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Cape Elizabeth Church of the Nazarene |
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Texts: Romans
4:1-5, 13-17; Genesis 12:1-4a; John 3:1-17 “To God’s greater glory.” It’s a phrase we utter around here quite frequently. “Living lives to God’s greater glory” is an audacious claim. In fact, it’s almost arrogant -- especially in light of what Paul has said concerning sin and it’s grip on our lives! But. . . nevertheless, this is God’s plan for his creation. We don’t exist for ourselves! We exist for Him and His glory! Yet, the reality is that, as Paul writes to the church in Rome -- and writes to us today, we all fall short of that glory -- the glory of God. As we discovered last week, when Adam and Eve disobeyed sinning against God not only did sin enter the world but death followed. In that moment all of creation was forever scarred. We became sinful people. Paul, in chapter one, writes: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles” (Romans 1:22-23). But it gets better! “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die -- yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them” (Romans 1:29-32). We have exchanged the glory of God in our lives for the glory and applause of others! We have traded in the image of God for the image of ourselves! The practices of Enron pale in comparison to these ridiculous transactions! The foundation of our existence is rooted in God’s initiative. The pages of Scripture remind us time and again that God is the proper noun in every sentence of our very existence. God creates. God redeems. God sustains. We, in coming to grips with ourselves, are always the direct object. This is nowhere more evident than in the combination of our Scripture readings today. God called Abram. Jesus invites Nicodemus to experience the fullness of life. And Paul states clearly that the work of God in Christ must be accepted and received by faith! The Good News, revealed in today’s Word, is simple and clear -- accepting and actualizing by faith God’s free gift of grace in our lives ushers us into new life and transfers us into the kingdom of God. Our gospel lesson illustrates Paul’s argument that one is never justified by good works. According to Jesus a faith based on the miracles and signs is inadequate revealing a shallow belief. And Nicodemus embodies that perspective. He is impressed with what Jesus is doing and even acknowledges that his miraculous deeds are proof of God’s presence. For Nicodemus faith, he thinks, comes from weighing the evidence and drawing logical, sane conclusions. No hint of commitment or risk.
Nicodemus lives a one-dimensional life according to the “flesh.” It is lived in it’s own power, organized according to it’s own principles and rewarded according to those factors. But it is an existence devoid of God’s renewing power. There is room for religion in that humanly conceived world but no room for the divine Spirit of God. And that’s the problem. When we live life empty of God’s presence and power our lives fall short of the glory of God. In fact, our lives look like us, proving that Paul is correct -- we have exchanged the image of a holy, blameless, perfect God -- for the likeness of ourselves! Yet Nicodemus can not break free from this one-dimensional world and move into the mysterious world of the Spirit without an action from above. It requires a divine initiative. And that’s the point of Paul’s letter! God is always asking people to step out in faith. Just look through the Scriptures. Consider Noah who was asked to build an ark just because God said there would be a flood. Or Moses, who was asked to go to Pharaoh and demand the release of the slaves, just because God told him to. Or the Prophets who were asked to prophesy all kinds of unbelievable things just because God said they would be so. That is what faith is. Faith is steppin' out of our present patterns only because God is calling us to. It means trusting God's promises and God's word even though we don't understand or can't see how they are true. Faith means taking a chance on a promise we don't fully understand. For some it may mean changing even though they are 75 and set in their ways. The Bible tells us it is through Faith that we are saved. Abraham couldn't make himself a great nation, but God did because Abram trusted God's promise. Likewise we can't save ourselves. We can't find happiness and peace and joy on our own. But God can give us all those things. If only we will trust the Almighty God. And since there is nothing we can do to earn enough favor from a holy, blameless and perfect God we have nothing to boast about! Consider it: if Abraham, our great patriarch of faith, had nothing to boast about, we certainly do not have anything to boast about either! There are not enough laws we can follow nor are there enough good things we can do for others that would allow us to come close to the love, mercy, and forgiveness God offers to his creation in the person and work of Jesus the Christ. Being set free from sin is actualized in our lives when we, by faith, accept the person and work of Jesus the Christ -- that is, his death and resurrection -- as our own. As Nicodemus learned, when God -- Holy, blameless, perfect -- is the standard we can never match up! It requires divine intervention! It means we must be born again; born anew. And this is the simple message of the Gospel! It’s simple. . . but Nicodemus (and you and I) doubt that it can happen? “How can I enter again into my mother’s womb?” Nicodemus asked. Jesus answered: “You must be born from above.” That is, the God who created us in His image and likeness, seeks to recreate His image in us even after we have fallen into sin and become subject to evil in this world. And this process begins in an instant -- the instant; the very moment we say by faith “I recognize that there is not enough good I can do to merit my acceptance by You -- a holy, blameless, perfect God. I accept by faith Your forgiveness offered through the death and resurrection of Your Son Jesus.” In that moment; in that very instant you are born from above. The work of Christ saves you and you enter into eternal life beginning immediately!
This is the heart of the gospel message. Today’s lesson of faith drawn from Romans is sandwiched between two key statements by Paul in the letter. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Faith actualizes the work of Christ in our lives. Martin Luther says, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times” (Commentary on Romans, p. xvii). Another says, “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends” (George Muller). By faith we are made new! (Remember our eternal destiny depends on our present choices!) Living your life to God’s greater glory is only available if we trust him for new life. We are dead until his grace makes us alive in Christ. Therefore, when we articulate our reason for existence: “we exist to live Spirit-empowered lives to God’s greater glory” we are saying that we have come to grips with the reality that there is nothing good we could do but for the grace of God; we are claiming that it is Christ’s gift of salvation that enables to stand before a holy, blameless and perfect God! So. . . what does it really mean when we say that we are “living our lives to God’s greater glory”? By faith we have claimed the gift of grace; of forgiveness as our own and it has be actualized in our hearts and lives. By faith we affirm that all we do is in response to what God has already done for us and in us. By faith we obey trusting that God himself will bring about his good in our lives and, therefore, in this world.
“Living lives to God’s greater glory” is, indeed, an audacious
claim! And it begins when you and I
exercise simple, unadulterated faith and trust in Christ alone for our
salvation. May God Almighty, who sets us free from the bondage of sin through the person and work of Jesus and who unleashes His Holy Spirit upon us enabling us to love Him and others, strengthen and empower you as you live out your life to His greater glory today, this week, and forever. Amen. |
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