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PENTECOST 4, 06/08/2008
Sermon on Romans 4:13-25, by James Mueller
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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
Would you please open up your Bibles to Genesis chapter 12? Tonight, we're going to meditate on the story of Abraham and Sarah. Of course the context of their story includes the creation of the world, the fall of mankind, and the decay of sin eventually leading to the flood. Even after the flood, Noah's children and grandchildren did not choose to obey God and the power of sin grew and grew. The desire of the people to build a tower to heaven so they can view things from God's point of view only highlights the power of sin in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Here in chapter 12, God has decided that the best way to deal with the hostile takeover of sin in the world is to set apart a family from the rest of the world. Please follow along 12:1.
1 The LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." I've called this section of Abraham's story the promise. How many times does God use the word bless or blessing in those verses? 5 times! If Abraham agrees to have his family set apart from the rest of the world, then blessings will follow. This kind of promise from God to man is called a covenant. This covenant is the key to understanding the rest of the Old Testament - it holds it all together. To make this happen, Abraham and Sarah must do 3 things: leave their people, leave their family, and go to another land. Why would God require this - why are these 3 things so important to this covenant? In Joshua 24:2, Joshua recounts to the people how Abraham had to leave his father's family behind because they worshipped all kinds of gods and idols and refused to believe in the one true God. So when God tells Abraham to make a great nation, he is saying to make a new one, rather than revise the old one he grew up in. Abraham leaves behind the wealth, technology, and education in his homeland to grasp a promise. This faith to grasp a promise rather than the wealth, technology, and education of his homeland is precisely what Romans 4 is talking about when it commends Abraham.
Look at the end of Genesis 12:3 again with me. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you. What do you think that means? How can all the people on earth be blessed through one simple guy? Again, Romans 4 highlights the one far off ancestor, way down the road of time, 2000 years later, Mary, who gave birth to a promised son, Jesus. God's promise to Abraham involves so much more than fertility drugs. The stakes are much higher.
The other significant section of the covenant promise is found in Genesis 15. Abraham had a few more questions for God because he realized that in order for all this to happen he would have to have a kid - and frankly he was too old for that. The faith of the rest of the Old Testament is grounded on this miracle. Underline these words from verse 4 - from your own body. Abraham, an old man, had to have a son. He's already 75, but God isn't going to let him get by with adoption or something else, a miracle has to happen. Just to make the point clear, God took him outside to show him the sky - from this child will come a family as numerous as the stars in the sky. I did a little research and found out somebody has actually counted them - more than 8,000 stars are visible in the dark Near Eastern Night. That's the covenant that God and Abraham agreed to.
The next section of Abraham's life is all about laughter. It's about laughter because it's been 24 years since God made his promise, and Abraham has probably started to realize that no amount of medical assistance is going to help now. Write in their ages - 100 & 90 (just to remind us we're talking about a miracle here). Although they lived 4000 years ago, Abraham and Sarah were like us. Like us, they believed in God, and like us miracles triggered the whole range of human emotions. And so the Bible tells us in Genesis 17 and 18 that each of them spent some time laughing about the whole thing. Maybe they imagined two 100 year olds timing contractions and laughed. How could a swaying, creaking, knobby-kneed old man like Abraham father a son? And how could Sarah give birth to one? It took her ten minutes just to get up from the cooking fire, bones aching and knees cracking. Why wouldn't they laugh at such an idea? Their questions aren't so different from the ones we have. Has there been something God has done in your life that almost sent you laughing out of amazement? God likes the impossible!
The incredible thing about Abraham and Sarah is that even though their laughter revealed that a significant part of them doubted God, when push came to shove, they still trusted in God's promises and His power to do the impossible. They name their son Issac (which in Hebrew means "he laughs") because God has promised all of this through two 100 year olds and their newborn son. Here's my key to understanding this whole big black book. Don't think of the Bible as a collection of unbelievable stories and mythic tales. Really it's very simple. It's the story of one family, Abraham's family.
Does God decide to let Abraham sit back and enjoy the son he has waited 25 years to see? The word "test" is the understatement of the century when God comes to Abraham in Genesis 22:2. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." I have heard this story so many times I almost forget how outrageous it seems. People we know and love, maybe us, have waited years (even a decade) to have a child. Imagine waiting 25 years, and then to be told that God wants His promise back, with no explanation. When I listen to this story with new ears I can't help but think of a breathless/heart-stopping thriller. The movie would beg the answer to one question: what would you have done if you were Abraham? And it wasn't until he lifted the dagger above Issac's body that God stopped him.
The ending of that story is the ending to our story as well. God has provided the sacrifice. I'm really amazed that this horrific story is so prominent in the Hebrew Bible. Why would God put somebody that he loved through such a horrible test? I've come to a conclusion. Maybe God wanted Abraham to feel what He feels. Maybe the Father wants each mom and dad in the room to feel the gut wrenching pain of losing a son because of the sin in the world. Maybe the experience of Abraham and Issac helps us imagine the true agony of the cross for God. We see the real cost for sin in our world. It takes Jesus' life, death, and resurrection from Sunday School story to reality.
Abraham obviously is a great example of faith; he withheld nothing from God. But the more we study his life we find out that his faith was often hazy at best. At one point while waiting 24 years he looked instead to a young slave girl instead of his elderly wife (help nature out a bit). Ishmael was born to Hagar, but he was not the child of promise. On another occasion, Abraham was willing to pass off Sarah as his sister so that he could save his own neck from a neighboring king looking for new wives. He was not willing to fight for the honor of his own wife. These are hardly examples of great faith. So I don't want to focus on Abraham's faith because it is perfect or unwavering, but rather because it testifies to a God who keeps His promises. The story of their family consumes the rest of the Bible.
That's the Old Testament in a nutshell, how God changed everything through the lives of one simple family. That's what Romans 4 is talking about - bodies that are as good as dead giving birth to prophets. Abraham is called to believe in a way that denies all possibilities, yet He knows that with God anything is possible. Perhaps that's the promise we need to live with today. What in your life is impossible? In the words of Romans 4 are you fully persuaded that God is at work in your life and that He keeps His promises? My testimony is one of laughter to be honest. I have seen God make the impossible possible.
Let's pray: Father, you created us with laughter in our bones and we thank you for this good gift to us. Sometimes we take ourselves far too seriously, and You have a way of helping us see where our focus really should be. May our homes be filled with joy and laughter because of Your promises. May we laugh together as we work and play and serve in Your name. We pray this through the sacrificial one, Jesus the Christ, your beloved son. Amen.