Before The Voice and blind auditions… contestants came out onto the stage to perform before contest judges. They could see the contestants’ oddness’, quirkiness, race, gender, appearance… they could see if you were skinny or fat, beautiful, cute, plain or just plain ugly and it is assumed that all those factors likely influenced the way the judges hear the contestant. Case in point: Remember when Susan Boyle walked onto the stage of Britain’s Got Talent in 2009? Frumpy. Middle-aged. One of the judges even mocked her purely based on her appearance.
Can you imagine coming before the "Got Talent" judging panel… Unattractive? Bad hair? Warts? Three legs? Creepy? Looking every bit a lost soul? And as for talent, absolutely zip? And none of that matters to the judge? It would not make for a very good America’s Got Talent competition but it’s the way God sees us… none of that matters and it is a better way.
Title: A Way Better Way
Text: Romans 4:1-5 and 13-17
Thesis: We find in God’s grace a better way… a way better than that works way.
The Season of Lent is a fitting time for us to reflect on our relationship to God. Our innate sinfulness is a given but non-the-less we are hopeful that we may experience the forgiving grace of God so that we may be in “right standing” with God. The issue today is determining just what it is that we are relying on to make that “right-standing” possible.
Introduction
Downton Abbey is an award-winning TV drama that chronicles the experiences of the Crawleys, an aristocratic family living in England. In the series placed in the early 1900s, WWI had begun and in one scene Lady Mary, Matthew Crawley’s love interest, is kneeling beside her bed with a photo of Matthew lying on the bed before her. Suddenly Lady Mary’s sister Edith enters the room unexpectedly. Lady Mary quickly pushes Matthew’s picture under the bedding and stands to her feet.
All very prim and in her most proper English accent Mary asks Edith, “What do you want?” Edith answered, “I think I left my book in here.” Mary retrieves Edith’s book and asks, “Is that all?” “You were praying.” Edith remarks. “Don’t be ridiculous.”Mary replies, rolling her eyes.
“You were praying!” Edith says with shock and disbelief. “What were you praying for?” Edith inquires. Mary says, “Please go. I’m tired.” Edith exits the room and Lady Mary resumes her position of prayer.
“Dear Lord,” Mary prays, “I don’t pretend to have much credit with you. I’m not even sure you’re there.” “But if you are there, and if I’ve ever done anything good,” (the scene shifts to the battle field where Matthew is in the thick of battle) “I beg you to keep him safe.”
I am not sharing this scene to make little of Lady Mary’s Masterpiece Theater prayer. I suspect many such prayers have been prayed for loved ones in wartime. I would put her prayer in the category of that one prayed in Mark 9 where a man asks of Jesus, “Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” To which Jesus replied, “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” The man immediately cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”
“Dear Lord,” Mary prays, “I don’t pretend to have much credit with you. I’m not even sure you’re there.” “But if you are there, and if I’ve ever done anything good, I beg you to keep him safe.”
The reason I shared Mary’s prayer is because her prayer reveals a commonly held misunderstanding of God and God’s grace.
Two Principles of grace from Romans 3:27-28 that lay the foundation for understanding our text today:
1. We cannot do anything to earn God’s grace, Romans 3:27
2. We receive God’s grace through faith, Romans 3:28
Our text begins by simply saying “the good works way” is not the best way.
I. Good Works Won’t Cut It
If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” Romans 4:2-3 (1-5)
We are not unlike Lady Mary Crawley who hoped that she had enough good to free up God’s good-will.
Bernard Ebbers stood before the judge and asked for mercy. Bernard Ebbers was the former CEO of WorldCom and had been indicted for orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud that had shut the telecommunications firm down in 2002. His company’s collapse was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and was devastating to thousands of people… yet he asked for mercy.
Speaking in behalf of his client, his defense attorney cited 169 letters from Ebbers’ supporters, he detailed Mr. Ebbers’ heart condition and numerous, often anonymous, charitable gifts. In his closing statement he said, “If you live 60-some odd years and if you have an unblemished record, if you have endless numbers of people who attest to your goodness, doesn’t that count, particularly on this day?”
The judge said, “No!” and sentenced Mr. Ebbers to 25 years in a federal penitentiary.
Righteousness with God is not a matter of God keeping a lengthy spreadsheet on which God keeps a tally to determine if we’ve accumulated enough merit to get in, so to speak.
In our text this morning is a classic illustration that clearly delineates the difference between salvation by works and salvation by faith. “When people work, their wages are not a gift but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.” Romans 4:4-5 (“If you are trying to find favor with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ. You have fallen away from God’s grace.” Galatians 5:1-5)
Breaking it down verses 4and 5 distinguish between salvation by works and salvation by faith:
• Salvation by earning it: When we work an employer pays us wages… as an obligation.
• Salvation by Faith: God is a God of grace and freely gives it.
It has to be a matter of faith; otherwise it would seem that we could place God in our debt. No one can claim that God owes him anything. We may think that way… In the story of Job, who was by all accounts a pretty good guy, we find Job falling on really hard times. His life virtually unravels with grief and loss. He cannot understand it. He lets God know that he has done nothing to deserve the mess he is in. But his three friends object.
One of his best friends really comforts Job in his misery in Job 8: “How long will you go one like this? Does God twist what is right? Your children must have sinned against God, so they got the punishment they deserved… and if you [Job] are pure and live with integrity, God will surely rise up and restore your happy home.” Job 8:1-6
In other words, Job you have gotten what you deserved and if you buck up and become a really good person again, God will let you out from under his thumb.
That is a common mentality. If I am good or because I have been good, God will or has blessed me. If I’m good I can earn the good graces of God and God will be obligated to reward me. That is wrong thinking.
Works will not cut it. Works are neither what God wants nor what we can do.
What we can do, so to speak, is trust God.
II. Faith Works
…a right relationship with God comes by faith. If God’s promise is only to those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary [pointless]. The promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift.” Romans 4:13-17 (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Abraham’s life is a perfect example of a man who would never have received God’s grace were it based on his good deeds.
On one occasion, as Abraham and Sarah were traveling to Egypt Abraham said to Sarah, “You know Sarah, you are a beautiful woman and I know these Egyptians. Someone will want to take you as his wife, and he will kill me in order to do so. So if they come, tell them you are my sister so they won’t kill me.” So when Pharaoh came he took her to his palace. That was in Genesis 12. Then he did it again in Genesis 20. So King Abimelech took Sarah to his palace. God rescued Sarah in both instances but it was not because Abraham was a model of character… it was because God is faithful.
In Genesis 16, despite God’s promise of a son, after 11years of trying Sarah had not conceived. So Sarah suggested that Abraham sleep with her handmaiden and bear their heir through her. He did and the world has never been the same… what a mess we have in the Middle East today for that. Once again, despite Abraham’s mess-up, God was faithful.
This is not to excuse his behavior but to show that God’s grace is not about our goodness. It is about our trusting him for our salvation. Fortunately, “Clearly, God’s promise to Abraham was not based on Abraham’s obedience to God but on a right relationship with God which comes by faith.” Romans 4:13
It boils down to this: We can choose…
1. No Plan - We may dismiss the whole idea of God. Some do and that is their choice. But I am fairly certain of the truth posted on our church sign a week or so ago. “The good news is, Heaven is Real! The bad news is, so is Hell!” So if we have any concern about where or how we spend eternity… it is a good idea to have a plan.
2. Plan A – We may think of Plan A as the performance plan. We try really hard to successfully keep every regulation in the entire law of Moses… never ever messing up in even the slightest of ways.
3. Plan B – We may think of Plan B as the preferred plan. We trust God to save us. “God saves us by his grace through faith [when we believe]. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done.” Ephesians 2:8-9
But what is this faith we are talking about?
1. Is it agreeing to a doctrinal statement?
2. Is it practicing a religion?
3. Is it getting baptized and receiving communion?
4. Is it something we stir up as a way to get God to give us what we want?
The real question we need to ask about the nature of faith is wherein is the power of faith?
1. Is the power of faith in faith itself?
2. Is the power of faith in the one in whom we place our faith?
Faith is trusting god to be true to his word… When God’s Word says, “To all who believe and receive Christ, I give them the right to become Children of God,” is the power of that promise in the believing and receiving or is it in the “I” who made the promise?
When God’s Word says, “For I so loved the world that whosoever believes in me shall not perish but have eternal life,” is the power of that promise in our believing or in the “me” who made the promise?
When God’s Word says, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we may be saved,” is the power of the promise is clearly in the God who makes the promise of salvation.
God wants us to know that the life of faith is wrapped up in trust… believing God is God and that God will do what God has promised to do. If God says all you do is receive my grace as a gift, then that’s the promise God has made. Grace alone and not one thing more!
Conclusion
I have told this story before. It happened back in the days when our daughter was a senior in high school. It was the last game of the regular season. Bonnie’s parents had flown from North Carolina to see her play her last high school match.
The match was in Alma, Kansas, not far from Manhattan, Kansas. We lived twenty miles south of Topeka and it was about an hour drive across country to Alma. It was cold and rainy.
In a typical volleyball match the B Team played first and then the A Team played. A match consisted of five games with three game wins required to win a match. In that Santa Fe Trail girls ‘volleyball went to and often won the state championship… it was often a very quickly played match.
We left in time. About thirty minutes into the trip to Alma Bonnie said, “I forgot to leave the door unlocked for Corky.” Corky was in Jr. High. In that Bonnie’s parents were sitting in the back seat I did not say what I was feeling but if we turned around and drove back to unlock the door we could possibly miss the whole thing… and Mom and Dad Payne had flown across the country just to see Lorri play. I thought Corky would be resourceful and he’d be just fine but Bonnie wasn’t having any of that.
So I turned around in a field entrance and headed back home. That’s when Dad Payne said, “Bonnie, welcome to the human race.” Bonnie did not turn toward her father and ask, “What can I do to merit your forgiveness?” She simply received the grace… as I received in the moment the forgiving grace of God for having not had the graciousness her father demonstrated.
That’s grace! You don’t earn it. You just receive it. Grace is a way better way than the works way.
Pastoral Prayer
Psalmist says: Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy… Enter his gates with thanksgiving and praise. Give thanks to the Lord and praise his name.
We’ve come this morning: some dragging our feet and some skipping like children playing hop-scotch; some joyfully singing and some of us cannot hear the music; some have come with hearts so heavy we can hardly breathe and some have come so exhilarated we can hardly catch our breath.
However it is… we have come and we are about to leave. May go knowing you love us unconditionally; may we go knowing we are recipients of your saving and sustaining grace; and may we go with faith renewed so we may face anything.
This we pray in the name of Christ who taught us to pray:
Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Blessing
May God be with you and bless you as you go… basking in the warmth of the all forgiving grace of the love of God in Christ Jesus.
