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Faith, Hope and the Glory of God Romans 4:9-25 |
May 23, 2004 Pastor Tom Marcum |
One of the funniest movies of recent years was the surprise hit, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." While I'm usually drawn to more cerebral films focusing on car chases, explosions and mayhem, I enjoyed this movie so much that I bought the DVD. One of the great running gags woven throughout the movie is the father of the bride's unending commentaries about the Greek origin of virtually everything.
Especially words. This guy can spin an amazing tale to show how any word you can imagine has it's roots in the Greek language. After a while, you can sense when another of his Greek origin commentaries is coming and you begin to brace yourself and think, "Oh, no, here he goes again."
Interestingly, shortly after seeing the movie, Stirling and I traveled to Greece. Riding on a tour bus one morning our Greek guide was commenting on a bridge we were passing when she suddenly interrupted her lecture to say, "By the way, did you know that the word "bridge" comes from the Greek word…" Before she could even finish her comment the whole bus erupted in laughter. Apparently we weren't the only ones who had just seen the movie.
This morning, as our journey through the book of Romans brings us to the second half of chapter 4 you may be tempted to say the same thing about Paul as he returns, yet again, to his running commentary about "justification by faith." Being made right with God not on the basis of anything that we do but rather on the basis of our faith in what God has done for us through Christ. Paul has addressed this theme so often that we might very well be tempted to say, "Oh, no, here he goes again!"
And that's why it's so important for us to remember that what we're studying here is much more than just a letter written by an apostle named, Paul. What we're studying here is the word of God written through Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is a message for us from God. Consequently, instead of saying, "Oh, no, here he goes again!" we would probably be wise to ask, "OK, Paul, what are we still not getting? What additional insight into justification by faith are you offering here?"
Four Key Insights into "Justification by Faith"
Before we look ahead at the new insights he's going to offer, let's take just a moment to look back at a couple of the insights he offered previously.
FIRST, Paul helped us understand that being "justified" or made right with God on the basis of our faith in what God has done for us as opposed to what we have done for ourselves, removes completely and permanently any inclination to brag and boast. As he wrote in 3:27, "Where, then is boasting? It is excluded." Why? Because we can't very well boast about something we had nothing to do with.
And SECOND, Paul showed us that when we finally realize that our right standing with God is based 100% on what God has done for us and 0% on anything that we have done for ourselves…when we finally get that, our lives can be transformed by the daily certainty of knowing just how blessed we really are. That was Paul's point in 4:6 when he said, "David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works." Folks, if you ever begin to doubt God's love for you just remember that He so desired a right relationship with you that He decided to take your effort out of the righteousness equation all together and do all the work for you through Jesus at the cross. All you have to do is believe it. Folks, what blessing could possibly be bigger than that?
Now, as we move on to verses 9-12 Paul offers two more insights to help us more fully understand and appreciate the wonder of "justification by faith."
In verses 9-10 he writes,
"Is this blessedness…(that refers back to the blessings he's described in the previous verses, specifically the blessings of having God's righteousness credited to us and having our own sins not credited to us)…is this blessedness only for the circumcised,…(that is, the Jews)…or also for the uncircumcised?…(that is, everyone else). We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!" Romans 4:9-10
Looking to the example of Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, Paul says, "OK, we all know that God declared Abraham righteous and we also know that Abraham was circumcised in obedience to God's instruction. So, does that mean that Abraham got right with God through circumcision, in other words, as a result of his own efforts? Not at all because God's declaration of righteousness came years before Abraham was circumcised."
So, what then was the purpose of Abraham's circumcision? The answer is in verse 11. He writes, "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised."
So, circumcision was a "sign" or a "seal" testifying to the righteousness that God had credited to Abraham because of his faith. And now we see a THIRD insight that Paul is providing us into "justification by faith." And that is that getting right with God "by faith" does not mean that doing good works and being obedient to God are unimportant, rather, it puts our good works and our obedience into the proper perspective, namely, that while we don't get right with God through our obedience, once we've been made right with God by faith, our great passion is to live in obedience to the God in whom we have put our faith.
Paul first introduced this idea in 1:5 when he wrote about, "the obedience that comes from faith." His point now is that while our obedience doesn't make us right with God, our obedience is a confirming "sign" and "seal" of the reality of our faith and our right standing with God.
Now, as we move on through verses 11-12, Paul offers us one more insight into "justification by faith."
"So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 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. Romans 4:11b-12
I said a few moments ago that Abraham was the father of the Jews. No big news there. But Paul has just dropped a bombshell in telling us Abraham is more than just the father of the Jews, he's also the father of all people who get right with God the same way he did, namely, "by faith." He is, as Paul writes here, "the father of all who believe," the father of all "who…walk in the footsteps of…faith…"
And there's the FOURTH insight that Paul reveals. While the Jews will always be special in God's eyes-
--through faith all people can get right with God;
--through faith we can all become God's chosen, covenant people;
--through faith Abraham becomes the spiritual father not just of the Jews but of us all. As Paul writes so succinctly in Galatians 3:7, "Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham."
Blessings by Faith, not the Law
Now, as we move ahead, Paul tells us that since Abraham is our spiritual father the blessings God promised to Abraham and his descendants now extend to us.
"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. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression." Romans 4:13-15
Paul continues to show how incredibly blessed we are to be justified by "faith" rather than through our obedience to God's "law." And he does this by pointing out that God didn't promise to bless Abraham and his descendants because they lived by the "law," but because they lived by "faith." In fact, he makes it quite clear that those who pursue righteousness by observing the law don't secure God's blessings. The only thing they secure is God's "wrath."
Why? Because the law proscribes a standard of behavior that we can't reach and disobeying that law makes us subject to God's wrath. So, living by the law has never lead to blessings and it never will. Walking with God in "faith" led Abraham into God's blessings. And walking with God in "faith" will lead us into God's blessings as well.
And Paul assures, in verse 16, that we can trust God to deliver the blessings He's promised because His promises are built on the foundation of His grace. He writes, "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."
This complicated and confusing verse basically says this: the confidence we have in our right standing with God rests upon the fact that our standing with God does not depend upon us, but upon what God in His grace has done for us. And what has God done for us? By grace, God has gifted to us His own righteousness. And we receive this gift of grace by faith. So, since God's grace is the foundation that made it possible for us to get right with God, God's grace is also the foundation of the blessings that flow to those who are right with God. In other words, if the promised blessings depended upon us, we would have no reason to be confident in receiving them. But since the promised blessings depend solely on God's grace, we have every reason to be confident that we will receive them.
Walking in faith
Now, in verses 17-21 we find a commentary about "faith" that is incredibly important for us to understand, particularly in light of the way the word "faith" is so often used today. These verses leave no doubt that the "faith" that enables us to "walk in the footsteps" of the faithful is not a weak, passive, vague belief in some nebulous cosmic concept. The "faith" that keeps us walking in faith is a strong, active, life-altering belief in a God who actively involves Himself in our lives and who can accomplish anything He sets out to accomplish.
Continuing to draw upon the example of Abraham, Paul writes in verse 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-(and what kind of God did Abraham believe in?)…the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were."
In other words, Abraham believed in a God who could accomplish anything He set out to accomplish. And, folks, when you believe in a God like that it shows in the way you live your life. How does this kind of faith show itself? It shows itself in obedience to God regardless the circumstances or consequences.
Now, before we read the next verses let's quickly refresh our memory of Abraham's experience with God. Abraham and his wife Sarah were childless and really old when God promised to make him a father. In fact, He promised to make him a father many times over. Every circumstance of life and every avenue of reason suggested that this was a promise sure to be broken. But Abraham believed. And God kept His word. And here's what Paul wrote about the experience.
"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." 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. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." Romans 4:18-21
Let me offer two quick observations for you to ponder. First, Abraham was fully aware of the fact that the reproductive potential of a 100-year-old couple was nil, but instead of "weakening" in his faith, instead of "wavering" in his faith, his faith was "strengthened." How is that possible? It was possible because Abraham refused to let his circumstances shape his understanding of God. Instead, he let his understanding of God shape the way he looked at his circumstances. What an incredibly important lesson for us. Instead of looking at God through the lens of our circumstances, the person of faith looks at their circumstances through the lens of everything they know and believe about God.
And here's the second observation: what happens when we live by that kind of active, unwavering powerful faith? Verse 20 says that kind of faith gives "glory to God." When we continue to walk in faith even when our circumstances suggest we should do otherwise, we give glory to God because only an awesome, powerful and faithful God could inspire that kind of faith. And, folks, as we've seen throughout the previous chapters of this book, giving glory to God is the very thing that this life is all about.
The Difference Between Abraham's Faith and Our Faith
Paul now brings chapter 4 to a close by showing us a substantive difference between Abraham's faith and ours.
"This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.' The words 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom god will credit righteousness-for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." Romans 4:22-25
Folks, the difference between Abraham's faith and ours is this: Abraham believed in a God who could raise the dead…we believe in a God who has raised the dead. Abraham believed in a God who had the power to do what he had promised. We believe in a God who has demonstrated that power by raising His crucified Son back to life.
In his death on the cross He secured the forgiveness of our sins. In his resurrection He has secured our right standing before God, now and throughout eternity in heaven.
I called this message, "Faith, Hope and the Glory of God."
Faith-that Jesus' death on the cross was sufficient to pay in full the penalty for our sin so we could be made right with God.
Hope-that God can be trusted to deliver on all of His promises, even the promise to welcome into eternal life those who walk with Him in faith.
Glory-Glory to God, now and forevermore.
Amen.
© Copyright 2004 Pastor Tom Marcum