MPC 28th May 2006.May 28 - Romans 4 - "The Faith Files"
Garnet Swann MPC 28th May 2006.
It's one of the more awkward moments during my time as public servant in Canberra. But there I was - a fresh faced new graduate coming back from a meeting in Sydney. Myself and the group that I was with were at the airport and we had time to kill before we boarded the plane. So we made the decision to go to the Qantas Club - free food, free drinks, comfy lounges. Sounded good to me. But as we talked about the prospect of relaxing in style, it soon became clear - I wasn't included. The Qantas Club is for those who have a pass. And I didn't have one.
And so we had this awkward moment where the others in the group finally said - "Bye -see ya on the plane" - and they walked through those frosted glass doors into a world of luxury - leaving me by myself to turn around and hovel it with the masses.
Ever since then I've had a socialist bent against the upper class Qantas Club. Let there be revolution, I say! If anyone can give me a pass maybe I'll change my mind.
But seriously - at that moment - the distinction, the difference was made clear. There were those on the inside (literally), and those on the outside. There were those who got to sip their chardonnay. While I sat on some chewing gum smeared chair with a bunch of screaming kids running around.
Sometimes distinctions are made clear. There are those on the inside and those on the outside.
Now what we've seen in Romans so far is that the pressure was on - to feel that within Christianity there are those on the inside and those on the outside… with God. And the two groups involved are Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. Right through this early part of the letter Paul very deliberately addresses those with a Jewish background and those with a non-Jewish or Gentile background.
And the inside/outside thing is that those with a Jewish background are making out that the Gentile Christians are lacking something, even aren't fully right with God - because they don't have the Jewish law. This is the inside/outside thing - the Jews were given the law - so you Gentiles - get with the program, start living according to the law and God will really be pleased with you then.
We see this a number of times in Romans where it talks about Jewish boasting and bragging that they have the law.
2v17 says - Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God…
2v23 says - You who brag about the law…
This division causing thinking is there. But Paul wants to blows this way of thinking out of the water. There is no distinction. Being made right with God - there is no one who is more on the inside or on the outside. Jew and Gentile - it's not about the law. It's about Jesus. And it's about faith. And in chapter 4 which we're looking at this morning - Paul makes clear, it's not about having the law, it's all about faith, by pointing to the person of Abraham.
Now we read about Abraham in Genesis - we'll refer back to that. But by going through Romans chapter 4, let's see how Paul talks about faith to show that this boasting about the law - this inside/outside attitude is totally wrong.
Well, the first point that Paul wants to make is that Abraham is the father of faith. Now Abraham was the great descendent of Jews. He was the first Jew. In Judaism - he was the reference point for Jews to understand themselves and their origins.
Now I'm of such a tender young age that my parents tell me that when they were at school a picture of the Queen of England would hang in the classroom. I take it, that picture said something about our identity and origins as a society. Well, if the Jews could've - they would've hung up a picture of Abraham for exactly the same reason.
And so Paul speaks of their hero, their great forefather and says v2,
If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works (that is - put into right standing with God by obeying the law), he has something to boast about - but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Here Paul quotes from Genesis which we read there. God chose Abraham to be the father of a great nation. To be the head of what would be God's special people. But he gets to round about 70 years of age. Doesn't look too good. He and his wife Sarah are sort of passed their prime. No kids. There's reason for Abraham to doubt God's word. But God assures him - "you may be getting to be an old man - but your descendents will number the stars in the sky". And there in Genesis 15v6 which is highlighted - Abraham believed the Lord, and God credited to him as righteousness."
What made Abraham to be in right relationship with God - it wasn't any law keeping. He trusted in God. And God made him righteous.
The point of this is, the Jews of Paul's time wanted to boast about the law. But not even their great hero has reason to boast. To have relationship with God, all Abraham brought to it, was faith.
The little illustration that Paul uses in Romans 4v4 is about work and wages. See - If you slog away for a couple of weeks at work - cop all the stress, do overtime, get into the office early each day - at the end of the fortnight, the boss doesn't come up to you and go - "here's your pay packet - it's our gift to you". No way - you sweated for it, you earnt it.
But not Abraham. He didn't work. He didn't strive to obey a set of laws. He had faith. He believed God. And God made him to be righteous. It came as a gift. No reason to boast at all.
See we need to have the right perspective on Abraham. Sure the Jews regarded him as their great hero. But there's a skeleton in the closet. Who was Abraham before God revealed himself to him and made him to be righteous? He was no one. We should see him as just one more tribal pagan god worshiper. But as verse 5 says God justifies the wicked - God justified Abraham. Sure Abraham was a Jew, the first Jew, but before he became a Jew he was a Gentile. This really is a skeleton in the closet. See, there really was no possibility of boasting for Abraham - he trusted God and God made him righteous.
In Paul's time, the Jews want to make a fuss over law keeping as if it's the way to have righteousness. They wanted to create this scheme within Christianity of those who are inside and those on the outside - well, just have a closer look at Abraham himself. Abraham is the great father of Israel. And he's the father of faith.
In this chapter Paul continues to blast away at this boasting of the Jews, and he now goes on to talk about the primacy of faith. And this is v9-11.
And what Paul here is doing is basically making it clear - the order of things is very important.
I remember watching that comedy show MASH. And in this scene they were there trying very carefully to disarm a live unexploded bomb. And they do this by reading an instruction manual. And the instructions said - Pull the green wire out. And so they pulled the green wire out. And then they read next line in the instruction manual which said - But be warned you must pull out the red wire first.
The order of things is very important. And the order of things that Paul's talking about here is the order between when Abraham was made righteous. And when he was circumcised.
Circumcision was that physical mark that made the Jewish people distinct. With this boasting of the Jews - perhaps they were saying that the male Gentile Christians aren't quite on the inside with God because they aren't yet circumcised.
But Paul says, be clear on the order of things - v10 - was righteousness credited to Abraham after he was circumcised or before? It was not after, but before. In fact the time between Genesis chapter 15 and 17 there in our outline is around 20-30 years!
See, righteousness from God can come to the circumcised but also to the uncircumcised, because Abraham himself while he was uncircumcised - was made righteous because he had faith.
As v11 says, circumcision was a sign and seal of righteousness. Not the reality itself.
Let me put it like this - when a man and a woman get married they stand up the front, all mushy for one another. They make solemn promises and vows expressing their commitment to be bonded together for the rest of their lives. And they exchange rings. And those rings are a sign and seal of the bond. They represent the bond that this man and wife have between each other. Take the rings off - it doesn't stop the bond. It's a sign. See - circumcision was a sign as well.
The primacy lies with faith. And that's why this Jewish boasting is wrong.
Paul continues to hammer away at showing that this inside/outside view of Christian people is wrong. And if he's made it clear that at the very origins of Israel - is Abraham and he's the Father of Faith. He now goes on to show that those who belong to God extend beyond Israel - because those who belong to God are a family of faith.
As the end of v11 says, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised (the gentile person with faith). And he's also the father of the circumcised (the Jew) who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham.
He's saying this making a distinction, inside/outside thing is wrong because there's no basis - you're in the same family. You have the same Dad. You're brothers.
Every now and then we read in the paper about some family reunion where long lost brothers and sisters find each other. There was that one earlier in the year about that shy and retiring Brisbane Lions player Jason Akermanis. Jason discovered who his dad is, so he got to meet all these half brothers and sisters he never knew he had.
And it is sort of the same here - Paul is saying you need to rework your family tree. The way you've got it all lined up is totally wrong - because it's all about faith - you're offspring of the same parent. Paul is saying - you Jewish Christians need to look across to the Gentile Christians, step over the dividing line you've made, the line of circumcision and keeping the Jewish law - cross over that line. Give each other a hug because you're part of the same family.
And in fact it was always supposed to be this way. Look across to the verse that's highlighted in Genesis 17 - God says to Abraham - For I have made you a father of many nations. And it's what Paul quotes in Romans 4v17. It's not that Abraham was ever supposed to be the Father of just one nation. He's the father of many nations. Jew and Gentile. That means Israel and Australia, and England, and China, the Sudan, and Germany. Even New Zealand! For all those who have faith. He's the father of us all.
Well, to finish off his argument Paul really presses the point that it's wrong to make a distinction on the basis of Jewish law keeping. And so lastly he talks about the kind of faith that unites all Christian people - those with a Jewish and Gentile background. He shows what faith looks like - what's the nature of faith. And to talk about what faith looks like, he yet again goes back to Abraham - what his faith looked like.
We're told in v18 that against all hope Abraham in hope believed God - that he'd become the father of many nations. Now God's promise that he would become this great father - was still unfulfilled by the time Abraham was 100 years old and his wife Sarah was 99. Who hopes to have children at 100, you might ask!? But that's Abraham. God made a promise and even in his old age Abraham's still believing and waiting. We're told he didn't waver through unbelief. He was persuaded that God would keep his promise.
And the full extent of what Abraham believed is in v17 where we're told - He is the 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.
His faith is in the promise of God - that God gives life to the dead. We're told in v19 that his body, Sarah's body - in terms of being able to conceive - was as good as dead. But Abraham believed that God would keep his word and they'd bear a child. And so life really would come from the dead. But also, later on in Abraham's life - at one point God tells Abraham to kill his own son. Abraham is just about to do it, but at the last minute, God says stop - you don't have to do it. And Hebrews 11 says,
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
See, this was the strength of Abraham's faith. In the face of God's promise - despite the ways things looked, Abraham believed His word. He believed that God would bring life from their dead bodies, their reproductive dead bodies. And he believed that God would raise his son Isaac from the dead, if he was killed.
And this is the faith of Abraham. This is the sort of faith that God credited as righteousness to him.
So remember that Paul is talking to Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. He wants to show that they're united. And so this picture of Abraham's faith becomes the link to understand the faith of Jew and Gentile Christian.
Abraham trusted in God's word to bring life from the dead. v25 - so people now trust in God's word that Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life from the dead for our justification.
Abraham's response to God's word was to look ahead and trust that God is faithful. God will give a child and he'll become the father of nations. Our response to God's word is to look backward but also trust that God is faithful. That the man Jesus who hung on a cross - for us, now 2000 years ago - did die to take the punishment for our sin, and was raised to life so that we can be made right with God.
By the way - this really does say something about what faith is. The way some people talk about faith, you'd think faith was like a cold - that you somehow catch. "You've got faith, I don't have faith. I wish I had faith like you." Faith isn't something simply that some have and some don't. There's no faith gene. You don't get faith. You express faith.
Abraham expressed faith - despite all circumstances that pointed against God's word being true. And he was made righteous. And so now - you and I are called to express faith - that God's word is true - that Jesus did die for our sin, and he was raised to life. And as we express that faith, we are made righteous as well.
Should there be this division between Jew and Gentile Christian? Should there be those on the inside and those on the outside. No. Jew and Gentile - as they now both express faith in God's word about Jesus, they are both together made right with him.
Now, we've looked at this passage this morning - I hope you can see it - it was plain inappropriate for Gentile Christians to be pressured by boastful Jews/Jewish Christians to take up the law as a way to righteousness.
Now that's not our precise situation is it - those with a Jewish and Genitile background in our church and the pressure to all live like Jews. But I do want to urge you to stick with faith in Jesus. It's the way to have relationship with God. Stick with faith in Jesus. It's the way to be in the right with God.
There's nothing we can do to add to that relationship that's there because of our faith in Christ. No church activity like baptism or taking part in communion adds to relationship with God through faith in Jesus. Perhaps relevant for a lot of people here - no sort of perfectionist Christian living adds to our relationship with God through faith in Jesus. Sure - it's good to be involved in acts of service. It's good to be active in the church and really taking a part in helping things along. Doing good here at church is really important. God values it. God commands it. But please don't be fooled into thinking that it earns you extra points so that God really thinks you're special. Christian people are special - but you're special already. You've been brought from the outside - to be on the inside with God. You're in his family. You belong to him. You've been made to be in the right. And God so dearly loves you.
Stick with faith. It is the only way to go.
I remember being part of a youth group where we did a little illustration to show what faith is. And it was where you stand with your arms crossed over you. And with everyone stand around you lean back and you just believe that people will catch you. I can tell you, when you're leaning back and you know the hard floor is just below, it makes you a bit nervous.
But as I've thought about it - I reckon it's not the best illustration about what faith in God is like.
See, this illustration of just leaning and hoping people catch you - I think again makes out that faith is just something you have or don't have. Blow it up on a larger scale - faith is supposed to be like bungee jumping. Some people can do it and some people can't. I'm in the can't category. You'll never catch me up standing on the edge of a bridge with a rubber cord tied around my feet. It's just not in me. Is that what faith in God is like?
Well, I reckon a better illustration of what it means to have faith in God is to imagine that there are two friends - say Pam and Jane. Pam and Jane have been friends for 30 years. And for the last couple of years, most Saturday mornings Pam stands out the front of her yard. And Jane comes along in her car and picks Pam up and they go for drive to the beach where they a morning walk and have breakfast together. And at the end of each Saturday morning together, Jane says - I'll pick you up next Saturday.
And so Pam accepts Jane's word - Jane's shown that she can be believed. And so Pam waits out the front the next week.
Jane said something and Pam believes her.
See - this faith is relational. It comes out of knowing the person. Knowing that they've shown themselves to be trustworthy. And so accepting their word isn't some crazy wild thing like bungee jumping. It just the right thing.
For Abraham. God revealed himself to him. God said a word - gave a promise. And Abraham trusted his God. Knowing who God is, it was just the right thing. And God made him righteous.
For us - God has said a word to us. He's given us a promise. The promise that Jesus' death deals with our sin and his resurrection means we can be put right. The right thing to do is to trust in God. And God also makes us righteous.
The most important thing of all - is that we have our faith in God.