Made Right in Faith

Genesis 12:1-4a; John 3:1-17; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Rev. Chris Harbin, Central Baptist Church—Lowesville, VA

17 February 2008

From birth, we long for comfort, security, and safety. We learn to explore only as we know that our needs will be met and we can explore in safety. We learn to avoid those things which bring pain, discomfort, or distress. We respond to words like “sharp” and “hot” from awareness that we will not enjoy experiences associated with those words. Comfort and security are ingrained priorities. How will we respond when faith beckons us beyond the known boundaries of comfort, security, and safety?

Abram didn’t know where the faith journey would take him. Nicodemus understood nothing about being born again. Faith called them on a journey into uncharted territory. God called them to step into the unknown, untested, and untried as though walking in confidence. It was a scary prospect. Why should we assume that a faith journey with God would be any different for us?

Abram had a history, a heritage, a family, a place with ties of belonging. He was established in the region, having accumulated herds and flocks in abundance. He was known and commanded a degree of respect, authority, and deference. Beyond his ties to family, his wealth did not depend on an inheritance that he would someday receive. His father was established in his own right, and Abram stood on his own feet.

It was a comfortable living. Surrounded by a community that knew him and among whom he had influence, there were definite ties to bind him geographically. Remaining where he was would be the natural thing to do. There was no headhunter seeking to employ him elsewhere in a booming new industry. There was no university he needed to leave town to attend. He was not being recruited for the major leagues in some metropolis. He did not dream with Steve Fossett or Marco Polo of exploring new or exotic lands. Life was good, comfortable, safe, and secure. Then God stepped in.

“Abram, you’re too comfortable. You feel secure. You’re well established. You’re confident, satisfied, and sure of your own future, success, position, and place in life. I want to shake things up for you. I want you to learn what faith is all about. I want you to cast your life upon my care and trust me into the unknown. I am calling you to leave family behind, leave your history and your heritage. Embark on a faith journey into the unknown. I want you to begin trusting me, and me alone.”

On one level, the Genesis passage does not sound like God was asking Abram a lot. It was seemingly just a change of scenery. There was a lot more to it, than scenery, however. How many farmers around here would jump at the chance to move thousands of heads of sheep, camels, and goats into unknown territory, looking for new fields in which they might graze and finding them sufficient water? Beyond the issue of finding necessary provision for the animals, there was the question of God’s ability to provide in a different land.

Abram did not have access to the stories of Israel in the days of Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, or David. He did not know as they did that Yahweh would be equally able to care for him in a land other than his own. The people all around him believed the gods were restricted to certain geography. It was commonly held that while the gods had power, that power was limited to their own sphere of influence. To march into the territory of another deity was to pit one’s god against another or learn to worship the gods of the next land appropriately, gaining their favor.

Yahweh called Abram to set all that aside. He was to follow Yahweh’s lead, trusting Yahweh to meet his needs in all sufficiency. He was to trust in desperate measure. He was to set out into the unknown. He was to test God by being faithful and simply expecting God to faithfully provide in lands he did not know and through means he could not foresee.

It was no simple decision. It was not a one time action with little requirement for follow-up. It was the call to embark on a new life journey. It was a question of assessing the quality of his faith—allowing faith to actively transform his life as he committed himself to trust God with the rest of his days. He was to set aside all that he knew, all that gave him security, and set out to allow God to be his only security. Would Abram allow faith—trust in God—to make him right with God, casting his all upon God’s provision and care?

We know how Abram’s story turned out. Abram believed God. Abram trusted God into the unknown. That trust became action, and in grace, God credited his faith as righteousness. Abram never became perfect. He still struggled, but he placed his confidence in God, and that made the difference.

We are not sure from John’s gospel just what happened to Nicodemus. He came to Jesus under the cover of night. He wanted to pick Jesus’ brain about issues that were troubling him. While the majority of the Pharisees and other leaders of the Jewish community stood publicly against Jesus, he knew deep down that Jesus spoke with God-given authority. He wanted to know more, but felt he needed to begin by making it clear that he was not of one mind with the rest of the religious leadership.

Jesus cut to the chase. “Nicodemus, you have to begin life all over again to even see God’s reign.” It didn’t make any sense to Nicodemus. His whole sense of religious identity, faith, and service to God was wrapped up in following the prescribed traditions stemming from Moses. Jesus’ words did not follow that line of thinking in the least. What was this about being born again?

Jesus explained again. He was not talking of a physical birth, but a spiritual one. As Nicodemus still did not understand, Jesus took an example from Hebrew history. “Nicodemus, remember how in the wilderness Moses took a serpent of bronze and placed it on a pole so that all might see it? Everyone who looked upon that bronze serpent and trusted God for healing was saved from the venomous snake bites. They had to trust God. That is all they had to do, but it was for them the beginning of a new life of confidence in God’s care and provision.”

“Spiritual new birth is like that. One must trust completely in God’s provision, beginning a new life in the confidence of God’s love and grace, rather than in deeds through which you might earn God’s favor. The deeds of this new life are a byproduct of grace, not the means for spiritual reward.” Paul referred to this aspect of grace and faith in recalling Abraham’s pilgrimage. He explained that being right with God is not about patterns of established deeds, heritage, or history. Instead, it is about an active trust in God that depends fully upon God’s grace and love to make us right from the inside out. Abraham’s righteousness had nothing to do with the trappings of our faith and traditions. He was made right in grace because faith brought him to a new level of trusting God into the unknown.

Will we allow God to lead us into a new experience of faith in uncharted territory? Faith that is comfortable, secure, and safe is not really faith, after all. Faith is setting aside all those other things in which we trust to trust in God alone. Are we ready to be made right in true faith by God’s grace?

—©2008 Christopher B. Harbin

This sermon in pdf