Righteousness of Abraham (Romans 4:1-15)

Righteousness of Abraham (Romans 4:1-15)

       
There was a man who was not quite satisfied with his church members as well as his pastor. He wanted to find and move to a perfect church where there is a perfect pastor with perfect members.
One night Jesus appeared to him in his dream. So, he asked him: "Jesus, you already know my wish. I want to find a perfect church where I want to listen to your gracious Word and serve you better and live a happy perfect Christian life."
Jesus answered him: "Ya, there is a perfect church. However, the church will not be perfect anymore if you join the church."
There is no perfect church in this imperfect world.
David in Psalms 14:1-3 and 53:2-4 and Paul in Romans 3:10 tell us:
"There is no one righteous, not even one."
There is no one righteous, no one perfect among human beings including ourselves.
Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon were all imperfect and unrighteous by their works.
That's why we need to tolerate other people's imperfection and weaknesses.
That's why we need Jesus Christ and his grace desperately.

Abraham was called 'a righteous one'.
Yet, Abraham's righteousness was not reckoned by his perfection.
What is righteousness of a man?
Righteousness is our qualification to get closer to the God of righteousness.
Unless you are called "righteous"--that is, unless you are justified, you cannot go to God who is always righteous.
You can never be righteous by yourself.
Yet, your faith may be credited as righteousness.

In today's passage Paul tells us that Abraham was justified, not by his (ethical) works, nor by his circumcision, nor by law, but by faith.
Abraham, like us, was not perfect in his works.
Sometimes he hesitated to go on in his journey of faith.
Although he was called by God to go to a place where he would later receive as his inheritance (Heb. 11:8), he stopped his journey at Haran and stayed there until his father Terah died.

When Abraham was afraid of being killed because of his beautiful wife Sarah while he was travelling in Egypt, he lied to the king there that Sarah was his sister and gave her up to the king of Egypt (Gen. 12:10-20).
It was not just a one time mistake.

Later again, while he was travelling in Gerar, he lied to Abimelech king of Gerar out of his fear of death that Sarah was his sister and thus the king took her (Gen. 20:1-18).
When Abraham did not still have his son ten years after he received God's promise, he started to complain to God.
In Genesis 15, God appeared to Abraham who had a complaining mind, and took him outside and said: "Look up at the sky and count the stars if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be."
Genesis 15:6 tells us: "Abram believed the LORD, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness."
God credited Abraham's faith to him as righteousness.
It was when Abraham was about 85 years old, ten years after he departed Haran having heard of God's calling the second time (Gen. 12:4).

Genesis 17 recorded the circumcision of Abraham and his household members.
Circumcision was an expression by which a man declared that he would devote himself to God entirely.
Abraham was circumcised when he was 99 years old.
So, his circumcision came after his faith being credited to him as righteousness.
What does it mean?
Circumcision is not a requirement for justification.

What about law?
Law was not given to Abraham but to the Israelites through Moses 650 years later. So law has nothing to do with Abraham's being called righteous.
Law reminds us of our transgression.

How are you called 'a righteous one'?
That is, how are you justified?
You are justified not by your perfect conducts, nor by your water baptism which is equivalent to Jewish circumcision, nor by law or keeping the Word of God, but only by your faith.

But, what is your faith?
How did you have your faith?
Your faith was not a product of your good personality or your good conduct.
The faith that is credited to you as righteousness and that lets you come closer to God is not of your own but a gift out of God's grace.
God gave us faith by grace.
By grace, God also forgave our sins and trespasses that would have led us to death.
By grace, God also gave us eternal life to let live us with Him forever.
So there is nothing for you to boast about.
We are only to be thankful to our God of grace.
We are only to enjoy His grace in our daily lives.

Abraham was always ready to obey God to keep up his faith that was given to him by grace and that was reckoned to him as righteousness.
Our obedience to God's Word makes us better men of faith.

Andrew Murray, a well-known biblical scholar tells us: "From the first day that you decide to believe Jesus on, you enter a school of obedience."
The more we are willing to obey to God's Word, the more our faith may grow by God's grace.
So, let us give more thanks to the God of grace who forgave our sins and trespasses and credited our faith as righteousness.