Articles
Inventors
Whatever our concept of who we think God is, or should be, the only true and reliable source for man to truly know Him, His character, and His action is what is revealed to us in the Scriptures — the written word of God we also know as the Bible. And what we find within the written word is a God that is love personified (1 John 4:8) and that He is righteous in all He does (Psa. 145:17) — not the picture many would have us believe. Within the song of Moses, He is described in this way: “His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He” (Deut. 32:4). The psalmist adds, “The word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice” (Psa. 33:4, 5).
Much more could be said, but this is sufficient to make the point that God is righteous and that all He does and says is righteous, just, and true; after all, His “word is truth” (John 17:17). We would expect nothing less of the God of whom it is said “it is impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18). With this information, we can only conclude that anything not of God or contrary to God’s ways is unrighteous; in fact, God’s word tells us this: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4), or, as John writes just a bit later, “All unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17). All unrighteousness [that which is contrary to God’s ways] is sin; let us not forget this! When John reveals to us the worldly, unrighteous desires, he describes them as “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” and then points out that these things are “not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). When anyone sins, he acts contrary to God’s ways and God’s laws.
And, as we may know, sin came into this world when the devil tempted Eve to act contrary to God’s law (Gen. 3:1-6; Gen. 2:16, 17). Of course, the devil also lied, deceiving the woman into thinking there would be no consequences, but the reality was quite different than the lie. Because sin entered into this once-perfect world, man has suffered ever since. For those who want to lay the blame for violence, injustice, and suffering at the feet of God, please redirect your finger-pointing to the one behind it all: the devil. Just as cold is the absence of heat and hate is the absence of love, sin is what remains when we abandon righteousness.
And if we were to study the history of mankind and honestly consider the effects of man rejecting the ways of righteousness, we would find that society has never improved. If anything, societies that have rejected God’s standard of truth, justice, and righteousness have always degraded into injustice, violence, and great evils being done. Still, man keeps thinking he can reject God’s ways and come up with a better way. It will never be.
Consider an example of a people who did just that, and let us see where it led: the Gentiles, as described by Paul in Romans 1:18-32.
The Rejection of God. Paul plainly writes that the Gentiles knew God, but “they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21), The result was [and will always be] “all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). The evidence of God’s existence and His eternal character were there for all to see (Romans 1:19, 20), but they had to suppress it lest they have to be honest with themselves, and lest anyone else consider the truth of the matter and seek Him and His ways,
The Next Step: Create Your own ‘God.’ Free from having to acknowledge the existence of the only true and living God, these men then “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:23); they made idols in the form of living creatures and called them their ‘gods’ and worshiped them. No doubt, some declared themselves ‘god,’ “Professing to be wise” (Romans 1:22). It is only logical that if a man denies the existence of a vastly-superior being or deity [God], then man stands as the most intelligent creature on earth and, thus, worthy of holding the highest [and only] position of authority for what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and what is, or is not, acceptable.
The Downward Spiral Begins. Free from God’s restrictions on behavior, it is not surprising that man’s standards — and then behavior — quickly degrades. Such was the case here, for it would not be long before “their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature” and “the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another” (Romans 1:26, 27). This only led man further and further away from God and His ways, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness” (Romans 1:28, 29). Should we be surprised to read that those who practiced such acts of unrighteousness “did not like to retain God in their knowledge”? Doing that would only remind them of their sin, and that was unacceptable.
The Inventors. All the ungodliness and unrighteousness that followed was named by Paul [not to be considered and all-inclusive list], and it is notable that one of the things he included were those who were “inventors of evil things” (Romans 1:30). It was if some spent their time in the pursuit of every evil, and when they had gone through the existing acts of ungodliness and unrighteousness, they then turned to creating and inventing new ways to act contrary to God and His ways! That, friends and brethren, is what happens when we reject God and His ways: We have to invent new ways to commit sin! It will never be enough to simply take a prohibition of God and disobey by doing that which is forbidden; man then seeks out new ways to stir the anger of God and to sin against Him!
Time to Look in the Mirror. Lest we think this was only true of the Gentiles who lived long ago, it would be wise to take a look at what we are doing and honestly and thoroughly examine it and hold it up to the revealed will of God as found within the Scriptures and see if we might be following their pattern. It just may be that, in some small way, we have rejected God’s pattern for what disciples and His church should be doing, and set ourselves up as the ‘authority’ in His place, or boldly declared “We don’t need authority to do this” — whatever ‘this’ may be. It may be that we, too, profess “to be wise” and have substituted God’s will for some creed written by man — or just our own opinions. It may be that we have been doing some things Jesus Christ does not authorize us to do, as His church, yet declared it to be “a good work.” It could be that we tolerate or even approve of some methods of worshiping Him that He has not authorized. It could be that the church of which we are a part is organized and does things in ways Jesus never approved because it is nowhere to be found within the Bible. It is at this point we need to be reminded that when we reject God’s ways and/or do things contrary to God’s ways, it is not “a good work”; it is sin. It is unrighteousness.
Let us not blindly do anything in our service to and worship of God; let us ensure we are truly obedient disciples, and that we have not become “inventors of evil things,” even as we argue it is acceptable to God. It is not. — Steven Harper
