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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Getting
Unstuck (Noah)
(Genesis 6:8-9)
by Karl J. Forehand
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations
of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with
God. (Genesis 6:8-9)
Our picture of Noah may be a little
skewed. We picture him as, at the
least, the most perfect man of his day.
While God was “grieved” about the rest of the world, Noah must have
been incredibly noble. After all, we
picture him building the ark amidst the laughter, which is something most of
us find it hard to do. We say, in our
minds, I wish I could be as good as Noah.
If we don’t say it, someone else might have told us, “If you could
just be as good as …”
If it is not Noah, most of us have a picture
of some imaginary super Christian.
This person never sins, pray all day long, and knows the Scripture
forward and backward. They come home
from their perfect job to their Proverbs 31 wife and perfect children. There they dispense wisdom and love, but
also win the support of their children.
We like to believe that such a person exists because it makes our
shame and guilt easier to live with.
Add to our idealist vision, our problem
with philosophy in the Christian life.
Erwin McManus make the following observations:
“We have put so much
emphasis on avoiding evil that we have become virtually blind to the endless
opportunities for doing good.”
“We have defined holiness
through what we separate ourselves from rather that what we give ourselves
to.”
“The great tragedy is not
the sins we commit, but the life we fail to live.”
Most of us are right there. We aren’t committing any “huge” sins, but
we are not doing what we should. The
good that we know we should be doing is some kind of super Christian ideal
that we could never live up to anyway; so we are stuck.
Some of us are stuck there because we have
been beaten down through legalism. We
have been given a standard we can never live up to. We have been told or told ourselves that we will never live up
to it. We are afraid to move – afraid
to make a mistake – so, we opt for a more hypocritical lifestyle based on
image and “faces” instead of genuineness.
Many of us live with past mistakes. We add to that the standards of others and
their judgments. After someone has
judged us repeatedly, we begin to judge ourselves. We find ourselves ineffective and impotent in our walk with the
Lord. We would love to serve Christ
like we should, but we have deep feelings of unworthiness.
We say out loud, “I will never be a
Noah.” We decide in ourselves that a
counterfeit life would be easier and more attainable. We become closet-dwelling Christians
afraid to venture out. We often feel
little more than apathy for the world around us. If all else fails, we blame other people.
How do we get unstuck? I suggest to you that the answer is very
simple. We find it in the life of
Noah that frustrates us. The
components of the answer are things you already know.
1. We
must find grace
This passage says that Noah found “favor”
in the eyes of the Lord. Our minds
automatically go to performance based models, resolving that he was approved
of because he was so “good.” But,
this word is “chen” in the Hebrew.
When translated into Greek, it becomes a word that we are very
familiar with, charis (grace).
Noah found grace in God’s eyes.
David also found it (Acts 7:46).
Mary found it (Luke 1:30).
How do we know it is a gift, other than by definition? It was found in the eyes.
We can’t live properly without grace. Spiritual life cannot even begin without
grace. The abundant life that Jesus
promised (John 10:10) is hindered by our mistakes and not finding (accepting)
grace. If we win a race, we receive a
prize. When we perform a job, we
receive a wage. But, when we don’t
even have the ability to receive a prize or earn a wage and someone give them
to us anyway, that is unmerited favor (grace).
Billy Graham was once stopped for speeding
in a small town. He pleaded
guilty. The judge recognized him and
paid the fine for him. Later, the
judge took him out for a steak dinner.
In response to this, Billy responded, “That is how God treats
repentant sinners.” May I say, “that
is grace”?
Matthew Henry says, “It was God’s goodwill
that produced the good work in him (Noah).
He was a very good man, but he was no better than the grace of God
made him.” The times in my life that
I have almost literally felt the grace of God, change my life. Grace has to be found in the eyes of
God. Eyes are not just cameras, they
are also projectors. They show us the
heart. God is not just recording our
naughty and nice deeds, He is also desperately trying to get us to look in
His eyes and see His love and grace.
2. We
must appropriate faith
The righteousness that Noah possessed is
no different than the righteousness we have.
It is obtained by faith. Read
Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from
faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by
faith." (Romans 1:17)
What does that mean? It
means that righteousness always has been and always will be by faith. The Hall of Faith, in Hebrews 11, tells us
more.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him… (Hebrews 11:6)
It doesn’t say it’s just hard – it says
impossible. To please God, we have to
have faith. It goes on to say about
Noah:
By faith Noah….became an heir of the righteousness
which is according to faith. (Hebrews
11:7)
By faith, Noah “inherited”
righteousness. How did he inherit it
– by faith!
Matthew Henry says, “God looks with favor
(grace) on those who sincerely look up to Him with eyes of faith.” But how is this even possible – for us to
find grace and be righteous? Read
with me in 2 Corinthians 5 and notice the key words.
He made Him(that’s Jesus) who knew no sin to be
sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him.
God took our sin and gave it to
Jesus. He took Christ’s righteousness
and gave it to us. Our right standing
(righteousness) is not because of what we did; but because of whom we are
in Christ. It is a position that is
obtained by faith.
When we find grace, by
faith, then we can:
3.
Have an impact on people
What did it say about Noah? He was “blameless,” which means, “complete
and sound.” We can’t get there
without grace. Noah was not sinless,
but he had a perfection of sincerity because of God’s grace and His faith. This relationship allowed Him to impact
people positively. Being “blameless”
is a requirement of elders that means “no one would think to bring a charge
against them.”
If I start here and say, “I’ll just
perform better – I’ll serve people – I’ll have an impact on people – I can be
good enough,” we will either be terribly depressed or totally disillusioned. We have to first be seeking God (finding
grace) and submitting to God (in faith), then our actions can be a result of
the relationship.
But, there is another thing that Noah
experienced.
4.
Have Fellowship with God
For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith--and
this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works,
so that no one can boast.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
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