Colossians 2:8
How can anyone in the American Church grasp the message of
verse eight? Most of us have never
been enslaved, or have we? We have
the history of many great nations who were taken captive not by enemies from
other nations, but from the enemies within.
Rome is a great example of a culture often compared to ours
that was taken captive by philosophies that led to moral degradation. It did not happen quickly, it was a
slow process and it came from the leaders and filtered down into the
populist. It began with the
breakdown of the family, the lust for something new, and degraded into a homosexual
life style.
What do we know about the early church at Rome? The apostle Paul shares the following in
Romans 1:8, “First, I thank my God through Jesus
Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.” These Roman Christians were
the real thing, how do we know that, faith always comes to the forefront in
times of suffering, hardships, and various trials. It is in this opening letter to the church at Rome that Paul
states; “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.” (Romans
1:17)
The church at Rome was a light in the middle of a culture of
corruption, a culture that had no moral compass and the apostle Paul begins in
verse 18, to describe a people who forget God’s basic laws. Paul states that God’s wrath is being
revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who
suppress the truth by their wickedness.
God has put His truth into their hearts and minds, but they have chosen
to go the way of Sodom and Gomorrah and they are without excuse. Paul tells us that in such a culture
leaders and people claim to be wise, but God has allowed their thinking to
become futile, and their foolish hearts to love darkness and sin. So God let them have the sinful desires
of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one
another.
“Furthermore, since they did not
think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a
depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil,
greed and depravity. They are full
of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant
and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they
are senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do
such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but
also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:28-32)
As I read Romans 1, it was as if I was reading about our
Nation, the United States of America.
Is that not a very clear picture of the Congress of the United States;
is it not a picture of our culture?
How did it happen, I believe it happened for the reason stated
above. Sin is not a word we use in
2010, it goes by other names; like liberalism, and Progressives, but its core
value is to ignore the ways of God and do whatever your foolish heart
desires. It has it’s roots in self
and the by products are every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and
depravity. And if you just listen,
you will see that they care nothing for truth, they are gossips, slanderers,
God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil.
So what must Christians do: “Therefore,
as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in
him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
(Colossians 2:6) And
one last thought, many of these Christians who lived by faith were used as human
torches. Rome did not survive and
the United States may not either, but the Kingdom of God is still with us.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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