Justified by Faith
Grace and Peace: Welcome One Another As Christ Welcomed You • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 12 viewsPaul argued that people are justified (set right with God and put into a right relationship with him) not by observing the demands of the Torah, but by faith in Jesus. The sort of faith Paul promoted was not simply mental assent to an idea, but loyalty to Jesus as King and trust that the promises of God are being fulfilled in Christ. On this basis alone, both Jews and Greeks can be in right relationship with God. As with the rest of the letter, Paul’s motive in writing was not merely theological accuracy (as important as that is), but Christian unity. He wanted peace between Jews and Gentiles. We also need to realize that we believe about theological ideas—grace, justification, salvation, and covenant—affect how we live and treat others.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
I’m pretty generous with the word, “cousin”
- I call 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd once removed, “cousins”
- Hollee ONLY calls first cousins, “cousins”
- After that, you’re a relative’s relative…maybe
BUT the words, “brother” or “sister” I’m less generous with
- What if someone said to me…
- “I’m your new brother!”
- “I was just added to the McAdams family today.”
- “By the way….I can’t wait to share your inheritance.”
I would have a lot of questions.
- How did you get added to the family?
- Who said you could be a cousin?
What about YOU?
What would it take for you to accept someone as family?
What would it take for you to accept someone as family?
Would they have to…
prove they were biologically related
prove themself in some other way
Christians should see each other as
family
not cousins
but siblings
This was a hard concept for Jewish Christians in the first century to swallow
Gentiles didn’t have to be circumcised
Didn’t have to keep the Law of Moses
Didn’t have to prove themselves
Biblical Text:
Biblical Text:
Don’t Jews have special status in God’s family?
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
Having the Law would have been an advantage
if they had kept the Law
but no one actually kept the Law
All of humanity was enslaved under sin
Jews
Gentiles
the Law reveals sin…it exposes sin
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
20 For in his sight no one alive will be considered righteous on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, because what Torah really does is show people how sinful they are.
20 Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
the righteousness of God
justice of God or “covenant faithfulness of God”
he demonstrated it apart from the law
but the Jewish scriptures (TaNaKa) bear witness to it
if no one is righteous (Jew or Gentile), then it has to depend
on God’s righteousness
not human righteousness
HE has to be the one to do the right thing.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
through faith in Jesus
or, “through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ” (NLT)
God demonstrates his righteousness through Jesus’ faithfulness
The faithfulness of Jesus is what saves us
Jesus is God fulfilling the divine promises of the Law
Jesus is Israel fulfilling the human requirements of the Law
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
no distinction
God demonstrates his righteousness towards both Jews and Gentiles
He does not make a distinction
He is being FAIR / JUST / RIGHTEOUS
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
God made humans
to be his glorious images in the world
to partner with him
to co-rule with him
to reflect his glory in the world
we ALL fell short of that
Romans
Greeks
Jews
Americans
Texans
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Justice
God dealt with sin
By putting forth his Son as the atoning sacrifice to cover all of it
Just
all of the sin has been dealt with
no more passed over
Justifier
Everyone who has faith in Jesus
is made set right with God
Exonerated / Acquitted / Vindicated
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Grace destroys pride
There is no boasting
Boasting is excluded
By the law of faith
Justified by faith
Apart from works of the law
No personal, tribal, ethnic, or national pride
side note on justification by faith:
Being “justified by faith” does not mean you don’t have to do anything to be a Christian, it means you don’t have to do anything besides be a Christian.
Being “justified by faith” does not mean you don’t have to do anything to be a Christian, it means you don’t have to do anything besides be a Christian.
[SLIDE] “Abraham Believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
[SLIDE] “Abraham Believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
You will you have a child, your descendants will be like the stars
Abraham believed God
God counted Abraham’s faith as “righteousness”
He set Abraham right and put him in a right relationship with himself
Abraham was in a right relationship with God because of his faith
BEFORE he was circumcised
This might have been something that had never crossed these Jewish Christians’ minds
At one point Abraham was an UNCIRCUMCISED righteous believer in God
Were they really prepared to say,
“Abraham may have been good enough for God, but not good enough for me?”
No self-respecting Jew would say that!
And if they can’t say that about Abraham, they shouldn’t say that about any of their Gentile brothers and sisters.
Because God was accepting them on the same basis he accepted Abraham
13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
Abraham and his offspring
will inherit the whole world
the world to come
the new heavens and new earth
all belong to Abraham and his family
That promise didn’t come through the law
that promise predates the law
it came through the “righteousness of faith”
Application:
Application:
We started by asking, “What would it take for you to accept someone as family?”
Here’s God’s answer…
Faith makes us family.
Faith makes us family.
You don’t have to be perfect
You don’t have to know everything
You don’t have to get everything right
But you do have to have faith (faithfully follow) Jesus
But this also means you need to extend this same grace to others
You can’t expect more of others than God does!
You can’t expect people to become something God doesn’t expect!
You can’t hold them to a different standard than God holds them.
If someone is walking in faith…
faithfully following Jesus
giving him their loyalty
striving to live out their baptism
that person is my brother or sister
Invitation:
Invitation:
Put your faith in Jesus
God will justify you by faith
On the same basis that he justified Abraham
Recommit your life to him
Recommit yourself to loving Jesus’ multinational, multilingual, multiethnic family
Recommit yourself to faithfulness and obedience
Let this family love you.
