A Call To Commitment
Genesis
6:9-7:24
Pastor
Darden Caylor
01/26/2014
In
honor of the Winter Olympics, we'll be having our traditional "opening
ceremonies party" at our house, to which, you are all invited. And even if
you don't care about the Olympics, we'd still love to have you join us, since
it's really just an excuse to get together and celebrate the life that God has
given us.
In
fact, honestly, I'm not that interested in the Olympics. Sure, I'll watch them
if they are on, but it's not something I'd turn on myself; because I'm just not
that interested in bobsledding, curling, downhill skiing, figure skating, luge,
skeleton, snow boarding, speed skating, or dare I say it, hockey. I just don't
care that much those sport; but I will watch ski jumping.
That's
a sport I kind of enjoy watching. Though I'm not entirely certain why, I think
it has something to do with the commitment of the jumper. After all, unlike the
athletes in every other winter Olympic sport, once a run has begun, a ski
jumper cannot stop.
I
even searched the internet for videos and information on how a ski jumper could
stop before a jump, and I couldn't find anything, because it simply doesn't
happen.
In a
sense, it's like skydiving. Once you start, the only thing that can stop you is
the ground below. As a result, the ski jumper has to be fully committed before
starting their run, because once they've started they are all in.
Though
a skater could stop their routine, hockey players could pull themselves out of a
game, or even a bobsled team could stop their run if with the pull of a hand
brake, the ski jumper, has no such option. Once they start moving down the
ramp, they're all in. They couldn't stop if they wanted to, so they must be fully
committed before they start; and when it comes to our faith God calls us to
have the same kind of commitment.
God calls Noah to
be totally sold out for him. Totally dedicated to his service. Totally given to
his glory, as we see in today's passage; and God expects the same of us. In
fact, Jesus said if a person wants to be his disciple they must take up their cross
and follow him, indicating a life of total, radical commitment to him. That’s
what God expected of Noah, just as he expects of us today.
God calls us to be fully committed to
him, not as a requirement of
salvation, but as a result, because of his promise to save us. Just as he did with
Noah.
If you recall, verse
9 told us that "Noah was a
righteous man." Moses, who authored the book of Genesis
supports this claim with two details. The first is that Noah was "blameless in his generation."
It's important to
note, that Moses, did not claim Noah was blameless before God. He later says
that God called Noah "righteous,"
but "blameless"
it refers to the way he lived his life among others. He wasn't perfect, but
amid the corruption and violence that filled the earth according to verse 11,
Noah was righteous or good, "in his generation." Comparatively, he
was blameless. Why? Because he walked with God. More accurately, God walked with
him.
While it's no doubt
Noah participated in the relationship, meaning he was faithful, devoted and
true, the statement "Noah
walked with God," like the previous time it was used of Enoch,
implies that God has condescended to walk with his people.
It relates back to
Genesis 3:8 which talks about God walking through the garden where Adam and Eve
lived, implying that God is the one who does the approaching in our
relationships with him.
Noah was "blameless in his generation,"
or among his people because he walked with God and maintained a close
relationship with him. That's why God promised to save him.
Noah was fully committed in his faith. He was wholeheartedly
willing to trust God and do whatever he was called to do. While today's text
doesn't give all the details, Genesis 6:22 and 7:5, tells us that "Noah did
all that God commanded him to do." He demonstrated faith.
You may recall, the
author of Hebrews reference to this faith, in Hebrews 11:7, where he wrote, "By faith Noah, being warned by God
concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the
saving of his household." This just a few vs after
explaining that, "faith is
the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen."[i]
I.e. faith is believing.
We see Noah's faith
not just in his obedience, but also in the fact that God declared him righteous
in verse 7:1.[ii] It
would seem that just as he would do with Abraham many years later, so too God
does with Noah. He counts Noah's belief as righteousness.[iii] He
saves Noah's through his faith.
As Paul explained
many years later in his letter to the church in Ephesus, we're saved by grace
through faith.[iv] In last
week's passage we read that Noah found "favor" God's eyes. "Favor" being another word for
grace. Grace is God's unearned favor. Therefore, despite how it seems, God didn't
save Noah because of his works. He save him by grace through faith as he does with
us.
God doesn't save us
because we have faith in him. He saves us because he is merciful and gracious. He
saves us through our faith that demonstrates our belief and trust in him.
What's more, it's is
because of our faith that we obey him. .
God call us to be fully committed in our
obedience.
In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “[To have Faith in Christ]
means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in
saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have
really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey
Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in
order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to
get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a
certain way because a 1st faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”
That's the reason
Noah, "did all that God commanded."
He trusted and believed. His obedience was evidence of his faith.[v]
To be sure, the
Bible never really mentions faith absent obedience.[vi] Rather,
it treats them as opposite sides of the same coin. Whether explicitly
mentioned, or implicitly demonstrated, the two are always linked together. To
have faith in God is to trust him, and indeed, love him enough to obey.
While it's true
that people can be compelled to obey out of fear, such obedience never lasts; because
obedience out of fear leads to resentment. It leads to bitterness toward the one
who is feared. Like guilt, fear might produce a desired response for a while,
but it is not endlessly sustainable. Inevitably, such obedience will fail; and
ultimately, it's not what God wants of us.
In his book, Transforming Grace, Jerry Bridges explains: "There is no question
that obedience to God’s commands prompted by fear or merit-seeking is not true
obedience. The only obedience acceptable to God is constrained and impelled by
love, because “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). God’s law as
revealed in His Word prescribes our duty, but love provides the correct motive
for obedience. We obey God’s law, not to be loved, but because we are loved in Christ."
After all, when Jesus
was asked about the greatest commandment, he didn't reply, "Obey God." He replied,
"Love God." The greatest thing we can do as Christians, is love God; and
while it is true that he later said, "If
you love God you will do what he commands," his point, is
that obedience flows from love, which itself flows from our faith in the 1 who
loves us.
In that sense then,
we too are responsible to do all that God commands, and was must depend upon his
Spirit to do so.[vii] For we
cannot do it alone, so we must obey by the power of his Spirit, because our
daily experience of his love depends on it.
It's not that our
obedience is a condition of God's love. That would be legalism. Nevertheless, our
ability to experience the fullness of his love depends on our willingness to
obey what he commands,[viii]
and give up our sins of bitterness, greed, envy, etc.
After all, when we
hold on to such things, they take our focus off God. Like turning off a
football game in frustration when you're team is losing, only to learn the next
day they won. I did that when TX won the national championship many years back.
That's what sin
does with our experience of God's love. It shifts our focus to itself; and it
interferes with our reception of it, the way severe weather used to interfere with
TV reception before TV went digital. Sin makes us feel disconnected. It keeps
us from loving God and fully experiencing his love for us.
IN contrast, A.W.
Tozer explains, “If we
cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and
that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Xian life and a
life radiant with the light of His face.” [ix]
Nevertheless, "We must not think that
obedience leads to an easier life, nor should we assume that when things fall
apart it is always a sign of our specific disobedience – God’s ways with us in
the Christian life are usually much more intricate and complex than that!"
Just as we see in the life of Noah.
As we discussed in
community group last week, Noah's life certainly didn't get easier because of
his walk with God. On the contrary. It required a great deal of sacrifice for
him to do so., because that's another aspect of being fully committed go God.
Sacrifice.
Just consider how
much time, energy, and resources Noah devoted to building the ark. Though few
specifics are given concerning what went in to build it, there are a few things
we can glean from the passage.
E.g.
Since it's believed that a cubit was about 18 inches, we know that the ark was about 450 feet long,
75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Suffice to say, it was a big boat; and though
some people argue that Noah may have had help building it, even if that is
true, it still would have been a daunting task, with nothing but hand tools.
What's more, it
would've been an equally daunting task, collecting and herding all the animals.
Besides that,
considering the fact that the wickedness, evil, and sin was so great on the
earth that God felt it best to wipe it out, it's difficult to imagine any
scenario where those around Noah, other than his family, were willing to help
him. After all, if indeed, the "wickedness of man" was so
"great" that "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually," as Genesis 6:5 claimed, then helping a neighbor
would have been the last thing on their mind.
More likely, they
abused and mocked him for his massive endeavor, not to mention his faith in a God
they could not see did not revere. As a result, there is no doubt Noah
sacrificed a lot to obey God, which is exactly what we are called to do.
Of course, when we
talk about sacrifice, our hearts, which are often sacrifice averse, are quick
to recall passages like Psalms 40:6, Proverbs 21:3; Hosea 6:6, or Mark12:33 which
seem to say that isn't interested in our sacrifice, but in our mercy,
compassion, and love. I.e. he's more interested in our obedience, which is
true. However, before we get to comfortable with this claim, we must consider
what that really means.
Indeed, it is true
that God desires our obedience more than our sacrifice, after all, had Adam and
Eve obeyed, there'd be no need for sacrifice. So clearly, obedience stemming
from love is what God always wanted. But since man's obedience is marred by our
failures to do so, sacrifice was still required.
Of course, Jesus
took care of that for us through his perfect obedience and sacrificial death,
meaning we no longer HAVE TO sacrifice to earn his forgiveness, we just have to
love him. However, in doing so, we still must sacrifice.
After all, what is
a sacrifice? It's nothing more than giving up something important to us, for
someone or something else. Though sacrifices in the Old Testament were things
like animals or the 1st fruits of crops, from the New Testament on, it's
our lives. For the fact is, any time we chose to do one thing, we give up doing
another.
E.g. If I am
driving down a road and I come to a stop sign at a "T" intersection,
I have a choice, I can either go right or I can go left, but I cannot go both
directions. OF course, one might argue that I could first go right and then
turn around and go the other way, but even so, in doing so, I am choosing one
over the other and thus, sacrificing the option of the one that I do not
choose.
That's how it is with
sin and obedience. Every day we have to make multiple decisions about whether we
will obey C or not. If we chose sin, we are sacrificing our obedience to Christ.
If we chose obedience, we are sacrificing our sin. Either way we must make a choice
that requires us to sacrifice something.
God calls his
people to be fully committed to him, and that commitment requires sacrifice. A
sacrifice of pride for humility, bitterness for forgiveness, greed for
generosity, and self for Christ.
[i]
Hebrews 11:1
[ii]
See also Genesis 6:9
[iii]
Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23
[iv]
Ephesians 2:8-10
[v]
Piper, John, Brothers We Are Not Professionals, 110
[vi]
Tozer, A.W., Leadership
[vii]
Jerry Bridges Trusting G, 1988, p. 197.
[viii]
Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, 154
[ix]
A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God