mansion, which was decked out with a beautiful kitchen, master bath suite, and Jacuzzi.
As they “oohed and aahed,” the old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost.
“It’s free,” Peter replied. “This is Heaven.”
Next, they went out back to survey the championship golf course that the home backed up to. They would have golfing privileges every day, and each week the course changed to a new one representing the great golf courses on earth.
The old man asked, “What are the green fees?”
Peter replied, “This is Heaven. You play for free.”
Next, they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch with the cuisines of the world laid out.
“How much to eat?” asked the old man.
“Don’t you understand yet? This is Heaven. It is free!” Peter replied with some exasperation.
“Well, where are the low-fat and low-cholesterol tables?” the old man asked timidly.
Peter lectured, “That’s the best part. You can eat as much as you like of whatever you like, and you never get fat and you never get sick. This is Heaven.”
With that, the old man went into a fit of anger, throwing down his hat, stomping on it, and shrieking wildly. Peter and his wife both tried to calm him down, asking him what was wrong.
The old man looked at his wife and said, “This is all your fault. If it weren’t for your bran muffins, I could have been here ten years ago!”
A laugh a day, keeps the doctor away!
Please read the following: Romans 1:21-23 (NIV) 1 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. 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 a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Idolatry began in Genesis 6 when man increased in numbers and the Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. So, God destroyed man with the exception of Noah & his family. They re-populated the world and in Genesis 11 we are introduced to the tower of Babel where men began building a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens. Here the Lord comes down to see the city & tower and says nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. The idol of the city and tower were stopped when the Lord scattered them from there over the earth and confused the language of the whole world from one language to multiple languages. A third example is found in Exodus 20:22-23 (NIV) 22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: 23 Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold. Moses brought down the Ten Commandments to be presented to the Israelites and what did they do? Look at Exodus 32 where they gathered and said, “Come make us gods who will go before us and they made an idol cast in the shape of a calf. Aaron saw this and built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord.” Such blasphemy!
Three Biblical examples of how man claimed to be wise and became fools. Man’s thinking was futile and their foolish hearts were darkened to sin and vanity.
Man has made the decision that he is smarter that the Lord and that by rejecting God he can deal with the consequences on his own. By making all so many rebellious choices and irrational decisions, is this the type of freedom you desire? If we choose evil, then we must accept the consequences that come with the choice for there is no worse slavery than slavery to sin.
Let’s look at the verses 24, 26 and 28 for you will read the following: God gave them over:
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 about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 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, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 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.
Three times Paul makes the statement; God gave them over or allowed man to do as he wishes. Here, God doesn’t stop man from making choices that are against his will. Why? He lets us declare our supposed independence from him, and as we run the course, we become slaves to our own rebellious choices.
Verse 25 shows us that man is so vulnerable and bombarded with lies whether it be from the TV, music, movies, the internet or the media as these lies are being spread to reinforce their selfish personal beliefs. The media makes it look so glamorous and inviting, but when one peels the layers away, we see that those attitudes and beliefs are totally opposed to the Bible.
I am sure Paul saw firsthand in his travels where; idolatry and lust were being practiced in the many countries that he traveled. Surely, he is seeing this in Rome where he sees people treating the emperor as a God with idols being made and a bowing down or worshipped to the emperor.
If you wish to have a further understanding of idols, turn to Jeremiah 10:1-15, for this chapter deals with God & Idols. Please read verses 10:11-14 (NIV) 11 “Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’” [a]
12 But God made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
14 Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;
they have no breath in them.
I must believe that Paul was thinking about the above verses when he wrote Romans 1:21-25. Do you agree?
The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says in verse 26 that uncleanness always generates more uncleanness.
Here is Romans 1:26-27 (NIV) 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Verses 26 & 27 tackle the subject of homosexuality where we look at Leviticus 18:22 (NIV) 22 “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. where homosexuality is strictly forbidden. As in the days of Rome and in that time around the world that these acts were performed, the same is true in today’s society that our society considers this as an acceptable practice which includes many churches, but society is not and never has been the standard or barometer for God’s law for the verse says this is detestable.
Verses 26 & 27 show us the depravity and degradation of men and women who are feeding their self-lusts to both the body and mind. These sensual desires lead to disgraceful passions to meet their self-centered needs thus perverting sex from the natural relationship between a man and woman in the sanctity of marriage as designed by God.
As you read verse 28, Paul says that we have those who don’t want to retain the knowledge of God and serve their interests, so God gave them over to a depraved mind so they could do what they want to do.
Again, each of us has a choice and that choice is that we can be a slave to sin and depravity or we can choose to love God with all our hearts and our mind.
Verses 29-31 go into detail about those with a depraved mind who are at odds with both themselves and their fellow men. The result is lawlessness and disarray.
As you read verses 29-31, look closely at the types of wickedness that Paul refers to for you will see how one would be at odds with both his fellow man and himself. And remember, the root is self and pride which caused the downfall of Satan. Yes, we are all sinners and have been guilty of one of those mentioned in verses 29-31, but with God’s help we can overcome the world and not take part with this wickedness.
As we close, verse 32 tells us those described in verse 29-31 had the opportunity to know the requirements of God and as Paul says that these people then knew that death is the penalty of these evil actions.
And the result, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says yet they not only sinned with pleasure but applauded others who were sinning. Their sin had reached a point where they received a vicarious satisfaction in the sinful deeds of others.
We all have a voice inside of us telling us of that which is right and wrong and this thing inside called a conscience lets us know when we do wrong, but we have those that don’t care. We have those who will risk it all to meet their desires or follow the crowd. Haven’t you heard those who say, “I know it’s wrong, but I really want it” or “I know it’s wrong, but it’s worth the risk.” To those, it’s a game, test the limits or push the envelope, but where is the sense of what was right or wrong? Was it fun going against God’s law? As for the ramifications, turn to Romans 6:23 (NIV) 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.
As we look in today’s society, do you stand with Christ or do you go along with the crowd and approve of those who practice those things in verses 29-31. Like Rome, America has sunk deeper into a sinful humanity thus pushing the envelope on our moral standards, throwing out common sense and utilizing man’s sense of right and wrong versus perfect Biblical commandments, laws, statutes and judgments.
Each of us have been given the opportunity of the gift of God which is eternal life in Christ Jesus for we have all sinned. What are you waiting for?
