Don’t Leave Me Alone

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Don’t Leave Me Alone

No one likes to be alone. When you are tiny, one of the most terrifying things that can happen is when you are at the grocery store with your mom. And she goes around the corner. And for just a small moment, you are alone. No one likes to be alone. When you go to school you almost need to have someone to sit next to during lunch. And if you don’t, it’s scary. No one likes to be alone. And that is true all the way to the very end of our lives. It often happens that when a husband or wife knows that the time is short before their spouse dies, that is a part of their grieving. That person does not want to be alone. Today, God’s word speaks about this truth. In Romans 1, we read: {\scripture“¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Rom. 1:18–23 NIV11-GKE)}

Notice how Paul starts out these words. He says that God’s wrath is being revealed.¹ Notice the present tense. It is true that God’s wrath is waiting there on Judgment Day. But what is shocking about these words is that we learn that God is unveiling his wrath right now. And what follows in these words is the answer to the question, why. Why is God’s wrath being poured out even now? Paul here speaks about unbelievers. He says that they know that, at the very least, there is some sort of god out there. But there is absolutely no interest or energy poured into finding the true God. Instead of pursuing that god so that they might know the true god, what do they do? They exchange the true God with false ones. And in Paul’s day we see what that looks like. They imagine and then carve or cast statues of animals. Then, once they have created this god, they bow down to it and worship it. But my dear friends, before you begin to conclude that this is a really funny picture, know that we too do the same thing. Martin Luther in his Large Catechism asks the question, What does “to have a god” mean?² Having a god is where you go when things fall apart. And having a god is where you go to find fulfillment. So think this through. There’s nothing wrong with reading books, or watching TV, or having recreational vehicles. But when we expect from them the fulfillment that only God can bring, then we have made that object into an idol. On the other hand, when your life falls apart, where do you go? Very quickly you will see what you worship when that happens. When you have to go to the hospital and your first and only concern is whether your insurance will cover it or the doctor will find or fix it, be very careful. For when you do this, there is the great temptation to make that your god, your idol. We should go to our good and gracious Lord first—first to find fulfillment, and first to find rescue.

All of this I mention because it’s really easy to go back and conclude that those stupid unbeliever way back then had idols. But, my dear friends, each of us has idols too that we cling to and trust in instead of Jesus. And that should make us very scared because Paul follows with these words: “Therefore God gave them over” (Rom. 1:24 NIV11-GKE)

Remember how Paul told us a little earlier that God’s wrath is being revealed right now? Here is where we see what that looks like. God hands people over to their sin. And this is a sad and scary scenario. People treat created things as if they were gods. And God, in response, gives them every reason to no trust in them. Instead they should trust in him. But what happens? They still willfully, consistently, and continually trust in their idols. And finally what happens? God lets them have what they want. They want to be left alone, so he leaves them. He leaves them with their idols. In fact, he lets them pile up even more. They love their TV’s and their computers. So he lets them have as many shows as they want to watch, as many games as they want to play, and as many recreational vehicles as they can buy. But none of them give them peace and fulfillment. And when difficulty comes into their lives, none of these can save them.

These words are words of warning, not just for them, but for us. These words invite us to pray a prayer that God would never leave us alone with our idols. Instead, we pray that he would continually show us the times we are treating the created gifts as if they were the creator and instead cling to him. And our good and gracious God answers our prayer. He first forgives our sins in a Savior who went without so many of the creature-comforts that we enjoy so that we would have them and enjoy them. And he did this so that our sins would be bought and paid for. But he does even more. He doesn’t leave us alone with our idols. Instead, he both reminds us that he is our God and he provides for us as our God. And so we pray that our Lord would never leave us alone. But Paul mentions one more area that we do not want to be left alone in: “²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. ²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.” (Rom. 1:24–27 NIV11-GKE)

We pray that God would not leave us alone with our idols. But we pray that God would also not leave us alone with our own desires. Notice in these words how clearly God’s word speaks to us. God’s word clearly calls same-sex attraction a sin. And today, in our own time, if ever there were a time to speak about this, it’s in our own time. It’s hard to find a TV show now days where there isn’t this preaching, letting you know that you are not nice unless you say that the sin of same-sex attraction is a sin. Or, to use Paul’s words, they exchange the truth for a lie.³

And in the Christian church we can fall of the track in two ways. First, we can conclude that this sin really isn’t that big of a sin—not worth worrying about. Second, we can conclude that this sin is worse than the others. So let’s speak about this for a little while. First of all, we need to let this sin be a sin. It is wrong for a man and a man or a woman and a woman to be attracted to each other. But, my dear friends in Christ, we also need to speak about the other sins agains the 6^th commandment. Remember what Jesus says, “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:28 NIV11-GKE) Women, 50 shades of grey isn’t art. It’s abuse.⁴ If what Jesus says here is true, then what does this say about what TV shows and movies we watch? What about the sites we visit on the internet?

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to continually and constantly call sin, “sin” because that’s what it is. And it’s not only people who are attracted to the same sex that break the 6^th commandment. All of us do. But we need to call it by the name it actually is for another reason. Where does it lead to? Paul mentions here that, because of their constant and continual replacing of truth with a lie, he finally hands them over to their lies. Their desires become their gods. And then their gods own them.

What a horrible and terrible judgment it is to be left alone—alone not only with our idols, but also with our desires. And that’s why we pray that God would not leave us alone. That’s why we pray that God would continue to warn us in his word. We pray that God would continue to forgive us through that same word. And we pray that God would give us a new heart, so that our desires do not master and enslave us. And our God, out of his grace answers our prayers. Amen.