18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. 19 For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
Paul’s transition between verse 17 (last week) and verse 18 is abrupt and intentional. Paul needed to lay out why it is important to believe in the sanctifying grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We are sinful by nature, and if we are left to our own thoughts and judgment, we will sin.
Is God an angry God? We see people, that don’t agree with our lifestyle, as being intolerant, opinionated, and bigoted. Our response to their offensive objections is usually defensiveness. We are all born with a knowledge of right and wrong, and when we lean towards wrong, we are literally “pushing God’s truth away” from ourselves. Sin is a conscious rebellion against God. It is not something that we do accidentally. God’s judgment against our sin is perfect. What we interpret as anger is God’s perfect, righteous indignation. We deserve to be punished for our rebellion, and God makes no apologies by saying that if we choose to separate ourselves from Him, that is exactly what we will get. That is spiritual death.
We shake our fists at heaven and ask how a loving God could send anyone to hell, especially someone who has never heard of Jesus Christ. But Paul explains that God has revealed Himself to everyone through His creation. How can anyone look out their window and not get the sense that something greater than us had a hand in creating everything that we can see? The answer to that question is simple: We know that if we acknowledge God, then we must acknowledge His moral standards. We want to live by our own moral standards, and the only way we can justify doing that is by rejecting God.
I find it interesting that it takes an intellectual act to not believe in God. We don’t simply, “not think” about it, we have to choose not to believe it. God placed on our hearts an instinctive knowledge of His presence. We look at things around us – God’s creation – and we know in our hearts that He is real. To say that there is no God requires a conscious act, and as Paul wrote, we have to push this thought out of our heads.
Throughout recorded history, every civilization has known there is a God. They may not have known Him, or understood Him, but they knew He was present. Some cultures believe in many gods because it was easier to understand a god of the sun, and a god of the rain. A god of the crops, and a god of the sea.
In the Book of Acts chapter 17, Paul found himself in Athens Athens
These were some of the most brilliant men of their time. They knew there was a God, but they couldn’t fully reason Him in their minds. They knew that God was more than they could contain in a number of temples, and that all of their gods combined couldn’t answer all of their questions.
My hope is that, God willing, there are some seekers of God’s truth among you that share in this study – some of you that do not believe, but are interested in knowing more. You may even consider yourself an Atheist, or an Agnostic. That’s OK – no judgment will be passed in this forum. What I do ask is that you take the position of the first century Greek philosophers and be open to what the Word of God has to say. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.
Paul wrote that God placed this knowledge of Him on our hearts, as opposed to placing it in our heads. To some, that may sound like a trivial play on words, but there is much more to it than that. Knowing that all of this type of activity physically goes on in our brain, it appears that God has designated a portion of our brain as the “heart section”. I can’t answer metaphysically what part of our brain contains this knowledge of God and our inherent sense of right and wrong, but wherever it is, it is in a place that can never be erased or overwritten. It is always there. We can fill the rest of our brain with all kinds of knowledge and theories, but our inherent sense of right and wrong is always there.
A good friend of mine, who I consider a brilliant mind by worldly standards, once said that if we could just measure God – that is, if we could find that God is this big, and that God travels at this speed – my friend could more easily accept His existence. But, by definition, if we could measure God, He would be no God at all. In order to be God, you have to be infinite and eternal. You can’t be restricted by space or time. And because of that, we can never fully understand Him. It is impossible to contain something that is infinite in a finite space.
So, we fashion God into our own image. Paul explains in verses 21 and 22 that we began to rely on our own intellect. We began to think up ways to make God fit into our lifestyle, rather than us living by His. The result – we became even more confused. We believe that we are so smart. We look around at the accomplishments of man and pat ourselves on the back. But, we forget that it is God that gave us this intellect. It is God that made all of this possible. We worship the things He created – our minds, our skills, our accomplishments, but we don’t worship the Creator – or even give Him thanks for making us who we are.
We replace God with something less. We say things like, “My god would never do this, or that..” “My god would never send a good person to hell.” “I’m a spiritual person, I believe god is in everything.” “God has revealed himself as different things to different people. To some he is Buddha, to others Alah, to others Chrishna… it’s all the same god.”
Then before we know it, as Paul pointed out in verse 23, God begins "...to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles."
We need to understand that God is God. He is nothing like us. We are a little like Him since we were created in His image, but we are nothing compared to God. God is perfect, holy and righteous. God is eternal and infinite. He is not limited by space or time. He can see both the end and beginning with perfect clarity, as well as everything in between.
And still we try to fit God into a box. We ask ridiculous questions like, “Could God create a rock so big that He couldn’t lift it?” Of course not! The simple fact that anything created is finite, and knowing that God is infinite negates that question.
So put away the clay and the carving tools, and start to see God for who He truly is. He is the holy, perfect, righteous creator of all things. He is the one that loves with complete perfection. The one that knows us so intimately and longs for us to know Him as well. He is the one that sacrificed Himself to pay for our sins so that we could be made right with Him. He is the one that blesses those that call on His name, in this life, as well as the life to come.
But He is also the perfect, righteous judge. And as any good judge, He cannot let sin go unpunished. If you choose to separate yourself from God, He will not stand in your way.
Think of it this way: Every sin that ever was and that ever will be was paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ – God in the flesh. Right now, as you are reading this, every one of your sins is just sitting there with a claim check that reads, “paid in full”. And all you have to do is ask for it, and that claim check is yours. So what is stopping you? Ask Christ for forgiveness. Ask Him to come into your life. Turn from your sins and follow Him.
What a shame it will be at the final judgment, when we will all stand before God, and we will see our sins. It breaks my heart to think of all of the sins that will be laying there with their claim checks still attached. And God the Father will ask the question, “I gave you my Son to pay for your sins, why didn’t you accept Him?”
Study Questions:
Have you “pushed the truth of God away”? This is more than just the question of whether you believe in God or not. What do you believe about God? Do you see Him as the infinite, eternal, creator God of the universe, or is He something that you fashioned into your lifestyle?
Can you see God in nature? Psalm 19:1 reads, “The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies display His marvelous craftsmanship.” Most of us live in suburban areas where, when we look out our windows, we see more man-made things than nature in its perfection. Have you ever wondered what it is that draws people to the great outdoors? We love camping, and fishing, and skiing. We love to get out into nature. We find peace. We find God.
What does God look like to you? Even as Christians, we struggle with understanding God. Often times we forget that he is God. We think of Him as something less – as another human – just like us only more powerful. Is that your perspective? Start seeing God as the loving, creator of all things, and rest in knowing that He has the power to make all things possible in our lives.
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