Read Romans 4 and pray
We’re continuing our series about Christianese- those code words often only recognized by those who have been in the faith for some time. By brushing up on these words, it’s our hope to better use or describe the terminology so that the world might come to know Christ. Today’s word is righteousness. We live in a world that recognizes it is good to be righteous, but it seems that what that means has changed over the years.
The Bible defines righteous as having no guilt or sin. When God sees a righteous person, He sees perfection. But look at what the world has done with this word over the past several decades: (each decade has a slide)
Slide 3- “Righteous in the 60s: extremely fine” (picture of nice 60s style car)
Slide 4- “Righteous in the 70s: groovy” (picture of disco ball)
Slide 5- “Righteous in the 80s: radical” (picture of surfing)
Slide 6- “Righteous in the 90s: really great” (picture of juicy hamburger)
Slide 7- “Righteous in the 2000s: admirable” (picture of good deed being done)
As I was reading through the text for this morning’s message, I began to picture a debate taking place in the Roman church. Everyone may have agreed that to be righteous meant to have no guilt or sin, but there was a division forming over how one obtained a state of righteousness. You see, Rome was a church split between Greeks and Jews. Because the Jews knew they were God’s chosen people, they still viewed themselves as better than the Gentiles around them. They were the people who were given the Ten Commandments, called out of Egypt by God Himself. In their minds, the Gentiles could never achieve this same level of righteousness. Paul steps in to set the record straight that righteousness is equally available to all. Now, if you’ll indulge me this morning: if Paul had been in Rome instead of writing a letter, I imagine him engaging in the debate to stand for the eternal truth once and for all. Maybe the debate would have gone something like this:
(Slide with title of The Great Righteousness Debate and a debater on each side facing each other. I set up a stand on either side of the pulpit- on my left side had a printed Israel flag that I revealed as I introduced Alexander, on my right side a printed Christian flag for Paul. After introducing the participants, I proceeded to move between the two stands portraying each of the men presenting their argument.)
Ladies and gentlemen- welcome to the city of Rome for the Great Righteousness Debate!
Over here to my left will be Alexander- a leader among the Jewish Christians, a metalworker, he joins us all the way from Ephesus. He is best known for failing to quiet the rioting followers of Artemis and being handed over to Satan for having shipwrecked his faith. But don’t let that fool you, Paul revealed that Alexander did him a great deal of harm.
Over here to my right is Paul- former Pharisee turned Christian. Along with his fellow travelers, he has planted churches throughout the Roman Empire. Paul is also credited as the author of about 2/3 of the New Testament as we know it today. Alexander, please begin the debate.
Alexander: As a Jewish believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, I have found that our good works and adherence to the Law are what earns a person righteousness. Why, one needs to look no further than the great patriarch Abraham to see that this is true. You may recall that not only did Father Abraham have many sons (by the way, I am one of them and so are you, so let’s all praise the Lord), he was also obedient to God. Moses wrote all about it in the book of Genesis, towards the end of chapter 11 through the beginning of chapter 25. Let me give you Exhibit A. (display map of Abraham’s journeys) As you can see from the map there, Abraham was willing to become homeless and follow God. Can you imagine packing all your things, saying goodbye to your parents, and heading out with no idea of where you were going? That’s exactly what Abraham did, traveling from Haran, Canaan, Bethel, Negev, Egypt, back to Bethel, Canaan. Anybody who is willing to do all that walking simply because God said go has earned his righteousness, don’t you think?
Paul: That’s just it, Alexander. You can’t earn righteousness. If that were the case, then Abraham could boast about all the good things he did, but nowhere do we see him bragging on himself. Let me put it to you this way, if righteousness was something we can earn, then we can work to receive it. Now, when someone has a job and goes to work and fulfills their end of the bargain, what do they expect in return? Their earnings or wages. But righteousness is not a wage to be earned. If we work to receive righteousness, we have placed an obligation on God that He owes no one. King David even agrees with me. (review Romans 4:7-8)
Alexander: But there’s so much more that Abraham did in obedience to God. In fact, he was willing to become childless to show his love for God. Think about it, Abraham was 99 years old when God stopped by to promise him a son that would be the father of God’s chosen people. He kept that promise by providing him with Isaac at the age of 100 (Wayne, Don- both are men in our church in their 90s, one happened to be at each service- just think about that for a minute- God may just be getting started with you). And when God told Abraham to take his son to the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice, Abraham went to do exactly that. I bet God provided the ram in the bushes because he saw that Abraham was righteous.
Paul: You’re right- Abraham became homeless and he was willing to become childless to prove his love for God. If those good works were the basis for his righteousness, why did God consider Abraham worthless when it came time to make their covenant? After all, if Abraham was righteous, he could be an equal partner in the covenant.
Alexander: What you talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?
Paul: Moses wrote about God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. God promised to give Abraham more descendants than there are stars in the sky. God promised to give Abraham the land upon which they were standing as an inheritance for his people. God revealed the plan that would make all of this happen- that Israel would be in slavery for 400 years in Egypt before God brought them back to Canaan. Now, in those days, a blood covenant ritual had to be completed to finalize the covenant for the land. Typically, some animals would be cut in half, the two sides arranged opposite each other, and both covenant makers would walk between the bodies to signify the covenant had been completed. God had Abraham set it all up- cutting a heifer, goat, and ram in half along with a dove, and young pigeon, lined them all up, then drove away the birds of prey. As it got dark, Abraham fell into a deep sleep and God sealed the covenant, passing between the animals with a smoking firepot and blazing torch. God and God alone could make the covenant, because not even Abraham is His equal.
Alexander: But what about the sign, Paul? Abraham and his household were the first to be circumcised as a mark that they were followers of the one true God. Don’t you see that it was Abraham who first kept the Law so that all good Jews would know how to be righteous? Shouldn’t it make sense that we require all new believers to be circumcised so that they too can be righteous as they follow God? After all, that’s how Abraham received God’s promises.
Paul: No, Alexander, becoming circumcised or following the Law don’t earn the status of righteous either. First, think about the time frame. Was Abraham considered righteous upon his circumcision or before? Remember, it was in Genesis 15 that Moses tells us that God credited Abraham’s belief as righteousness, it wasn’t until chapter 17 that Abraham was circumcised. Because Abraham was already considered righteous, he’s actually the example for both Jews and Gentiles alike. And let’s be real here. How can Abraham set the example for following the Law when the Law didn’t even exist for at least another 400 years? Need I remind you that the Law cannot fulfill God’s promises? The Law points out our shortcomings and brings us wrath. Trying to follow the Law removes all value from faith and renders God’s promises meaningless. The answer isn’t to simply remove the Law either for without it we wouldn’t recognize our sin or our need for a Savior. So where does righteousness come from? I’m glad you pointed to Abraham as our example, Alexander. You see, right there in Genesis 15:6, it says, “Abram believed the Lord and He credited it to him as righteousness.” What exactly did Abraham believe? The promises God had made- descendants, land, and a plan to carry it out. That plan was fulfilled beginning with the birth of Isaac. Hundreds of years later, Israel returned to Canaan out of bondage in Egypt. And then, along came Jesus. You see, Abraham obviously didn’t live long enough on this earth to see Jesus complete all the prophecies made about Him. But looking forward to what God would do through Jesus, Abraham believed God. And that my friend, is the source of righteousness.
(end the debate by rereading Romans 4:23-24)
This means that these words also apply to you and me today. Would you like God to look upon you and credit you as having righteousness? Stop trying to be righteous by doing good works. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good thing to do good works. But you’re fooling yourself if you think you can ever do enough good to be credited with righteousness. Stop trying to be righteous by checking off your list of rules to live by. Too often we take on the mindset that rules were made to be broken and sadly, at some point, we all do break them. Trying to follow the Law will only show you that you fall short. If you want to be credited with righteousness, put your faith in Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote in Galatians 3:26-29 (read). In Christ Jesus, you are all children of God. When you are baptized, you clothe yourself in Christ. For those of you into sci-fi, it works somewhat like a cloaking device. Before Christ, God see you in all your sin. After Christ, having clothed yourself in Him, God only sees a righteous person. He no longer sees a Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. He sees His child. How do you become a child of God? You believe that He has kept His promise of forgiveness that is offered to all. How do you show your belief? By turning away from your sin and turning to God, being baptized in the waters so that you can be clothed in Christ.
Invitation
