No Thank You! (Hix)

Romans 1:20- For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,

25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (NKJV)

Romans 1:21-Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.

25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. (NLT)

This is an observation of mankind, a diagnostic check of the human heart, though it has been this way since the writing of these words, we really see the effects of this in the world we live in!

People have traded the truth for a lie!

They have placed other things before God!

We see all the symptoms of this diagnoses!

We see all the results of this prognoses in our society today and within these scriptures

We are not a Godless society! Our problem is we have many gods!

An idol worshipping nation!

You may not see a golden calf on every corner, but we have our idols in America!

We live in a world that is focused on celebrities and athletes, political parties, money and fame and prestige!

People are more interested in what celebrities are doing than what God is doing!

They spend countless hours keeping up with those who are popularized by the media, they are consumed by the lies of the media instead of the truth of God’s word!

They would rather spend time on Facebook than spend time with their family!

They have more love for the new iphone than they do for their fellow man!

They have surrounded them self with things that are temporary, instead of focusing on things that are eternal, those things that will last!

Those things that will bring eternal joy, eternal gladness

Now don’t get me wrong, we are a very religious nation, you only have to drive around bigger cities, and you will see all types of churches or turn on the TV and you see people gathered in house of worship.

It’s not like the fool who says there is no God (There is some of those) but the diagnoses is worse than that!

His Sabbath is ignored…..It has become a holiday instead of a Holy day!

His book is neglected….It might still be the best seller, but it is not the most read!

His Son is refused and His miracles are forgotten!

Far too many people are saying with their actions, “Yes, there is a God but we are not going to serve Him!”

“We are not going to honor Him!”

“We are not going to acknowledge Him!”

“We are not going to be thankful to Him!”

“We are going to go about our daily lives as though He does not exist, without any praise in our hearts for Him, without any thankfulness in our hearts for Him, without acknowledging that He created them and everything else that has been created!”

“They did not give thanks.” When Charles Spurgeon preached on this verse, he offered this comment:

I cannot say anything much worse of a man than that he is not thankful to those who have been his benefactors; and when you say that he is not thankful to God, you have said about the worst thing you can say of him.

Spurgeon also says, “I fear there are thousands who call themselves Christians, who are not thankful, and yet they never think themselves very guilty of that.”

Have you ever had someone not acknowledge you?

Maybe they didn’t acknowledge that you were even in the room?