Abraham - the father of the faithful!

Paul's words, in Gal 3:7 - "... it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham." - are among those that have given rise to Abraham being described as in the heading to this post.  But, having recently completed reading about Abraham in my personal devotions, I found myself thinking on Abraham's own faith.  What kind of example has he left to disciples of Jesus today?

Well, the first thing we may note about Abraham is that he was saved through faith.  Paul, this time writing to the believers in Rome, makes the point: "What then shall we say about Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.' Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness." (Rom 4:1-5).  Abraham could not have been saved by the keeping of the Law - because that Law had not yet been given.  He could not have been saved by the ritual of circumcision, because God declared him to be righteous before he was circumcised (see Rom.4:9-12).  He was, like everyone else who is saved, saved through faith - faith in the Living God. (see also Heb.11).

But he was not only saved through faith, he also lived by faith.  Wherever he went, we read, he pitched his tent and built an altar to El Shaddai.  He let people know that he was a pilgrim and a stranger - even in the land that God had covenanted to give to his descendants.  His willingness to sacrifice Isaac, the son of promise, proved his trust in God - "He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him [Isaac] back." (Heb 11:19).  His works did not save him, but they proved that his faith was genuine.

Saved through faith; living by faith; and Abraham walked in faith.  Of course, he had lapses - some of them serious - but his general manner of life was one of faith.  "Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. ... So Abram went, as the LORD had told him;" (Gen.12:1,4).  That great eleventh chapter of Hebrews has more to say about Abraham than about any other of the individuals who are named there!

So what has all of that to do with you and me, so many millennia later?  Well, if we have no interest in the things of God - absolutely nothing!  However if, like me, you claim to be a disciple of the Lord, Jesus the Christ, descended, after the flesh, from this same Abraham, then his life must be a challenge to you, as it is to me. 

I must remember that my salvation is only by the grace of Almighty God to which I, too, must respond through faith.  "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God - not because of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9).  I am not saved by my "good works" - and any service that I do render is only because I am "... His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works , which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Eph. 2:10). I must learn to walk by faith - and that means walking in obedience. It means, as the hymn-writer put it, "Standing on the promises".  A friend of many years ago would often state that "God said it; I believe it; that's it; period!"  That's not a bad way in which to live!

I've been challenged, afresh, by the life of Abraham.  Perhaps you will be, as well!

The highest watermark.

In his letter to the believers in the early church in the Imperial City of Rome, Paul writes these words: "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." (12:1-2).

It was many years ago that I was taught that, when one reads the word "therefore" in the Bible, one should ask "What is it there for?"  In those words, it refers to all of the teaching that Paul has previously provided to the recipients.  It is, indeed, the pivot word on which this section of Romans turns from belief to behaviour.  Up until this point, Paul has been explaining what God has done to redeem us.  He now challenges his readers (now, as well as then!) to surrender themselves, totally, into God's hands.

Self-surrender and self-sacrifice have, of course, been demonstrated by God before He demands them from us!  Tomorrow (Saturday) is, of course, the Jewish Shabbat.  Judaism has its own "lectionary" - set readings from the Scriptures for each week, or even day.  In synagogues around the world, one of the passages that will be read on this particular Shabbat is from the Book of Leviticus: "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to YHWH, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock.  If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before YHWH."  (1:2-3).  The Hebrew word korbanot  means to be close and the point is that the sacrifices, once accepted by God, restore closeness and intimacy between Him and His people.  Why is this necessary?  Because our iniquities and sins separate us from God and prevent us from establishing or maintaining a close relationship with Him.  "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2). For we who live under the New Covenant, the perfect sacrifice was made by God Himself, in the Persona of the Son.

It is our sin - yours and mine - that took Jesus to the cross in the greatest act of self-sacrifice in all of history.  When He asks us to surrender ourselves, He is not asking us to do, or give, anything that He has not already done, and given.

The story is told of a missionary who shared this truth with a highly intellectual Hindu, and added, "I believe that to be the high watermark of the universe".  The Hindu removed his spectacles, wiped away an involuntary tear, and replied, "High watermark?  That's the highest watermark of which the human mind could ever conceive!"  How true!  In the self-giving of Himself, Almighty God set the standard for the universe.  Nothing in either God, or in man, can ever go beyond it.  It is the highest truth conceivable.

Have you submitted yourself to Him?  Have you presented yourself, a living sacrifice?  It is, indeed, no more than "reasonable service"!