Genesis 27:23-25, 33, 41
23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. 24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” 25 Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
33 Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”
41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
The account of Jacob and Esau along with Jacob’s deception of his father Isaac is one of those stories that many Christians have heard since children’s Sunday School. Isaac was blind. Rebekah preferred Jacob while Isaac preferred Esau. Rebekah aided Jacob in deceiving his dad, tricking the poor, blind, dying Isaac into transferring the blessing to Jacob instead of Esau, his firstborn. Esau is upset and plots to kill Jacob once Isaac is dead.
What are we to do with a passage like this? If we treat it the way that it is most commonly handled—at least in my experience—we will make it into a morality tale. How mean Jacob was. How wrong Rebekah was. How sad for poor Esau, though we should not feel too bad for him; he did sell his birthright for some beans after all. So, the obvious sermon points should be:
- Wives, be honest with your husbands.
- Sons, don’t lie to your dads.
- Older brothers, take your younger brothers hunting with you if you think they might be scheming against you.
- Older brothers, it’s not OK to plan to kill your younger brothers.
Now, I’m being a little silly with that third point, but the first two (and maybe the last) actually sound like sermon points that would be preached from this passage. I’m not sure that I haven’t heard them preached from this passage.
Recently, I wrote a post called “Preaching Grace is Harder” in which I challenged the cheap and easy way we tend to want to make the teaching of Bible passages about rules rather than about the bigger and more difficult picture of grace. A dear friend of mine said that the post would be strengthened with an example of how a pastor might take a passage that is often made about rules and laws, dos and don’ts, and show how to preach grace from it instead—the grace intended by God, not an inserted grace not found in the passage. Can such grace be found in this odd little passage?
Let me take just one swing at this passage, without real sermon prep time or commentary research, and see if I can’t bring out something of the grace and glory of God in this passage that would be better than a mere moralism. First, context is everything. Where does this event fall in the light of Scripture? Look at the following promise that had been made by God to Rebekah before the boys were born: And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23).
The Book of Genesis is most certainly about the introduction of the promise of God. God created man. Man rebelled against God. God made a promise of one to come who would crush the enemy and eventually bring restoration to mankind. Abraham’s family would carry this promise. Isaac, not Ishmael, would carry this promise. How now would the promise continue? God said that the promise would continue, carried through Jacob and not Esau.
How could Jacob carry the promise of the blessing of God. Jacob was the younger brother, not the older. The right of the firstborn should go to Esau. Besides, Jacob is simply not likeable. He swindles his older brother with food. Now he again swindles his older brother by lying to his dying, blinded, hungry father. Jacob is not right. He does not deserve God’s promise to be upon him.
But therein lies the grace of God. Nobody that God has used so far has been an impressive figure. Noah, the great man of God, got off the ark, got drunk, and passed out naked in his tent. Abraham, the great man of faith, did not trust God enough to claim Sarah as his wife, telling her to pretend to be his sister. Isaac, our pitiable father-figure in this story, followed his dad’s lead, and subjected Rebekah to the same forced fib (I wonder where Rebekah learned to trick people with false identity claims).
So much of the story that we just read in Genesis 27 is about how God would bring to pass his plan of the promised Rescuer. God has chosen to use weak, sinful, frail people. God has chosen to take sinners, real sinners with ugly lives, and to make them carriers of his promise. It is as if God wants to show us our need for the Rescuer, our inability to provide the Rescuer for ourselves, and his gracious willingness to use sinners like us to accomplish his plan.
Later, when Esau decides he wants to carry out his plan to murder his younger brother, a plan that would thwart God’s promise to let the younger carry his blessing, we will watch as Jacob is protected by his mom. Jacob will move away, find a wife, and father the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel. The schemer, the liar, the sinner will learn many lessons, will learn to trust God, and will be lied to by his own scheming sons. But, through it all, Jacob will receive God’s grace and be a tool in God’s hand to bring his grace and his promise to others.
Is there grace to be preached from Genesis 27? I think so. We too are sinners. We cannot earn God’s grace. We are tempted to lie and scheme to get ahead in life. But God has a plan and a grace that is bigger than us. He can use sinners like us to accomplish his plan. He can make us instruments through whom he brings his offer of salvation and rescue to others just as he used Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and even Esau to bring his promise of Rescue into the world.
What then is the response to this passage? First, how about worship? God is worthy of it. We could never imagine using sinners like we see in this passage to accomplish the salvation of all of God’s children, but God could and did. Then, how about obedience? If God is that great, we should trust him and offer him our lives. He is better than us and is worthy of all we have to give. This will lead us to change how we live, not because of rules, but simply because we want to please the God who is so great and gracious. How about wonder and joy? God saves sinners. He saves sinners like Rebekah and Jacob, like you and like me. We should be stunned by this love. We should be driven to our knees in gratitude. Maybe we could even say that this kind of passage would lead us to tell others about such a wonderful offer of grace, making us tools in God’s redemptive hands just as Jacob was.
I certainly can’t say that I’ve exhausted the passage above. I won’t even promise I have it all correct. What I will say is that this passage, if preached in context, offers a gorgeous picture of the grace of God working in the lives of sinners, sinners who are even unaware of what God is doing through them. I believe we can benefit far more from looking at this passage with such a picture of grace in mind than we could ever benefit from making this passage about a set of rules on what to do or what to avoid. Obedience that pleases God always is a result of receiving grace, a very natural and reflexive response. I’m not at all saying God does not have rules. God forbids lying. He forbids stealing and cheating. He even forbids tricking blind people (I like that one). But we do not build our lives on those rules. WE build our lives on the God of those rules, and then we will follow his standards as we love him and find joy in pleasing him.
A Fresh Look at Counting the Cost (Luke 14:25-33)
Luke 14:25-33 (ESV)
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
The above is a good example of a passage that has been misinterpreted or over-interpreted because we fail to remember to look deeply into the meaning of words. We see the word “hate” in verse 26, and we know it cannot mean what we think of when we think of hate. Then we spend all of our time wrestling with the word, and we, if we are not careful, miss the point of Jesus’ teaching.
Knocking out the discussion on the word “hate,” it does not mean the angry, loathing emotion that we tie to it today. In more than one place in Scripture, we can see the word hate used to mean to love less. When God “loved” Jacob but “hated” Esau, God chose Jacob and did not choose Esau. God preferred and was loyal to Jacob while he turned away from and left Esau to himself. This kind of preferring, this kind of shift in loyalty, is what is in view in this passage.
Jesus tells us that, if we want to be his disciples, there has to come a point of commitment in our lives where we choose to pledge our allegiance to him above our family, our friends, or even our own lives and our own freedoms. To believe in Jesus in a saving way includes this kind of commitment. Of course, we will spend years working this out, and we will often get it wrong in places, but, if we are truly followers of Jesus, we will choose to be faithful to him above all others.
The whole counting of the cost stuff fits this picture of our choice of allegiance. Are we willing to follow Jesus? It will cost. Yes, salvation is a free gift, but the choice to receive it will cost us in the here-and-now. Many will realize that their families, their friends, their co-workers cannot handle their commitment to Christ. Many will find that they lose friends and influence as they follow God. This is part of being a Christian.
But, before we get sad about what we must give up, add in the second part of Jesus’ statement, the 2 kings. The one thing that the calculating king cannot do is avoid making a decision. The other king is coming. The calculating king will choose either to fight or to seek terms of peace, that’s it. He cannot do anything else. Which should he do? Of course he should make peace with a strong opponent. Well, God, the King, is coming our way. While it will be costly in this life to be his follower, it is still better to have terms of peace than to go up against a King we could never defeat.
We do not often talk about the sacrifice required by the faith. It’s funny, really. We will talk about rules and laws that we should follow, even risking legalism in the process. We will talk about the significance of faith and the importance of Christ’s sacrifice. But, probably because we are still trying to sell others on the faith, we seldom talk about the simple, earthly consequences of following Jesus. It is not always easy. It is not always fun. Sometimes it is costly. Sometimes it leads to ridicule or even persecution. But whether we are having glorious days of peace and joy or difficult times of being despised by the world, following Jesus and being loyal to him above all else is totally worth it in the end.
Substitution and Covenant (Genesis 22:13-14, 18)
Genesis 22:13-14, 18
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
18 “…and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
I want to make two simple observations from my quiet-time reading in Genesis 22. The story is familiar. Abraham was called by God, as a test, to go and offer up his son as a burnt offering. Abraham obeyed God, went to the mountain, prepared to sacrifice Isaac, and then halted as God stopped him. Then God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in Isaac’s stead and reaffirmed his covenant with Abraham.
The first thing I notice today is the concept of substitution clearly illustrated in this passage. Abraham was allowed by God to sacrifice a ram in place of his son. This points us toward the work of Jesus, God sacrificing his son in place of his chosen people. If God would not allow for sacrificial substitution, we would be lost, forever damned because of our sin against a holy God. This picture, though odd to us, is beautiful, and it should stir awe and gratitude in our hearts.
Then, the covenant words of verse 18 grab my attention. God again affirms with Abraham the words that we read before in Genesis 12. God would bless all nations through the family of Abraham. This is the metanarrative of the Bible in simple form. Man needed to be rescued. God sent the Rescuer, and the Rescuer, the Lord Jesus, came through Abraham’s family. Now, people from all nations, all over the world, are offered salvation and genuinely bade part of God’s family through the finished work of Jesus, the Promised One, alluded to by God in this verse of the Bible.
These are big themes that leap out in this passage. We need to know them. They make understanding the Bible possible. Without a grasp of sacrificial substitutes and of God’s plan to rescue his children through a provided substitute, we could not make sense of the story. With a proper grasp of these truths, we can see the flow of events leading to Jesus with great clarity, and we can be led to praise and thank God for this great grace.
Acting Like a Fool or Trusting God (Luke 12:20-21, 29-31)
Luke 12:20-21, 29-31
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” …
29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
Am I acting like a fool? I should probably ask myself this question more often than I do. And in the passages above, the foolish man, the faithless man, is the one who focuses and worries so much about the here and now that he forgets eternity.
In both the above passages, there is a lack of eternal thinking that makes people miss the glory of God. The rich farmer in the parable thinks his gathering of possessions makes him secure even though his death is imminent.
Then, in a softer section, Jesus reminds his followers that worrying about food and clothing should not mark the lives of the people of God. Even though the nations of the world all run after such things, the people of God are to trust him and know that he will take care of them.
So, where do I worry too much about worldly things? Where do I fret too much about my own financial security instead of simply loving and following God? It’s easier to do than you might think. Both churches and individuals do it. And, do not think for a moment that I am talking negatively here about making wise financial decisions or being good stewards.
A church looks like the world when it begins to tailor its ministries and services chiefly for the purpose of security. If the leaders or parishioners begin to make decisions about ministry based on worry about the church’s future stability, there could be a problem. What I mean is, if the church begins to be desperate to draw new people in, but that desperation is less about the glory of God in the salvation of the lost and more about making sure the bills are paid by new giving units, the church is acting worldly. Or, if the church shifts her focus to being inward and comfortable in order to keep the current giving units happy, the church is acting worldly.
Similarly, we as individuals might, if we are not careful, think and live in a worldly way. What about stepping out in faith? What about moving onto the mission field or planting a church? Do you have to have all of the right financial numbers line up so that you know, without a doubt, that nothing miraculous has to take place before you will make a move? When giving, do you have to be sure that your giving will not in any way hinder your lifestyle before you will give in a certain way? Are you staying in a job or ministry that does not fit you because of fear that you would not be able to make ends meet otherwise?
You know, I don’t actually know how this should all shake out. There is a call for wise and responsible living to be sure. But there is also a call on the Christian to live by faith, to not worry about food and clothing, and to trust God with his or her future. We must not be careless. But we also must not be paralyzed by fear. We should be good stewards. But we should also trust that God is able to provide for us in ways that we could never have imagined.
Curiosity about Suffering (Luke 13:1-5)
Luke 13:1-5 (ESV)
1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
This is a strange encounter between Jesus and the people. It seems that some folks had a morbid curiosity about a group of people who died horribly at the hands of King Herod. They wanted to know why this happened. Were those who died especially bad people? Was God getting them for what they had done?
Jesus’ response to his questioners about the suffering of those Galileans probably did not satisfy. At the same time, Jesus’ response is very instructive for us. Our Lord pointed out that the Galileans did not suffer the shameful deaths they suffered because they were worse sinners than the people standing before Jesus. Then Jesus went further and told the crowd that, if they did not repent, they would perish too.
To add emphasis, Jesus pointed to another story that the people apparently knew well. There was a group of people who died in a more natural-looking disaster; a tower fell on them. If ever something looked like the punishment of God on evil people, a structure falling on their heads without human intervention would qualify. But Jesus did not allow the crowd to entertain this notion. Again, he simply pointed out that if the people standing before him did not repent, they would perish too.
What are we to learn from all this? What does it teach us about human suffering? One truth is that we have a morbid curiosity about those who suffer. We want to know whether people who face hardships are facing them because they have somehow done something to deserve it. But Jesus lets us know that this is none of our business. He does not even entertain our questions here. Instead, he uses the illustration of the deaths of people to remind us that if we do not turn from our sins and turn to God, a death worse than natural death awaits us.
So, when you see suffering and hardship in the world around you, do not think you can explain exactly why it happened. You cannot. You are not God. Nor can you assume that you are free from pain because you are better than those who suffer. You are not. Let the hardships of others remind you that you deserve the judgment of God. Let it call you to repent of sin and seek the mercy of Jesus. Let it lead you to thank God for the good that you have.
What if you are suffering a hardship? You cannot assume that your pain is a punishment from God for your sin. You cannot assume that you are somehow a worse person and that is why you suffer. However, you should understand that you, just like the person not suffering, need to seek God’s mercy, turn from sin, and honor Christ in all that you are. Is it possible that God is using your pain to correct you? Of course this is possible. Is it possible that God is allowing you to go through a valley for a reason that is totally beyond your ability to understand on this side of eternity? You bet.
God’s ways are not ours. He is greater than us and totally good. Let us trust him and run to him whenever we see the hardships of this life, whether ours or another’s.
Preaching Grace is Harder (Luke 11:46)
Luke 11:46
And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”
What is your communication of God’s message to others like? Whether you preach, teach, or simply share your faith, what does it sound like? Would Jesus’ condemnation of the lawyers in the verse above apply to you too?
This is a topic that has been bouncing around my heart for a while now, so it is significant to me that it comes out so clearly in Scripture today . Jesus is harsh, very harsh, toward supposed teachers of God’s word who used it as a club to beat people into submission. Jesus did not have anything nice to say to this group who burdened people with laws without doing a thing to help lighten that burden.
Let me insert a disclaimer. I am not promoting lawlessness. I have no desire to suggest that Christianity does not require that we repent of sin, obey God’s commands, and actually do good things. The Bible has commands, and those command should be preached and taught.
The problem for me is that preaching rules is perhaps the cheapest and easiest thing to do. Preaching grace, that is harder. It is easy, way too easy, to open a Bible text and use it to make up principles that I want you to live by. It is easy for me to make every narrative passage about all of the heroic qualities that you are supposed to emulate if you are going to be a godly person. Preaching grace, that is harder.
It is also really easy for me to find the issue that I am most passionate about, and to make that the central message of my preaching and teaching. It is easy for me to say that good Christians adopt children, give to feed the poor, fight trafficking, engage politically, battle abortion, attend prayer meeting, join choir, plant churches, read theology, read the Bible every year, home-school their kids, listen to sermon podcasts, dress according to my definition of modesty, and avoid whatever I consider to be bad for them. And really, none of those things are wrong. The problem is, in our passion to make preaching and teaching applicational, we end up building a list of things to do and things to avoid that may in fact be completely absent from the passage that we teach. We build the burden for people and lay it on their shoulders. We weigh them down with laws that we have never kept—that’s right, never. None of us has ever lived up to even our own picture of what a good Christian should be. Yet, when we preach and teach, if we are not careful, we will crush people with the weight of expectations that we do not meet ourselves. Preaching grace, that is harder.
Somehow, right Christian teaching includes both a call to repentance, a call to perfection, as well as the unfathomable grace of God. Somehow, we are to call people to live like Jesus while reminding them that they can have the righteousness of Jesus as a gift. Somehow, we are to demand that people change, help them to do so, and remind them that their change is not something that gets them into heaven.
To preach grace requires that we do the hard work of looking at each passage of scripture that we would teach and find in that passage the clear intent of the author. Preaching grace requires that we keep in mind the overall storyline of the Bible as we open a passage to our hearers. If all we do is load people up with laws without also freeing them in Christ, we miss the point. And as we see from Jesus’ words above, missing the point, missing grace, offering law with no help, that is something that is woeful.
So, what then? Am I suggesting that we avoid all rules in preaching, teaching, and communicating? Of course not. We need to demand that people be faithful to their marriages, that they grow in righteousness, and that they participate in the things of God. But we also need to help them to do so with the grace of Christ. We need to realize that communication that has only law is not the gospel, nor is it the message of Scripture.
I once heard someone say that if our gospel does not have people accusing us of being too lawless, our gospel is not the one preached by Paul. I’ll add that if our messages only take Scripture, find rules, and apply them to our hearers, our messages are not the message of Jesus.
Yes, preaching grace is harder. Preaching grace requires us to trust that God will lead people into righteousness through the Scripture without our adding weight to the Scripture. Preaching grace requires that we use the law to show people their need for the Savior, show people the Savior, and then help people love the Savior enough to follow his ways. Preaching grace does not forbid us from telling people that some things are right and wrong, not at all. But preaching grace requires that we offer people a relief from the burden of the law that is greater than simply a call to straighten up and fly right. If this seems impossible, it is—at least, without Jesus it is. Preaching grace is harder, but it is what Jesus does. Preaching grace is the noble call for all who would open God’s word to Gods’ people or who would tell the truth to a lost and dying world.
Evangelism Revisited: Should it be Simpler? (Luke 10:8-11)
Luke 10:8-11
8 “Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’”
When Jesus sent his disciples out here in Luke 10, he gave them an interesting mission. They were to go to new towns and find a place to stay. They were to stay in those homes contentedly, not bouncing from place to place to find more comfortable accoutrements. They were to supernaturally heal the sick, a clear sign of their being empowered by God. And they were to tell the people that God’s kingdom was near. And, if the people did not respond in faith, they were to leave the town reminding the people that God’s Kingdom was still on its way.
Does this look like a modern mission trip or church evangelism plan? On the one hand, healing, doing acts of kindness, sounds like what we often see. But really, this may have as much to do with validating the authority of the disciples to deliver the message as it does to do with persuasive acts of kindness. There is nothing in what Jesus says that would make us say that the healing was an attempt to soften people up for the sale.
But when you look at the message, this is where this passage does not look like the message we often preach. Often on mission, and in personal evangelism at home, we will shape the message around an attempt to persuade a lost person of God’s love and of their need for Jesus. That may be included in Jesus instructions to his disciples that are not mentioned here. Or it may be that this was not the heart of the gospel message that Jesus told the people to deliver. Could it be that the message of the disciples, “The kingdom of God has come near to you,” is simply what it sounds like? God’s kingdom has come. You are invited to become a part of it. Make ready. Come humbly.
I’m not, of course, belittling God’s love. Nor am I trying to argue against modern missions or evangelism. I’m actually a big fan of missions and evangelism. Neither am I trying to suggest that we be unloving in evangelism. All I’m wondering is, from the context of this passage, is the message simpler and more direct than we sometimes make it? God’s kingdom is coming. You need to be in it. You can be in it. Come to God’s Kingdom through Jesus. He will welcome you if you are willing to get under his kingship. If you will not get under his kingship, he will judge you. Either way, the Kingdom is still coming.
So, what’s the difference? This message is not sappy. It is not filled with emotional appeal. It is simple and direct. It is a call of command from the King of kings. It is still loving, but not in a “Jesus is just begging you to give him a try” sort of way. It’s not harsh, to be sure, but it is pointed. There is one way to God. God invites you to come to him and be part of his Kingdom. Will you come?
If it is true that the message that the disciples presented is as clear and straight-forward as it seems, how might this impact our modern evangelism? What would it look like for us to be so simple, so non-sappy, so boldly direct? What would it sound like to make a simple declaration of the gospel? This does not mean a lack of passion or concern on our part, nor does it mean a lack of communication of the deep and amazing love of Jesus that he proved with his death on the cross; but it surely might mean a lack of complication in the message. How would this change our presentation? Should it change our presentation this way?
The Least the Greatest (Luke 9:46-48)
Luke 9:46-48
46 An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”
The least is the greatest. You know, I think almost any Christian could quote some version of that statement. We all know it. We have all been taught it. Here is the big question: How many of us believe it?
Let’s face it, we don’t like being least. We are far more like the disciples were in this passage. We want to argue about which of us is most important. Of course we know better than to use those words. But how often are we offended by not getting our due recognition? How often are we torn up in side at being overlooked, not given credit, not being seen for what we bring to the table?
As I write this, I need to pray it through for more than I’d like to admit. I don’t like being least. I don’t like being overlooked. I don’t like being marginalized. And, not liking those things tells me that my heart does not believe Jesus nearly enough.
Jesus tells me that I am honoring God most and being greatest when I am not worried about my position. The Savior lets me know that the way for me to receive the greatest joy is to let others have the credit. Jesus points out to me, as he does in so many areas of life, that the way to real success is not to do what comes naturally and battle for my own rights. Jesus tells me that I will be much better off if I will trust that God knows more than me, sees more than me, and is totally faithful to reward his children.
This reading was no fun. But it was true and totally convicting for me. This is what happens when we open God’s word. We learn things that we should already know. May we become people who are willing to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven by being least in the here and now.
Absurd Faith (Genesis 15:5-6)
Genesis 15:5-6
5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6 is one of the most well-known Old Testament Bible verses. Paul uses it in Romans 4 to show that our salvation is not based on obedience to any law, but it is and has always been based on faith. This is a significant passage.
One problem with significant passages is that we often read them and immediately shorten our view. We look at the passage and we hear the Bible verse ringing out as it is quoted and used in the New Testament. OF course, we should think like this, but not without also seeing the verse in its present context.
Look at verse 6 with the preceding verse above. God spoke to Abram and told him that he was going to give him lots of children. Abram believed God. God, for his part, credited Abram with a legal record of righteousness, not for anything Abram did, but simply because Abram believed God.
Do you see how absurd this is? We have watched Abram’s life. Yes, he did some good things—rescuing his nephew and tithing to a priest of God. But Abram also was the faithless coward who told his wife to say she was his sister, regardless of what that might subject her to, in order to protect his own skin. Abram was not righteous, not by any account.
You have to see how ridiculous it is to call Abram righteous to see the significance of verse 6. Abram believed God’s promise of children—that’s it. He will believe more later, but for now, he is just trusting that God can and will do what God promised. Abram believes that he is going to have a gigantic family of descendants. And that belief is what God Takes from Abram and counts it to him as righteousness.
The truth is, salvation by God’s grace through faith does not make sense. We are used to a quid pro quo. We are used to doing something to earn something else. To hear that God will count us as righteous in his sight, not for our obedience, not for our sacrifices, not for our own goodness, but simply because of our belief in him seems crazy by any human measure. But, God’s measure is not human measure, is it?
The truth is, I am not a righteous person. Neither are you. All have sinned before God. All of us have been cowards like Abram in one form or another. All of us have hurt others, intentionally or unintentionally, for our own comfort. All of us have failed to live up to God’s perfection. And yet God offers us all a record of perfect righteousness. He says that if we will truly believe in Jesus, trusting Jesus in the sort of way that changes our lives, he will call us righteous. He will not call us righteous because of the changes we make, but simply because we trust in Jesus.
How strange. When we look at Genesis 15:6 in context, it seems absurd. When we look at salvation by grace through faith, it seems absurd. And yet, when we get to know the God of the Bible, we recognize that his ways are not ours. He does things in a Godlike way. We don’t think like him. We can’t figure out all the reasons why he does things the way he does. But he is clear. If we want to be forgiven and made right with him, it comes through believing him.
Giving Freely (Genesis 14:18-20)
Genesis 14:18-20
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
After a battle in which God gave Abram a great victory, we see Abram in a conversation with a priest of God. Something I notice is that Abram, without hesitation, offers a tenth of all that he gained from the battle to God’s representative. Abram tithed, but not out of obligation. No law had yet been given at Mt. Sinai to force a tithe from the people of God. Abram simply, out of gratitude, joy and worship, gave a tenth to God.
The way that Abram handled the tithe has a very nice way about it. Can we not learn from him in the Christian world today? Why would we not give to God without law, without rules, and without begrudging? Why would we, who have been given so much more than Abram had received, not give at least a tenth of our income to God without a second thought?
Now, I understand that some folks have found themselves in some very difficult financial positions. I’m not writing this to burden anyone with guilt. But, I would argue that giving as an act of worship is a part of Christian living. And I would encourage any believer in Christ to find a way to give to God freely, joyfully, proportionally, sacrificially, wisely, and regularly as an act of worship. I would also say that the tenth is a very wise, very biblical, starting point. I would encourage you to aim at giving a tenth to God, not out of law, but out of simple desire to give all that you are.
Pastor Travis Peterson 