"And he [Abraham] is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "so shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.' The words, 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." (Romans 4:12-25)
"Therefore the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by GRACE…."
The Greek word for "grace" is "charis" (the root word of charismata and charismatic). Strong's Concordance defines it as: good will, loving-kindness, favour (which means the charismata – the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we talked about in the last posting - are gifts of loving-kindness and favour from the Lord to us – something to be embraced and welcomed rather than shunned or neglected). We Christians like to define "grace" as God giving us that which we do not deserve, while "mercy" is God not giving us what we do deserve.
The point being that faith is an act of believing that God WILL do good things for us, even though we don't deserve them. That is sometimes the most difficult obstacle for Christians to overcome….that God promises (and wants to give) GOOD things to us who are so undeserving.
We live in a sin-ridden world, in which it is difficult to believe that good things happen to undeserving people. That is truly seldom the case in the world. The world likes to reward folks who are deserving, not undeserving; we describe those who expect something they haven't earned as having "an entitlement attitude." But we have to remember that this mindset and all like it, come from the world and cannot be applied to our God. And it is important that we learn how to overcome the worldly mindset that says we only get what we deserve….especially when it comes to God. That mindset can keep us from receiving the bounty that God has for us. If God says we are entitled to His favour as undeserving as we are (I am speaking of God's promises here, not social welfare benefits) then we are to agree with Him in that and be not just willing to receive them but anticipating those promises being fulfilled exactly as He says they will be….and all of this we should do with a humble and grateful heart.
Our deserving it would actually lessen the goodness of God towards us. It would instead become something "owed" to us and have little to do with God's generosity and loving-kindness to us; something that occurs for no other reason than that He is a good and loving God.
So our faith first has to believe AND trust completely that God is a good and loving God; even while recognizing that He is also a just God and not to be trifled with.
Secondly, our faith has to believe that what God says He will do, He will do for each of us, irrespective of who we are.
Thirdly, our faith has to believe that God is ABLE to do that which He says He will do.
The last item requires that we understand that it is God alone who "calls things that are not as though they were."
That last sentence bears an important distinction that must be understood: It is GOD who "calls things that are not as though they were." It is NOT US. We are called to BELIEVE that He "calls things that are not as though they were." In other words, that He is able to create something from nothing, such as He did when He created the universe and all that is in it. [See Genesis 1]
There is a 'Word of Faith' movement going on that is not about faith, it is about heresy. [http://www.gospeloutreach.net/whatwordfaith.html] It says that we can claim things to be a certain way, and that simply by our claiming them to be so, they are. But it isn't about us. It's about God. It is God alone who creates; who "calls things that are not as though they were." We are not the Creator of anything that is not. Only God can do that.
All we are called to do is BELIEVE what He says He has done or will do….and to ACT upon it. That is FAITH. Faith is hearing the Father and acting in obedience to what we hear from Him, as Moses did:
"Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind." (Numbers 16:28)
And as Jesus did:
"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (John 5:19)
God has accomplished ALL that needs to be accomplished for us. We have nothing to accomplish, other than to believe and to act as though we do believe. We are not called to works that attempt to finish something that is already finished. We are called to believe and these are the confirming signs that will prove that we do indeed believe:
"And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark 16:17-18)
For example, Jesus says that with faith the size of a tiny mustard seed, we can tell a mountain to be removed and it will be removed (Matthew 17:20). But it is not us doing that….it is the power of God within us that does it. It is our faith (our trust in God's promises) that allows us to command such things to happen, knowing all the while that it is Jesus in us doing it…it is the power of God in us doing it…it is not us.
Paul and Barnabas said this clearly to the crowds who wanted to worship them because of the signs and wonders done by their hands: "Men, why are you doing this. We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them…." (Acts 14:15) Paul pointed the crowds toward the true Creator of everything…trying to get them to see that he was capable of creating nothing because he was just a human being as they were. No different than them….except for grace.
It is important that we remember that "we too are only men, human" …especially when the Lord is working His signs and miracles through us!
And it is important to remember that Jesus said "nothing shall be impossible unto you."(Matthew 17:20)
All we need is faith in the promise that comes from God's grace. And all God's promises are wrapped up in "The Promise" that is Jesus Christ.
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