Romans 3:35-4:4: Nothing to Boast About

 Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 17 November 2024, by Major Michael Ramsay

Romans 3:35-4:4:

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his [patience] he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

The last two verses again: If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

I have been blessed. I am thankful that I received the King Charles III Coronation Medal last night – so thankful. As I said last night, I really do think this award is meant to honour all of us and  all of the work all of we do.

 

After not sleeping well the last couple of nights my mind started to wander as I read the scriptures in the very early hours of the morning. I realized that I have been blessed, I have been honoured a few times in my life.

 

These things do mean a lot to me – but - I know that I didn’t get The King Charles III medal or any other award because I work harder or better than anyone and everyone else. I know this and any and every other trinket (which mean so much to me) could easily have been given to others. I know it is the Grace of God when any of us receive honours and a blessing of God when any of us receive recognition. I do find it really humbling And I am glad that I received it for teamwork – even the MP mentioned that.

 

I am greatly humbled that God chooses to use us here in The Salvation Army the way He does. And I am very aware before God that I should never look at my ‘trinkets’ and think, “I deserved that; I am so good.” Most people work hard their whole life – many harder and better than I do -and never receive that acknowledgement. Everything is the Grace of God. I am so thankful to the Lord for that.

 

Romans 4:2-3: If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

Working hard is good but it is not what gets us awards and rewards. It doesn’t even, contrary to what some may think, get us better things in this life.

 

You don’t get rewarded with money by working hard. You don’t get rich by working at all (hard or not!). You know the secret to getting rich? Being rich! You get rich, if you are already rich. If you work 15 hours a day at minimum wage; if you work 20 hours a day at the average wage, you will never get rich. You may actually get poorer the way our system is set up now.

 

You know the sure-fire way to make money? – it is to have money. The richest families in the world today (apparently) by and large are the same richest families there were 400 years ago when the English first arrived in North America. If I have millions of dollars in the bank, I will make more money today in interest than I will if I work a whole day and a half without sleeping or doing anything else.

 

Hard work really does not give us temporal wealth any more than it gives us rewards. It doesn’t. Neither does working hard give us eternal rewards. It doesn’t.

 

Romans 4:2-3: If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

God cares about our relationship with Him. Something else struck me yesterday at the Gala. There were a number of things that went wrong – as there always will be. When the AV person came to me hat-in-hand about not having the tree on the screen at the correct time, I honestly didn’t mind. When the MC apologized anxiously from her heart about forgetting the MLA, I honestly didn’t mind. When other errors happened and people came to me and told me how things went awry, even as their boss, I didn’t mind. I encouraged them and I left feeling good about them and the work they were doing. I was proud of them. They made a mistake and because they came to me, I am confident they will strive to never make those mistakes again. They did great!... and no one was the wiser, and really, soon I will forget the little blips and just remember the great success as God really did bless us with a great event last night.

 

Now we have really great employees here who almost never complain about anything but I contrast this to when employees, in our day-to-day work, try to hide something from me, as their boss, or when I remind them that they did not do something and instead of chatting with me about it, they get defensive saying “that wasn’t me” or “its not my fault” or “I am not the only one” then I get quite upset. I lose a little respect for them. I learn that I can’t rely on them, I lose trust in them. And if this continues over time, I no longer ask them to do things and then, if it continues even more, I am not in relationship with them.

 

It is the same with God. If I do something wrong and get defensive, blame others, try to hide it, get angry, God will be hurt – just like I am as an employer. But if I make mistakes and come to God and tell Him I made a mistake, how bad I feel about it, and ask for the opportunity not to make that mistake again, God will forgive me. God loves me. God loves us.

 

The more I come to God even having made many mistakes, confessing them to Him, and remembering not to do the same thing again, the more I show God that I love Him and I trust Him. Then, just like I forgive my employees when they do that; so much more will God forgive and trust me and you and us when we come to Him in that way.

 

But when we let God down by accident or on purpose and then deny it, deflect it, excuse it, or blame God or someone else for it; we drive a wedge in our relationship with God. And then just like some employees walk away from their jobs when things start going in this direction; if we do this to God, I can’t imagine that it will be too long before we walk away from Him and that would break His heart. Because it is our relationship with God that He cares about. Our believing Him, our trusting Him, our loving Him.

 

Because God Loves us and He wants us to succeed and, as long as we come to Him, it doesn’t matter what we have done or how long ago we have done it, He will continue to love us and trust us and He will trust us even more with things of this world and the next. Let us believe God in this.

 

Romans 4:2-3: If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

Our salvation for here and now and forever has nothing to do with how hard we work. It has everything to do with how much we love the Lord – and by the way, when I love my boss, I work very diligently for them.

 

So my encouragement for us all today is let us work hard for the Lord -nnot striving to win or accomplish anything or out of fear of not accomplishing things - but just out of pure love for our saviour.

 

Let us pray.

 

Thank you Lord that we are saved by your faithfulness and that when we believe you and trust you our relationship with you will deepen and grow. Thank you that you love us for now and forever.

 

Amen.

Matthew 18:1-14 (Mark 9:33-37, Luke 9:46-48): Who is the Greatest?

 By Captain Michael Ramsay. Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 16 May 2021, by Sarah-Grace and Heather Ramsay

 

Matthew 18: …the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 

 

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. 

 

The scene is like this: Jesus’ followers, his congregation, his friends, like you guys here; like us; they ask Jesus which one of them is doing the best? Who is the star? Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? 

 

Jesus then looks for a child in the congregation and has her stand with the disciples who are asking the question (the word is gender neutral but there is an argument to be made that the child is a girl)[i] and Jesus tells his disciples – she is the greatest…or one like her. 

 

What does Jesus mean by this? He means a couple of things: 

·       One, he means to tell his leadership team, ‘why are you asking me such an annoying question’?

·        Two, he means to let be known to ALL who are present, that the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is one who isn’t concerned about being the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven – the one who doesn’t consider themselves better than or even necessarily as worthy as everyone else there.[ii] 

 

And then Jesus goes one step further in his rebuke of his those who were seeking to be seen as the star of the team. He tells them that whoever welcomes one like this child (who does not consider themselves better than someone else; someone who isn’t primarily concerned about their own rights and position; someone who may seem a little timid; someone who isn’t already part of the ‘crowd’); whoever welcomes one like this on Jesus’ behalf, who is humble enough to learn, they are welcoming Jesus. When we welcome little people, meek people, eager people, new people to be a part of our group, our group becomes part of the Kingdom of Heaven.  

 

Verse 6ff: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. 

 

Jesus continues in his response to people asking to be crowned Champion of Kingdom of Heaven. If we are so full of ourselves that we cause others to be drawn into our fights, if we are so full of ourselves that other people copy our arrogance, then we are in danger of the fire of hell.

 

Jesus is not apparently happy at all that people have asked him who would be the greatest in his Kingdom. For us to be even concerned about such a thing, Jesus suggests, Verse 2, we may even disqualify ourselves from the Kingdom of Heaven. And if, even worse, we cause others to be like this, it would be better to have a big stone tied to us and be tossed out there into the ocean.  

 

Verse 10: “See that you do not [look down on] despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.  

 

Jesus continues. He says that we must not to be so full of ourselves as to be worrying about which one of us is the greatest; Jesus says that we must not teach others to be full of themselves thinking that they are better than any other people; and Jesus says, ‘make sure you don’t despise people who aren’t fighting to be considered the best in the Kingdom of Heaven’. He says:

 

·       Don’t puff yourself up!

·       Don’t teach other people to puff themselves up!  

·       Don’t despise people who don’t puff themselves up. 

·       Don’t look down on people who don’t play your games.

·       Don’t look down on clients;

·       don’t look down on staff,

·       don’t look down on poor people,

·       don’t look down on smart people;

·       don’t look down on new people;

·       don’t look down on or exclude old or young people…

A shunned, despised, or unwelcome person will wander off.[iii] 

 

Verse 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. 

 

God loves all of us and He does not wish that a single one of us should perish. So back to the original question, who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?

 

·       The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is one who is not worried about ‘winning’ or promoting themselves, and

·       the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is one who helps the vulnerable or the outsider, and

·       the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is one who invites the vulnerable and the outsider be to a part of our team that continues to help the vulnerable and the outsider.

 

When we serve the King of Heaven this way then we are indeed all most valuable parts of His Kingdom to Come.

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[i] NT Wright, Matthew for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 16-28 (NT for Everyone: Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004),p.27: The child is gender neutral term but NT Wright argues for a girl.

[ii]  Cf. M. Eugene Boring, Matthew (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995) 374  

[iii] NT Wright, Matthew for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 16-28 (NT for Everyone: Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), p.31: anyone who is an outsider/outcast is a ‘little one’