Not Ashamed of Faith - The Up or Down Climb

So today, stop climbing. Stop trying to prove yourself. Stop trying to earn what can only be received. Stop building towers and come to his table. He's ready to feed you once again. His body, his blood given and shed for you. A savior who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification because your hope is not built on what you've done nor what you can do. [00:15:44] (31 seconds)  #ComeToTheTable

But every tower eventually crumbles. Every achievement fades. Every resume gets buried in the ground. Every accomplishment eventually runs into death because the Tower Of Babel is really the story of humanity trying to save itself. And Paul in Romans four tells us why that never works. He writes, for the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, not through performance or climbing, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. [00:04:16] (41 seconds)  #FaithNotPerformance

Bethlehem where God in his glory chooses to come and to dwell with us, chooses to take on our humanity in the person and work of Christ Jesus. Babel was us trying to reach up to God, but Bethlehem is God coming down to us in humility to give us what we could not deserve. One who would fulfill the law on our behalf, who would carry our sin, who would die our death and rise again. [00:12:22] (29 seconds)  #GodCameDown

Friends, that's the whole bible. That's what we're gonna be talking about in our bible study. That that god speaks and creation exists. God opens barren wounds. God parts seas. God raises dry bones. God raises Jesus from the dead. God gives sinners life. He doesn't need our tower, our resume, our accomplishments. He brings life where there is none. [00:10:41] (22 seconds)  #GodGivesLife

Babel was about achievement. Abraham was about a promise. Babel was about about climbing. Abraham was about receiving. Babel was about the human effort. Abraham was about the divine grace of God. And everything hinges on that difference because the promise did not come through the law or performance or obedience. The promise comes through faith. Salvation is not something we accomplish. It is something we receive. [00:05:35] (33 seconds)  #PromiseThroughFaith

Somehow we convince ourselves that if I can just get high enough, if I can just have a little bit more, then I'll be secure. But every tower, every tower that you and I build fails. Our health fails. Jobs disappear. Relationships break. Markets crash. Dreams collapse. Death comes. And the tower falls. [00:11:27] (31 seconds)  #TowersWillFall

Where man made religion says climb, the Gospel says the opposite, receive. Not do, but done. Not perform, but trust God's promise to you. Paul continues in in Romans four verse 14. He says, if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise is nullified. [00:06:57] (29 seconds)  #ReceiveNotClimb

This is why what Paul's writing here in Romans is such good news because that tower that fell isn't something that god asked you to build. See see, the gospel is not about us climbing up to God as if that was somehow possible. We cannot, by our own reason or strength, climb up to God. What we needed is not babble. What we need is Bethlehem. [00:11:58] (24 seconds)  #WeNeedBethlehem

Abraham and Sarah had to realize they bring nothing to the table. No strength, no ability, no solution, no tower, just trust in a promise. And that's exactly how God works because God's speciality is bringing life from death. In verse 17, Paul describes it this way, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. [00:10:10] (32 seconds)  #LifeFromDeath

The promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 where he says, I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing. The contrast is really striking. And in Babel, people said, we will make a name for ourselves. We're gonna do it. We have the strength, the power, the might, the wherewithal to pull ourselves up by the boot straps and make a name for ourselves. [00:04:56] (31 seconds)  #GodsPromiseNotSelf

We're not ashamed of the gospel because it tells the truth. It tells the truth about our sin here in Romans four. It tells the truth about our inability and our failed towers, but it also tells us the truth about Jesus. The one who came down, who died, who rose, who justifies sinners, and who keeps every promise. [00:15:20] (24 seconds)  #NotAshamedOfGospel

In other words, if you're going to depend on your performance, if you're going to depend on how good you're climbing, how good you think you are, well, if salvation depends on you, then grace disappears. If salvation depends on your performance, the promise is gone. If righteousness depends on your obedience, then nobody, nobody, myself included, I know it, can stand before God. [00:07:26] (27 seconds)  #GraceNotPerformance

And maybe we don't remember them for the tower but for its collapse because their confidence was in themselves. Their hope was in what they could build. Their faith was in human achievement, and and that's still our temptation. To build to build something impressive enough with our lives that that god himself will notice, to construct a life good enough that god himself will improve, to climb high enough that even we dare to think heaven becomes attainable because we're just so good. [00:03:42] (34 seconds)  #HumanAchievementFails

And something inside of us, there's this drive to climb. And to climb not just things like mountains or towers as kids, but to climb to prove ourselves, to prove our our our worth. That unwritten rule that says if if we work hard enough, if we try hard enough, if we improve enough, if we sacrifice enough, then somehow somehow we're gonna make it to the top and be worthy. You feel it in school, in a career. Turn on social media, it won't take you very long. [00:01:23] (36 seconds)  #ProveYourWorth

People constantly asking, am I good enough? Have I done enough? And how do I measure up? What do I what must I do to get closer to God? We spend our our lives building towers, not of brick and stone, but of achievement, of success, even even morality and religious performance, all designed to somehow get in our minds that we can somehow make ourselves acceptable, pleasing, even desirable to God. [00:02:03] (29 seconds)  #AmIGoodEnough

Whether you were baptized as a one day old infant or whether you were 97 years old, you brought nothing. You simply received. You came with empty hands, and God acted. God spoke. God watched. God claimed. God forgave and gave life. And that same thing happens every time we gather for worship together. We we come with with empty hands. [00:13:41] (25 seconds)  #BaptizedReceive

We we come with with empty hands. We might stop by the offering basket in the back and drop something off, but that's not a bribe to pay God off. That's a response of the joy of what God has first given to us. We come with nothing. Empty hands and Christ fills them. He spoke his word of absolution over you this day as we confess our sins. [00:14:04] (23 seconds)  #ChristFillsEmptyHands

In fact, for a time, Abraham and Sarah thought that they needed to help God out with his mission, and so Sarah gives to Abraham, her handmaiden Hagar, whom she has a child with, thinking that somehow this way they can fulfill God's promise, but but God didn't need help. He doesn't need help fulfilling his promises. He had a path. [00:09:35] (22 seconds)  #GodDoesntNeedHelp

Do we still try? Oh, yeah. We do. And sometimes we find ourselves building the wrong kind of towers, not towers to serve our neighbor with the works God has given us to do, but but towers of our own success, of our own morality, of our own religious activity, towers built by our wealth and our reputation, by our by our family, our politics, our knowledge. [00:11:03] (23 seconds)  #BewareWrongTowers

He comes to us with his very body and blood through bread and wine as his words and promises declare to give us the gift of his very himself for us. Everything comes from him. And in the coming weeks, this summer, we're gonna spend some time taking a deep dive into this book of Romans. And we're calling this series that we're gonna do is we're calling it not ashamed. [00:14:27] (25 seconds)  #CommunionAndGrace