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Learning from Your
Father (Romans 4) {This
session begins with an exercise. Each
person is given a 3 by 5 yellow sticky note, and asked to write down “the most
important thing my father ever taught me.”
If the relationship with the father is sufficiently bad, “the most
important thing I wish my father had
taught me.” These are then posted
in two locations: one for those
things taught by word; the other, for those things taught by example} “... Abraham ...
discovered.” (Rom 4:1-8 NIV)
What then shall we say that Abraham,
our forefather, discovered in this
matter? {2} If, in fact, Abraham was
justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God.
{3} What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was
credited to him as righteousness."
{4} Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but
as an obligation. {5} However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who
justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
{6} David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man
to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
{7} "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. {8} Blessed is the man whose
sin the Lord will never count against him." Verbs
are the action words of the English language.
I have bolded the two words for this section: “Abraham discovered.”
For indeed Abraham discovered how faith works by putting it into
practice; it was not by instruction
but by practical discovery that his faith was developed.
There are three prime examples: 1.
He emigrated to the land of Palestine at God’s
command (Genesis 12). I wonder very
much how many of us would pack it up to go to
(for example) Chile at God’s command. 2.
He trusted God that a son would be born to him and
Sarah (Genesis 17) -- at a time of life when most of us would be telling God
that Medicare doesn’t cover pregnancy. 3.
At God’s command he attempted to sacrifice that
only son (Genesis 22). This was
God’s great test of his faith. It’s
interesting to note that the sacrifice as commanded is contrary
to the Old Testament Law of Moses. Such
an example of faith to us seems beyond reach.
Let me suggest that one
reason for this (there are several) is that we do learn from our experience --
we learn what we are exampled. We
look at other people around us, see their failings and (in the style of “me
and Jesus in the telephone booth”) conclude that God somehow must have the
same failings. Of course, the
conclusion is an unconscious one. Look
at it this way: ·
People
cannot be trusted like that because they change their minds. People are in time, but God is eternal; His purposes never change. ·
People
cannot be trusted because they do not have the power to carry out their
intentions; but God is omnipotent. ·
One reason
God allows such failings in others is to drive us to trust in Him alone. Our
reaction to such a world is to “hedge our bets.” We’ll trust God -- to a reasonable point, of course.
We’ll also rely on our good deeds to build up a nice, healthy balance
of brownie points where God “owes us.”
Paul points out the fallacy of such a hedge.
We can see that this method is false: ·
As he points
out, if you work, you get wages. Wages
are proportionate to the value of the work (somehow). If you have faith, what you get is totally disproportionate.
It is a gift. How do you “work” to obtain a “gift?” The two are mutually exclusive. ·
They are
also mutually exclusive because righteousness can only reside on one side of you
-- the inside or the outside. Either
you are confident of your inner righteousness (and therefore are outside a
sinner, namely a hypocrite) or you are confident of your inner sinfulness (and
therefore a repentant sinner on the outside, and thus justified). ·
Is it just
possible this is why our faith is so weak? Claiming the promises
vs. Working a Claim (Rom 4:9-17 NIV)
Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the
uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as
righteousness. {10} Under what
circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It
was not after, but before! {11} And he
received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by
faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who
believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be
credited to them. {12} And he is also
the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in
the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was
circumcised. {13} It was not through
law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of
the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
{14} For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the
promise is worthless, {15} because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is
no transgression. {16} Therefore, the
promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all
Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those who
are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. {17} As it is written: "I have made you a father of many
nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the
God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they
were. We
come now to a curious error in human faith:
the idea that somehow the ritual we undergo is a “work” of
righteousness. We should have
disposed of this idea in the last section -- for works obtain their proportionate reward, and the reward here is all out of proportion.
It is important to remember that baptism (like its predecessor,
circumcision) is an outward symbol of the inward transformation.
Paul makes this clear here by pointing out that God credited
righteousness to Abraham before
circumcision (about fourteen years earlier, to be specific). Process Analysis Paul
now engages in what might be called process analysis today.
To see why he needs to do this, I give you one hypothetical example:
suppose you encounter (as you stand in the bread line at the Union Rescue
Mission) two men. One, a thorough
legalist whose pride is the spur to his legalism, pours the soup. The other, a man who loves Christ and therefore helps his
brothers, hands out the bread. Can
you really tell which is which? It
is almost impossible in others to distinguish between works as the cause of
righteousness (i.e., self righteousness) and the effect of love. Paul gives us the distinction here in terms of the process of
each: ·
Start with
the law; it yields transgressions
(you can’t run a stop sign that
isn’t there). Transgression
yields punishment, the wrath of God. ·
Start with
faith; it yields repentance.
Repentance yields grace. Permit
me an analogy. Many Christians
begin with the idea that they must learn “the rules of the game.”
It’s as if they expected the church to be a locker room.
They walk in thinking, “If I see pads and helmets, it’s probably
football. Look for a bat -- that means baseball. The thing then is to choose the right game.”
In fact, you walk in and see pads and helmets on one side --- and an
artist’s palette, brushes and canvas on the other.
The choice is not “which game” (i.e., which set of rules) but
choosing between “playing the game” (legalism) and creating a work of art --
a life pleasing to God. Paul
talks much here of “the promise.” The
word is interesting in the Greek: Epaggeliaia. It means a promise which is unconditional.
God does not change; his
promises are unconditional. For us
to “claim the promises” is to take God at His word.
In short, we are to say “yes God, I believe you will do what you say
you will do -- and I’m going to act upon that belief.”
I propose to you three simple tests of this in your life: 1.
What do you say about God’s promises?
“God can do so little with me; I’m such a sinner” sounds so humble.
It really says, “I don’t believe God’s promise that he can make me
great in the kingdom -- it’s just too tough for Him.” 2.
Do our actions show such confidence in Him -- or
are we hedging our bets? 3.
Do our worries show a lack of confidence in Him? (Mat 6:28-34 NIV)
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how
the lilies of the field grow. They do
not labor or spin. {29} Yet I tell you that not even Solomon
in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. {30} If that is how God clothes the grass
of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he
not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? {31} So do not worry, saying, 'What shall
we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
{32} For the pagans run after all these things, and
your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
{33} But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. {34} Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. On Hope (Rom 4:18-25 NIV)
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of
many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring
be." {19} Without weakening in
his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was
about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
{20} Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but
was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
{21} being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. {22} This is why "it was credited to him as
righteousness." {23} The words
"it was credited to him" were written not for him alone,
{24} but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who
believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
{25} He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for
our justification. Hope
has one key characteristic: it
appears to be impossible. If you
can see it coming, it’s not hope. Abraham
understood it well: (Gen 17:15-17 NIV)
God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer
to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. {16} I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will
bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come
from her." {17} Abraham fell
facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a
hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" He
knew it was absurd;
he laughed (and by the way, Sarah did too, in Genesis 18).
But God did as He said. The
Hebrew word for “laughter” is Isaac. So
with all that, how is it that Abraham kept his faith?
I submit it was by the discipline of obedience;
Abraham trusted God and therefore obeyed Him.
There are, I think, three key points to this: ·
“Only
those who believe, obey. Only those
who obey, can believe.” (Bonhoeffer).
If you are not in a relationship of obedience to your Lord (a
relationship of love) how can you believe? ·
Disobedience
cuts the line of trust. “You
cannot cheat an honest man” also implies that a dishonest man trusts no one.
If you are disobedient to Him, you naturally suspect He will betray you. ·
It’s OK to
ask for help. (Luke 11:13 NIV) If
you then, though you are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask
him!" And
what is the “impossible” for which we hope?
Paul outlines it in the last two verses. First, that Jesus was “delivered over to
death for our sins”-- ·
As such, He
became our substitute (II Corinthians 5:21). ·
In such, He
changes our lives (I Peter 2:24) ·
For such, He
is coming again (Hebrews 9:28) Next,
that Jesus was “raised to life for our justification.”
His
resurrection is our guarantee of our eventual resurrection, as Paul puts it: (1 Cor 15:17-22 NIV)
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in
your sins. {18} Then those also who
have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
{19} If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more
than all men. {20} But Christ has
indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen
asleep. {21} For since death came
through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
{22} For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. There
you have it: ·
Faith means
an absolute trust in God. ·
It is shown
in what we say and do. ·
Its hope
(and I submit result) is in the
return of our Lord and our resurrection. |
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