Citizenship through Faith
Citizenship through Faith
Romans 2:25-3:20
May 10, 1998
Introduction: Question: Why are there so few men with whiskers in heaven? Answer: Because most men get in only by a close shave. If Paul, a Jew, had told this joke to his Jewish friends they probably wouldn’t think it was very funny. Jewish men commonly wore a beard.
Though not a joke, Paul is here trying to convict the Jews and impress on them the need to see Jesus as their Messiah. The Jews would most certainly raise the objection “How have we brought dishonor to our name and to God’s name if we bear the mark of God’s favor and honor on our bodies?”
Circumcision, although practiced by other races of people, had special significance to the Israelites. It was the sign of God’s gracious covenant promise that He would be their God. This rite had been reinforced at the first Passover meal when the aliens who wanted to celebrate the Passover meal had to be circumcised according to God’s command (Ex. 12:44, 48). But another kind of circumcision is mentioned in connection with the giving of God’s Law (Deut. 10:16), who commanded, “Circumcise your hearts,… and do not be stiff-necked any longer.”
To the Jew, then, circumcision was an act of initiation into the covenant community of God. It meant everything with respect to the Jew’s citizenship and relationship to God. But is it? Or is there, as Paul suggests, a more permanent relationship with the heavenly Father? A relationship that we call, Citizenship through Faith. This citizenship is A Matter of the Heart; A Matter of Faith; and A Matter of Accountability.
(2:25-29) A Matter of the Heart: A careful reader of the prophets would have remembered Jeremiah’s words: “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh … and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart’” (9:25-26). The implication? If Israel and Judah departed in heart from God, their physical circumcision would, in God’s sight, be no better than that of their pagan neighbors. Their circumcision would be no circumcision at all.
Let me illustrate what I believe Jeremiah is getting at through a farmer story. A certain Farmer had a prize pig. He brought the pig into his house, gave it a bath, polished its hooves, put some expensive perfume on it, placed a ribbon around its neck, and put it in his living room. The pig was a knockout. It looked and smelled great. He even made a nice companion for the farmer… for a few minutes.
But as soon as the door was opened, the pig left the living room and jumped into the first mud hole it could find. Why? Because it was still a pig at heart. Its nature had not been changed. Only it’s outward appearance had changed, but its inward appearance and nature were still the same.
Are we like that pig? Do we have our act cleaned up only on the outside, while still being of the same depraved nature inside? That’s the argument Paul was making to the Jews who outwardly did many good things and even tried to do things according to the Law written in the first five books of the Bible. But, lest we think this argument doesn’t apply to us as well, this “matter of the heart” affects the total being of a person, whether Jew or otherwise.
The “faltering lips” (Ex. 6:12, 30) of Moses gives instruction in this regard. The Hebrew word used there is the word for uncircumcised. What makes that significant is that the human nature is filled with sin us in so many ways, physically, emotionally, even spiritually. So, if the word uncircumcised is used to describe the condition of the human nature, then no one can stand approved before God—precisely Paul’s point.
The more significant question for us who are not hung up on the circumcision issue, is this: What matters of the heart might we be dealing with, or avoiding, that mark us as uncircumcised? A well-grounded relationship with Jesus Christ overcomes all impurity and sin. But are we acting more like those ancient Jews than we would care to admit? While we do the outward things, is there an inner thing, a matter of the heart, that needs cleansing? It’s all a matter of the heart.
In (3:1-8) Paul indicates that citizenship in God’s Kingdom is also A Matter of Faith: Faith apprehends Christ’s work on the cross for us, and that is the only thing that matters before God. Faith takes hold of God’s promise to make all people acceptable to Himself in His Son Jesus Christ. All issues of race, gender, and social status are not withstanding in Christ. Faith works to make us all new people in Christ. Paul says it this way: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.” (Gal. 6:14-15).
John Ruskin, who is described as the great and sensitive Victorian critic, frequently discussed his beliefs and the perplexities of life. He reportedly wrote in his diary a description of a time when, as he says, “I was in doubt about the foundation of my house. So I took a candle and went down into the cellar and ascertained that all was perfectly safe. Since then I have lived in the pleasant upper parts of the house.” Commenting on Ruskin’s self-discovery, author Frank Mead wrote: “Too many of us today live in the cellar of our lives, counting the black beetles, shuttering over the spiders, bemoaning the dampness, and generally tormenting ourselves in the darkness.”
But why stay in the ritual of the cellar? As the Holy Spirit moved the apostles away from the “ritual of circumcision,” to the “upstairs rooms of faith,” so will He also move us from “our rituals of the cellar” to the “upstairs rooms of faith.” What a freeing experience that can be. It is the experience of being freed from sin not a freedom to sin.
Life with God has always been, and will always be, a matter of faith. “Real Jews,” according to Rom. 2:29, are not the ones who are circumcised of flesh, but rather the ones who are circumcised of heart and mind. No matters of men must intrude on God’s matters of the heart and faith.
In (3:9-20) we learn how citizenship through faith is A Matter of Accountability: Verse 19 says, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.” Rev. Matzat, author of the book “Christ Esteem” says this:
The ultimate concern of the Christian is with the person of Jesus Christ. He is the measure of all things. In the centrality of the person of Jesus Christ is the identity and life of the individual Christian. Jesus Christ is not merely a historical person of the past, he is and remains a “life-giving Spirit” (See Matzat p. 137).
Would you consider your car “faithful” if it only started every other morning? Would you consider the paperboy who skips delivery on Tuesdays and Thursdays, faithful? If your hot-water heater sent more cold water than warm, would you label it faithful? I think not! Likewise for a person who only hits the mark and doesn’t sin, sometimes.
That is the point Paul makes. And we have come full circle back to the old dilemma. Is faithfulness what makes us right with God or is it our relationship with Jesus Christ? Obviously, the latter is the truth. And that truth is Paul’s whole point about the power of the Gospel.
Because the whole world is ultimately judged guilty before God (3:9-18), only God’s mercy and forgiveness is able to save. Since sin is a human problem with God, it requires and receives a God-solution. God makes Himself accountable to us, since He cannot go back on His Word to forgive us and welcome us into His fatherly arms which gives us citizenship through faith.
An Action Plan Next week we will return to the subject of justification and wonderful verses such as Rom. 3:22, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” So this week, let’s do some thinking.
1. Are there matters of the heart that remain unresolved for you?
2. Can you let yourself celebrate the matters of faith realized in your life.
3. Is the Holy Spirit working to improve an aspect of your faith life where you need to become accountable and respond to Christ’s love, (things like your prayer life, your marriage, other personal relationships, spending more time in the Word).
To Close: As a Fellow Citizen through Faith I’d like to close our meditation by reading Rom. 3:23-24.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Citizens through Faith Rejoice There are no close shaves in Jesus Christ. Amen.