Boasting busted by grace - Romans 3:27-4:25
One of my favourite shows on TV is called Mythbusters. I like it because it makes science cool. Sterile science laboratories, geeky blokes in coke bottle glasses and lab coats are gone. Instead you have Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman: rugged blokes, dark sunglasses, black T-shirts and weird moustaches (the Boonie theory of science?).
And what they do is bust myths. They take commonly held beliefs and try to disprove them—often quite spectacularly.
- A red rag makes a bull angry and aggressive (as in, 'like a red rag to a bull')—right?. Several experiments prove that, no, a red rag has no significant effect. The myth was busted .
- Here's another one, perpetuated in just about every John Wayne movie. A cowboy can shoot a hat off a person’s head, sending the hat flying through the air without harming the wearer. Again, lots of experiments showed it can’t be done .
- What about this one? Is toast is more likely to land buttered side-down when dropped on a clean kitchen floor? No it's not—another myth busted .
- And finally this myth: lighting a cigarette in a port-a-loo filled with methane gas will cause an explosion. Spectacular if true, but sadly, another myth busted .
Well, in similar vein, the myth we are busting today is that God says we’re OK if we try to be good and obey the 10 commandments. You see the kind of boast that says, ‘I think I’m good enough for God—not perfect, mind you, but good enough.’That boast is busted by today's bible passage, Romans 3:27 to 4:25. If you haven't already, please open your bibles to page 838.
You might remember that in chapters 1-3 of Romans Paul has shown how all people are under sin. We are all accountable for our choice to ignore God-- to live our lives as though we were in charge, as though this world belonged to us and not to him. So Romans 1 tells us, as a result, human beings are abandoned to the consequences of their own decision to reject God. Worse still, there is nothing they can do to free themselves from this bondage to keep on sinning.
There is no excuse, no special favours to Jew or Non-Jew; there is no one whom God views as right with him—not even one. Even trying to live by the 10 Commandments made no difference: all are under sin. That Law only serves to condemn us.
But now, according to Romans 3:21-26, God has announced in Jesus the way to be put right with him, once and for all. This way of righteousness, apart from the law, is a gift of God. It is the declaration that we are in right standing with God. It means that we have gone from being God’s enemies to being his friends. The war is over, the offence we have given is removed, our guilt is gone. And it’s all been done by God putting Jesus forward as a sacrifice that satisfies his justice, appeases his wrath and makes us clean before him.
And what’s the key to all this? It all comes about by us surrendering ourselves to God’s kindness. We act on the basis that what he has done in Jesus is effective for us, just as he promises. That is, we put our faith in him. This is righteousness from faith, not from the law .
3:27-30 Boasting busted by grace
So now to our passage today: the first implication of this message about Jesus is that boasting is busted. That’s what Paul says in verses 27-30. Have a look at it with me:
Rom. 3:27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
So this is how the boasting of Jewish Christians over the Non-Jewish Christians in Rome is busted. No one can boast about being good enough for God because a person is declared to be right with God by faith instead of by obeying the Old Testament Law.
Whether you have the fine religious pedigree of a Jew or not; whether you are circumcised or not; God is only interested in your faith. He gives righteousness to those who put their faith in him, not to those who observe the Law of Moses.
Application
I suppose as 21st century Australians we don’t observe the same distinctions as the Roman Christians of the 1st century. The Jew-Gentile divide doesn’t rate much of a mention for us .
But that’s not to say that there isn’t a subtle form of boasting at work among us—the very same kind of boasting that is excluded by God’s gifting of righteousness to those who put their faith in Jesus.
No matter whether you are a big name preacher on TV, a church minister, a prayer-warrior or a well-respected Bible Study leader—you have no reason to think of yourself as above the lowest of the least in the kingdom. And on the other side of the coin, there ought be no spiritual hero worship among us. We should never think another Christian is walking on some higher more spiritual plane: no matter what wonderful ministry God may exercise through that person, no matter how holy they may appear.
God gives righteousness to those who put their faith in Jesus so it is now completely pointless and ridiculous to boast that our attempts to live by the 10 commandments and the rest of the OT law mean that we're OK with God. The Myth is busted.
3:31 Is the Old Testament just a cruel joke?
Well OK then what about the 10 commandments? Does this faith-righteousness turn the OT Law into a cruel joke? That’s where Paul gets to in 3:31—have a look at it with me:
Rom 3:31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
This is an important theme in what Paul wants to say to the Roman Christians. God's OT Law is no cruel joke, because righteousness has always been by faith. The law is upheld and affirmed because the gospel is in complete continuity with it.God has only ever accounted people as righteous by grace through faith.
4:1-15 Righteousness has always been by grace through faith
Now in chapter 4, to prove this point, Paul points his readers in the direction of Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. Let's look at the first three verses of chapter 4:
Rom. 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about — but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 here, the very point where God declares Abraham is in right standing with him . God had made a promise and Abraham believed it. Abraham hadn't done very much as yet in Genesis, but already God gives him the status of 'righteous' . Abraham's relationship with God was never earned or deserved. God never owed him anything—it was all pure gift. Yet God blessed him with a promise of great inheritance.
And David discovered exactly the same thing, says Paul in verses 6-8, referring to Psalm 32. Forgiveness is always and only a gift. God was and is never under any obligation to do away with some one's sins.
So from Abraham to David and throughout the OT being righteous, being right with God, was always only a gift bestowed through faith. And therefore, says Paul in verses 9-11, that makes circumcision of no value for the Christian. Have a look at verses 9-11.
Rom. 4:9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
So it was only after Abraham was declared right with God that circumcision was called for, giving testimony to Abraham's right relationship with God. And so, as it was handed down through the generations, circumcision became a sign of inclusion in God's promise made to Abraham. This inclusion in the promises of God, this righteousness that is credited by faith, was to be expressed by a commitment to living under the law later given by God to Moses .
The problem was that the people did not live by faith and therefore their faith did not express itself in living rightly under the law. Tragically, then, the law brought about wrath from God instead. So the problem was not that the law was defective. The problem was the failure of the Jewish people to live by faith, to trust all that God had told them.
So, says Paul, the Old Testament tells exactly same story as the gospel of Jesus Christ: righteousness has always been a gift given through faith.
4:11b-15 Abraham's fatherhood
Now if that wasn't going to upset the Jews who wanted to boast in their pedigree, verses 11-15 would certainly cause them to stop and think. You see, Abraham had always stood as a father figure, a beginning point, for the Jewish nation. But now Paul makes it clear that Abraham is not the father of Jewishness but he is the father of all who put their faith in God, whether Jew or Gentile. Look again at the second half of verse 11 and following:
Rom 4:11b So then, Abraham is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 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.
Rom. 4:13 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
So the myth of obedience to any kind of law or regulation or commandment is busted by grace because righteousness has always been a gift given through faith.
4:16-25 Abraham assures us of the inclusion of all believers in God's righteousness
And all this is great news if you've ever felt unsure about how God views you. There's no arrogance in knowing for sure that God sees you as his child, as his chosen for everlasting life. There's no arrogance, no boasting, because you never deserved it in the first place. Instead, God guarantees it to you through the kind of faith Abraham had. That's what the second half of this passage is all about, beginning at verse 16. Look at it as I read it out:
Rom. 4:16 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.
Verses 18-22 then illustrate this kind of faith. God promised Abraham offspring, a whole nation of them, and through his offspring blessing to all the world . Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He trusted God's promise and through this, God gave him his righteousness.
Here's the good bit: we are guaranteed this same standing with God when our faith is firmly fixed on God's promise.
What usually happens at this point is that we say, well that's not very comforting because my faith is not nearly as strong as Abraham's. Perhaps I don't have enough faith. If that's where you're at, Jesus himself answers your concern. He says the tiniest speck of faith is all you need . You see, the question is not how much faith, it's where you've put it.
Let me explain what I mean. I have faith in lift manufacturers and maintenance men. How much faith? Well, enough to trust my life to them every time I get in a lift. I have faith in my doctor. When he says I've got a problem, I do what he tells me to make it right. Does either of those examples seem like an extraordinary amount of faith? No really. I'm sure you all do much the same thing with your faith.
The faith we put in God is much the same. Like a Doctor, when God tells us we have a problem—a life threatening problem—then we trust him enough to do something about it. We say, 'Is there a way out of my predicament'? God says, 'Here is the remedy I have provided to fix your deadly disease.' It's at that point that God makes the message about Jesus' death and resurrection known to us. We readily trust an elevator company with our lives, why not the God of the universe? It's what your faith is really in that matters, not how much you've got.
Just as Abraham was asked to believe that God could bring life from death—from his body which was as good as dead—so also God calls us to put our trust in his demonstrated ability to raise people from death. You see, at the end of this passage, Paul makes clear the content of Christian faith. Have a look at verses 23-25:
Rom 4:23 The words “[righteousness] was credited to him” were written not for [Abraham] alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Can you see how what the Bible tells us here does two things? First, we are guaranteed that God views us as right with him when stop trusting ourselves and instead put our faith in him. And second, the myth of boasting we're OK with God because of our own efforts is busted.
So here's the bottom line: if you surrender any other hope of being made right with God, and instead rely upon what God has done through Jesus' death and resurrection, then you may be absolutely assured of your right standing with God. You've read God's promise for yourself in this passage today—all that remains is for you to act upon it.
And now on the basis of what God assures us of here, I want to call upon us to do two things; one individually and a second as a whole group. The first is this. If you've never purposefully and intentionally transferred your trust from trusting yourself to, instead, trusting what God has done for you. I want to give you that opportunity now. What you're saying is that you want God to give you his righteousness instead of trying to earn it or buy it or just hoping that maybe somehow you'll scrape across the line at the end. In abandoning all other alternatives you are embracing Jesus as your hope and saviour. If you've never really told God that's where you're at, if God is showing you that this is you want to say to him for the first time, then I want you to pray this prayer with me now.
Pray
A few moments ago I said that on the basis of what we read in the Bible here in Romans I would call upon us to do two things. I have called upon us as individuals to put our faith Jesus Christ alone. Now I want to call upon us as a church to act on our faith in what God says here by committing ourselves to bringing this message to our community.
What I'm saying is that if we really believe what we've read so far in the book of Romans, our life as a church cannot remain the same. Instead, we'll be driven by the love of God in everything we do. Showing our love for God, our gratitude for his kindness towards us, will become our great delight. More than any other desire or hope or goal in our life, giving expression to our love for God will be our passion. And this same love for God also compels us to love the people around us. I am calling upon us as a church to be driven by the love of God for the bloke at the coffee shop,… the neighbour with noisy kids, the people you know at the school or the club, that person who lives right beside you whom you've never really got to know.
Let me speak plainly. Romans 1:18-3:20 has told us that these people remain under the wrath of God with no excuse and no destiny other than judgement unless, unless, God brings forgiveness and restoration to them through the gospel. Remember that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.
But how will they know about the love of God unless we show them, unless we tell them. Romans 3:21 to the end of chapter 4 has busted the myth that most people in Avalon would sign up to in some way. Now we need to tell them.
Today's Thanksgiving Day Gift is the beginning of our determination to bring this message to Avalon and our wider community. But it is only the finances so far. What I'm asking you for now is your personal commitment to join me in being driven by the love of God to share the gospel with our community.
Will you do it? Stand with me and pray if you will.
Romans 3:27-4:25 actually unpacks the consequences of Romans 3:21-26, which have just reviewed. Our passage today is the explanation and unfolding of a righteousness that is by faith, and not achieved by the Law of Moses.
I don’t see too many men in our church lining up for circumcision in order to make themselves Jewish and thereby claim the inside running with God.
And as we read on in Genesis, we realise that this righteousness is a gift, entirely unmerited, because Abraham is far from perfect or holy.
I like the way that the Message renders these verses. It says,
Rom 4:18 When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!"
Rom 4:19-25 Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That's why it is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right."