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Justification by Faith
Sermon preached by Revd David Parsons on Sunday 20 Feb 2005 in the Mission Church. This is an explanation of today's epistle, part of Romans 4, in the form of a dialogue with St Paul. "St Paul" uses only the words of the epistle, mainly in the Contemporary English Version, but using NIV where the CEV ducks technical terms.
Preacher:
We are very privileged to have with us this morning the Apostle Paul. Your first visit to Street, I believe, Paul? (Paul nods) Yes, your first.
Now, since you are here for such a short while, I'm not going to waste time going round the mulberry bush. I want to home in on the very heart of your teaching. The great 16th century German reformer Martin Luther called this 'the article of a standing or a falling Church.' He maintained that if we as a Church get this one right, we shall stand firm; otherwise, we shall fall. And this core teaching is called Justification by Faith. Now, Paul, we haven't heard much about Justification by Faith in the Mission Church recently - not in those words, anyhow; so can you lead us through your teaching on it now? It sounds a bit dry - Justification by Faith. Would you like to make it more personal - tell us about how it affected the life of some particular person?
St.Paul:
Well then, what can we say about our ancestor Abraham?
Preacher:
Abraham? He was a great man, I know. Left his home at God's call and founded a new nation, in fact two nations, the Arabs and the Jews. They both look back to him as their founding father. He was called the Friend of God, so he must have been on good terms with God. He must have been right with God - justified, in your words. Remind me what he did to deserve that.
St. Paul:
If he became acceptable to God because of what he did, then he would have had something to boast about. But he would never be able to boast about it to God.
Preacher:
Erm, now let me get this right. You say Abraham didn't do anything to deserve God's friendship? You mean he may have done lots to make his friends and neighbours admire him, but that didn't get him anywhere with God? Then what did make him right with God? Does the Scripture tell us?
St.Paul:
The Scriptures say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Preacher:
He believed God, and that - his faith - was credited to him as righteousness. That's a bit tough to get my head around. I know that when I was working, my pay was credited to my bank account every month. Now my pension is credited to my account. But I worked for that - I think I worked jolly hard for it. You're saying that it wasn't like that between God and Abraham?
St Paul
Money paid to workers isn't a gift. It is something they earn by working.
Preacher:
That's right. I reckon I deserved my pay. If I didn't get it, I'd have been round to the school Bursar's office to find out why it wasn't in my bank.
St. Paul:
But you cannot make God accept you because of something you do. God justifies the wicked. When someone believes, his faith is credited as righteousness.
Preacher:
Hold on, Paul! You've just said two shocking things! You've said that God justifies the wicked, for a start. That's like a judge faced with overwhelming evidence of a rapist's guilt, and pronouncing him not guilty. He can't do that! Abraham himself said "Shall not the judge of all the world do right?" Justifying the wicked is not right! It's not legal. And then you said that a person's faith is credited as righteousness - like me getting money in my bank account for doing no work. The law doesn't work like that, Paul!
St.Paul:
God promised Abraham and his descendants that he would give them the world. This promise wasn't made because Abraham had obeyed a law, but because his faith in God had made him acceptable.
Preacher:
You're telling me that God isn't impressed with the good lives that all these nice people here live? You're telling me that being law-abiding citizens and being kind to granny and the cat, as a previous rector here used often to say, isn't the way to be right with God? I tend to think that God likes me, that I'm God's child, God's heir even, because I'm quite a nice person.
St.Paul:
If those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless.
Preacher:
Look, that's the second time you've said the word 'promise'. Tell me more about that in a moment, because that seems to be the way you say God works. But I'm still worried that you dismiss my keeping the rules, being nice, sticking to the law.
St. Paul
God becomes angry when his Law is broken. But where there isn't a law, it can't be broken.
Preacher:
So, knowing the rules and trying to live by rules only means that I break the rules and God gets mad at me. You know, Paul, that's easy to say, but it's hard to believe in my heart. If being nice and law-abiding doesn't get you anywhere with God, then we may have to change our view of other people, too. At the moment we're happy when nice people come to church, and we'd be really uneasy if someone disreputable turned up. It's all part of this reliance on niceness and being law-abiding that you say God doesn't agree with. It will take a mental revolution to accept that. But tell me about this 'promise' that seems so important.
St.Paul:
Everything depends on having faith in God, so that God's promise is assured by his grace, to all Abraham's offspring.
Preacher:
By faith - just like you said before. And 'by grace' - that's the way God treats us when we don't deserve it, isn't it? But 'Abraham's offspring' - those are the Jews and Arabs, aren't they? That applies to people maybe who live by the Quran and the Jewish Law - not us.
St.Paul:
This promise isn't only for Abraham's descendants who have the Law. It's for all who are Abraham's descendants because they have faith, just as he did. Abraham is the father of us all.
Preacher:
So that's what the song means, the one we sing with energetic actions at Sunrise! (demonstrate)
Father Abraham had many sons,
many sons had father Abraham.
I am one of them, and so are you,
So let's all praise the Lord. Sorry!
St.Paul:
The Scriptures say that Abraham would become the father of many nations. This promise was made to Abraham because he had faith in God.
Preacher:
Let me see if I can put this all together, because I know you have to go on to another Church now, Paul, taking your revolutionary message. Justification by Faith is God saying "I know you are a failure, I know you couldn't keep my perfect law even if you tried with every ounce of your strength - and I know you don't try that hard. But just trust me. I'm going to love you and treat you as my child, my heir, my perfect one, anyway. Just trust me. And that promise of God applies not only to me, not only to those nice people here in church, but to everyone, including the not-so-nice, including the rapist. They all, if they trust in God through Christ, are on the same footing with him as I am. All Justified by Faith.
Paul, that's a God I'm not sure I'm comfortable with. He's the God who loves more people than I feel like loving. He's the God who takes away all my pride and self-satisfaction. He's ...
St. Paul:
– God who gives life to the dead and creates new things.
Preacher:
Thank you, Paul.
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Thursday 28th of August 2008
