Sermon 3-3-24

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

The Third Sunday in Lent

The Foundations Are Shaken

Last week I noted that behavior follows faith. We all behave according to what we actually believe to be true about this world and about life. Notice I said actually. For, many people say they believe certain things to be true, but then their actions speak otherwise. We call this hypocrisy. However, hypocrisy is typical of everyone on the planet — you, me, everyone. Therefore, when we look at the problem of human behavior, even our own behavior, we can’t be afraid to admit that our behavior may prove that we actually believe something different than what we say we believe. And if we’re not afraid to do that, that’s the beginning of wisdom and the beginning of repentance.

So, what do we actually believe? What does our civilization actually believe? If we’re not afraid to examine our behavior, we’ll find out. And only then can things change.

From what I’m seeing and hearing, it seems that as a nation we’re in something of a funk — maybe even a deep funk right now. However, the good news is that in the midst of it some people are searching for a way out. Some are searching for a better way to believe and thus a better way to live. That’s good. For, Christianity has always offered precisely that — Jesus — the way, the truth and the life.

Jesus of Nazareth is a gigantic figure in human history. There was no one like Him before Him. There has been no one like Him since Him. He’s such a gigantic figure that the world standard for counting the years starts with His birth.

In addition, all the rabid loathing of Jesus and His followers over the centuries only proves that He is a gigantic figure in history. He cannot be ignored. On the one hand, He can only be ridiculed, blasphemed, rejected and persecuted. On the other, He can only be loved and adored. Whole civilizations stand or fall in regard to Him. Every individual on earth stands or falls in regard to Him. This is because Jesus is our very Creator God come incarnate in human flesh to save us from sin, death and the power of the devil. Therefore, if we and our own civilization are currently in a funk, it’s actually because of Jesus and how we’re receiving Him, or not.

In the coming series of sermons I propose to examine from Scripture what happens to a civilization when it rejects Yahweh — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the process, I also propose to examine the traditional Christianity — the way, the truth and the life — that  we can offer to the world as Christ’s Church. The only question will be if we truly believe the faith ourselves. We’ll see if we do as we dig into what happens when human civilization rejects Yahweh and Jesus, the Son. Our examination will rely on Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 1 and verses 16 through 32.

The epistle to the Romans contains a deep discussion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But the discussion of the Gospel is preceded by a detailed discussion of the desperate human need for the Gospel. And this discussion focuses in turn upon two categories of people: first, non-Jews — that is Gentiles — then Jews.

The discussion of the Gentile world comes first in Romans chapter 1. The discussion of Judaism comes second in Romans chapter 2. But the net result is the conclusion arrived at in Romans 3:22-24, “22. . . There is no difference, [meaning between Gentile and Jew] 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Verse 24 then begins the powerful discussion of the Gospel and the Christian life covered in the rest of the letter.

In chapters 1 and 2 of Romans Paul proves that there is a difference in how the Gentiles and the Jews of the ancient world sinned against God. In this sermon series we’re only going to deal with the sin of the Gentiles. You’ll see why as we go along in the series.

Interestingly, Paul begins the whole discussion of sin with this statement in Romans 1:16-17, “16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”

By the way, these are the very verses that began the Reformation. Martin Luther struggled with them and finally understood that Jesus is the righteousness of God spoken of in these verses.

Paul begins the section on sin with these verses because he’s laying out his purpose. Something powerful has come into the world. It’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul’s purpose in discussing sin is to show us that the power of the Gospel — Jesus — is the only power that can save us from the power of sin.

So, the first thing we’re told is that the Gospel is the power of God. It’s not our power. It’s divine power. Although the Gospel looks weak in this world it’s actually very powerful. If it were powerless it would be ignored. It would be nothing. But you can tell just how powerful the Gospel is by how much it is feared and how many enemies it has.

For instance, columnist Laura Hollis wrote in Townhall this week, “In a paroxysm of panic about Americans’ rejection of the Biden administration’s policies . . . the Left has decided that the real cause of the widespread dissatisfaction and demand for policies that place Americans first is ‘Christian nationalism.’ . . . Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla appeared on MSNBC . . . [and] explained ominously that ‘Christian nationalists’ believe that . . . ‘our rights as Americans — as all human beings — don’t come from any earthly authority. They don’t come from Congress; they don’t come from the Supreme Court; they come from God.’” Horrors!

Well, last I looked, Heidi, Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all human rights come from God and it’s the duty of government to protect those God-given rights. And Jefferson was no devout Christian. But that’s how much of a threat the true Gospel is. I would note that there are plenty of powerful false gospels out there. But the true Gospel of Jesus Christ — crucified to atone for our sins and raised from the dead to confirm it — is the power of God. It’s so powerful that it can even invade politics and cause anti-Christian leftists to have fits.

Now, Paul says in Romans 1:16-17 that the gospel is not only power but that it reveals a righteousness come from God and by this He means Jesus. Therefore, by faith in what God has done in Jesus, the unrighteous are made righteous before God. As Peter put it in 1 Peter 3:18, “… Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” And again Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Sinners receiving the very righteousness of Yahweh as a free gift – this is what makes the gospel so powerful. It changes lives. It changes hopes. It changes eternal destinies. It also changes the way we behave. It even changes civilizations.

Of course, the full righteousness of Yahweh given to believers takes the form of a promise as yet unrealized. For, as long as we live in these bodies, the sinful nature remains a burden to all who have put their faith in Christ. But upon death and in the resurrection of the dead we will be clothed in Yahweh’s perfect righteousness forever. That’s the promised reality to which all who love Yahweh and His Son look forward.

On the other hand, all who hate Yahweh and His Son can only look forward to eternal lives of total rebellion, evil and wickedness. For Jesus, the Son, is humanity’s only righteousness now and forever. This is the power of the Gospel.

We next read in Romans 1:18-20, “18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Here, Paul proclaims that with the coming of Jesus, the wrath of God — meaning the judgment of God — is being revealed against the Gentile nations for their rejection of Yahweh, the Creator God. Similarly, Paul said in Acts 17:30-31, “30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance [meaning polytheism and idolatry], but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” Of course, that man is Jesus.

This means that for centuries of human history Yahweh let humanity fall into idolatry. But with the coming of Jesus, Yahweh ended his toleration of paganism. What’s the history behind this and how does it apply to us? That’s what we’re going to look at first.

In recent years, the late Dr. Michael Heiser derived from Scripture a new thesis about the pre-Christian ancient world. Like all new theses, this one is controversial to a certain extent. So, I want to put that disclaimer in here before we quickly develop it. But, I share Dr. Heiser’s thesis with you because it best explains the initial statement of Romans 1:18, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men. . . .” In Dr. Heiser’s thesis the change in Yahweh’s attitude toward the nations is based on events that go all the way back to the Tower of Babel.

The following verses are from the English Standard Version translation. Deuteronomy 32:8-9, “8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. 9 But the LORD’S portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.” [ESV] If you read these verses in the NIV bibles that we have in the pews, they’ll read slightly differently. But the translators of the ESV chose to go with a reading of these verses found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint.

It’s clear that in speaking of God dividing mankind, these verses refer to what happened at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. In that chapter, we find that after the great flood, the descendants of Noah’s family refused to fan out over the whole earth as God had commanded them. Instead, they stayed together in one place and built the tower. For this disobedience, Yahweh judged them by dividing us up into language groups that can’t understand each other and then causing people to move away from each other to different territories in the world.

From the words of Deuteronomy 32:8 Heiser theorized that when Yahweh divided the nations at Babel, He “divorced” the nations as a judgment against all humanity for disobedience. In His place, Yahweh put all the nations under the spiritual authority of the beings He created that are called in Scripture, “the sons of God.” Nevertheless, Deuteronomy 32:9 tells us that out of the nations, Yahweh eventually called one man, Abraham, and his descendants as a nation special to Him, namely Israel. In the period of time after Babel, Israel alone was under Yahweh’s spiritual authority. Only Israel continued to worship Yahweh as their God.

Now, Scripture doesn’t tell us very much about the created order of beings called the “sons of God.” They’re mentioned in Job where Yahweh speaks about the creation of the earth and says to Job in Job 38:6-7, “On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” [ESV] However, a group of the sons of God is spoken of in a negative way in Genesis 6.

We also get considerable information about them in Psalm 82. That psalm begins, “Psalm 82:1, “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:” [ESV] Here we see that Yahweh has a council of high order spiritual beings around Himself — beings that He has created. These beings are of such high an order that Scripture calls them “gods” in the plural. These are the sons of God.

The psalm then speaks of Yahweh’s judgment against some of these gods who were given authority over humanity but rebelled against Him by leading humanity into evil. Psalm 82:2-5, “2 How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? 3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. 5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.” [ESV]

It’s clear from these verses that these “gods” have authority over human beings. For, we’re the creatures in the universe who have fathers. It’s also clear that these “gods” are not watching over us in righteousness. They have rebelled against Yahweh. Their disobedience has shaken the very foundations of the earth. 

Therefore, Yahweh concludes in Psalm 82:6-8, “I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; 7 nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’ 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!” [ESV] Here we see that because of their rebellion, certain members of this high order of divine beings will fall into death — most likely the second death spoken of in Revelation, which is a complete separation from God in hell.

But, there’s a good news promise in verse 8. A time is coming when Yahweh will again inherit all the nations. The divorce will be over and Yahweh will again pull the nations back under His spiritual care and authority. This promise was and is fulfilled through Jesus, the Son of God. The fulfillment of the promise is confirmed by what Paul wrote in Galatians 3:26-28, “26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

In these verses we see that the term “sons of God” can also refer to the humans who comprise Christ’s true Church. For this reason, Dr. Michael Heiser concludes that Yahweh has two families. One is a heavenly family of high order spiritual beings known as “sons of God.” The other is an earthly family — His true Church. But, in the bodily resurrection of the dead, Scripture indicates that Christ’s Church will probably be of even higher order than the heavenly family. Nevertheless all sons of God will dwell together.

So, here’s the outline. At the Tower of Babel, Yahweh put all the nations of the world under the authority of the “sons of God” — spiritual beings of the highest order. Later, Yahweh called Abraham from among the nations. Abraham’s descendants became Israel, the only people in the time before Jesus that Yahweh called to Himself. In the meantime, the sons of God that Yahweh had put over the nations of earth defied Yahweh. The term wickedness in the Old Testament not only refers to immorality, it specifically refers to the greatest immorality of all, refusing Yahweh as God. And this is what the gods — the rebellious sons of God — led the nations of the world into — denial of Yahweh, the Creator God. The corrupt sons of God led the people of the nations to worship them as their gods instead of Yahweh.

I’ve always been puzzled why ancient people got into polytheism and idolatry. Why did they attribute supernatural power to statues, stones and trees? I think Heiser’s explanation of idolatry is the best one I’ve seen to date. There are strong spiritual beings behind idolatry — the rebellious sons of God. Even though these beings are unseen, they were powerful enough to get all humans to agree with them in their rebellion. Their power was not superseded until Jesus — the power of the Gospel — came.

To me, it’s clear that our formerly Christian culture is slipping back into paganism. Therefore, are we again seeing the power these invisible beings have to influence peoples and cultures? This is one of the things I propose to consider as we examine Paul’s analysis of the ancient pagan world in Romans 1:18-32.

At present, it’s unclear whether our formerly Christian culture can be rescued from a descent into paganism. It may not be possible. Nevertheless, Yahweh’s command for all nations everywhere to repent of paganism still stands as it has for 2,000 years. And it’s clear that the descent into paganism is troubling many hearts. Historic understandings of basic right and wrong; understandings of male and female, marriage, family and many other things are collapsing. Without knowing what they’re really looking for, some people are looking for the historic foundations of traditional Christian life. We’re here to tell them. But we’ve got to find out what the foundations are for ourselves. We’ve been brought up in a world that was being corrupted by paganism and we didn’t even know it until all of a sudden it has resulted in the present situation. Therefore, don’t you think we also have been at least partially corrupted by pagan thinking? We need to find out. That’s why we’re going to examine Romans 1:18-32.

In conclusion, our investigation today has revealed that because Messiah Jesus came, Yahweh is no longer putting up with paganism. He is gathering the nations to Himself through Messiah. And, His wrath is being revealed against all who resist His Gospel. As we saw, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God because Jesus is the righteousness of God. He’s the only way to enter into eternal, resurrected, righteous life with Yahweh. And no one can enter without the forgiveness of their sins which only Jesus can provide. Through us, then, Jesus calls all sinners to His righteousness. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the NIV, unless otherwise noted.