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We Are Justified By Grace Through Faith

            I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said, “All churches are the same, aren’t they?”  When I answer, “No!”, I can see the wheels turning as the person who asked is fighting off the urge to say, “What makes you so intolerant and narrow-minded?”  I try to assure him or her in the nicest way possible that is not the case.  I just want to be honest.  While externals like church ceremonies and songs may be the same, while in many churches Jesus is proclaimed, while many churches read from the Scriptures and use them in worship, there still may be a sharp distinction that separates churches from each other.

            So what is it that makes us distinctively Lutheran?  Certainly it’s not the fact that we worship in a beautiful neo-Gothic church.  There are plenty of other churches that are just as beautiful, but they aren’t necessarily Lutheran.  Certainly it’s not the English language that makes us Lutheran.  There are plenty of other people who speak Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, or Spanish who are just as Lutheran as we are.  And there, of course, are many who speak English who are not Lutheran.  Certainly it’s not a certain skin color that makes a person Lutheran.  Lutherans come in all colors, shapes and sizes.  So what is it that makes us distinctively Lutheran?  It’s all summed up in one word – justified, or more accurately, We Are Justified By Grace Through Faith.

            I realize that some of you have heard that phrase “justification by grace through faith” hundreds of times in your life, and it is as familiar and comfortable for you as an old pair of tennis shoes.  But there are others here today for whom the words “justification,” “grace,” and “faith” may sound a little strange.  To clear the air, we turn our attention to an account from the life of Abram as recorded by God’s inspired penman, Moses.  I pray that our study will help the Lutherans here today review what it means to be Lutheran, and I pray that our visitors may gain insight into this all-important pinnacle of scriptural truth.  For the Bible tells us that We Are Justified By Grace Through Faith.

Look how God treated Abram

             With a quick overview of the Bible history related to this character, Abram, some people might develop the wrong impression and think that Abram was perfect.  After all, he had left his father’s home and traveled three hundred miles into an unknown land just on God’s say so.  He had publicly proclaimed the truth about the only true God amid sometimes hostile neighbors.  He had humbly given up prime real estate to his nephew Lot and carried out a daring rescue of that same nephew when invading armies had pillaged and plundered Lot’s town.  He had an active prayer life.  No wonder Abram is often called “the father of believers.”  On the basis of that evidence surely we can call him a great believer.

            Yet Abram was also a sinner just like you and me.  We know that from Bible passages which put the finger on our common heritage.  For example, even before Abram existed, God made this comment about human beings, “Every inclination of a person’s heart is evil since childhood” (Genesis 8:21).  Then there are passages like this one from the Psalms which pits human attitude and actions against the holy standards of the holy God, “All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:3).  We also know that Abram was far from perfect and definitely involved in sin from the stories that show his lack of confidence in God.  One time he traveled to Egypt and found himself surrounded by threatening bad guys.  They thought his wife was pretty good looking and wanted to take her.  Abram was afraid that if he said Sarah was his wife, they would kill him and take her.  So, in order to save his own hide, he lied, passed his wife off as his sister, and allowed the evil king to take her into his harem.  God had to step in and right the wrong.  As if that incident wasn’t bad enough, Abram apparently didn’t learn his lesson.  Twenty years later he did the same thing while in another country.  Even here in the words before us, Abram displayed doubt in God’s ability to carry out the promise of giving him a son.  Abram offered his own plan to help God along.  “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? ... You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir”.  Abram had his doubts.

            For his weakness and sin he certainly did not deserve special treatment from God.  God could have dealt with him in anger, brushed him aside, and said, “Abram, I’ll look for someone better to bear my promises.”  But God didn’t treat Abram in the way that Abram deserved.  Here we get a good practical look at the term, “grace.”  God appeared to Abram and said, “You may have your doubts and fears that you and your wife will remain childless, but do not be afraid Abram.  I am your shield and your very great reward ... This man [Eliezer] will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.  He took Abram outside and said,“Look at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them ... So shall your offspring be”.  God didn’t treat Abram as he deserved.

            By God’s grace, his undeserved love, Abram became rich.  By God’s grace Abram had a homeland.  By God’s grace Abram had become famous.  Yet the best demonstration of God’s grace came with his promise to give Abram a son.  Once Abram had a son, then there could be grandsons, and great-grandsons, and great-great-grandsons, and eventually the long-awaited Savior who would take away the sins of the world.  That is the link between the term “grace” and the term “justify.”  The term “justify” is essentially a courtroom term.  Abram stood before God’s judgment seat as a guilty sinner.  But the promised Savior stepped in, took on Abram’s punishment and transferred his own goodness to Abram’s account.  For that reason, Abram was justified, declared innocent.  Abram knew that if an angel had asked God, “What do you think of Abram,” the Lord would have answered, “I don’t think of him as a sinner.  His sins are covered.  In my book he is innocent.  He is justified.”  The Lord credited the Savior’s righteousness to Abram’s account.  Look how God treated Abram!  He didn’t treat him as his sins deserved.  Abram was justified by grace.

            God treats us in the same way.  He justifies us by grace.  He declares us to be innocent even though we are still sinners and don’t deserve it.  He clears us of wrong-doing.  This is the primary, A-1 Bible truth upon which we stand.  This is the doctrine that makes us distinctively Lutheran.

            Check the teaching of other church bodies.  Some will say, “God is going to give you the power to live a good life like Jesus and by prayer and pious living you will reach perfection.”  But that’s not what the Bible says.  Others will give the impression, “People should get at least a little credit.  We have to do at least a little something to get close to God.”  But that’s not what the Bible says.  We are justified by grace.  God credits Jesus’ righteousness to our account.  That’s it, plain and simple.  That’s better than lifting the hymnal out of the rack and discovering a stack of twenties put there just for you.  That’s why Luther could pray, “Alone and apart from Christ I am a sinner, but in my Lord Jesus Christ and with him I am no sinner.”  Look how God has treated us!  We are justified by grace.

Look how Abram trusted God

            Jesus has all kinds of goodness ready for us.  But how does all this goodness become our own personal possession?  Now, finally, that question leads us to the term “faith.”  The Scripture simply says, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness”.  By faith all the promised-Savior’s righteousness had become Abram’s personal possession.

            Let’s see if we can illustrate how faith works.  Let’s say your car clunked out while driving down a highway.  You skidded into a guardrail and pretty well ruined the whole car.  Let’s say you had no money and no insurance.  What to do?  You decide to abandon it and walk home.  A little while later, a mechanic comes along, tows your car to his garage, and fixes it up.  He finds your name and address from a check of the license plate and comes to your door.  “I have fixed your car,” he says. “I did it for free.  Here are the keys.”  You believe the message, take the keys, and enjoy riding in your car which is as good as new.  Now think about this.  Your believing the message didn’t fix the car.  Your taking the keys didn’t fix the car.  It just allowed you to enjoy it.  If you didn’t believe the mechanic’s message, the car would still be fixed, but you wouldn’t be driving it.

            This is how Abram’s faith worked.  Abram heard God’s promise about a Savior who would forgive all sins.  If Abram didn’t believe God’s promise, the message would still be true, but Abram would not have enjoyed its benefits.  He would have found no peace, no comfort, no joy.  But Abram believed the Lord.  His believing didn’t make the forgiveness come true.  It just made the Savior’s work his own personal possession.  By faith in God’s promise Abram had peace of heart, comfort, and joy.  Look how Abram trusted God.  He was justified by grace through faith.

            Our faith works the same way.  We were not there when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  We were not there to be eyewitnesses of the blood flowing from his wounds on the cross.  We were not there to see the folded grave clothes after his resurrection.  It all happened so long ago.  Yet all of that magnificent love from God which Jesus won for us by his living and dying and rising, all of that goodness, has become our personal possession by faith.

            Some churches teach that faith is a work that we do, a condition to be met before we get forgiveness.  You can identify that approach when you hear people ask, “Are you saved?”  What does a question like that do but drive a person to look inward and wonder, “Do I have enough faith?”  A Lutheran would never ask that question.  A Lutheran would simply make the statement, “You are saved,” which causes a person to look outward at what God has done.  You can identify the wrong definition of faith when you hear people say, “Jesus wants to be your Savior.  All you have to do is open your heart and accept him.  Make your decision for Christ.”  Statements like that give the impression that we have to do something.  We have to open our heart.  We have to accept.  We have to make the decision.  That’s not what the Bible says.  The Bible says that faith is also a gift from God created in our hearts by his word.  If I put a stack of twenties in front of you and said, “Go ahead and spend it,” you would be foolish to say, “I now have money to spend because I did such a good job of taking it.”  In the same way, faith is not what causes God to love, but God’s love causes faith.  By such faith we have peace with God and have gained access into this grace in which we now stand; and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).  We Are Justified By Grace Through Faith.

            One of the saddest scenes in church history is to witness Christian churches split apart and splinter.  But that isn’t God’s fault.  It happens when people slip away from Bible truth and begin to water down the glorious doctrine that We Are Justified By Grace Through Faith.  Recognizing that sad pattern in history does not mean we are being separatist or snooty.  It’s just being honest.  If that ever happens within our own church body, then we ought not to be called Lutheran any more.  Luther himself once wrote, “Nothing in this article can be given up or compromised, even if heaven and earth should be destroyed ... On this article rests all that we teach and practice.”

            Not all churches are the same.  They may have common ceremonies and songs.  They may share a common language and liturgy.  But the difference is in the answer to how we get right with God.  Make your testimony clear, and make it now.  And when someone asks, “Why do you go to that church?” tell him or her, “Because that’s where I can hear over and over again the best news ever, the announcement I tend to forget and tend to take for granted, but it’s an announcement that makes all the difference in this world and the next – We Are Justified By Grace Through Faith.    Amen.

Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on August 19, 2007

Services

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Mondays 6:30 pm

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

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