Sermon Tone Analysis

“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse.

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.

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.

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 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.

“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 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.

“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.

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

As a young pastor, though I might occasionally make reference to this particular text, I would not have dared speak from it—the passage was thought too vivid, too graphic in its description of wickedness and depravity.

However, we live in a day in which depravity and wickedness are imported into our homes as entertainment.

What was once unspoken in polite society, now parades as the standard of morality for mankind in this present dying era.

Even Christians seem to revel in their rebellion against godliness.

It is as if the professed people of God imagine that through embracing wickedness they exalt the grace of God.

Our culture has exalted tolerance and elevated compromise to a virtue.

Early in my service, I naïvely imagined that churches should influence society toward good, leading mankind to embrace righteousness and justice.

One would have been on solid ground arguing that such responsibility is imposed by the command of the Master.

However, during my lifetime I’ve witnessed an inversion of moral righteousness transforming society and consequently, transforming the churches.

Rather than influencing society, churches today are more likely to be influenced by society—rather than being transformational, to a disturbing extend churches are being transformed.

And the transformation is not for better; it is marked by a turning from righteousness even as the professed people of God embrace wickedness.

Without question many churches have been overly harsh toward selected sins, while ignoring the wicked actions and evil attitudes that are tolerated within their own congregation.

Christians have too often categorized sin, defining various acts as evil to suit our own particular interests.

Nevertheless, responsibility is imposed on that one appointed by God to deliver the message of life—he must expose sin, warning of its consequences while calling all people to repentance and faith.

Whether the denizens of this fallen world embrace life or reject life, the servant of God has been given the apostolic charge: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” [2 TIMOTHY 4:1, 2].

Likewise, the people of God are charged to stand with the man of God in resisting wickedness.

Nor may we redefine wickedness to suit the attitude of the day.

Our divine definition has been delivered through the Word of the True and Living God.

It will prove valuable for us to review the Apostle’s description of Roman society at the time he wrote; it presents a picture not unlike that presented by contemporary society.

For all our vaunted technological advancement today, we struggle against the evil lurking in man’s heart.

Despite having an apparently greater capacity to ensure a comfortable life, there is widespread dissatisfaction with life.

People are ill at ease with their situation and uncertain of the future.

Tragically, this lack of confidence, this uncertainty of the future, is infiltrating the churches, causing unrest and uncertainty for the people of God.

PICTURE OF A WICKED SOCIETY — It is a stunning list that the Apostle presents.

Many of the wicked acts presented will be readily accepted as ungodly.

Most Christians are prepared to acknowledge that homosexual acts are rebellion against God Himself.

We don’t have too much trouble accepting more general terms such as unrighteousness, evil, malice, strife, deceit, maliciousness, haters of God, inventors of evil and faithless as worthy of condemnation.

We are confident that such specific actions as murder are wicked and deserving divine censure.

However, there are more than a few of these actions and attitudes that are less likely to be condemned.

In fact, they may even be renamed and condoned among contemporary Christians.

Covetousness and envy are renamed and categorised as ambition and as a desire for fairness.

Gossip is reimagined as “telling it like it is.”

Slander has been transformed into a warning against others who fail to meet our standard.

Insolence is now standing up for oneself, or perhaps it is cast as self-confidence.

Haughtiness and boasting are self-promotion necessary for getting ahead in the world.

Those who are disobedient to parents are simply self-assertive.

To be heartless and ruthless is being strong.

Thus, modern churchgoers have tacitly rewritten the Word of God, effectively creating God in their own image.

The situation wasn’t that different in the day Paul wrote.

Roman society was at once highly structured and dreadfully debased.

Arguably, Roman society represented the apex of culture and the nadir of morality.

In that respect, it was not so terribly different from contemporary western society.

The Romans valued courage—especially courage to face death without flinching; they despised those who treasured life, deeming such attitudes as unworthy of Rome.

To lend one’s strength to the weak was considered foolish at best and inconsistent with Roman values.

There was a structured class system maintaining rigid separation of classes, though under selected situations one might move from one class to another.

Chastity was demanded of wives; but unfaithfulness for men was thought to be normal.

Homosexuality was both permitted and promoted even among the senatorial class at the time Paul wrote, despite ancient censure of the practise.

While the Apostle is quite specific in naming particular sins as wicked before God—as is the responsibility of any preacher of the Gospel—there are two primary points that seem to be easily overlooked.

Those issues should be noted and discussed so that we understand the depravity of mankind’s heart and so that we comprehend the offence we present to God.

First, note that God does not discriminate between sins—sin is wicked.

Let’s recall a biblical definition of sin.

We are taught, “Sin is lawlessness” [1 JOHN 3:4].

Later, John teaches, “All wrongdoing is sin” [1 JOHN 5:17].

Sin is lawlessness; all wrongdoing is sin.

The concept of lawlessness brings us back to any action that transgresses the will of God.

You will undoubtedly remember that the Apostle has taught us, “Where there is no law there is no transgression” [ROMANS 4:15].

If God has not positioned Himself against a particular practise, it is not sinful.

Set against this general statement is the knowledge that if God has positioned Himself against a given practise, if offends His holy character.

If man has offended the holiness of God, then that individual must answer for his actions.

There are individuals who argue that they can’t possibly know what is sinful.

The warning that all wrongdoing is sin addresses this precise issue.

Whatever is not specifically addressed by the law of God is permissible.

However, the will of God is clearly revealed; man knows within himself what is right and what is wrong.

However, one may stifle conscience or resist what is right to the point that she is no longer able to experience remorse or feel shame for a given action.

Indeed, the Apostle warns of precisely such a day when he pens the warning, “The Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared” [1 TIMOTHY 4:1, 2].

Whether an individual feels an action is right is immaterial; what is important is what is right.

One of the serious problems facing contemporary Christianity is the emphasis on feelings.

Modern Christians do what they “feel” is right.

Consequently, and as a significant aside, worship is based on how it makes the worshipper feel rather than whether it engages the mind and brings the individual into the presence of God.

Decisions within the congregation are made on how individual feels rather than what is written in the Word.

Right is right, regardless of how the individual feels.

Wrong is wrong, and what is wrong cannot be made right because someone feels it is right.

Again, the sinner cannot excuse himself or herself by saying, “God made me this way.”

Know that God does not create wickedness.

You must also know that however difficult your struggle may be, you cannot charge God with evil.

Paul asks and answers that precise question.

“You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault?

For who can resist his will?’

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is moulded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” [ROMANS 9:19-23].

The one sinning against God cannot claim that our culture has changed the definition of sin.

Since sin is against God, and since God does not change, then that which is sinful remains sinful.

Recall the words of James, the brother of our Lord.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” [JAMES 1:16, 17].