From the Pastor |
Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16 & Romans 4: 13-25
Covenants and faith… that is what our scriptures talk about today. Last week we heard about the covenant God made with Noah and all of Creation… the promise of God to never again destroy the earth by a flood. This week we hear of another covenant… this time it is a covenant God makes with Abram. “the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty…[El-Shaddai]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers… I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.” But this is not the first time God has made this promise to Abram… in fact… it is the third. Twenty-four years prior… when Abram was 75 years old… God called him and said, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” [Gen. 12: 1-2] Sometime about a decade or so later, God reiterated that same promise by saying “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” [Genesis 15:5] Now here we are… 24 years later… Abram is 99 years old. His wife, Sarai, is 90. He does have one child, Ishmael with the servant Hagar (but that’s another story)… but God says… uh, uh… I’m not done… Sarai will bear you a son and your descendants… numerous as the stars… will be given this land, and I will be their God. This time… it is not just a promise… it is a COVENANT! A binding, solemn promise… a contract where 2 (or more) parties come together and establish a bond. This covenant created a bond so important that it changed Abram’s whole identity… Abram, which means “exalted father,” was renamed by God and became Abraham which means “Father of Many.” This is a story about promises and faith. God promises… Abram must have faith enough to believe. That is what God wanted from him… faith… no matter how LONG it took. “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.” God is saying to Abraham, “Keep on going… trust in my promises. Even as the years pass keep walking before me.” Did you notice that? Abraham is told to walk BEFORE God. It sounds strange when we so often think of walking WITH God. But to walk before means to be in front of… and if you are walking in front of someone else… you can’t really see them… therefore, Abraham had to have faith… he had to trust that God was with him… he had to move forward without all the answers… He had to decide for himself how to follow the path of faith. Sure… he struggled along the way. There were times when he was unsure or had doubts… and he got it wrong sometimes… getting himself and his loved ones into dangerous situations. But even his missteps and doubts did not stop him from continuing to walk before God. He continued to trust in God. When he made a wrong decision… he kept seeking God’s guidance. And if God told him to change direction… he did. He was blameless… righteous… NOT because he was perfect… but because he had faith and sought God’s will even when he had messed up. This is what Paul is telling us we need… faith. For “It was not through the 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… Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…” God did not tell Abraham ‘Obey this law and I will bless you.’ NO! God said ‘I will bless you… believe my promises.” Abraham “was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” It was Abraham’s faith in God’s promise… even though the odds seemed to be stacked against him… that made him righteous… blameless… blessed! God saw Abraham trusting in the promise given. That is exactly how our own relationship with God should be. We are called by God and invited to trust in God’s new covenant… in the promises God has made to us in Christ Jesus. Through Christ, God enters into a new covenant with US. A promise that our sins are forgiven, and we are restored to a good and right relationship with God. This covenant… this amazing grace is unconditional and freely offered. We cannot earn it… we cannot buy it… it comes through faith. Paul calls followers of Jesus to have the type of faith that Abraham displayed… faith that has us giving our lives to do God’s will… to follow God’s ways even if we don’t have all the details… It is faith that has us giving of ourselves for the sake of the Gospel, rather than simply following “the law” as an ideology. When we step out in faith… like Abraham… we too are renamed. We become called a Disciple of Jesus… a Child of God… we take Christ’s name as our own when we are called ‘Christian’. The big question is this… How do we live into these new names we have been given? How does that name reflect the way we live and breathe and have our being? The answer… we walk before God… in faith… If we are to claim the name of ‘Christian’ we must let our faith guide us in all we do. We must trust in the promises of God and follow where God leads us. Like Abraham… we will struggle along the way. We will have our doubts and make mistakes… we might wander on the wrong path, but is we allow our faith to guide us we will hear God calling us to change direction. But through it all God is calling to us…telling us to “Keep on going… trust in my promises. Even as the years pass… as trials and disappointments come… keep walking before me.” We are to walk before God… to trust that God is always with us…even if we cannot see him… we need to move forward even when we do not have all the answers… We need to decide to walk the path of faith…. Believing and trusting in the promises of our God. Jesus calls all his followers to live in faith… to live as he did… to sacrifice, to love the enemy, to serve, and to embark on the selfless quest for justice for all, not just for some. We must walk before God and be blameless… not perfect because… let’s face it… that’s simply not possible for us… but blameless is not about perfection… blameless means complete… unimpaired… that is what we are when we walk in faith… letting our hope and trust in God guide us. Our scriptures today remind us that through our faith we can have hope and the belief that God keeps God’s promises and that by the grace and power of God, the impossible is made possible. Abraham’s faith in God “… was credited to him as righteousness.” It was his faith alone that fulfilled the promises made to him. Likewise… it is our faith in Jesus’ resurrection that brings to fulfilment God’s promises of forgiveness and salvation. Forgiveness and salvation offered through faith, and by receiving it, we are restored to a right relationship with Our Lord… and it is credited to us as righteousness. Because when we believe that God’s grace, power and love is sufficient… all things become divinely possible. Amen
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Yeon Shin
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