What Happens When We Don’t Give Glory to God (Part 1) – Romans 1:24–27

PRAY & INTRO:

Romans 1:21–27 ESV

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.

[Sermon Title: What Happens When We Don’t Give Glory to God]

Follow Paul’s line of reasoning: Refusing to glorify God and give him thanks leads to idolatry, worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. God’s just, retributive response is to “hand them over” to the sinful passions of their hearts, to remove his restraint and allow sin to take its destructive course. Sexual sin is a prime example, and homosexual desire and activity in particular, because of how closely it parallels the idolatrous exchange and demonstrates its harmful consequences (even to our very humanity, which is a present evidence of God’s judgment).

The broad point Paul makes is that…

When man persists in idolatrous living, God judicially hands him over to the degradation and consequences of his idolatry.

[If it helps you to visually see the parallels in this passage, I’ve provided the flow of thought with these repeated patterns on the back of your handout. That will also allow you to look at it more closely at a later time.]

• Despite having experiential knowledge of God (from natural revelation), man did not glorify God or give him thanks [the foundation of our sin], resulting in futile thinking and foolish hearts. (v. 21)
• This leads to irrational idolatry: the exchange of worshiping God for idols (vv. 22-23)

To say that idolatry is irrational is not to say that man is incapable of being rational, or of creativity and invention that can yield positive outcomes, for such rationality and ability is, by God’s grace, from the Imago Dei (the image of God) in us. Anything we accomplish that is of earthly good to mankind is a result of God’s image and his mercy to us as his creatures. Even more-so then, when we refuse to glorify God and give him thanks, we become futile in our thinking about that which matters most, and our hearts are darkened and we behave irrationally in idolatry. God is worthy to be praised, but instead we exchange that truth for a lie, and we worship and serve ourselves and other creatures above God’s goodness and what he has said is good.

Our particular text for this morning is that central example in vv. 24-27. Conceptually they hang together as a prime example of God’s retributive response of giving us over to our idolatrous desires.

Notice how v. 24 flows directly as a result of v. 23 (idolatry), with v. 25 then also reiterating the concept of idolatry (parallel to v. 23), but expressing idolatry in its core terms.

The thought in vv. 26-27 also then flows from v. 25 in a repeat pattern of v. 24 (God gave them over), but this time with greater specificity of a particular example that both parallels and demonstrates how the decline in a specific area of sin comes from the fundamental sin of idolatry and God’s judicial “handing over.”

1. 28 will then reiterate the point again, only this time to broaden the scope of all our sin and degradation of human society (vv. 29-31) comes from our refusal to worship God and his retributive response of giving us over to the destructive sin we are already pursuing. [And v. 32 is parallel to v. 21]

[repeat heading] When man persists in idolatrous living, God judicially hands him over to the degradation and consequences of his idolatry.

We tend to think of idolatry as the description in v. 23 only, which is to bow down to images that man has carved and crafted. But this is only the visible expression of what is really going on with idolatry, which Paul says two other ways in this passage: to worship and serve the creature rather than the creator (v. 25), and to not see fit to acknowledge God (v. 28). All of these are fundamentally due to not glorifying God and giving thanks to him (v. 21).

And the word “exchange” is an important concept for Paul in this passage, as it demonstrates the essence of what we are doing in idolatry. In material idolatry—idolatry in its physical, visible form—we substitute the glory of the immortal God for mere images of mortal man and other creatures (that’s in v. 23). In essence, Paul says another way in v. 25, we exchange/substitute the truth of God for a lie (a falsehood, a deception) AND we worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. (Here again we perceive the irrationality of idolatry.)

This also explains why our idolatry is the cause of God’s righteous wrath (anger), and why he is justified in a retributive response that lets us suffer the degrading consequences of our idolatrous hearts. God “giving them up” (or handing them over) is his active, retributive response to our persistent idolatry, which arises from our refusal to glorify him and give him thanks.

And let’s be clear, it is not as though God is handing us over to something that is his fault rather than our own. We are the ones pursuing our sin. This is not God’s fault in any way. To the contrary, God has provided evidence of his eternal power and divine nature, that we should desire his goodness and serve him in his glory, rather than worship ourselves and love sin. 

Maybe an illustration could help us picture what is happening: Our own wicked passions are like waters pulling us in a direction away from God, but God is mercifully restraining. When God says “enough,” evidently a point known only to God, he gives the sinner over to their sinful lusts, releasing them to their sinful desires, which leads to their self-degradation and moral decline of their society.

So the overall point Paul is making is that our persistence in idolatrous thinking and practices leads to God judicially handing us over to the degradation and consequences of our idolatry. And Paul demonstrates this reality as it can be seen presently in people’s lives with a specific category of sin that particularly parallels the idolatrous exchange and the degenerative consequence of God giving them over to the sin they desire.

Sexual sin, and homosexuality in particular, serves as a prominent example.

The particular references in v. 24 are driving at sexual impurity. Not only is that the way Paul commonly uses the word “impurity” in contexts like these, but we have the combination of them dishonoring their bodies among themselves, which is unquestionably parallel to the dishonorable passions leading to unnatural relations in vv. 26-27. The force of this is certainly sexual sin.

And note, still in v. 24, that what God hands them over to is the degrading effects of their sin: to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. This dishonoring is to treat shamefully, to cause to be dishonored, to take away from the value. There is a degrading and dehumanizing effect that our sin has upon us, due to our idolatrous refusal to worship God.

Before we move on, pause for a moment and realize that sexual sin degrades and dehumanizes everyone involved. It is harmful to our humanity by God’s good design. God has a context for which he created sexual purpose and pleasure, and which he looks upon and says it is good, which is between a man and a woman covenanted to one another in marriage. This means it builds up not only the human race, but it also protects and promotes and nourishes the people involved, and their family, and even the society.

By contrast, sexual sin is harmful to our humanity. It degrades the purity and honor of individuals. It pollutes the goodness of sex with rampant selfishness. And every sin we participate in is like that, as evidenced by the list in vv. 29-31. Sin degrades our humanity and is the cause of God’s judgment, not only now but especially in a future final judgment.

We have already shown that in v. 24 Paul has sexual in in mind, both in the lusts of their hearts and in the subsequent dishonoring of their bodies. In vv. 26-27 Paul uses an even more specific form of sexual sin, that of homosexual desire and relations, as a particular example that 1. parallels the very exchange taking place in idolatry and 2. evidences God giving us over to the harmfulness of our own idolatry and sinful desires.

- Homosexuality parallels the idolatrous exchange of God’s good design for what is contrary to it.

“For their females” Paul says (the more technical term female… not the frequent word he and other writers use for women (or wives). He does the same in v. 27, “the males likewise gave up natural relations with females.” Paul doesn’t want there to be any doubt here, that he’s looking back to God’s creative intent, making them male and female, both image bearers in God’s intent for their femininity and masculinity, and God saying that the way he created them was good.

So Paul says the exchange (in v. 26) is of “natural (or physical) relations,” and relations being a word for the useful function of something for its intended purpose… in exchange for what is “beside nature.” In other words, this “beside” is a preposition of substitution (exchange), so rightly we can translate this preposition as other places where it is getting at “instead of” or “contrary to.”

The details of the exchange Paul makes more explicit in verse 27, this time referencing “males… leaving or abandoning” natural functions with females, and instead were “inflamed” with passionate desire for each other (one another)… obviously meaning males for males, and this one another indicates reciprocation between the individuals.

Now you may begin to wonder why I am being so specific about every little bit of Paul’s wording, but that’s because our present society even has scholars who are taking great pains to try to reinterpret what Paul says to fit a society in which we are redefining what is natural and good, especially in this area of sexuality. And we who submit to God’s word as his truth must be truly clear, for our own sake and for others, about what God actually says. And we must learn to trust that God’s design is good and for our good.

Therefore, the exchange is of heterosexual desire and relations for homosexual desire and relations. And it is an exchange of God’s good design for something our sin desires that is other than God’s good design. - This is absolutely NOT to argue that all heterosexual desire is automatically pure; rather it is to show that homosexuality is particularly and categorically contrary to God’s design, and yet our idolatrous ways lead us into such paths by exchanging the goodness of God and what he says is good for things that are absolutely contrary to what he created us to be.

In fact, isn’t Paul’s argument here specifically that our idolatrous heterosexual desires being untethered from purity leads to God giving us up to the dishonoring of our bodies, even to the point that we have entered into an entirely new category of sexual deviance that is completely contrary to God’s design? (Let me repeat that, because I think it is exactly the intent of what Paul is saying, and is the reason he uses this example.) Paul’s argument is that our idolatrous heterosexual desires being untethered from purity leads to God giving us up to the dishonoring of our bodies, even to the point that we enter into an entirely new category of sexual deviance that is completely contrary to God’s design.

Accordingly, Paul is also emphasizing that…  

- Homosexuality demonstrates the degrading effect of God judicially handing us over to the sin we desire.

As with v. 24, in v. 26 Paul says for this reason (idolatrous hearts) God gave them up to dishonorable passions (again, to treat shamefully and take away something’s honor, its true price or value). Paul is saying that God is giving them over because they are already sinning by these wrong desires that lead to this wrong way of living.

And Paul is clear that living this way in not harmless to us, even in this present life. Yes, Paul absolutely believes that sin is the cause of God’s just judgment in its final sense, but here he indicates that part of God’s judgment upon us even now is to hand us over to our sin, a self-destructive practice which is itself a form of judgment: “men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error—their deception or perversion.”

With our contemporary medical understanding, we might think of  of diseases that are particularly transmitted this way. But even more fundamentally, Paul says that these acts are themselves dehumanizing us and degrading our society. (That’s exactly where Paul keeps going with this in vv. 29-31 with multiple examples of the degradation of human life and society in which sin is entirely pervasive, because God gives us over to our sin. It’s a present consequence of God’s judgment for our foundational sin of idolatry, from not glorifying him and giving him thanks.) 

Conclusion: Since we believe that what Paul says here is inspired by the Holy Spirit of God to be His infallible, authoritative word…

Application: How should we respond, individually and collectively?

If you are living in sexual sin, or if you are in a battle with your desires, and if you are listening to those making efforts to approve of this sin, listen instead to this warning from Paul about the dehumanizing effects of sin and the very real danger of God giving you over to that sin. Satan is the father of lies, and he says, surely God would not withhold this from you, or he suggests that God IS holding out on you. To the contrary, God only does and says what is consistent his own goodness, while your sin will lead you into greater and greater godlessness until you suffer the eternal consequence. Therefore, do not presume upon God’s patience with you.

- Be warned and repent

Repent while God is patiently forbearing (Rom 2:4); otherwise, in your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up judgment for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed (Rom 2:5).

Contrary to the great lie of our present age, God intends for your identity to be found outside yourself. In fact, repenting of self-trust and self-will and turning to God, trusting in him and his will, results in the joy of knowing who God intends for you to be. And you really ought not to believe the lie that God can’t change a desire in you. It is not for a lack of God’s transforming grace and power, but a lack of your willingness to relinquish the desire and submit to God’s goodness. (See Titus 2:11-14!) And you may have to do that again and again until your submission to the Spirit of God has grown you to a place of new patterns of thinking. But I promise you, God can do it, with this sin and every sin, if we agree with him and submit to him.

Christians, who are not presently under bondage to such sin, we must be…

- Be clear and compassionate

Christians, we must be clear on this, to be sure. We must not waffle or allow ourselves to be pulled into the rationalizing away what God says is good and not good. Collectively, we must be clear.

And yet, those who are in the midst of this raging battle do not need your judgment but your compassion. God is judge. This does not mean that you should give approval; in fact, you must not give approval, which according to verse 32 is also wicked. But as long as someone in this sinful thought pattern will allow us, we can be a loving and kind and patient reminder of their accountability to God. Think of it this way: When you are believing lies about a sin you continue to hold onto, what do you want a believer (or fellow believer) to do for you? You can (and must) believe that sin incurs judgment and yet remain compassionate, even as God himself is perfectly just but shows us such compassion through Jesus.

So we must be careful and clear to not give approval of sin, but we can also be a patient, compassionate lifeline to the grace of God to save and transform sinners like us. They do not need a one-off argument that is callous and harsh; they need us to be patient and persistent in a personal relationship that is compassionate and kind. - I want to ask you to apply this to every particular sin that gets under your skin. Do you think that our sin is inoffensive to God? And yet what has he done for us, and how patiently does he bear with us in order that some may come to repentance?

PRAY

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