Sermon for March 5, 2023 – Second Sunday of Easter Preparation

Psalm 121 • Genesis 12:1-4a • Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 • John 3:1-17

This week’s theme is the eyes of faith. In our call to worship Psalm, we have the psalmist lifting up his eyes to God to trust and see God’s care for him. In Genesis, we see God asking Abraham to leave behind everything and to trust that God will show him where to go. In Romans, Paul confirms that Abraham did trust God by faith in what was unseen to him. And in John’s gospel, Jesus talks to Nicodemus about being born from above and seeing the kingdom of God as a result.

Abraham’s Children: By Law or by Faith?

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 (NRSVUE)

Today, we find ourselves in the second Sunday of Easter preparation. This is a time to reflect on the importance of Jesus’ victory over sin and death through his resurrection. However, a church can sometimes struggle with keeping the most important things in mind, which was the case with the church in Rome.

If it appears that we are looking at the middle of a longer conversation, that’s because we are. Paul is addressing a Roman church that is in danger of fracturing. The lines have been drawn between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. And so, Paul is trying to do damage control here.

What Paul is attempting to deal with is no less important for us to understand as it was for his intended recipients. And he is going to appeal to Abraham to make his case. With the first few verses he’s going to start by asking a question, he will then build his argument in the middle verses, and then finish with his definitive answer in verses 16 and 17.

The Question

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? Romans 4:1 NRSVUE)

What matter are we talking about here? Well, right before we got to this section of the letter, Paul is addressing the fact that God is not only the God of the Jews, but of the Gentiles as well. And as such, all are justified by faith and not by the works of the law.

Paul’s question could be rephrased this way, “have we found Abraham as our forefather according to the works of the law or by trusting God?” Can the law bring about our righteousness before God? Can we boast in what we have done or are able to do? Or are we supposed to accept our righteousness as a gift? Abraham trusted God in what he said he would do, and it is on that basis alone that God’s righteousness is credited to him.

It seems like Paul is having to spend a lot of time on this issue. Perhaps it wasn’t so easy to convince people that their righteousness was by faith. Put yourself in the sandals of the Jewish believers. The law had dictated every part of their life. It was the lens through which they viewed all things.

While the Jewish believers welcomed their new life in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, it sounds like they were still struggling with the idea of not having to keep up their side of the bargain.

They were probably thinking “we’ve had to live with all these requirements our whole lives, what happens if we don’t continue living by them?”

And here is where we need to be honest with ourselves. Do we really believe that we are justified by the faith of Christ Jesus, or is something still required after believing? In our minds, we take out religious insurance policies. “What if I’m wrong and I overestimate God’s grace? Just in case, I better supplement my salvation with works. I may be saved by grace, but I better work for the kingdom like it’s up to me.”

 A little leaven leavens the whole lump (1 Corinthians 5:6), and soon we do end up thinking that we need to keep up our end of the bargain, or else…

When this line of thinking gets exposed, it sounds absurd, doesn’t it? Yet, that is often our temptation. The world gives us the message that we are the ones that should be in control of our destinies. That “if it’s got to be, it’s up to me!” We like to take credit for any good we do, and we don’t like to ask for help either. But this is not the way of the kingdom.

Another temptation is to “blur” the lines of the covenants. Some well-meaning Christians are known to say “well, I believe in the entire bible.” That’s great! I don’t know many believers that would say that they don’t.

But the problem is that not every scripture carries the same weight. We have to look at the scriptures in context. We have to be careful not to put the old wine into new wine skins. The old covenant does not mesh with the new.

There were no small numbers of Jewish believers in Rome who had a hard time trusting Christ for their righteousness alone, and they insisted that others should not be allowed to either. This is still a problem for us today.

The Argument

For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. (Romans 4:3-5 NRSVUE)

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. (Romans 4:13-15 NRSVUE)

Imagine if you worked for the next month but never saw a paycheck. I’m sure that you would remind your employer that they have an obligation to pay you. Here in the United States, we have labor laws that are in place to protect workers to ensure that they are getting paid properly. It is against the law to work and not get paid.

I think we can all understand that wages are not a gift, but an obligation of payment for work done. But here’s where things begin to shift. Paul then says that to the one who doesn’t work but trusts God, he is totally just and considered righteous with Christ’s righteousness.

Once again, what Paul is saying flies in the face of how the world works. And yet, this is precisely how the Kingdom operates. We have a saying that goes. “If it’s too good to be true then it probably is.” But in this case, our righteousness in Christ is too good not to be true.

Appealing again to our forefather Abraham, Paul reminds the Romans that Abraham simply believed the promise that God had given him. And it was because of that belief he was made righteous in God’s sight.

The Mosaic law had not been instituted at that point and wouldn’t be in place for at least another 400 years. Therefore, keeping the law had nothing to do with being a child of Abraham.

Paul allows for no middle ground in this argument. Law and faith are not compatible. Those who are trying to earn their place with God through the law are making their faith useless. Our relationship is no longer to the law, it is to Father, Son and Spirit by faith that we are heirs of Christ.

Very few believers today would admit that they are still under the law with all of its demands. Yet many live lives that are full of all sorts of moral or ethical imperatives they believe they must follow to please God. To them, faith isn’t enough, because they choose to trust more in their abilities than in God’s grace. And where there is no trust, you can’t leave anything to chance.

Their standing with God, they assume, is predicated on their performance. When we believe this, we are tempted to start judging the performance of others based on our own self-righteousness. Which is what the Jewish believers in Rome were guilty of.

You may have recognized the futility of keeping Old Testament commands, statutes and judgments, but where is it that you might still be trusting in the law to keep you in good standing with God? The problem with the law is that it will always demand more of you. (Examples might include resting your home garden every seven years, not mixing fabrics on clothes, not mixing dairy and meat, which meant no more cheeseburgers.) There is no satisfying the law.

The Answer

For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”), in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. (Romans 4:16-17 NRSVUE)

Paul’s “for this reason” in verse 16, is the answer to the question posed back in verse one. It is also the punctuation mark for his argument that he settles for the Roman church. Jew and Gentile alike are the offspring of Abraham, made so by faith. The many nations, the Gentiles, are now included by way of Christ.

An appeal is made here to end the judgment and enmity that had sprung up between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. Paul is emphasizing that all of us have one father according to human heritage, and that is Abraham. Spiritually, we also have the same father in heaven.

We can appreciate our spiritual pedigree. We can take pride in Christian traditions and institutions, but that does not give us the right to boast in any of our good works. We are not permitted to think more highly of ourselves than others who profess the same faith.

God loves all who follow him; our doctrines and beliefs are not superior; they are what God has given us. Following incarnational trinitarian theology is a blessing, but it doesn’t make us better than other Christians, or unbelievers. We are all God’s beloved.

All are included by faith in Jesus’ forgiveness. All are included in his offer of redemption and reconciliation. We all have received the righteousness of Christ Jesus as one body, one church, with Abraham as our father, according to the faith, through Jesus Christ who has brought us all into right relationship with the Father.

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Small Group Discussion Questions