04/22/2007
A Family Resemblance
INTRO:
Have you ever felt out of place, like you didn’t belong
Me in High School: a man without a country (Hicks, Jocks, Freaks, Geeks) - uncomfortable doesn’t begin to cover it.
It is much worse when you are in a totally different culture – where you don’t know what to do.
Difficulty of differing cultures when Christianized - Missionaries
African culture – less importance on being timely – 1 hour late is on time
Tribal decision making – no rhetorical questions – men gather to decide, convey to tribe
Chinese culture – endless cycles, re-incarnation, many social differences
Very difficult if forced to accept Western culture
Unfortunately that does happen, we are so used to our own culture and Christianity within that culture, that when we lead people to Christ from other cultures, we expect them on some level to accept our own cultural brand of Christianity.
We expect them to do church our way, sing our hymns, worship in our western style.
But the Bible didn’t lay out a specific worship style –
Its about the heart of God’s people, on Fire for Him
In awe of Him, Worshiping HIM
Whether it is with Hymns in a nice church building like this one, at 11:00am prompt
Or tribal chants in the middle of an African Village, outside with Gods beautiful creation all around people coming and going, it might last all day
If it is directed to Him and to His Glory, God accepts it – God loves it
OT – Jewish culture, Jews felt they were chosen people, must have chosen culture
Gentiles – Galatians, in cultural no mans land. Didn’t belong anywhere
Cultural outcasts – without a home so-to-speak (wandering in the wilderness?)
Not welcome in the Synagogues
Wouldn’t go to the Pagan temples
Identity is confused – people need to belong
So they were easy targets for the false teachers who said
“You can belong – just get circumcised as the law demands and become a Jew, and you can be one of us, a child of Abraham”
Paul teaches them that their identity is in Christ as a child of God, as a spiritual child of Abraham.
6 Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." 9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
PRAY
Comapred to Abraham – ID’d as children of Abraham – Rooted in Scripture – Included in Family Blessing
Compared to Abraham:
6 Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Grammar lesson
Verse 6 begins with a comparative conjunction (missing in NIV) “Just as Abraham believed God” “Even as Abraham believed God”(KJV)
Paul is comparing the Faith of the Galatians to the faith of Abraham,
He is putting the Galatians faith in God on the same level as Abraham’s Faith in God
I want you to think about that for a minute
Paul is drawing a parallel here: the faith of the Galatians on the same level as the faith of Abraham – we can insert ourselves here in the same place as the Galatians
(the letter was written as much to us as it was to them)
The Galatians, (and us) heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and they believed what they heard (ref: last week’s sermon).
God sees that faith the same way he sees the faith of Abraham (who is the man of faith)
Paul is quoting from Genesis:
Gen 15: 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
James tells us in chap 2 of his letter that this scripture was fulfilled when Abraham offered up his son Isaac to God on the altar.
The Faith of Abraham is something that many of us would consider exceptional – above our reach.
It is a story that I think is troublesome for many people. They read the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son and they see what they think is an unfair request
We find the story in Genesis 22. God has already promised Abraham that he would have offspring numbering like the stars.
He has also told him that this blessing would come through Isaac his son.
And Abraham believed GOD – God had made him a promise, and Abraham BELIEVED GOD
He didn’t know how it would happen, how God had it worked out – but he knew he could trust GOD
Even though God’s request seemed to contradict His Promise, Abraham knew that it really didn’t
He knew that somehow, God would fulfill his promise, and if God wanted him to sacrifice Isaac, then that is what he would do
They went up the mountain together, they built the altar, Abraham put Isaac on the altar, bound him, and raised the knife, meaning to plunge it into his son’s chest
Maybe God would not allow Isaac to die from the knife, maybe God would raise Isaac up from the dead, resurrect him. Abraham didn’t know the details of God’s plan,
BUT HE BELIEVED GOD
And the request was fair – God wasn’t asking Abraham to do anything that he himself wasn’t willing to do.
God stopped Abraham before the knife came down. He stopped him and he reaffirmed His promise to him.
The story of Abraham and Isaac on the mountain was a foreshadow of what would happen when Jesus died on the cross
God was willing to sacrifice his only son, and he didn’t stop that one.
God the father was willing and Jesus the son was willing. Jesus dying on the cross was the only way our sins could be paid for. Jesus knew it and that is why he was willing. God the Father knew it and that is why he was willing
Abraham believed God – and that is why he was willing, and his belief was credited to him as righteousness.
That is back to Genesis 15 – it was his belief that was credited to him as righteousness
Accounting ledger -
It was Abrahams belief, not his works that were credited to him as righteousness.
The belief, the faith, came first, and the works, what he did, flowed out of the faith
James talks about that in his passage.
22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God’s friend
James says that faith without works is dead faith. Real faith will result in real works that flow out of the faith.
Abraham’s faith made him righteous in the eyes of God
His works proved out his faith, showed it as real faith
Its the same thing for us and the Galatians
They heard the Gospel and they believed what they heard.
It is their faith – our faith in Jesus, in the true gospel that saves us, makes us righteous in the eyes of God, not some external act,
Then works of faith flow out of our faith in God as we try our best to follow the will of God
Identified as Children of Abraham:
7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
Paul gives us our identity in verse 7. It is a conclusion drawn from what he has shown us in verse 6
This would present a major problem for the false teachers who were trying to push circumcision on the Galatians as being required for entrance into the family of Abraham
The scripture Paul uses from Genesis 15 shows that Abraham was considered righteous in the eyes of God through his faith – and this was BEFORE HE WAS CIRCUMCISED
Circumcision did not come until Genesis 17.
That is a huge point and a huge blow to the case of the Judiasers.
They have been trying to make the point that circumcision is required to be in the family of Abraham and to receive the blessings of the family.
But Paul shows them that it was his faith that was credited to him as righteous
It was his faith that entitled him to the blessings of God, not the external act of being circumcised.
Circumcision was part of the ceremonial law that was fulfilled in Christ, like the blood sacrifices
Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice, and no more are needed.
When Jesus came and fulfilled the law, God is not interested in a circumcision of the flesh, but in the circumcision of the heart.
Ro 2: 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.
God has marked you as his own – he has sealed you with His Spirit
That is the circumcision that matters.
YOU DO BELONG – YOU belong to GOD’s Family – YOU are a Child of Abraham!
God doesn’t care where you were born,
What color your skin is
What color or how long your hair is
He doesn’t care what Nation you are a part of
Your Identity doesn’t come from any of that stuff
NOT ANY LONGER
YOUR IDENTITY COMES FROM CHRIST and YOUR FAITH IN HIM
God’s blessings aren’t just for the Jews –
HE loves everyone – FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD
Every tongue – every tribe – every nation
God knew he was going to save the Gentiles, that same way he saved Abraham
Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness
Rooted in Scripture:
8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."
Paul tells us that our place in the family of God was foretold in scripture
Gen 12: 2 "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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
Gen 18: 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
God had you in mind from the very beginning believers of Galatia
God knew he was going to save you way back in Genesis people of
Quincy, and Warsaw, and Osceola, and Weableau, and Wheatland,
People in China and Africa, and yes in Iraq and Iran
God knew that some of you would hear the gospel of Jesus Christ
And that you would believe what you heard
That you would Believe God, and it would be credited to you as righteousness
And your identity is as a Disciple of Jesus, a child of Abraham, Part of Gods family
Included in the Family Blessing:
9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Abraham was blessed by God because he Believed God
His offspring are like the stars in the sky, like the grains of sand on the seashore
As Disciples of Jesus, we are a part of the family
A child of Abraham – and there is a family resemblance
Our faith and his faith – that is the family resemblance
Abraham believed God – and it was credited to him as righteousness
We believe God and it is credited to us as righteousness
That is the REAL FAMILY BLESSING
A right standing before God, because we have place our faith and our trust in Jesus Christ and his work of salvation for us on the Cross
He paid the price, and it was enough
HE laid down his life, and picked it back up again – and it was enough
We put our trust in Jesus total- trust, complete trust
We see our selves as what we were – hopeless sinners separated from God by our sin
Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross, and we put our faith in Him
It doesn’t change the fact that we are sinners, but it changes who we are in the eyes of GOD
And that is what matters. God sees our faith, and it is credited to us as righteousness
Not just any righteousness, but the righteousness of CHRIST
And that IS ENOUGH- we are reconciled to God by the blood of Christ
We are part of the family, and we are included in the family blessings
Our identity is as a child of God
He seals us with the HS, who lives in us and works in our hearts, conforming us to the image of Jesus Christ
We have a love relationship with God the father through Jesus the Son
We have eternal life – with him in heaven
We have the promise of abundant life here on earth.
The family blessings
What is your ID
How do you see it, how do others
Others identify you with whatever seems to be most important in your life
You may see yourself as a child of God and a family man – because you love God and you love your family
But how are you identified by others? If you have a family and you work 90 hours a week and you justify that by saying it is for the family, you want them to have everything they want – you think of yourself as a family man
But to others it looks like your job is more important because time = priority
You spend more time at your job than with your family – therefore
Who care what other people think? What about when the other people we are talking about IS YOUR FAMILY
What in your life are you letting DEFINE YOU
WHAT IS YOUR IDENTITY –
IS IT GOD? –
OR is it - WORK, MONEY, POWER, POSITION, PRESTIGE,
Your HOUSE, CAR, CLOTHES, YOUR STUFF
What do you spend the most time focusing on?
ITS OK sometimes to feel like you don’t belong
We are aliens here in a strange land – this is not our home
OUR HOME IS IN HEAVEN with JESUS
WE don’t belong here – and that’s OK –
WE are here to share the love of JESUS with everyone we come in contact with, so they can see who we REALLY ARE,
a child of GOD
part of the Family
and maybe they will see what you have and want it
and they can meet Jesus, and then they can be part of the family too!
PRAY
