“Like Father, Like Son”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood PC, Birmingham, AL
Second Sunday in Lent, February 17, 2008
Texts: Genesis 12:1-4a, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
My father was a remarkable man. He was one of nine children born to dirt-poor tenant farmers in South GA, in the depths of the great depression. On his own, he made his way to the Berry Schools in Rome to start the eighth grade at the age of 18, working his way through high school laying brick. He served as an electrician in the US Navy during World War II, honorably discharged as a chief petty officer. He was successful in business--37 years with the same insurance company. Tools of all sorts fit naturally into his hands, and he was blessed with a green thumb. He was athletic--a track star in high school, a solid, self-taught golfer in later life. My Dad was extraordinarily self-disciplined--he could stare a piece of pecan pie into utter submission. He was frugal, incredibly neat and well-organized. In other words, he was many, many things that I am not.
As the youngest child, and the only boy, I did not fare well in comparison with this self made man. I had all of the advantages in life that he lacked, and I squandered a good many of them. I have no mechanical aptitude. I can kill shrubs and flowers just by looking at them. I was so inept on the athletic fields that they sent me to the press box when I was still in high school. I keep a perpetually messy desk; I can’t be trusted with the family checkbook; and I have never been able to say no to any desert, not even one single, solitary Girl Scout cookie!
It’s a hard life trying to measure up to parental expectations. My father’s mantra was, ‘If I can do it from where I started, you should be able to do far more, far better.’ When I failed, as I often did, his frustration was understandable, and his disappointment, obvious. But my situation is not entirely unique. It is difficult to measure up to any parent’s expectations, real or imagined, spoken or unspoken.
Take for example our Father Abraham--the patriarch of ancient
Israel, the father of three of the world’s great religions. In
ancient Israel, Abraham was the sacred ideal--described as the
friend of God (2 Chron. 20:7). Abraham was so good, he was said to
have kept all of the commandments of Torah--not just the 10, but all
the rules and regulations about work and worship and diet centuries
before they were even delivered to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
Imagine that, keeping all the rules before there were rules!
When God said to pull up stakes and move to a far country, the 75-year-old Abraham compiled, no questions asked. When Abraham heard God say sacrifice your son, Isaac, the boy was already on the alter when, thank goodness, an angel of the Lord intervened (Gen. 22).
Though separated in time by a couple of thousand years, Abraham and St. Paul are big buddies. Paul cites Abraham more than any other historical figure except Jesus. And what does Paul say about Abraham, the mythic hero? This all-time champion do-gooder whose “stature had been embellished by legend, miracles, quasi-deification, his grave in Hebron, regarded as holy place?” What does Paul say to us, the children of Abraham? We, who pale in comparison . . .?
‘Your father Abraham,’ says St. Paul, ‘was justified by faith, not by works.’ Abraham is on God’s good side not by all that he said and did, and didn’t say and didn’t do, but by his unfaltering faith. Father Abraham, this ideal of perfection, becomes God’s friend not because of all that he accomplished, not by making a perfect score on keeping the law, but by his simple, honest, faith in God. In biblical language--justified by faith, not works.
St. Paul keys on a verse from Genesis 15: “6And (Abraham) believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Since that passage in Genesis doesn’t say anything about Abraham’s good works, his deeds, Paul believes this means that Abraham’s faith--and faith alone-- have resulted in his right relationship with God.
Paul comes to this assessment by some very common logic. He thinks if Abraham had been engaged in work on God’s behalf--that is, punching the divine time clock-- God would have been obligated to pay for services rendered. In addition, Abraham could have rightly boasted of his accomplishments. But this is not the case. God’s choice of Abraham, and God’s blessings upon him precede any great act, any significant accomplishment on old Abe’s part. Thus, Abraham believed--faith alone--and God responded.
But then comes the question, ‘Where did Abraham get his abiding faith?’ Did he go into silence at a monastery, walk the aisle at a revival meeting, engage in intense Bible study, or enroll in seminary?
Elsewhere, St. Paul writes: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God . . .”(Eph. 2.8). So, Father Abraham becomes the quintessential hero of biblical faith, and that faith itself is God’s gift to our patriarch.
Now, if a person’s clean living and good deeds can’t win God’s favor. And, if a person’s faith in God is God’s gift to that person, why then, none of us having anything to boast about. Neither the parent, nor the child. Neither the saint, nor the sinner.
For this reason it (acceptance by
God) depends on faith, (writes St. Paul)
in order that the promise may rest on grace and
be guaranteed to all (of Abraham’s)
descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but
also to those
who share the faith of Abraham. . . .(Rom.
4.16).
Sounds to me like, we’re included. We may not have kept every letter of every law-- not even the speed limit-- but we share the faith of Abraham. And this faith is not to be measured by anything but the mercy and grace of God.
Dear friends, I believe there is an important message here for all us still trying to earn our parent’s approval. A key message to all of us beating our heads against the wall, holding ourselves to impossible standards of perfection, and then making our own unreasonable demands on those nearest and dearest to us. I know there is a message here for all of us still trying to earn God’s approval. Trying to make amends for this or that sin of omission or commission. Trying to make certain that St. Peter’s ledgers tilt in our favor.
That message is this: Give it up, for crying out loud. Abraham did not gain his high and exalted status by anything he said or did, but by his unwavering trust in God. And that faith itself was not Abraham’s crowning achievement but God’s most gracious gift. A sacred gift that has now been passed down to us. Your faith in God, however strong, however wavering it may be, is a sacred gift from God above.
My father had one obvious weakness. Oh, like all of us, he had his faults, his share of irritating habits; he could make harsh judgments of others. But so far as I observed over the course of a lifetime, he had only one genuine weakness--one terrible, dread, anxiety-- and that. . . was public speaking. No matter how small the group, no matter how modest the occasion, any thought of having to stand up and speak, sent him into a dreadful panic. He spent hours nervously rehearsing what he had to say, and then, at the podium, his whole personality became tense. His voice quivered, and his hands shook. No amount of preparation could spare him--or his audience--the ordeal. My father had many, many gifts but public speaking was not one of them.
Now remember that little boy. The incompetent little boy who could never get it right? The easily undone son of the self-made man? Well, that little fellow woke up one morning to discover that his timid, squeaky child’s voice had changed, over night, into a deep, booming voice that could carry a country mile! He discovered that he had a gift for public speaking! Violà! I speak, therefore I live!
The first contest I ever won was a speaking contest. I was on the radio before I graduated high school, and on television before I graduated college. I never made it to the big time, but, by in large, I’ve had a good time making my living by speaking in public. Goes to show you . . ., our God is a God of justice with a love of the ironic to boot!
Now, I might like to claim that what ease I feel at the podium, and a voice that tends to carry, are the result of my own initiative, perseverance, determination, and hard work. They are not. They are simply God’s gracious gifts to someone who missed out on some other gifts.
Eventually, I came to see both my Dad and I had gifts from God. Different gifts, to be sure, and in matters of faith, differently packaged gifts. Similarly, all of you have gifts that have come to you. You have talent for doing and being, for giving and receiving. Some of you have a voice to speak and sing; hands to work wonders in kitchen or shop or garden. Some of you have a remarkable head for numbers and organization, others an eye for beauty or an ear for music; still others of you love to write, and others, to read; some to lead, others to follow; some to be care-givers, others to graciously receive care. You may have an inquisitive mind, making you a good student, or, perhaps, a coordinated body making you a fine athlete or dancer. You may have the capacity for hard work, and the instincts for making that work profitable; or, you may have the patience for listening, watching, and waiting. But in all cases your talents and abilities are sacred gifts to you from Holy God.
What’s more, you may have the faith to move mountains--faith enough to freely share it with others, or faith enough to keep it in confidence. You may have the faith to never question anything, or the faith that allows to you question everything. But in all cases your faith is God’s gift to you.
The rallying cry of our Reformation ancestors was, “Faith alone, scripture alone,” meaning you can’t buy your way or work you way, speak your way or pray your way into God’s favor. But from Holy Scripture alone you can learn all you need to know about that divine favor, already showered upon you. From Holy Scripture alone you can learn all you need to know about the love and the acceptance God offers to you just for being you, a beloved child of God.
Now to the One
who by the power at work within us
is able to do far more abundantly
than all we ask or imagine,
to God be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Ephesians 3:20, 21
1 Edwards, James R. notes on Romans in the THE NEW INTERPRETER’S
STUDY BIBLE, p. 2015.
2 Ibid.