This week, we talk about removing rear from seat. Very practical.
John 3:1-17; Romans 4:1-5,13-17; Psalm 121; Genesis 12:1-4a
Our lessons for today are some of those that we Lutheran types aren’t huge fans of. Well, actually I take that back. We both really like them, and are slightly bothered by them. We like the part about grace, but we’re less of a fan about the doing stuff to go along with it. Yet the book of James tells us faith that doesn’t do things is dead, so we’re left with a little conundrum.
So let’s start by looking at Genesis 12. And just to make sure you know, Abram and Abraham are the same person, but I’m going to call him Abram because at this point in Scripture his name is Abram. Anyways, Abram is a nobody. No really. He’s an immigrant to Haran, a city in modern-day Turkey. Up until then, he lived in Ur, in modern-day Iraq, with his father. At this point, Abram had no idea who God was; he was a pagan and worshipped all sorts of other gods. But after his father’s death, Abram had a rather interesting experience. God said to him one day, “Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show.”
Now this is a rather odd thing to have happen. For one, God was, at best, just one of many gods Abram would have been worshipping at this point, and Abram could quite possibly not have even known about God. But instead of questioning, or arguing, or anything else of the sort, Abram just packed up his stuff, and headed off to Canaan (later called Israel) with his wife, his nephew, and all his stuff. Oh, and by the way, he was seventy-five years old when he set out.
So Abram was called out by God, and Abram responded by setting out for Canaan. Romans 4 offers some commentary on this incident, where Paul says that Abram/Abraham was called righteous because he trusted God. It wasn’t that Abraham did something special and was chosen because of his action. It wasn’t that he earned God’s favor. God called Abraham, Abraham responded, and he was called righteous because of it.
That’s where our Lutheran conundrum comes in. We are very passionate about saying that we’re saved by grace through faith and not by works. But we read things like this, where Abraham’s following God was rewarded, and we’re not sure what to do. It’s really surprisingly simple though, and not at all the conundrum it seems.
Part of the misunderstanding happens because we don’t quite understand what Paul is meaning when he says “not by works.” Paul is contrasting two ideas of how one is saved, or in other words, how one becomes righteous. I guess I ought to mention here, if you treat the word righteousness as meaning “having a right relationship with God” then things start to makes more sense. Anyways, the two ideas Paul contrasts are a right relationship to God through our own effort, or through God’s effort. Attempting to fix our own relationship to God is futile, because in essence by trying to do it ourselves we just make things worse. But if God is the one who fixes our relationship, then we are in a right relationship with him, and we, like Abraham, are credited with righteousness.
So here we are, in a right relationship with God, but that doesn’t mean things are all over. Abraham didn’t just sit on his hands in Haran and say to himself, “This is so nice being in a right relationship with my Creator; I think I’ll just sit here and enjoy it a while.” No, in fact he did quite the opposite. God said go, and Abram went. Cause it’s a funny thing about a relationship, especially with someone you call “Father”, usually when asked to do something, you ought to do it. Now, much like with our earthly parents, well, let’s just say we don’t always do what we’re asked — not that I’d have any idea what it’s like not to listen to my parents — Lord,don’t-strike-me-down-for-lying.
But God, so much more so than our parents, bears with us when we break our relationship with Him over and over again. He is patient when we don’t listen to him — much like he was patient with Jonah when Jonah decided to go to Tarshish instead of going to Ninevah. But the reward is always greater when we follow God. Look at what happened to Jonah, stuck in the belly of a whale for time, and compare it to Abram. God tells Abram rather directly, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” And all Abram “did” was trust God.
Even though we are saved by grace, and God sets our relationship with him to rights, there is a response involved. It’s not that we’re trying fix the relationship ourselves, but it’s because we trust God — and part of trusting Him involves following. We, like Abram, should trust God enough to leave our own Harans and go where he is calling us.