Father Abraham Has Many Sons!
Romans: Unashamed - Building the Church through the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted
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ENGAGE
Grab attention to set the stage for the encounter of the text
Review Sermon Theme - Unashamed - Building the Church through the Gospel
Review last weeks passage -
1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Review last weeks sermon in a sentence -
Big Idea - Counting on Your Works Counts You Out! Belief Brings a Far Better Blessing!
Give Brief Review...
What’s next? Look at the text!
9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
ENCOUNTER
Big Idea - Abraham Became our Spiritual Father So God Could be our Heavenly Father!
Walk through the CHUNKS of the passage (use good transitions)
Questions are the best, because they get people to think without a direct attack.
“You are so dumb!”
“Do you think you are making a wise move with that decision?”
See the difference?
Paul is the master of using questions to get people to think. And if you look closely in verses 9-10 he asks two great questions and answers them too.
These questions tie back into verses 1-8, especially verses 7-8
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
And so Paul’s first question is this.
Is the blessing of sin not being counted against oneself just for the Jews (circumcised) or is it also for the Gentiles (uncircumcised)?
Look at verses 9
9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.
This has been at the heart of what Paul has been dealing with throughout the first three chapters. What is chapter 4 really about?
UNITY NOT SUPERIORITY AMONG BELIEVERS
Remember, the gentile Christians in this church had taken a leadership position when the Emperor Claudius had kicked out all the Jews from Rome in A.D. 49.
The Jews were able to come back into Rome after his death in A.D. 54.
The Jewish Christians were trying to get re-acclimated to church life under very different circumstances from when they left. They, before they were banished, were most likely the leaders of the church.
This, of course - especially with the differing backgrounds of the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians, was a recipe for division.
Kenneth Berding Wrote this...
The Unity of Christianity in Rome: Upon their return to Rome, Jewish Christians would have been placed in the awkward situation of having to assimilate into groups that felt rather foreign to them. This is a reverse of what would have happened before Claudius’s edict; at that time Gentiles would have had to adapt to Jewish customs to fit in. Surely, when the Jewish Christians showed up again in the now mostly-Gentile churches, tensions would have emerged over who was in charge and how Christians were supposed to relate to all-things-Jewish.
Believers become disunited over the silliest things.
Paul wasn’t having it! They were to get alone in unity. None were superior.
The great leveling idea? FAITH!
Abraham was counted righteous by his faith
The Jews were counted righteous by their faith
And the Gentiles were counted righteous by their faith in Christ alone!
So, the first question Paul asks is this.
Is the blessing of sin not being counted against one’s self just for the Jews (circumcised) or is it also for the Gentiles (uncircumcised)?
Let’s take a look at the 2nd question in verse 10...
There are actually two questions here but they are leading to the same destination. What is that destination? What is the point of Paul’s question to this church? Let me ask it this way...
Was Abraham counted righteous before or after he was circumcised?
And, Paul gives the answer - it was BEFORE he was circumcised!!
10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
Why does this matter? Why is this such a big deal?
Because, sometimes time makes memory foggy! The Jews had the erroneous thought that Abraham’s righteousness came from his act of circumcision. It did not. His act of circumcision was merely a seal and identifier OF ABRAHAM’S FAITH that he exercises years before.
This is what verse 11 says. I’ll read it in the NLT - It’s a helpful understanding of the text...
11 Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith.
That sign was the seal that He has saving faith!
What was the purpose? Paul tells us - all my non Jewish Christian friends (which is most all of you), some very good news!
Abraham is your spiritual father if you have faith in Christ - your relationship with God isn’t based on if you are a Jew or not. If you are not a Jew, you can still be a Son or Daughter of Abraham and if you are his Son or Daughter, you are then also a son or daughter of the Most High God!
Abraham Became our Spiritual Father So God Could be our Heavenly Father!
Paul is making a clear point here for the church at Rome - You do not need to be a Jew to be a Christian. Gentiles are part of the family of God too!
Gentiles with saving Faith in Jesus Christ, that is!
But notice verse 12...
12 And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.
The point of verse 12? The Jews were not saved because they were Jews, but because they have the same kind of faith that Abraham exercised before he was circumcised.
There is one more thought I’d like to share from the end of verse 12. In the ESV, it says it in an interesting way...
12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
“but who also WALK in the FOOTSTEPS of the FAITH...”
Walk -
στοιχέω stoichéō; In the NT used figuratively, meaning to walk orderly, with the dat. of rule, to live according to any rule or duty, to follow, to imitate (Rom. 4:12; Gal. 5:25; 6:16; Phil. 3:16);
Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).
Footstep -
to imitate
The Jews imitation of Abraham isn’t as much about the circumcision, as it is to follow in his footsteps of faith!
It is all about faith in Christ.
And do you notice what biblical faith does other than save, as important as this is?
Biblical Faith Unites!
The Gentiles were saved by an Abraham-like faith and the Jews were saved the same way.
This is Paul’s point in...
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
When we are in Christ, we are One in Christ!
Paul has labored for four chapters getting the Jews and the gentiles to, in a sense, lose their self-identity and realize their true identity. They are to identify as followers of Jesus. They were not superior to one another - they were, in fact equal at the foot of the cross.
How were they equal?
They were equal in sin -
Gentiles were wicked, ungodly, and self focused! Living for their own desires. The Jews
They were equal in their need -
Both groups were LOST because of their sin. Both groups needed redemption through Christ because of their sin. Both groups were deeply loved by God and He demonstrated that profound love by giving them the Christ WHILE they were still in their need! He didn’t wait for them to clean up and be right with God - that is impossible. Instead, through the Christ, God provided the means of their rescue while they were yet sinners.
They were equal in their spiritual father -
Abraham knew what it was like to be a Gentile - after all, he was one before he was ever declared to be a Jew. But he also knew what it was to be a Jew because he was the first one! For the Jews, in particular - Abraham, who they claimed to be their Father was only their father by faith in the Christ.
Abraham Became our Spiritual Father So God Could be our Heavenly Father!
God strategically called Abraham through the linage of Adam to form a special nation. He called a Gentile to leave the land of Ur, to form a nation that would produce someone very special to Jews and Gentiles alike!
“...Abraham is far more than the ancestor of the Jewish people; he is the father of all who believe as he himself did. God’s people are determined not by biological descent from Abraham but by spiritual descent from him.” - Dr. Doug Moo
Douglas J. Moo, Romans, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 151.
A Savior! A Rescuer! The Messiah for ALL people - Jesus Christ!
EMPOWER
Combination of Exhortation, Animation, and ultimately Application of the preacher’s words to make space for God’s power to flow.
Do you have to become a Jew to become a Christian? Nope!
Do you have to stay in your sin because your are a gentile? Nope!
You can, by faith follow Christ and live in your new identity - One people group! The people of God!
Romans Bridging Contexts
When we read Romans 4:9–12 today, we might not appreciate what it meant for Gentiles to be offered the opportunity to become full members in God’s people, with equal rights with those who were Jewish by birth. By faith they, along with Jews, can call Abraham their “father” and enjoy the privileges and blessings promised to his descendants.
So what does this mean for the church today?
We are to be “countercultural” as the body of Christ.
Often times in culture we are segregated by ethnicity, national background, economic position, education level, and so many other categories.
But in the church these shouldn’t make a difference at all!
Through Abraham and ultimately through Christ God became OUR Heavenly Father.
It shouldn’t matter what color your skin is.
It shouldn’t matter how much or little money you have
It shouldn’t matter if your political viewpoint
It shouldn’t matter how much schooling you have
If we are in Christ we are all equal at the foot of the Cross.
But do we act like it? Do we as a church care about the things that shouldn’t matter while forsaking the one thing that does matter - that we are ONE in Christ.
Jesus prays this amazing prayer in John 17. I want to share with you the last half of this prayer. Listen to what your LORD says. And see if it lines up with the segregations that we so easily allow into our ranks as believers.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
I have four questions for you from these verses...
What do you see in our Lord’s prayer?
Jesus’ desire for UNITY among his followers!
What are we to be unified in?
The Truth! The Word of God!
How are we to act?
As one - just as the Father and the Son are One!
Why are we to be as one?
So the world knows that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Do you see how important it is for us to be unified in the Truth? The Gospel! It is so important that people see our unity because God will use our unity as a tool to reach people and save them.
Your attitude toward your brother or sister in Christ has salvific implications for those outside the church! Wow!
God’s goal is to reach EVERY Tribe, Nation, and Tongue with the Gospel!
Not just one people group but all people groups!
Not just one economic class but all economic classes!
Not just one level of education but all levels of education!
Not just one political ideology but all political points of view!
So that in the end, there will be a great fulfillment of the promise that God gave Abram thousands of years ago.
5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Do you know when you and I will see this fulfillment?
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
My friends, the world is fighting with one another now more than ever it seems. Church, we are called to be different.
Put away your fussing and fighting. Put away your anger and malice for one another. Stop arguing about stuff that ultimately doesn’t matter!
Church be purposed in loving one another the way God has commanded!
The evil one wants this body to be at each others throats. Demanding our rights and expecting everyone to fulfill our desires! That’s not how the Christian life works.
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Instead if you really want to achieve the unity that the Apostle Paul desired for the Church at Rome and Jesus desires for all Christians, then obey what Paul writes in Philippians
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
We achieve unity when we have the mind of Christ
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Are you willing to be like Jesus and die? Die to your desires? Die to your pride? Die to your way of thinking and instead think like Him? How did He think? He came not to judge the world but to save it. He came not to be served but to serve. He came to love with an everlasting love.
Story to cap it off!
You don’t tell them about a truth: you give an experience of it.
Don’t turn into powerless moralism
In the life of Jesus, those hypotheticals become actuals
Jesus becomes the stories he tells
The message becomes about Jesus
“Because we children of Adam want to become great,
He became small.
Because we will not stoop,
He humbled Himself.
Because we want to rule,
He came to serve.”
-J. Oswald Sanders
Connection Group Reflection Questions
1. What do these verses teach me about our character?
2. What do these verses teach me about God and his character?
3. Because these words are from God, they are TRUTH! What truth is he asking me to believe?
4. What do I need to do to obey him?
5. With whom can I share these truths?