“No Boasting – Just Believing”
Intro.:
One noticeable difference between
Lutheran funerals and others you may attend is the absence of eulogies, and there
is a good reason for this. We know that
true and lasting comfort does not come through sorrowful memories of what has
been lost, nor can our hope be built upon praising the dead and describing them
in such ways that it would seem as if they had no need of saving or of a
Savior. Our comfort and hope comes only from
hearing and believing the promises of the living God who takes what is
spiritually and physically dead and makes it alive again through Christ. In today’s epistle
The apostle
encourages us to learn from Abraham that…
I. There Is
A.
We all face strong temptations to boast in our own abilities and
accomplishments.
Archimedes
boasted “Give me a place to stand, and I
will move the earth.” Given the
proper tools – a level, a fulcrum and a firm footing and Archimedes discovered
that even a small force can move a great weight. This mindset which has been adopted by glory
theologians and proponents of the power of positive thinking resides in all of
us.
Many of the
people of Paul’s day believed that the patriarch Abraham received salvation and
was justified before God because of the righteous things he did. Paul writes:
“If, in fact, Abraham
was justified by works, he had something to boast about…” (v.2) The Jewish people
held up Father Abraham as a man who could boast in his works. Today, we continue to see the same thing when
Christians view the saints not as examples of God’s grace at work in the lives
of His people, but as ones whose righteous works set them apart as objects of
adoration and channels of prayer.
If we are honest with ourselves we also like
to think that there is something we do that sets us apart. We like the idea of receiving gifts from God,
yet as
There may be many
of you who share the sentiments of one of our members who told me the other
night that for a long time he took offense when I would declare him a sinner
from this pulpit. Sitting in the pew
week after week, without a serious study of God’s Word, he had formed a very
strong opinion that being a nice guy was going to get him into heaven. He believed that he would be saved because he
was a good husband and father, a fair businessman, a decent man, and a helper of
people in need. Like him we may be led to
think that because we are good people, not mass murderers or rapists, that we
have reason to boast and a reason to expect that God would enthusiastically
welcome us into heaven. We follow the
pattern of Archimedes and say, “Give me a
place to stand upon the law, and I can move heaven and earth!”
B.
God’s Word that comes to us in our epistle, however, tells us that we
don’t have a place to stand. Even though
it robs the Lord of His glory, we may boast all we want about how good we are
and the works we perform before other people, but there is no place for
boasting before God.
We cannot move
heaven and earth and justify ourselves before God by boasting in our own works
because the law leaves us no place to stand and offers us no leverage against
God’s justice. In our epistle the Lord
declares through the apostle, “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the
promise..” (v.13)
Like trying to push
our car out of snow bank while our feet are on ice there we just can’t get any
traction with the law. In the end it will
always slip out from under us and leave us flat on our face, condemned. As much as we try to convince ourselves
otherwise, the law declares us to be no better in God’s eyes than the most evil
mass-murderer and vile rapist. Jesus tells
us that unless our “righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees…[we]
will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:20), and the Holy Spirit speaking through James declares, “..whoever
keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking
all of it.” (James 2:10)
If we choose to boast in our own works and bank on the law to justify us
before God and save us we are in big trouble, because when it is all said and
done, the “law brings [God’s]
wrath.” (v.15a)
It cannot save us, but leaves us dead and
hopeless. If you think that you are good
enough, that being a nice guy or kind woman will save you or that you have
something to boast about before God, think again. If you want to earn a place with God by the
life you live under the law, then as Paul says, “[your] faith has no value and the promise is worthless [for
you].” (v.14)
Transition: In the NIV translation of verse 1 Paul asks the
question: “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this
matter?” His answer is that Father Abraham discovered
that it was not what he did, but what God did that mattered most. For Abraham there was no boasting – just
believing. Abraham learned that…
II. We Are Blessed By Just Believing God’s Promises. (Vv. 3, 5-8, 13b,
15b-17)
A. Righteousness and salvation are gifts, not
wages. We receive them from God, not by
doing things, but by just believing that God wants us to have them and gives
them to us freely for Jesus’ sake.
Even a man as great
as Abraham received his salvation as a gift and not as something earned. He was justified, that is declared righteous,
simply by believing the promises of God. Repeatedly the Bible tells us, “Abraham believed God, and it was
credited to him as righteousness.” (v. 3) God did not wait for Abraham to prove himself
worthy of grace or make the man meet Him half-way. As the apostle says, “It was not through law that Abraham
and his offspring received the promise.. but through the righteousness that comes by faith.” (v.13)
We all receive the
same blessedness of Abraham through faith in God’s promises. By believing what God says to us about His
love in sending His only begotten and beloved Son, we receive His love. By believing what God says to us about His
desire that none should perish, but have eternal life by knowing the truth in
Christ, we become heirs of eternal life.
By believing what God says about the perfect obedience and holy
sacrifice of Jesus, we are declared righteous and worthy to come into His
presence and dwell with Him in His kingdom.
The apostle
describes the blessedness of just believing when he says: “And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the
ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of
the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are
covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."
(vv.5-8)
We are truly the
most blessed people in the world, because we believe in God’s promise to make
things that are not as though they were.
He looks at ungodly and sinful people like you and me through Christ
colored glasses and counts us as righteous.
He takes people like us who daily live as His enemies and makes us
citizens of heaven, co-heirs with Christ and calls us His children. As our epistle says, “He gives life to the dead and calls
into existence the things that do not exist.” (v17)
Through the working of His power in Word and Sacrament God has made all
of us who were dead in our trespasses and sins made alive in Christ. From this body of death He has called a new
and spiritual life into existence, and on the last day after this dead body has
been laid in the dust He will call it back to life again. This we believe, and by just believing we are
blessed with everything God promises.
B.
Sadly, the natural and sinful temptation to find the reason for salvation
in ourselves leads some of us to hold out our faith as the one last work of
which we can boast before God. But even just
believing is not our work but a gift from God.
Faith is not a
virtue or a work we perform. Faith is
not something that gives us reason to boast, “See God, I’m better than those
wretched people who have refused to believe!
Yes, I may have sinned, but at least I believe!”
Instead, God
teaches us always to confess: “I believe
that I cannot… believe. I believe that I
cannot by own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to
Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His
gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith...” My faith is not something I have come up with
or something I have worked in myself. It
is the work of God the Holy Spirit; one of those things that does not exist
that God calls into existence!
Faith, my faith and your faith, is a gift that
God has given to us. Paul says in verse
16 that this is the case, “in order that the promise may rest on grace.” (v.16) You see, it’s all about what God does and promises to do for
us for the sake of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It’s not about the things we do and the works
of which we can boast before others; it’s about God’s grace, God’s works and
God’s promises.
Concl.: “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this
matter?” With Father Abraham may we enjoy the
blessedness of being heirs of promise, and embrace His motto: “No Boasting – Just Believing”