Did you ever notice that the long and steady descension of man described in Romans chapter 1 begins as an expansion of, ‘the just shall live by faith,’ in verse 17? There’s a reason for all that follows after, and its point isn’t to point out sin.
From verse 17, Paul instantly moves to an explanation of WHY the wrath of God is revealed upon the men and women who suppress the truth. Though his down hill trajectory seems to follow the vein of unhealthy behaviour, the point actually begins with ‘ungodliness’ as the thoughts foundation.
Ungodliness, is not an especially bad, single act. It’s a belief system that reveals a persons world view. The word, ‘ungodliness,’ unfolds its meaning just as it appears in English: un-godedness, or, without God. The idea of, ‘without worship,’ is easily supported in the Greek word.
It’s true that we all worship something, so no one is completely without worship. The point is rather, what we worship. We worship what we value. What we’ve deemed as sacred in our lives, though for many of us, that IS our life.
Ultimately, many of us read Romans 1 as a list of wrong actions, forgetting that the behaviours are simply a visible proof of a far upstream cause; improper worship.
Right worship is not firstly composed of style but of substance. It is a worship not intended to primarily encourage us, but a worship founded on the fear of the Lord, expressing and acknowledging thanksgiving to and for Him, and his gracious, beneficial, existence.
If this is true, then it means our role in society as believers isn’t primarily to clean up the culture, it’s to re-orient the worlds acknowledgment of God as the cause and sustaining force of all the good that we see and know.
But, in the nature of the case, before the world changes, the church must worship. Before the church-corporate worships well, the individuals within it must. Before those other individuals…I must take responsibility for my own souls direction.