By Ms. Candy Whitman, Pastoral Intern
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sermon Text: Romans 4:1-12
Sermon Outline
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” In Romans 4, Paul uses this passage from Genesis 15 to drive home his radical message: even for the founder of the faith, righteousness was imparted by God on the basis of belief, not works. For the church in Rome, that meant that for all the Christians — those who had been Jewish as well as those who had been pagan — faith alone was sufficient to receive salvation through Jesus Christ.
But what kind of “belief” enabled Abraham to be called righteous and enter into the covenant with God? Abraham had doubted God’s promise would be fulfilled. Where were the descendants he said would become a great nation, and the land of Canaan he was to secure? In Genesis 15:5, God saw his fear, and persuaded Abraham that he could trust him after all. The problem we have is not whether God will fulfill his promises, but our lack of trust in him.
What will persuade us to put our faith truly in God? Trusting God is possible, writes Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in Tokens of Trust, because God has “no private agenda … the love God shows in creating us as much as in saving us is completely free. He doesn’t owe us anything … we can perhaps see now why there is no ground for suspicion, no need to step back and say, ‘Wait a minute: what’s in this for you?’” The sovereign creator God and the one who forgives our sin can have no selfish purpose. Perhaps when looking up at the stars, this was the connection Abraham made, and it was then he believed God.
