Romans: Chapter 4
Did you think I’d given up on Romans? I’ve been sorely tempted. But many of my church folks have told me that these are some of the best sermons I’ve done since I’ve been here. So I’m continuing.
I think the popularity of these sermons is because they are basic and systematic. They are basic in that they are designed to speak to the average person with no background in Christianity, but with enough depth that we can all learn or be reminded by studying them. They are also basic in that they deal with very foundational tenets of the faith. And they are more systematic than I usually am – my series generally do not last longer than three or four sermons. Of course, I haven’t (until now) tackled a book more than four chapters.
You may have noticed that I went back and renamed the first few sermons – I renamed the posts by the scripture passage instead of just numbering them “Romans Part 1, Part 2″ and so on. That’s mostly because I’m finding that as I get deeper into the book, I’m taking more and more time on smaller passages. Before you know it, I’ll be on “Romans Part 26,” and that seems ridiculous.
Also, between the last post on Romans and this one, I did a very brief sermon on a communion Sunday on the first few verses on Chapter 4 – basically talking about the difference between grace and mercy – grace being what God chooses to give us that we don’t deserve, and mercy being what God chooses NOT to give us that we DO deserve. It was more of a devotional thought than anything else, and I didn’t type it up.
So, all this to say – here’s the next part in the continuing series on Romans, and Paul’s basic outline of the faith. As always, remember that this is not a full transcript – only the notes I typed up to get my thoughts together. So sorry if they’re rough around the edges!
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Just to catch up on where we’ve been, here is a summary of Paul’s argument thus far:
- God has every right to judge us and find us unworthy
- Every human being has some inkling that a Higher Power exists.
- So our sins are not ignorant disobedience, but WILLING disobedience. Even those of us who know God’s love and grace do not always do what he asks!
- We have all turned against God in our own ways, every single one of us.
- And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who did what. Sin is not a matter of quality, but of quantity – and if we have any sin at all, we are guilty. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
- Therefore, nothing WE can do will save us.
- No matter how well we keep our religion, no matter how good our actions, none of these can make us righteous.
- Only an act of GOD can make us righteous. We have to place our FAITH and TRUST in him to do what we cannot do.
- So God intervened – he offered us GRACE and MERCY.
- His only Son as a sacrifice, so that we could be saved by our faith. This is GRACE – receiving what we do not deserve.
- With Jesus’ sacrifice, God cancelled out the eternal punishment for our sin, making it possible for us to live in his presence. This is MERCY – or NOT receiving what we DO deserve.
- The act required on our part is not something hard – some gigantic feat of self-control or will. Rather, it is FAITH – simple trust that God can do what God says he will do… but a trust that’s strong enough to change the way we live our lives.
The Grand Story
Remember the basic plot line from English 101?
Well, Paul has defined the GRAND STORY for us. He’s set up the arc of history so that we see what’s going on – what we’re a part of.
- Exposition – God created us to know him and live in relationship with him.
- Initial incident (conflict) – We sinned – that is, we turned to our own ways instead of maintaining that relationship with God.
- Rising Action and conflict – Our sin and unrighteousness drive us from God, and we realize that our actions – no matter how good – are not enough to make things right.
- Climax – God intervenes. Jesus lives, dies and is resurrected, making it possible for us to be made right with God again.
- Falling Action – What is our response?
This is where the story arc ramps back up. Ever read a story or seen a movie when you thought things were about to be over, and then the plot took a new and unexpected turn? That’s what we’re dealing with here. The story’s not simply over when Jesus ascends back into heaven. If it was, we wouldn’t still be here. Obviously, the plot has thickened. The first conflict is resolved, but now we come to the second conflict.
The first story arc was the whole of humanity. The second story arc that branches from it is replayed in the life of every human being that has ever lived.
The first arc was OUR story arc. Now this one is YOUR story arc and MINE. The climax of the first arc – the death of Jesus that makes it possible to make things right – becomes the conflict incident of the next arc. What will you and I choose to do now that we know? How will we choose to live?
We have God’s promises:
- That we will live in a glorious new home with God.
- We will be made new.
- God will bless all the world through us.
- We are being changed even now.
- We can accomplish amazing things through the power of God.
All these promises are wonderful… maybe even TOO wonderful. In our world, it’s easy to be cynical and to think that God’s promises are too good to be true.
God’s asking us to live in faith – to change the way we live to match what he’s promising us. These promises are good, but can we really believe them? We have a good chance at being happy here if we could ignore all this – “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” right?
We have a pretty certain chance of happiness here if we’ll just let ourselves pursue it. We wouldn’t have to worry about who we hurt, or what kinds of things we did. We could follow our whims and desires to their very end! We could be as happy as humanly possible on this earth, then die and take our chances with whatever comes next… if anything. Is it worth giving all that up, in order to gain something that’s invisible – give up something tangible for something that we can’t prove?
This is why Paul tells us the story Abraham. How can a man, who was born and died 2000 years before Jesus, be an example of Christian faith?
Abraham the Example
As he does in other places, Paul holds up Abraham is as the primary example of faith. Abraham exhibits a kind of faith that might seem questionable, even reckless.
He’s grown up in one of the most fertile and cultivated areas of the ancient world – Mesopotamia, at the head of the Persian Gulf. His father was a well-known and highly-respected merchant, with plenty of wealth to keep a family going for a long time… in other words, an inheritance that was hard to pass up. Abram had it made.
And then God comes to him and asks him to leave his home behind – all his riches and his inheritance and the security of family. It was no small thing to leave your family in those days. You couldn’t just call home, or make a quick trip back to catch up with the parents at Christmas. Abram knew when he left that he might never see his family ever again.
And all of this when God had asked him to simply leave, with no directions, no map, no GPS… not even a cryptic riddle that would give him some clues about his destination.
Talk about giving up a “bird in the hand!”
God made a promise that seemed almost too good to be true: Abraham would be the ancestor of a great nation, and all the people of the world would be blessed because of him. Hard to believe, as Abraham was getting on in age, and it seemed like he and Sarah were unable to have children. But it was a wonderful promise all the same, and backed up with God’s covenant guarantee.
But circumstances and experience gave Abraham every reason to forget God’s promise and move on. Abraham remains childless for many years. He has walked where God has asked him to, and instead of blessing, he’s found struggle.
- He has a family quarrel with his nephew Lot, and as a result Abraham is forced to make his home in the harsher parts of Palestine. Though Lot chose the selfish path, he ends up in trouble and Abraham has to rescue him – twice.
- Still no children.
- Abraham goes to Egypt, lies to protect himself, nearly dies and returns back to Canaan in worse shape than he started.
- Still no children.
- He tells others about his God, and no one wants to listen. For decades, no one listens or cares – probably because they have second thoughts about a God who treats his followers this way.
- Oh yeah… still no children.
Abraham had family and flocks back home. Seems like he should have given up the birds in the bush, and gone back to what was stable and sure. Forget God’s promise – obviously it was impossible!
But he didn’t. He stayed the course, trusted God. And he was rewarded.
Faith That Moves
It’s one of my favorite themes for a reason, and one I’ll continue to harp on. We think of “faith in Christ” as simply a set of beliefs we have to hold – for instance, you simply have to remember in your head that Jesus is the Son of God, and a certain set of facts and ideas.
But time and time again, the scriptures show us – and Paul here reinforces – that FAITH, the kind of faith that saves us, is an ACTION. If our “belief system” doesn’t lead us to change the way we live, to do something that would make no sense if God didn’t exist, then we don’t really “get” faith. Abraham’s faith in God wasn’t just his trust that God was going to do something special. Abraham’s whole life was changed because he believed – and ours will be, too.
This is what I meant about the storyline branching out here. At the climax of the Big Story – where Jesus is crucified and rasied – each of us finds the beginning of our own plot line. We’re born sinful and we know it. We’re confronted with the truth of our nature and with the claims and promises of God. The rising action asks the question: “What then shall we do?” Will we simply say with our mouths that these things are true, and leave it at that? Or will we allow this Truth to shape and change our lives?
