New City Catechism XIV
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Are the way things are today, the way they have alwasy been since the beginning?
Racism
War
Rich and poor
If there has been no change since the beginning then racism, war, rich and poor has been there since the beginning -
“It has always been this way”
But the bible’s view is quite different.
The bible asserts that the way things are today is not the wway God intended things to be.
That humanity was created in such a way that it was possible to keep God’s requiremements, but that something happened that would change that, something that can be summed up in one word...
AUTONOMY
auto - meaning “self”
nomos - meaning “law”
self-law or self-rule
let’s remind ourselves what Paul says in his letter to the Romans...
Up until chapter 5, Paul has been developing his argument.
He has surveyed the universal extent of human sin and guilt in comparison to teh glorious adequacy of God’s grace in and through Jesus.
On the one hand he has made the charge that both Jew and Gentile - effectively ‘everyone’, is impacted by sin.
But he has also declared that Abraham is the father of everyone through faith.
Effectively, what Paul wants his readers to see is that there are two communities - one characterised by sin and guilt and the other by grace and faith.
Paul identifies himself with the second community.
Having been made right with God, brought back into relationship with God, Paul says a person can enjoy peace with God, stand in that peace even now, rejoicing in present sufferings and future glory, assured of final salvation and receiving God’s blessings through Jesus. Our faith in Jesus, opens the door to us being seen by God in and through Jesus’ obedience and faithfulness.
As we come to chapter 12 - in the NIV and other more literal translations, we notice the
Therefore...
Paul’s on a roll. We cannot separate what he now says, from what he has already said...
He has already said that our reconciliation to God and salvation comes through the death of God’s Son, Jesus - so that begs the question - why? and how?
And what he says, also helps us to answer the question we have before us today.
If last week we learnt from scriptuire that no one, except Jesus, can keep God’s law perfectly, and if we were created by God,
...does that mean God created us unable to keep His law?
Notice the three downward steps Paul outllines:
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—
Sin enters the world through one man.
Death enters the world through sin.
Death comes to all humanity, because all sinned.
When we look at what Paul says about the coming into the world of sin by Adam and Eve exercising autonomy and by considering the creation account itself, we can conclude that when God created us, he created us with the ability to live under his rule and blessing perfectly.
He did not create Adam and Eve as robots, programmed to obey.
They were created with a freedom to exercise autonomy - but they didn’t have to go that way.
In church speak we would say
he fore-knew
but he DIDN’T fore-ordain
Adam and Eve had access to the tree of life, everything they could have wanted, complete freedom from guilt and shame - a perfectly clean slate.
And we know how the account unfolds.
Paul says - because Adam sinned - all have sinned?
What does he mean by this?
Well, throughout the history of the church there have really been two possible answers:
We don’t have time to look at it in too much detail, but it is important to understand how we might gravitate towards one, but really need to be clear on which is a more faithful rendering of the whole biblical text.
In the early 5th century a British monk by the name of Pelagius developed the view that Adam was indeed the first sinner and everybody ever since has followed his bad example.
I should say that in 415 AD he was deemed a heretic and harshly criticised by Augustine.
Basically - he was all about free will and the human’s ability to choose for him or herself.
It certainly does sound from verse 12 he could be on to something, but there are far more texts that suggest he is wrong.
Also, if we follow his teaching that humans are by nature good and reject everything else, we undermine the sovereignty of God and ultimately the need of a Saviour.
After all, if we are just following Adam’s example - the power lies in us achieving perfection. If the power lies in us, it doesn’t lie in God. And we become our own saviours.
The other view - more difficult to accept, but more faithful to what the bible says - particularly about God and salvation - is that rather than copying Adam, we have inherited sin from him.
Now kids, what have you inherited from your parents or grandparents?
In what ways do you look like, talk like, walk like, other members of your family?
The young at heart can think about this also...
So why might inheriting sin be the correct approach? A few things to consider...
Paul says that sin was in the world before God gave us his laws.
13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
If there is no law, there is no law to break - yet sin was in the world - how? Would that be fair to assign sin to a people who had no law and therefore no reference from which to assess whether they were being disobedient or not?
Paul is clear - death, judgement and condemnation come through one man - Adam.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Paul is equally clear throughout this letter that the grounds for our acceptance by God is not in and of ourselves, but solely on the merits of Jesus’ sacrifice, his death and his resurrection.
It is a weird concept for us individualistic westerners. But in African and Asian nations - not so.
The bible shares much in common with these cultures where human beings are considered in solidarity with each other.
The bible also gives examples:
When Melchizedek, an ancestor of Levi receives Abraham’s tithe, the writer of Hebrews says:
9 One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham,
When Achan stole the treasure from Jericho, it was as if
1 But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.
11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.
Luke assigns what Pilate, Herod and the Jews did in conspiracy to the whole people of Israel in Jerusalem.
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
And the writer of Hebrews suggests that when we turn away from God it is as if we are crucifying jesus all over again.
6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Looking at it from a positvie angle we could also consider Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians:
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Is it fair that because of Adam’s sin we inherited sin and can do nothing about it, save from putting our daith and hope in Jesus?
Well, maybe not.
But if you apply that reasoning you should also ask the question - is it fair that because of sin one man shoud bear it all through an agonising death on the cross?
Kids - picture - bring one up and suggest you write the word SIN in big black letters over the top of it...
Friends, without the fall, confusion reigns and our understanding of God is warped.
With “the fall” the problems and difficulties the world and all its people have faced make sense.
Without the fall, there is no basis for sin.
Unless we are with Pelagius, in which case we are under the misconception that we hold the power to live lives worthy of God’s holiness and perfection and if only we can work hard enough we will be OK.
Good luck with that one...
On that basis, if you get there, or without sin as an inherited problem, we have no real need for a Saviour. Jesus’ death was pointless and therefore so is our faith.
With the fall, everything in the Old and New Testaments makes ‘complete’ sense.
We may not fully understand all of it, or why God does what he does, but we know he is the only remedy and the only one we can take refuge in. If you haven’t already done that - might today be the day you do?