“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.” Romans 1:26-27
The effect of perverting our God-given impulse to worship Him in truth is to turn to greater and greater perversions. Our insistence upon not worshipping and thanking God, which we were created to do, is unnatural. If a tree refused to be a tree, or if a dog wanted to act like a bird…these would be unnatural acts. We speak of natural things and yet suppress the most obvious, which is that we are created by God to worship Him in truth. Mankind’s refusal to come to Jesus Christ in faith is the only thing on earth that’s unnatural. Everything that follows is either our perversions of good things (like sex meant for marriage between one man and one woman) or the consequences of sin (God’s wrath).
In Jeremiah 8:7 the Lord makes this point explicit. He compares His people, who refuse to follow His rules, to various birds who know their seasons.
The impulse to worship, which is perverted in us by sin, sends us into degrading passions. We become less then human because of sin. We see the horrific impact of drug abuse and recoil at the outward manifestation of the addiction yet we’re blind to the ugliness of sin upon our inner beings.
America’s current fascination with homosexuality and transgenderism is proof that we’ve been given over by God. Notice that the text says that God “gave them up.” A thing to know about life is that since God is its author and creator, He’s the source of goodness, truth and all beauty. By rejecting Him we embrace the antithesis. The ultimate end of this “great exchange” (of the truth about God for a lie) is that we run to the arms of perversions, lies and ugliness. Sin deforms. Sin destroys.
Notice also that the Scripture says “they exchanged natural relations” and, therefore, “were consumed” in the lusts they chose. The rejection of God is the rejection of wisdom. Sure, an unsaved person might learn many things, but even this is a grace from God. The thing to remember in that context is that we’re talking about technical knowledge. We’ve perverted the word “education” in our time to mean the opposite of what it should. An architect, a doctor, a pilot…these are highly skillful people, indeed, but technical skill isn’t wisdom. The root of wisdom and real knowledge is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). To base our lives on the premise that there’s no God is a catastrophic act and an unnatural one for people created by Him.
This passage tells us that sinful lusts consume us by making us captive to them. The easiest parallel is drug abuse, as we’ve mentioned. Drug addiction gives us a careful warning as to the dangers of sin. The drug, which offered so much pleasure to the abuser, quite literally destroys them. Indeed, sin beckons. She’s seductive (Proverbs 7:21) and whispers, “stolen waters are sweet (Proverbs 9:17)” and just a little porn…just a little lust is alright. The demonic nature of sexual sin is that it brings us low and we burn with mindless, dishonorable lust as though we’re animals. We might be highly skilled animals but that’s only for the moment as the skill itself and the ability to actualize it successfully (in an economy wealthy enough to use it) is a grace from God meant to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4).
Watch the life of the drug abuser. Watch them waste away as the drug eats them alive. Like this we get a picture of the end of sin.
Sexual addictions, though not as outwardly damaging as substance abuse, nevertheless do to the soul what drugs do to the body. The damage is there. Don’t doubt that. We just can’t see it with the naked eye. These are so commonplace today because we’ve exchanged the truth about God and have ceased to understand (in wisdom) what beauty and love truly are. The counterfeit is all around us. The world, that great seductress, tells us that lust is love. She offers the drug of instant sexual gratification everywhere and now even calls it a virtue.
As always, understanding biblical truth helps us defeat sin by showing us the root cause of it. So many men struggle with porn addictions because they’re trapped in a desert of the soul. We are made to worship. We are made as lovers! But sin has twisted the impulses that are supposed to bring us to the Lord Jesus Christ and replaced them with animalistic sexual lust. God created us to be integrated beings. All aspects of our lives, body and soul, working harmoniously is the purpose of our existence to the glory of God. Sin takes an aspect and isolates it from the whole, which mutilates and deforms the thing itself (in this case sex).
The way to defeat sexual sin isn’t to deny the passion itself, but to stop seeing it as an end unto itself. To do this requires a renewed mind that’s not set on the flesh! It requires a mind awakened to the true beauty of the Lord, fellowship with Him and the world as it should be. The joy of the Lord should and must replace the desires of the flesh. We must learn to pray for and seek what we are truly created for and say:
“…the rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:9-10)Catch that? This is to say that we’re renewed in Christ and work toward a sanctified mind that understands life as it truly is and that no material wealth (represented by the gold) or physical pleasure (represented by the sweetness of honey) can compare with knowing and doing the will of the Lord. In other words, righteousness is beautiful! Following the Lord will make a man or woman, a boy or girl, what they can and ought to be on this earth.
The old mind that’s set on the flesh sees good in sin. But this is deception. It sees righteousness as boring, dreary and monotonous. This is the great lie! It’s sin that’s those things. Righteousness opens up the glories of life as they naturally should be before sin fractured and distorted them. To defeat sexual sin and temptation we can’t merely “stay away from it” or “scare people straight” with warnings of hell. There is truth to that, yes. The full context is needed, though. We must yearn and pray to replace the lie with the truth.
“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 27:4Because the Lord made us, we can’t be happy without Him. True joy is natural, not dull. Christians are called to a life of rejoicing of gladness and peace. Drunkenness and sexual sin are counterfeits and there’s no joy in them.
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4The logic is obvious if we’ll look. Because this is our Father’s world, there is no good outside of Him.
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:8-9In all, we don’t defeat sin in our lives if we don’t see its unnaturalness – its horror and ugliness. When we do, and only then, we’ll see righteousness as the beauty it truly is and then we’ll set our minds on things that are lovely, beautiful, excellent, and true (Philippians 4:8). Instead of being consumed by lust, we’ll think of good music, art, literature, movies, stories, and all the multitude of things the Lord has given us so that we might know and praise Him.
We are made to be lovers of God and one aspect we express this is through worship. Another is through fellowship. Also, there’s the inestimable privilege of prayer and bible study! This will guide the our minds and renew them, seeing the world naturally at last! Then, whatever our hand finds to do (guided by the renewed mind) will be sanctified. So, fall in love with what the Lord has given you. Give yourself over to being a lover, in the Spirit of God, to those things He’s blessed you with. It’s all from Him, to Him, and for Him!
Go to a baseball game or concert and praise the Lord. Redecorate the house, work in the garden, write a blog, work on an engine, create some art, build a deck for the house…take a drive or go on a hike (Colossians 3:17). It’s all our Father’s world! We weren’t made to be consumers but worshippers and producers! Set your mind on these excellencies and dedicate it all to the Lord. Sin is worse than we can fathom and righteousness bigger and more abundant than we know (Ephesians 3:20).
Go on, be natural. Be what you were made to be…be the Lord’s.
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