The Great Exchange

 This morning we pick back up in our study of Romans by continuing an argument that Paul has begun working out in Romans 1. Last week we saw that the wrath of God is being revealed against humanity because they have exchanged the truth about God for a lie. They knew God because he has revealed himself through the creation, and yet they did not worship him as they should. Instead, they worshiped themselves and the rest of creation. I explained last week that this sinful rebellion of humanity is what we call “The Great Exchange”. Today, I want to look at this exchange in detail by studying Rom. 1:24-32. From this passage I want you to see an Exchange of Praise, an Exchange of Passions, and an Exchange of Patterns.

Before we can look at those three points, we need to do a bit of Old Testament Bible work to understand what exactly Paul is setting up here. So, if you would, flip with me back to Genesis 1:26-31. One of the truths that stands out as you read the creation story of Genesis 1 is the way that God created an orderly world. From the very beginning, God speaks to the chaotic, primordial world, and order comes out of chaos. Light appears where once there was only darkness. The Sky separates from the ocean so that there is atmosphere where there was once a vacuum. Dry land appears where once there was only water.  Seasons and times are marked out by the Sun, Moon and stars. Then God begins to create the various living creatures, and with each new creation he calls them to be made “according to their kind.” Do you see what God is doing in all of this? He is making distinctions. He is establishing boundaries. He is bringing order. And over all of that distinction and order, God declares that it is good.

Then, at the pinnacle of his creation, God declares that he will make man and woman. Everything about this creation is different from the rest of it, which is a distinction in itself. For one, he pauses to deliberate over making mankind. Second, he makes them “in his image”. Lastly, he gives them dominion over the rest of creation. Humanity is different. They are of the earth, but they are not bound to it. Rather, they are to rule over it and bring God’s order to all of his creation.

This is what makes the turn in the story in Genesis 3 so tragic. You see, Satan didn’t come to give Adam and Eve a bad day. He came to turn God’s good order on its head. He breaks the order of creation by speaking through a serpent. He breaks the order of the family by speaking to Eve and not to Adam. He breaks the order of God’s rule by questioning whether God had really said what he had said. And, he breaks the worship of God by tempting Adam and Eve to become like God in their knowledge. In this great, tragic sin, humanity and the world were cursed, and from that curse, disorder followed. So, in Genesis 4, the beauty of man as the image bearer of God is disordered as Cain slays Abel. Also in Genesis 4, the blessing of marriage is disordered as Lamech takes two wives. Finally, in Genesis 11, the call of God for man to bring God’s rule over the whole earth is disordered as the people of Babel gather in one place so that they might make a name for themselves.

The direct consequence of rebellion against God is not freedom. It’s disorder and chaos. So, back in Romans 1, when Paul says that the wrath of God is revealed, this is the way that it is revealed, and we see those consequences in what Paul says in our passage today. First, we see the Exchange of Praise. Paul says, in verse 24, that “God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts”. I want you to notice two truths from this statement. First, God’s wrath is revealed by giving humanity what it wants. In this whole passage, Paul says “God gave them up” three different times (v. 24, 26, and 28). This phrase literally means “self-imprisonment.” Now, a lot of people read this statement to mean that God gives up on people, as though we can go so far in our sins that God doesn’t try to reach us anymore. But, that’s not what is going on here. Instead, God is revealing his wrath by allowing men and women to imprison themselves in the consequences of their sins. You see, friend, your sin may feel good, it may look good, it may taste good… but it is a death trap. My dad uses the analogy of trapping racoons. He grew up trapping and says that racoons are the easiest to trap. All you have to do is take a shiny piece of tin foil and put it on the trigger of your trap. A racoon will see that shiny object, and he can’t resist it. You see, sin is a shiny object that will only lead to your entrapment.

Second, notice that God gives them up to “the lusts of their hearts… to dishonoring their bodies because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped the creation rather than the creator.” They exchanged the praise of the one true God for the pursuit of their own lusts. The consequence of that exchange is that they “dishonored their bodies.” Oh, think of how desperately humanity runs after its own lusts. Men will literally destroy themselves because of the lust for a woman. Women will allow their bodies to waste away in the pursuit of the praise of beauty. Both men and women will give up their health for the sake of the next high. And they would do all of this because they would rather have the momentary satisfaction of that lust than the delight of a relationship with the true God.

Next, I want you to see the Exchange of Passions. In verses 26-27, Paul says that this exchange goes beyond lusts to the very natural order that God has created. As we’ve already read, God made us male and female, and in that gendered order, he gave us certain desires or passions that we naturally pursue. But, in our rebellion, Paul says that humanity exchanges those natural passions for “those that are contrary to nature.” Paul gives the homosexual relationship as the clearest evidence of this. There are two popular errors about homosexuality that Paul challenges here. First, Paul’s statements challenge the popular opinion of our society that Homosexuality is a sexual identity that God has created in a person and therefore approves of. I don’t think that God’s word could be clearer than it is right here: Homosexuality is a sinful condition that goes against nature and is an exchanging of the ordered creation that God made. The second popular error is one that is made by many Christians, which is to say that homosexuality is a sin that is beyond redemption. Christians can often treat homosexuality as an ultimate, unforgivable sin. But notice that Paul gives it as just one example of the ways in which humanity has exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Now, that is not to minimize it or say that it isn’t sin. But it is not beyond the saving work of God to redeem someone who is given to that sin. It is important that we understand that the root sin of someone who is given to homosexuality is not their homosexuality. The root sin is their rejection of and failure to worship the one true God. Therefore, we should give our efforts to preaching redemption in Christ, not focusing on the need for the homosexual to “act right.”

Finally, notice the Exchange of Patterns in verses 28-32. In these verses, Paul goes on to list many other sins to which God has given humanity over. As I’ve already said, there is no sin that is worse than another. Rather, all sin is evidence of humanity’s rebellion against the God of the universe. Gossip and faithlessness are just as much proof of our rebellion as homosexuality is. Yet, the most condemning statement that Paul could make is found in verse 32. Those who have exchanged the truth of God for a lie do not just practice these sins, but they approve of others who do them. Oh, is this not the state of our society? It is not enough that we would tolerate transgenderism, but we must also include it in the sex education of our schools. It is not enough that we allow unbridled sexual behavior, but we must pay to abort the children that result from it. It is not enough that two men can get married, but a Christian baker must make a cake for their wedding. In our rebellion, we exchange the patterns that God has established in his law for new patterns that are contrary to that very law. These rebellious patterns are ultimately self-destructive. Thanks to 50 years of sexual liberation, the birth rate in America has fallen well below the replacement rate, which means that we aren’t making enough babies to support the economy and the social services we will need when we are old. Thanks to 20 years of liberality with respect to drug use, we now have an unhinged society in which mentally unstable men push women in front of trains. By exchanging the pattern of God’s orderly creation for the patterns of our own lusts, we create a society that will eat itself, a society imprisoned by its own sin.

Friend, you may think that you are free, but you are really living in a prison of your own making. Your sin will destroy you, and the ultimate judgment is one of eternal torment in Hell. But the good news is that God has done what you could not do through his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus lived in complete obedience to his father, died on the cross for your sins, and rose again from the dead so that you might have eternal life. Won’t you trust in Christ today?

Brothers and sisters, because we have been saved by Christ, our lives have been reordered around him. That means that we know the truth and have a heart for it. It also means that we are called to live ordered lives in a disordered world. We are to live out true, Godly love for neighbor in a world that hates each other. We are to display the blessings of marriage as God intended while the world seeks to redefine it. We are to glorify God by worshiping him in everything that we do while the world worships the god of their own lusts. May we turn back the lies of this world by honoring our God as we live in it.