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Pastor's Blog March 11, 2021
"View of God in Romans I"
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Throughout 2021, I think it will be good for us to spend time together looking at God's character in the Letter to the Romans.
Romans has a lot to say about who God shows himself to be and how God demonstrates his character to us, and this material can be very encouraging as we live the Christian life. And right at the beginning of Romans, we find the first place where God shows himself to us. In Romans 1:18-19, we find it stated: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident in them" (NASB).
How is it helpful for us to get to know God by understanding divine wrath and "that which is known about God?" According to Romans 1:20-23, God has already shown us that we are a priority to him. God has demonstrated his "eternal power and divine nature" by creating us and everything else (verse 20), so that we can know and understand several truths about God: that God is worthy of us glorifying and thanking him for taking care of us and giving us life (verse 21), that it is the better part of wisdom to know the One who made us (verse 22), and that God has made us in his glorious image because he loves us (verse 23).
Of course, we have reacted to these truths by turning away from God and darkening our hearts (verse 21), acting foolishly and as if God is unimportant (verse 22), and focusing our attention on creatures rather than the Creator (verse 23). So God's response to our reaction is divine wrath - a wrath that is defined by God giving us what we want: "Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity" (verse 24); "for this reason God gave them over to degrading passions" (verse 25); "God gave them over to a depraved mind" (verse 28) . What God shows us about himself is that his power, nature, and wrath are primarily concerned with taking care of us, even to the point of letting us turn away from him and have that which breaks his heart - if this is really what we want.
Friends, God is self-secure enough to show us his love without expecting us to love him back. Why don't we respond to that love by appreciating God and getting to know him better?
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
