Rom 1.26-32
Psalm 13 song
Call to worship:
OT:
pastor andrew loginow
Deuteronomy 5.6-21
NT:
pastor michael champoux
Matthew 5.17-20
song:
In Christ alone
Historical reding:
pastor bobby owens
Apostles’ Creed
song:
Come ye sinners
Confession & Pardon:
pastor zachary mcguire
song:
The power of the cross
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Romans 1.26-32
Introduction
This summer I’ve been reading The Outsiders. Who’s read The Outsiders? I love that book; I love the film too, with Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Swayze, Ralph Macchio – so much 80s goodness. I first read the book in 8th grade and now my son Alex is reading it going into 8th grade so Bethany and I have been reading it along with him.
One of the most famous scenes in The Outsiders is when Ponyboy quotes a poem by Robert Frost – “Nothing Gold Can Stay:”
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
I was thinking about Frost’s poem this week preparing this sermon. Our text is a continuation of the pericope Pastor Kevin preached last week, which introduced us to one of the darkest sections in all Scripture. Romans 1.16-17, the thesis statement of the book of Romans reveals that this whole book, the entire epistle, the letter to the church at Rome is about the gospel. Then starting in verse 18 Paul begins this diatribe on the depravity of humanity. We saw last week that God’s wrath is revealed because humanity suppresses the truth about God in ungodliness and unrighteousness. Creation reveals that there is a God, but people choose to worship the creation rather than the creator.
This has been the case ever since Adam’s fall. Just as leaf subsides to leaf, so Eden sank to grief. Nothing gold can stay because the world is cursed by Adam’s sin. And our text this morning continues Paul’s argument of the depth of our depravity.
In verse 16 Scripture says that the gospel is for the Jew and the Greek, or gentile, non-Jewish person. Starting in Romans 1.18-the end of chapter 1 Paul describes the depravity of the gentiles; starting in chapter 2 he will discuss the depravity of the Jews. The problem of sin is universal. Because of our sin our lives are like the grass that withers and the flower that fades, but there is something that remains forever – the Word of the Lord.
Judgement of God
And the Word of the Lord says, in verse 26, for this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. That prepositional phrase – for this reason – is connecting us to Pastor Kevin’s sermon last week. For what reason? Because people exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship the creature rather than the creator (vss. 24-25). Idolatry produces sexual sin – sexual sin is God’s judgement for refusing to worship and obey Him.
Because of this idolatry, God gave them up – παρέδωκεν – it’s an active verb. God actively gave them up, actively handed them over, actively gave them over. Some Christians try to neuter God’s sovereignty, but the grammar simply won’t allow it. There is nothing outside of God’s control, even our rebellion – “from life’s first cry ‘til final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.”
And what does God give them up to? St. Paul says dishonorable passions. What are dishonorable passions? He goes on to explain – women and men exchanging natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. Paul uses a lot of word play to emphasize his point here in this section of Romans – because the gentiles exchanged the glory of God for images (vs. 23), they exchanged the truth about God for a lie (vs. 25), the result is women and men exchange natural relations for unnatural relations. What are natural relations? Relations is the Greek word χρῆσις, which means sexual function.
This becomes clear in verse 27, which says men gave up natural relations with women and committed shameful acts with men. So, follow the argument from last week to this week: the Bible clearly says practicing homosexuality is God’s revealed wrath giving people over to their sin because they deny Him and practice idolatry. Homosexuality is unnatural because God created humanity male and female in His own image to glorify Him (Gen 1-2). God created the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve, and God created marriage as a creation ordinance from the beginning. It’s noteworthy that Paul doesn’t use the typical Greek words for men and women (ἀνήρ & γυνή) in this text, but he uses the same words for men and women (ἄρσην & θῆλυς) used in the LXX (Gen 1.27) – Paul points us back to creation. From the foundation of the world marriage is the one-flesh covenant relationship between 1 man and 1 woman until death.
Homosexuality is rebellion against God’s creation ordinance. Not only that, but homosexuality distorts the gospel. Marriage, and sex exclusively in marriage, was created by God as a signpost of the gospel. Ephesians 5 tells us that marriage patterns Christ and the church – husbands love wives as Christ loved the church, and wives submit to husbands as the church does Christ. This is not an archaic or arbitrary outdated patriarchal view of gender roles; no! God created woman with the calling and disposition to submit to their husbands, to bear and care for their children and God created men with the calling and disposition to lead their families, to protect and provide for them. Homosexuality is a complete upheaval of both creation order and the gospel to which it points.
And for this St. Paul says they receive the due penalty for their error. Penalty is the word ἀντιμισθία, used only twice in the New Testament and it means, “a recompense based upon what one deserves, either positive or negative, but with special emphasis upon the reciprocal nature of the recompense.” What is their due penalty, their recompense? The wrath of God they feel (vs. 18).
It is the consequences of living in unrepentant sin – all the problems, physically, emotionally, relationally that result in living in rebellion to God’s creation order and commands. This is true of all sin but is heightened with the sin of homosexuality because like idolatry, homosexuality, by nature, contradicts the creation order and the gospel it signifies. In an effort to capitulate to modern sensibilities some scholars offer alternative interpretations of this passage – (1) some argue that Paul is saying that unnatural refers to those who practice homosexuality, but are not genuinely homosexual; ie it is sin only if you’re not actually gay, if you’re going against your nature; (2) others say Paul refers only to the homosexual abuse of children; ie men and boys; (3) other scholars have declared that we simply must reject Paul’s teaching altogether because we’re more enlightened now. None of these interpretations are hermeneutically or theologically convincing. Scripture cannot be clearer – homosexuality is sin.
And the sexual revolution has not merely affected the academy; churches have responded. Many churches have embraced homosexuality – Protestant liberal churches reject Scripture’s clear teaching and are not difficult to spot. Many proudly fly the rainbow flag on their property and their website. These churches have many problems and one of them is that they call righteous what God calls sin. Other churches are more subtle – they may not be as bold as the mainline churches, but they capitulate to our culture by allowing those living in unrepentant sin into membership, to serve in the church, to lead in worship. These churches are abdicating their responsibility toward the glory of God and the purity of the church.
On the opposite end of the spectrum there are extremely evil churches that preach hatred and violence against homosexuals like Westboro Baptist Church. Other churches are more subtle – they would never preach so aggressively, but there is a self-righteous posture of singling out homosexuality while they turn a blind eye to fornication, adultery, abuse. Lest we fall into a self-righteous echo chamber of singling out homosexuality and patting ourselves on the back for our holiness, notice Paul widens the scope in verse 28. This pericope isn’t merely about homosexuality; it is about all sin.
In verse 28 the Holy Spirit repeats the phrase God gave them up and then submits a laundry list of sin. This list is not random or scattered; no, Paul basically lists the 10 Commandments here along with various applications of the 10 Commandments: covetousness, murder, haters of God, disobedient to parents, etc. That’s because all manner of unrighteousness, every single sin, without exception, in one way or another is breaking 1 of the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments are the eternal moral Law of God; they are the first ever Scripture written by the hand of God Himself.
This is why the church has always used the 10 Commandments (along with the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed) to catechize converts and children. This is why you should memorize the 10 Commandments, if you haven’t already. This is why you should catechize and disciple your children in the 10 Commandments. Bethany and I have made a practice of using the 10 Commandments in the discipline of our children. If we correct them for disobedience or hardheartedness toward us: you’re breaking the 5th commandment; lying; breaking the 9th commandment; anger or fighting; the 6th commandment, etc. because it trains them that when they sin, it’s not merely against us, or their sibling, or some rule for practical reasons, but they’re breaking God’s Law.
And just like that we’re all guilty. Romans 1 isn’t just about the sin of homosexuality; it’s about all our sin. We’re all under the wrath of God. We’re all guilty. And not only do we practice these sins, but we give approval to those who practice them. It’s easy for us to look at how the western world celebrates “pride month,” and say that’s Romans 1.32, and it is true, but we’re all guilty of Romans 1.32. How often do we give approval to haughtiness, or gossip, or slander, or deceit? How often do we as parents neglect disciplining our children and thus give approval to disobedience of parents?
And the truth is because of our sin we all deserve to die. We’ve all eaten of the fruit of this tree. We all feel Eden’s grief. We’re all earning the wages of our sin. We’re all Lawbreakers. We all deserve eternal conscious punishment in hell.
Gospel of Christ
The bad news is we’re all unrighteous and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against us. But the good news is there is a righteous one who received the wrath of God in our place. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6.23). In this passage, we’re imprisoned in the depths of our depravity, but remember the freedom of Romans 1.16-17: the gospel, which is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, the Jew and the Greek, because in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. The gospel is the good news of the reversal of Adam’s curse. The gospel is the declaration that through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we receive righteousness and forgiveness of sin, and eternal life.
We receive righteousness because Jesus lived the righteous life in our place. Jesus never sinned. Jesus never broke God’s Law in thought, word, or deed. Jesus is the last Adam, who, by His obedience, stands as the representative of His people.
And Jesus took His righteous life and offered it up on the cross as our substitute. He bore the full wrath of God revealed against our sin. And on the 3rd day Jesus resurrected from the dead. Death had no grounds to hold Jesus so He took dominion of death. And now since Jesus is alive, by faith, we experience the great exchange. By faith we are united to Christ and His righteousness becomes ours. Jesus took our sin on the cross and by faith we are clothed in His righteousness.
Faith is knowledge, assent, and trust in the person and work of Christ. If you have faith in Jesus, you know this good news. You also assent to it – you confess it’s true, you don’t deny it. And you transfer your trust to Jesus alone. You rest in the person and work of Christ on your behalf for your righteousness before God.
And if God has given you the gift of faith, it’s revealed in your repentance. There is no faith if there is no repentance. Repentance means you humble yourself, you confess your sin, and you turn the other way. Do you see how good this new is? You don’t have to stay trapped, enslaved in your sin continuing to feel the wrath of God. You can be free to live as God created you!
Are you trapped in sin? Are you trapped in the sin of homosexuality? You can be free through repentance. Are you trapped in another sexual sin – fornication, adultery, porn? You can be free through repentance. Are you trapped in slander, gossip, greed, coveting, lying, self-righteousness, hatred, disobeying your parents, allowing your child to be disobedient, any other rebellion to God’s Law? You can be free through repentance. By faith, look to Jesus, humble yourself, confess your sin, and turn to Christ.
Conclusion
Nothing gold can stay. The climax of The Outsiders comes when the 2 characters who discussed the Robert Frost poem find themselves at a sad conclusion. Johnny, who’s the friend that Ponyboy shared the poem with, encourages Ponyboy to make something of his life and to stay innocent, to stay curious, not to become just another greaser who ends up in jail or dead; Johnny famously says, “stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.” But nothing gold can stay. The problem is Ponyboy, just like me and you, is already tarnished by our sin. Since Adam’s fall, nothing gold has stayed.
But there is one who is untarnished. There is a true golden one who knew no sin and became sin for us. And He will return one day to make everything sad untrue, to lift Eden from its grief, to make the world golden again forever. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord remains forever, and the Word was in the beginning with God and the Word was God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and our faith is in Him. Look to Jesus Christ, because He’s the only gold that stays.