Believing Like Abraham

 

14 March 2022

By Rev Kenneth Mtata 

Today’s readings

Psalm 105:1-42; 

Exodus 33:1-6; 

Romans 4:1-12

Today’s verse

Abraham “received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them,” (Romans 4:11).

When God promised Abraham that he would make him a great nation, Abraham believed God even though he and his wife Sarah were old and beyond childbirth. When God commanded Abraham to leave his home and go to a far away and foreign country where God would make him a father of many nations, Abraham obeyed, and trusted God’s commands had greater purposes. When God commanded Abraham to circumcise himself and his son Isaak, he did it as a way of distinguishing himself and his family as the people of God. Abraham’s faith was founded on knowing God who spoke the promises. 

Abraham’s actions of obedience and positive response to God’s commands and promises is what Paul calls acts of FAITH or TRUST in God. Paul says, these attitudes of faith and trust made God to count Abraham as a righteous person or someone whose standing before God was considered upright.

This idea that people could be JUSTIFIED or counted as righteous by God because of their trust in his act of salvation through Jesus Christ, was rediscovered by the Reformers just more than 500 years ago. The act of God accepting people not because of their act of righteousness but because of their trust in God’s saving work through Jesus Christ is what became known as GRACE. The idea that God was gracious, that is, that God could accept people before they could earn it by their good works, has remained an important idea for Christian believers.

 

Even some governments where majority populations accepted this Reformation teaching, tended to adopt public policies informed by grace. In those countries, you do not have to earn your living! For example, if one loses their job for one reason or the other, the government will make sure the person has got a place to sleep, food to eat and can access health services. Even the justice systems of those governments focus more not on punishing people for their crimes but to reform their life so that they can be reintegrated in society. Even the politicians in those countries tend to be tolerant with one another! In those countries children are not beaten but are respected like   adults.

During lent, we are reminded of this miracle of a gracious God whose son, Jesus Christ, died for us when we were still unbelievers. If one accepts that this gracious act of dying for sinners was “done for me”, they are considered justified (accepted as righteous) before God. There have been many debates whether in this light God is not interested in people’s good actions. Yes, God loves and expects good fruits from the fruit trees. But the bottom line is that, trusting God’s word of promise and living in obedience to such word, works powerfully in the believer to produce those fruits that are consistent with the standards of God’s people. Tell someone this lent that God is still unconditionally accepting those who put their faith and trust in his work of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Prayer

Thank you, God, for loving and saving us in Christ Jesus. Help us this lent to reclaim this truth, not only in our spiritual lives but also in our social relations. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen