In Plain View      

                                         Romans 1: 18-23

 

 

         

         In many states, it’s illegal to hide a handgun. If you have it where it can be seen, then you are legal. The weapon must be in “plain view.” The theory is that if one can see something, one will take appropriate action in response to that information. That makes sense, doesn’t it? If something is plain to see, you know more about what to do and how to act. If you can see it, it’s easier to believe and much easier to plan your actions in accordance with what your vision informs you. If it’s a snake, you back away. If it’s a carousel, you get on it and take a ride. And yet, when it comes to God, the plain view approach doesn’t seem to illicit that kind of response.

          God has been in the revelation business since the dawn of creation. Mankind was given a garden full of everything we need, from perfect weather to bountiful food. Adam and Eve were blessed with not only resources, but dominion over all that they saw. But it wasn’t enough. Evil tempted them to think about playing God. They had it all. Why couldn’t they know it all? Our ancestors had a revelation of the wrong kind. They wanted to be God instead of obeying God. That was our first mistake, but far from our last.

          Our Reformed tradition tends to classify revelation into two categories. Special revelation is that form by which God makes himself known through the Word, both living and written. In other words, God has specially revealed himself to us through Scripture, the Bible, and through Jesus. But God also reveals himself through general revelation. General revelation is that form by which God has made himself known through his creation. That is, God can be seen not only in what he has created—mankind, animal life, plant life, birds and creatures of the sea, mountains, prairies and oceans—but also in its preservation and order. Why doesn’t the sea overrun the land? How are the tides ordered so efficiently four times every day? Why doesn’t the earth slip off its rotational axis with the sun and burn up? Can gravity or the seasons or any of the laws of physics really be something random? Our answer is of course not! The continuing order of our planet experienced over millions of years is the act of a loving and powerful God, and his is an ongoing presence in the world.

          The Belgic Confession is a confessional statement adopted by many Reformed churches. It is still the official confessional statement of the Dutch Reformed Church. This is how the Belgic Confession describes General Revelation:

We know Him by two means: First, by the creation,

preservation, and government of the universe, which

is before our eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all

creatures, great and small, are as so many characters

leading us to see clearly the invisible things of God,

even his everlasting power and divinity, as the Apostle

Paul says in Romans 1: 20. All which things are sufficient

to convince men and leave them without excuse.

     Belgic Confession Article 2.

 

          I love how the Dutch put it. We can see clearly the invisible things of God—and we are without excuse.  Of course, the confession only repeats the words of Paul in our text for today. Paul says to the Romans and to us that God’s otherwise invisible attributes have been clearly perceived from the creation, by looking at what he has made! So we are without excuse as to the presence of God. The Bible and Jesus make things more clear, give us more complete direction, but they only amplify from the beginning of creation until this very day a continuous, divine and powerful presence that cannot be denied. 

          We live in a time that is being referred to as post-religious. Do you think we are post-religious? What is religious? Everyone seems to have his or her own definition. Mine is that which is done regularly, like being on a diet. Do you come to church regularly and have you joined a church? Then you would be considered religious. Do you practice the tenets of your church, of the Bible? Then you are religious by most definitions. But there are many Americans and Europeans who don’t do that anymore. The great majority still claim to believe in God, but they do little to demonstrate that belief.

          Thus the term “post-religious,” an age in which the church and religious beliefs in general have become part of a menu of beliefs and practices from which many choose as if going through a cafeteria line. That doesn’t sound at all like what Paul had in mind. That doesn’t sound at all like clearly seeing the invisible things of God. It sounds a lot more like there are many in our society who look at the same things we look at and rather than seeing God, they see science or technology or progress. Worst of all, oftentimes they see themselves as the architects of those things good in the world. That’s nothing less than changing lords. When we do so, we hand ourselves over to ourselves or some other creature rather than our Creator. How ignorant is that! For the sake of being our own boss, our own Lord, we end up foundering around in a confusing sea of dysfunction.  

          The words of Paul to the Roman church remind us that we may be religious or non-religious or post-religious or any other term that might fit the order of the day. But regardless of the terminology, the presence of God is not hard to find. It’s in the songs of the birds right outside our kitchen windows. It’s in the breezes of the evening that we will never see, but can feel as sure as we can hear those songbirds.

          Do you ever just stop and look around at this creation we live in? We are loaded with God’s presence. It’s not just nature, though nature may be the most beautiful part of God’s creation. It’s in technology too. Last week when we saw a ladder truck pouring water on the roof of our fellowship hall, we were glad to witness the technology of modern firefighting. The technological advancements God had allowed us to make are no less impressive than the mountains of the Blue Ridge. It’s just that sometimes, all that advancement can confuse those of less discernment, allowing them to think that they did it all by themselves. God allows us many advancements. He loves us and wants us to succeed. After all, it is his image in which we were fashioned. But we can never catch God. He is the divine author.

          Stop right now and just think a moment about the prettiest, or the most profound, the most awe inspiring thing or person you know. Now try and disconnect whatever makes you awed by that person or thing from God. If you have found God, you won’t be able to make that disconnect. Our world as Christians is inextricably bound with God’s presence.

          We are privileged to know God, to know of his presence through the natural revelation of his creation. But we should take heed. The very passage where Paul reminds us of what God has done also goes on to caution us not to take credit and not to ignore the plain language of his creation, God’s silent manifestation of his power and sovereignty. The message in Romans 1 is not of mercy and love, but rather of divinity and authority.

          We cannot get to where God put us. We can plant trees, but we cannot create them. We can deliver babies, even perhaps clone life, but we cannot begin to replicate the unique makeup of each and every being of God’s creation. The danger, perhaps, is to think that imitation is somehow synonymous with creation. It is, in the words of the poet, only the sincerest form of flattery.

          Natural comes not only with orderly tide charts and beautiful scenery. It also comes with hurricanes and earthquakes and floods. Mankind has never ciphered how to stop such events. Our attempts are centered on early warning and containment. We would do well to apply such principles to our knowledge of God. No matter what level of knowledge mankind acquires, we still continue to fall woefully short of anything more than theorized explanation of how we came to be here. Those who require empirical evidence before they accept the presence of God are cautioned by Paul to, in today’s words, take a look around. He is present. He is manifested everywhere we look.

          It’s hard to tell the difference God makes when you look at people. Jesus tells us as much in the fifth chapter of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus says that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” [5:45]. But Paul cautions us here that we can become so immersed in the idols we create, from money to power to plain old selfishness, that although we know God, we do not honor him…that we become futile in our thinking, and our earthly wisdom will betray us for the fools that we become. We swap glory for pleasure and our hearts become darkened and distorted from the shape in which we were cast by God.

          It is a privilege to know God. He has made it easy for us. We have so many natural signs to inform us of who he is and how magnificent he is. What do you see when you look around? Do you see the strife and envy and prejudice that permeate our society? They are there to see. But you should also see and feel the freshness and love of our God, who brings us the newness of each day, the wonder of life all around us.

          God is in plain view. And we have no excuse for not having seen him. Open your eyes and see the majesty!