August 3, 2020
You Want It, You Got It
Romans 1:18–32
Rob Heath
Central Truth
If you are dwelling on desires other than a closer relationship with God, those desires may reveal your idols. God will give you what your heart desires, one way or another.
Key Verse | Romans 1:22-23
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:18–32
God's Wrath on Unrighteousness
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, 1 1:20 Or clearly perceived from the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Dive Deeper | Romans 1:18–32
Idolatry is a terrible thing. Any item we place ahead of our relationship with God is an idol. Instead of rehashing the list you just read in this passage, I will list the top three idols I'm struggling with and how I am experiencing freedom from those idols.
My first idol is my comfort. Comfort for me involves several "sub-idols," like money in the bank, the thermostat at 68 during August in Dallas, and minimal traffic on my daily commute.
The second idol on my list is you. What do you think of me? Do you think I'm intelligent, funny, nice, etc.? On Monday nights at re:gen, we call this "people pleasing" or "fear of man."
Finally, my third idol is escape from my feelings. I used alcohol for many years to keep from feeling or caring, but it has been over 29 years since I did that. Today, my feelings are numbed by food sometimes, thinking I'm important, or too much football (only four weeks until kickoff!). Can you see the covetousness, malice, envy, deceit, foolishness, faithlessness, heartlessness, and ruthlessness in my idols? But it is more important that I do!
I combat the idol of my comfort with trust, faith, and belief. It is an hourly and sometimes minute-by-minute struggle for me to be reminded Whose I am. When I am basking in His love for me, I do not struggle with comfort; I have all I need. As for people-pleasing, the answer is the same. I must live to serve Him. My feelings and emotions are cared for in community where I can allow myself to be fully known and fully loved. That's up to me. You are not alone unless you choose to be.
After Paul expounds on a similar list in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, he goes on in 1 Corinthians 6:11 to say, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." We should remember this when our struggles reveal our need for Christ!
Discussion Questions
1. Does your community group know your idols? Do you? Will you tell them to someone this week and begin to heal from idolatry?
2. How can you combat your idols and replace them with a deepening relationship with God?
3. Are you "all in" with God? Are you trusting Him with your finances, relationships, career, image, etc.?
4. Have you heard the gospel? Has it changed you from the inside out? Have you applied it to every aspect of your life? Why or why not?