Sermon delievered to The Crux a mission church plant in down town Minneapolis

“Justified by Faith”

Romans 4:20-25: “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
I once worked with a 52 year old homeless man named Ricky. Ricky was drunk 24/7 and was living under a bridge in downtown Des Moines when the shelter I was working for found him and invited him to come and see what we had to offer. He was a small man and the way he always looked at the ground and walked with his shoulders slumped forward made him appear even smaller and meek. It was obvious that he was broken and had no self confidence. Ricky was assigned to my case load and as a part of the program had to do a preliminary interview with me. I had a hard time hearing him as he stared at the ground and talked in a hushed tone. After several open ended probing questions Ricky looked me in the eye with a look of hate and anger that I had become familiar with in the ministry that God had called me to. “What the hell do you want from me?” He asked in a growling tone. “Just to get to know you man and find out if there is anything that I can do to help.” “You can’t help me I am worthless and beyond help. Are we finished? Can I go?” I explained to him that his stay was completely voluntary and I encouraged him to stay at the shelter for a month rent free and take a break from life. The residents were allowed to stay at the shelter during the day if they desired. Three meals a day were served at the shelter exclusively to the residents so they didn’t have to interact with anyone from the neighborhood if they didn’t desire to. Ricky took my advice and I left him alone for a couple of days.
One thing I noticed about Ricky was that he was no longer drinking and he wasn’t smoking. Attendance at chapel was required daily for the residents and I noticed that during this time Ricky’s eyes were glued to the preacher. After service one night I invited him into my office and asked him how he was getting along. He apologized for the way he talked to me during our first meeting and I explained to him that I was sure that it wasn’t me that he was angry with and whoever it was that he held such contempt for must have wronged him terribly. I assured him that he had every right to be angry with them. His feelings are valid, he gets to have feelings and he gets to be angry if that is how he feels.
Immediately he looked me in the eye and asked, “Pastor, can I share something with you?” “Sure,” I responded. “No I mean you can’t repeat anything I tell you; right?” “Not without your permission Ricky, as long as it isn’t illegal that is.”
Tears filled his eyes as he told me story after story of how he had been molested by his father form the time he was 6 until he was 10 and ran away from home. “My daddy told me that I existed on this earth for the sole purpose of gratifying him sexually and I was worthless otherwise. “Pastor” he said, “I believed my father; all these years I believed that I was worthless and that I had no further purpose on this earth. Until the day I took my last drink. I knew somehow it was my last and later that day I ran into the people from this shelter. These people I hardly knew came looking for me in the rain, through the mud, and under the bridge. They told me that My Father in heaven loved me and wanted better for me. I instantly became angry at my earthly father for not telling me about my other father. So I came here to find out who this father is. When I arrived I figured that there was something that you wanted from me. But you didn’t, you didn’t require anything from me. You just let me sit and try to figure out what was happening to me. Tell me about Jesus.” I am telling you about Ricky because it was this very chapter that we discussed that night; Roman’s chapter 4.
Today’s reading form Romans shows the faithfulness of Abraham. Verse 25 says, “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God.” I was admiring the faithfulness of Abraham all week as I read and reread this chapter pondering what message God was trying to communicate to me and share with you this evening. I wished that I could have had Abraham’s steadfast love and faith. He was even willing to sacrifice his son, the son of a promise from God. I could not bring myself to have such a faith. I get frustrated when funds are low or a class at school isn’t going my way. Let alone have God ask me to do something great and historic. I fail daily on such a simple level, how in the world could a human have such a faith as Abraham? The reality of becoming that faithful escaped me. To some degree I even started to question my call. If I can’t be faithful in the simplest of situations how can I truly be called to be a pastor? This thought kept spinning in my head all week.
Then I remembered Ricky and the conversation that we had had that night. You see Ricky’s earthly father had promised Ricky that he was worthless; an object to be used and then discarded. Ricky believed that promise, not because, he mustered up his own strength and got his free will in motion and believed. But because his father told him and he knew of no other authority figure and had no choice but to believe. I asked myself, “Does the promise made to us depend upon the promise receiver of the promise giver?” If stranger told Ricky that he was worthless, would it of had such an effect upon him? I think not. The validity of a promise and its effect upon our belief in that promise must therefore depend on who is making the promise.
That night, with Ricky, I went to Romans chapter 4 and its explanation of this event in Genesis 17. I reviewed with Ricky the events in order in which they occurred.
1. God made a promise to Abraham.
2. Abraham believed.
3. God declared Abraham righteous.
Abraham shouldn’t be congratulated for having enough faith. The validity of the promise is dependent upon the promise giver. God, the Creator of the Universe! God made the promise and Abraham, like Ricky, had no choice but to believe what his father had told him was true. Abraham’s faith wasn’t dependent upon his own works or how well he lived up t the law. Romans 4:9-11 states, “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well,”
It wasn’t by Abraham’s own ability that he believed, it was because of who made the promise that he had no choice but to believe. It wasn’t that Abraham earned righteousness because he worked at his belief; it was because God declared him righteous that he was counted righteous. It was because God promised him that his descendants that believed, both circumcised, the nation of Israel, and the uncircumcised, the genitals or us, would be counted righteous that we are counted righteous. Not because we have the ability to believe on our own. Rather our faith and our response in faith to the promise of salvation depend on the promise giver. Our faith in Christ’s and our response to that promise is not a work but a gift from the Holy Spirit.
God promised Ricky that he belonged to Christ and his response to come and see wasn’t his own work but the working of the Spirit with in him. I assured Ricky that night that the fact that he was here was proof that Christ had claimed him and that he was not worthless.
Remembering this I took my own advice and prayed for the gift of Abraham’s faith and stopped trying to muster it under my own power.
By the way Ricky completed the recovery program, reconciled with his wife and two sons and now lives with them. He shares his testimony with everyone who will listen. He has forgiven his earthly father not for his father’s sake but so that he can go on with life and be the father to his boys that he never had.