City Life Starter

I. The Word: Romans 3:10-18

10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Reflection Questions:

1. Have you ever considered that at some point we all have really hated God?
2. Do you see your desperate need for God?
3. Have you found more desire to pursue Him in light of what Jesus has done for you?

After Paul has spent a significant amount of his writing to the Romans on building a defense for how we are all sinners, he takes it even further. Here he is explaining how we are not only missing the mark, but we are not even truly interested in seeking God. No one understands, no one seeks God, no one does good. Not even one!

Most people who believe in some sort of higher being in any religion assume that their devotion to their beliefs creates intimacy with their God. It’s easy to look at someone sacrificing themselves or their time in some way to their god and think, “They must really love their God.” Paul debunks this idea by going to the Tanakh (Old Testament) in these verses to say, “No, not even one!” Now, at first glance this seems harsh, but if you really think and study what the scriptures teach, you too would come to that conclusion. I would even say you MUST come to this conclusion.

We all are looking to some sort of savior, some sort of king. The movies we watch, the songs we sing, all point to our need for something greater to fix us and our world. This is innate in all of us. In America we do not have natural kings. In fact the actual record of kings is abysmal. Tyranny, slavery, rivalry and now just about every king has been toppled and put in its place by democracy. In America, there is no royal line and no king, so we have to create them. We take billionaires, athletes, celebrities, politicians and even criminals and turn them into kings. We crown them and adore them. Why? Because we need a king. We need hope for the brokenness. Even unbelievers show this need. Maybe not in a higher being, but in some sort of social or economic change for our future preservation and progress to human kind.

What’s the problem then? The problem is we want a king, but we hate the King. We want independence and freedom to do what we want, to seek out our own pleasure. A king tells us what to do. He has rights over us and puts a yoke on us. As George Macdonald, a Christian minister in the 19th century, quoted, “The central conviction of hell is: I am my own.” This selfish ownership creates a hell in all of our relationships. “I am my own! Take the yoke off. I belong to no one else but myself. I am the captain of my own soul, the master of my own fate.” Someone who has rights over us and a yoke on us who says, “You belong to me. Do as I say.” This starts while we are children and continues to adulthood. We actually hate the idea that we have a king. The scriptures say that we don’t actually disbelieve in God, but we hate Him.

Some would say, “If only God would come down and reveal himself to us we would all bow down and worship Him.” This, however, is completely and utterly false. Why? Because God did come down through His son Jesus and what did we do to Him? Love and adore Him? No, we (and I mean we) crucified Him. We spit on Him, choked Him, whipped and nailed Him.  Why? We don’t really want a king. We like the idea of God or a king, or a savior, like superman, but we don’t really want someone telling us how to live or think. When you finally realize this, you stop deceiving yourself into thinking your religious duties and sacrifices prove your love for God (Isaiah 1:11-17).

So what do we do? We know we have a King, but we hate the King, we do not seek Him or fear Him. We must realize that we need Him. That apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5) We are utterly lost without Him. This desperation makes us look at the cross He bore in desperation for us as a statement of absolute trust. He is not a tyrannical king, but a humble one. He is not placing heavy burdens on us, but rather carrying them with and for us. He is the true King we have longed for and is worthy of us denying ourselves for something so much greater than ourselves. His passion becomes our passion. His love, our love. His kingdom invading every square foot of earth.