JUSTI(FIED)

Series: (FIED)
Sunday, October 12, 2008

Last week we kicked this thing off with our PETRIFIED service and I realized that I never even really used the word PETRIFIED. We were talking about this spiritual reality of REGENERATION or REBIRTH. That is, the bibles teaching that left to ourselves, and our own devices, we are spiritually dead. It’s harsh, it’s rude, and the bible teaches us, it’s reality. It is like we have hearts of stone the bible says. We are petrified.

But like that key verse, Ezekiel 36:26 promises us, God will reach into our lives and take our heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. We will be regenerated, reborn, a new creation. For many of us this is the perfect picture, the perfect analogy of our salvation. We were far from God, uninterested in God, uninterested in spiritual matters. Then God came into our lives, the eyes of our hearts were opened, everything started to change.

Like natural births, our Spiritual re-birth is unique to every individual. Some of us had an experience of regeneration years ago. Some of us very recently. Some of us probably feel like we’re in the womb, we feel like we are growing, learning, experiencing, but we’re not there yet. It can happen in an instant. Sometimes it seems like that baby is so ready to come out- you couldn’t stop it if you tried! Or it might take hours, days, pushing, pulling, two steps forward, one step back. Other babies seem to fight it every step of the way.

But whether it takes a moment, or a month, or a practically a millennium, the point is transformed, reborn, lives. The bible tells manifold stories of how this happens. Last week we read about Nicodemus to whom Jesus first taught this. Nicodemus was probably a very good an moral man, a man who had sought faithfulness to God his whole life, but he walked away. We later find him standing up for Jesus among the Pharisees, asking for a fair trial instead of prejudging Jesus. Then, after Jesus’ crucifixion, we see Nicodemus completely reborn I would argue. He cares not for his own reputation, or his own life. He takes the body of Jesus with Joseph of Arimetha for burial. His was a rebirth that seemed to come in several stages.

Another man, Saul, likewise was a very religious man who sought God, But he was wickedly evil. He was persecuting the early church, throwing Christians in jail and approving of their execution. But in a moment, he was changed when Jesus revealed himself. He was radically transformed, he planted churches throughout the known world, and he wrote half of our New Testament. His was the most radical and complete of rebirth experiences.

And there were other experiences. A rich young ruler walked away from Jesus, and was never heard from again. Judas seemed to be a changed man, but it was entirely on the outside, nothing really changed in him. Zacheus was a crook, maybe not the worst guy in the world, but he was changed into a loving, generous, amazing guy. A Samaritan woman, caught in adultery, changes her entire town.

Whether is dramatic, or mundane. Whether were young, or old, whether there is emotion, or intellectual comprehension, the point is that when God moves in our lives, we move toward Him. We are reborn in him, and with that rebirth comes repentance and faith.

Now I’m going to speak to some whom I rarely address directly, but who probably makes up half or more of Connections at this stage. What about those of us that grew up in the church, we were baptized or dedicated as a child, and have always been apart of this. We can’t really pinpoint a time when and where and how it happened. We were raised to believe, and we do believe. What is our rebirth?

I can’t remember at time in my youth that I didn’t believe in God, as God talk was a normal part of my life. We prayed before meals and bedtime. We did devotions, sporadically like most families, but we did devotions. We went to church on Sunday mornings, and when I got old enough, I sat in the balcony with my friends, goofed off, or even slipped out and went to the quickie mart for candy and donuts. I may not have always liked doing church, but I was committed to God. What did rebirth look like for me?

A rebirth moment for me was getting the Jesus thing when I was in the fifth grade. It was this moment when it kinda all started falling into place- Yes, there is a God, a creator, something greater than us that made us and made everything and all that stuff. Ok, I believe that. But now we can know that God because that God became flesh and blood, that same God, is Jesus, who lived as a man, loved us, taught us, touched us. That’s how we know God is a relational being. All of the sudden it wasn’t just about believing in God, it was believing in Jesus, the Son of God, and calling upon him to be my Lord and savior.

Later I had another rebirth experience as I began to become aware of God’s Spirit in my life. Jesus said he’d send us his Holy Spirit so that we could all be in a relationship with him. If he was still just flesh and bone, just one man, we all couldn’t have the experience of an abiding relationship with him. And that’s why he said it’s better that he goes back to heaven and sends us his spirit. And when he sends us his spirit, when his spirit comes into our lives, we are reborn into this new relationship with him.

For me, I genuinely believe this, God’s hand and Spirit was on me as a child. And the truth is, we read stories of this all the time. That there are children born naturally, who are also born spiritually. God’s hand was on Isaac and Jacob even as they were born and called by God for a special purpose. When Moses was born, he was born for be Israel’s deliverer. When a woman named Hannah was barren, she cried out to God, and he gave her a son named Samuel, and Samuel was called by God as a child. Right up into the time of Jesus, the Spirit was on Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, and John the Baptist was born and grew up in the spirit. Then Jesus himself was born simultaneously of the flesh, and of the Spirit.

And so, those of us that grow up in God, we have a series of revelations in understanding our rebirth with God. And what is so great for us, is that when we are really steeped in this faith stuff, is looking back on our lives and seeing God’s hand on us all the while. For those of us that have a more radical adult rebirth experience, we are simply more consciously aware of it. We know that something has radically and fundamentally changed in us, we know this is a new beginning, we know we need to ask questions, to understand it better, to read the bible and make sense of this stuff, to be in a community of believers who will remind me that I’m not crazy, I didn’t make this stuff up, it really happened!

For all of us, now matter when and where our rebirth occurred, we are now part of a new family. The bible says that once we are born into this new relationship with God we are justified by our faith in God. Specifically, we are justified by our faith that in Jesus we are made right with God. So that is our next really big church word, can we all say it, JUSTIFIED.

In particular, the book of Romans talks about justification incessantly. The writer, Paul, is obsessed with justification. In chapter 3 Paul presents the case that God is righteous, we are not. God is holy, we are not holy. No one is good enough, religious enough, to please God. You can’t be born into the right culture, the right ethnicity, the right economic class, the right gender, the right generation. No one is born into it, you have to be reborn into it. You have to receive it, like a gift, from God and through Jesus Christ.

In chapter 4 he tells the story of a many named Abraham, the earthly father of the Jewish faith, and how even he, as great and wonderful as he was, did not earn his justification, his salvation. Instead, he was justified through faith, by the grace of God, just like we are. Finally, plowing through to chapter 5, he just can’t drop it yet, not until he makes one more point about justification clear-

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Those who have been reborn by the Spirit, who have repented of their sins, who have put their faith in Jesus, now stand justified, right, before God. Not because of anything we do, but by the faith we hold. We don’t earn it, we don’t achieve, we simply receive it. Jesus says I have a right relationship with God, and through me you will have a right relationship with God. And then the next vital movement of the Christian life is to exercise this faith in our relationship with God.

This is the one thing that is required of us- faith. It is what god desires from us. It is what God requires of us. That’s the thing- it is, and I don’t think this is overstating the case, it is the one thing that is really required on our part. It is the start, following our rebirth, of our relationship with God.

The bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Without our faith, God can do whatever He wants. Let’s be clear on that- God is sovereign and can do whatever he pleases. But with faith, we enter into a relationship with God, and we start to participate in his plan. And that is very pleasing to God- to enter into a relationship with Him.

I had to rework this whole portion of the sermon after I listened to a message that messed me up this week. I had coffee with a guy named Pat, and he mentioned a sermon series he was listening to online, so I went and loaded up the first message, and it was awesome. And it started with this, and this wasn’t even the main point, but dag, God used it in my life.

Matthew 8:5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6"Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."

7Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."

8The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

10When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

Jesus is well into his ministry and has called most of his closest followers at this point. They are heading into Capernaum when a Roman Centurion comes to Jesus. A Centurion, as you may know or could have guessed, is a commander of 100 men. Now understand this, so you understand something about Jesus and the situation- this is the bad guy. Jesus and his posse are Jews, Rome has taken over the Promised Land. They allow the locals to do their thing as long as they do two very important things for Rome- worship Caesar and pay their taxes. You can have you gods, but Caesar is Lord.

When a centurion comes up to you, it’s like seeing the lights in the rear view mirror. You say just what I’ve said- well praise the Lord, I must have been speeding and this officer is going to help save me from my own folly and protect others as well. We should think that, but we don’t, and while the centurion and his men are to keep the peace, the disciples are not too thrilled to be pulled over.

So when the centurion says he has a servant who is sick, they probably want to say, well we’ll keep you in our prayers, then they look at each other and say well good, I hope he dies, and I hope you get what he has, and I hope all your men get what he has, and I hope it spreads throughout all the Romans, and you can all just drop dead for all we care!

But the centurion addressed Jesus in a way that would have been extraordinarily unusual. In fact, more than unusual- at this point unprecedented, and extremely dangerous. He addresses Jesus as Lord.
Roman citizens Roman soldiers especially, do not go around calling anyone but Caesar Lord. And they especially don’t call a homeless Jewish rabbi Lord. Jesus says, I will go and heal him. The disciples would have been freaking out, even though by now they should have put together that Jesus is pretty much going to always do the opposite of what they think he should

Then it gets really wild. As amazing as what he just said was, what he says now is even more astonishing- Lord, he really gets the LORD thing, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is amazing, that is humility, and this is not just some false flattery, because otherwise someone could say, oh, he just didn’t want a Jew in his home. It would be bad for his reputation, and how man of us are afraid to have Jesus in our home because it might mess up our reputation, but that’s a whole other thing. But he says, just say the word and my servant will be healed. And if he would have stopped right there we be in awe. This is amazing. But he doesn’t even stop there, but he goes on to explain how he knows this.

He says I am a man under authority myself. I tell a solder to do this, and he does it. And why does he do it? Because of my authority. But more specifically, it’s the authority I’m under, which I represent, which is Caesar. Caesar is my authority, and because Caesar is Lord to my soldiers, they do what I tell them. In essence he says Jesus, I’ve been watching you, and I see that you are also a man under authority. You say to some one who’s sick, be well, and they are. You say to someone blind, see, and they do. I see that you are a man under the authority of a higher power, and because of your relationship with that authority, you can basically tell sickness, blindness, sin and death to take a hike, and they do.

And at this Jesus was astonished. No where else in the gospels is Jesus astonished by anything else anyone says or does. And that is hugely important. Not even anything anyone else does astonishes Jesus. What astonishes Jesus, what amazes Jesus, faith.

His faith amazes Jesus. And he says to his disciples never before have I seen faith like this in all of Israel. And it is that kind of a faith that God desires that we’ll place in Him as well. And I hope that we can be the kind of people, I want to be the kind of man, that might astonish God with my faith. Because faith is at the heart of our relationship with God. Faith is what God desires from us.

In the Garden of Eden it is a lack of faith in God that leads to the faith. Adam and Eve are tempted into sin yes, because the temptation was strong. But the temptation was strong because their faith was weak. God asked them to exercise faith in Him in one area, faith that He has the best plan and the best life for them, but they did not maintain their faith in God, and their relationship, and our relationship, with God was broken.

During the Exodus God was teaching them to have faith in Him. Faith to bring them out of slavery. Faith to bring them through the red Sea. Faith to bring them to the Promised land. Faith to fee them. Faith to protect them. Faith to deliver them. Faith to bring them into the land.

And that is still what God is asking of us today- faith. Faith to trust that God will be our deliverer, our sustainer, our provider, our redeemer, our everything. Faith is what it’s all about.

God moves upon us, awaking our spirit, giving us a heart of flesh. Some times when we’re really young, sometimes when were old, sometimes in an instant, sometimes, over a series of events, but He moves on us and turns us around and turn us to Him. And then he ask something of us- won’t you move toward me now in faith.

And there is one thing, more than anything else that God wants us to have faith in- faith that he sent us his son; faith that Jesus died on a cross at an atoning sacrifice for our sins; faith that he rose from the grave conquering sin and dead, the ultimate consequence of sin; faith that he ascended to heaven and is the Lord of all the universe and the way, the truth and the very life of God; faith that he is coming again.

When we start to exercise faith in that, then we stand in a right relationship with God, and I believe this, He is still astonished. And we are justified. And then we are ready for our next step- sanctification...