…
Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore
know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And
the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the
nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law
are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But
that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for
“the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith,
but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who
hangs on a tree”), 14 that the
blessing of Abraham might come upon the
Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith. Gal 3:6-14 NKJ
Background
to the book of Galatians
The early church had an
extreme Jewish group, known as the Judaizers, who taught that Gentile
Christians had to submit to Jewish laws (eg. Mosiac law) and traditions
(circumcision), in addition to believing in Christ. The apostle Paul had to confront and address
this issue, proclaiming that faith in Christ means freedom from bondage to the
observance of the law, which none can fulfil.
Paul argues from the fact that God’s promise to Abraham was based on his
faith in God before even the institution of circumcision and the Mosaic
Law.
In the above passage, Paul explains the significance of faith in Christ:
·
It
justifies us before God ie. Make us of right standing before God (v 8)
·
We
are redeemed from the curse of the law ie. Works cannot bring us near God; in
fact we are all law-breakers and are subject to condemnation (v 13)
·
We
are given the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us (v 14)
God appeared to Abraham
several times and gave him a threefold-promise:
1.
Of
descendants (a great nation – Gen 12:2)
2.
Of
land inheritance (Gen 12:7)
3.
Of
blessing to all nations (Gen 12:3b; Gal 3:8); the lineage of the Messiah comes
from Abraham
Descendants
& Land Inheritance
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great
reward.”
2 But
Abram said, “Lord God, what will
You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer
of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no
offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
4 And
behold, the word of the Lord came
to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from
your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him
outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able
to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
6 And
he believed in the Lord, and He
accounted it to him for righteousness.
7 Then
He said to him, “I am the Lord,
who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit
it.” 18 On the same day
the Lord made a covenant with
Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of
Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates. Gen 15:1-7, 18 NKJ
God visited Abram again
and proclaimed that He is Abram’s exceeding great reward. This came after Abram
was involved in a battle to free his nephew Lot. Life is dangerous (hence God
is Abram’s shield); Abram did not take any spoils but returned them to the king
of Sodom (hence God is Abram’s great reward). But the cry of Abram’s heart was
for a child, “What will you give me since I am childless?” In accordance to the custom of those days, Abram
may have already or intend to make provision by adopting a slave (Eliezer)
in his household to be
his heir. God however overruled that plan
and said that the heir shall come from his own body. Note that nothing is said about the identity
of the mother at this point. Sometimes,
God does not give us all the specific details all at once intending us to live
each day by the words which come from His mouth. “Man shall not live on bread alone.”
God gave Abram a
physical vision of his descendants. Abram
was asked to look and count the stars in heaven because that would be the
greatness of his descendants. In the
near East, more than 8000 stars are visible in the night sky. Verse 6 represents the law of first mention
with regard to believe being linked to righteous; Abram believed God’s
promise of making him a great nation and it was credited to him as
righteousness ie. He was made righteous by believing what God said He would do.
This promise finds its
fulfilment many years later just prior to Israel entering Canaan’s land under
the leadership of Joshua. In his farewell
speech, Moses recounts history to the children of Israel and mentions:
The Lord your
God has multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven
in multitude. Deut 1:10 NKJ
The other promise God
made to Abram concerns land inheritance, in particular, a piece of property
from the borders of Egypt to the river Euphrates. Again the fulfilment of this promise is
realised in the days of King David and King Solomon.
So he (Solomon) reigned over all the kings from the River to the
land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. 2 Chron 9:26 NKJ
Faith therefore is the
key to unlocking God’s promises for our lives.
Blessing
to all nations
Earlier on we mentioned
there were about 8000 stars visible in the near Eastern night sky. However, do you know how many stars there are
in the universe?
It is estimated there
are more than 50,000 billion billion (5 x 1022) stars in the
universe, more than the grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth. Figuratively, the fulfilment of this promise
is realised through the seed of Abraham ie. Jesus Christ; to bring to birth
many sons and daughters of faith (just like Abraham). It also tells us that God’s kingdom is vast
and has room for many! This is the
blessing of Abraham to both Jews and Gentiles.
Today, we are all recipients of the blessing of Abraham ie. The gracious
gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
What does it mean for us
to have the blessing of Abraham resident in our church?
May I humbly suggest that
we do not hoard this blessing but be transmitters of this blessing, and we can
do so by exercising our faith in God for the following:
i. Realising
breakthroughs for our impossible situation
If God could create the
starry hosts of heaven, why would it be so difficulty for God to create children
for Abram? That was what Abram thought
when he saw the stars of heaven and believed God’s promise. He saw himself as the father of many nations
through the eye of faith. To have a vision of the possibility coming
into reality rather than seeing the impossibility all the time; in the case of
Abraham, it was to see barrenness turn into fruitfulness. For us, it could be a family member’s
salvation, financial breakthrough, healing of a chronic/terminal illness, or
whatever circumstances that seem daunting to us.
ii. Making
a positive impact and influence on others (home, office, church) by word &
deed
13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this
letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that
he will be put to shame. 15 Yet
do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. 2 Thess 3:13-15
NASB
We can all grow weary in
doing good; hence the exhortation. Doing
good in the context of this verse is to help those who are genuinely in need
and not busybodies who refuse to work to help themselves. By and large there are many kind-hearted
people in S’pore – look at the amount of money crowd-sourced for the Vietnamese
who was conned into buying an exorbitant iPhone at Sim Lim Sq. As believers, we can use the financial
blessing God has bestowed on us to help individuals or missions
organisation. Last Sunday, many people
were seen supporting Pastor Victor by buying his CDs. They are sowing into his work and ministry,
which is to proclaim Jesus through word and song.
The greatest impact and
influence we can make is often times on our knees; that’s where we carry the
burdens of others on the wings of prayer.
We have seen answers to prayers in the oikos when we pray collectively
for one another. I remember sharing the
gospel message with an oikos member’s brother (fr Vietnam) through
interpretation, and had the opportunity to lead him in the salvation prayer. Prior to my sharing with him, the oikos
prayed that he would come to know the Saviour.
That is another way of making a positive impact and influence in the
lives of others – by sharing God’s word, whether it be the gospel or
encouraging words from Scripture. An
encourager sees things in others what they cannot see in themselves; a simple
word of encouragement or prayer can give the person confidence to take that
step of faith.
Another way we can
impact and influence others is by us role-modelling Christ-like behaviour and
attitude, just like the apostle Paul.
7 For you yourselves know
how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined
manner among you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s
bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working
night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; 9 not because we do not have the right to this,
but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow
our example. 2 Thess 3:7-9 NKJ
A person who brings
happiness to others is always well-liked or welcomed in the company of
others. A person who is shunned by many
people, no matter how intelligent or wealthy or charming he/she is may be a
trouble-maker, a despicable person or a menace to society. Most organisations have some kind of code to govern human behaviour and interactions. What about us as believers in Christ?
We are subject to a higher standard of conduct and behaviour as
reflected in the moral code and principles found in the Word of God, which many
secular codes take bearing from.
In the oikos I created a
Whatsapp chat group for communication purposes. I jealously guard what is being uploaded into
this platform. Because Whatsapp is a
free platform to share and communicate with one another, lots of things can be
forwarded and transmitted freely. I have
no issue with encouraging quotes, videos and clean jokes. The issue comes about when messages shared
are lies or half-truths.
I have told my oikos
members that they have to do due diligence to check before sending anything; don’t
be too trigger happy to forward anything that comes their way. When in doubt
they are to check with me. A simple way
to check is to google key words in the message and invariably you will see that
they are hoax messages and belong to what is known as urban legends, some going
as far back as few years and making their rounds again.
When we share lies and
half-truths, we propagate negative impact & influence on others.
How so?
1.
We
may create unnecessary alarm or fear in others.
2.
They
would think it is true and forward the same message to others w/o checking.
3.
We
are not role-modelling good behaviour ie. not being a good testimony or a
light!
4.
Our
credibility is at stake esp if we’re a constant purveyor of lies or
half-truths. And you know where lies
come from - the pit of hell from the father of lies. Don’t be part of his team!
Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no
understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they
will not come to you. Ps 32:9 NIV
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but
of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Tim 1:7 NKJ
The circumstances in
life we face each day allow us either to give and learn precious lessons. It was Socrates who said, “The unexamined
life is not worth living.” What he meant is
that we should live by constantly questioning how things should or ought to be,
which things are good or bad and which actions are right or wrong. From this we get the notion of Socratic
questioning as a form of pedagogy in education.
Put it simply, we ought to reflect on our actions each day to see
whether we have been a purveyor of life or death.
“People are anxious to
improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves; they
therefore remain bound.” James Allen,
As a Man Thinketh
We all seek
breakthroughs in our lives; however, many times it comes about through a
corresponding change in our attitude and character, and exercising faith in God.
We should all grow in
our life’s journey on earth – closer to God and becoming more like Him. Nothing impacts the world more than our words
and actions in life.
The blessing of Abraham
will flow into our lives as we exercise our faith to act:
˜
Give
˜
Pray
˜
Share
God’s Word
˜
Role-model
“In you all the nations
shall be blessed.” Gal 3:8b NKJ
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