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In the name of the
Father and of the

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Son and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.

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The story of how
Abraham, I'm sorry, the

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story of how God
counted Abraham's faith as

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righteousness holds a special
place within the Reformation.

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It is one of the texts
for the argument that we

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are justified in the eyes
of God by faith alone.

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This is true both for
the writings of Martin

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Luther as well as our
confessional writings.

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And thus I'd
like to consider a

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few features of
this text today.

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The Apostle Paul provides
the most definitive account

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of it in the fourth chapter
of his letter to the Romans.

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Picking up on Genesis
15 through 6, it reads,

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and Abraham said, behold
you have given me no

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offspring and a member of
my household will be my heir.

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And behold the word
of the Lord came to him,

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this man shall
not be your heir.

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Your very own son
shall be your heir.

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And he brought him outside
and said look toward heaven

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and number the stars if
you are able to number them.

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Then he said to him,

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so shall your offspring be.
And Abraham believed the

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Lord and God counted it
to him as a righteousness.

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Well, simply put,

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God makes a
promise to Abraham.

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Abraham believed that
God would keep his promise.

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He believed that God
would do as he had promised

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and God counted his
faith as righteousness.

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But now in Romans 4, Paul
fleshes out this story for

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the Christians in Rome
by filling in a few details.

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For example, he says
this about Abraham,

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in hope he believed
against hope that he

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should not only become
the father of a son,

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but become the father of many

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nations and
heirs of the world.

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What does this mean?

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Well, it seems to suggest

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that Abraham now
expresses hope

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on the basis of God's promise

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where there was no hope

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based upon his advanced age.

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To put it in classical
Lutheran terms,

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Abraham turned away from

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looking at himself
and his aging and

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deteriorating body and turned
outward outside of himself

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to focus on the
promise of God and God

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counted his faith
as righteousness.

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So also we turn away from

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looking at our
sinful condition

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to focus on God's
word of promise and

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our faith is counted
as righteousness.

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But what was the
basis for Abraham's

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hope that God would
do as he promised?

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I mean if it were me, it
might be wishful thinking.

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Did he do it to humor
God? Yeah, sure

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God. But have you
seen how old we are?

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Well, there is nothing
in the text to suggest that

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it was either wishful
thinking or an empty hope.

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To the contrary,

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Paul goes on to say that

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Abraham did not
weaken in faith

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when he considered his own

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body, which was
as good as dead.

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Or when he considered the
barrenness of Sarah's womb.

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And in verse 20, no
unbelief made him waver

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concerning the promise
of God for Abraham was

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fully convinced

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that God was able to
do what he had promised.

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Now why was Abraham
convinced that God

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was able to do what
he had promised?

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After all, it was a
pretty big promise.

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Well earlier in the passage,

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Paul describes the God in whom
Abraham believed as the one

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who gives life to the dead
and cause into existence

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the things that do not exist.

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Abraham believed in God, in

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brief, as the
Almighty Creator.

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Now to create is to
bring forth something new

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and so out of nothing
God created the universe.

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Out of evil he brings
forth good. Out of death

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he brings life. Out
of unrighteous people

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he makes righteous people. Out
of sin he brings forgiveness. Out

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of despair he creates hope. Out
of unbelief he creates faith.

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Out of people who were
nobodies God makes somebodies.

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Think of Abraham,
David, Mary, the disciples,

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the Apostle Paul. Think
of the people of Israel.

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Think of the
church, you and me.

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I suspect, I
hope, that you can

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sense a pattern
emerging here.

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This creative activity is
characteristic of God's

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work. It is his modus
operandi, so to speak.

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This modus operandi of
God, when you think about it,

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in which he creates
something out of nothing,

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brings another feature
to the foreground,

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namely the
graciousness of God.

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That is to say His
creative and re-creative

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activities, like bringing
life out of darkness, are not

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contingent upon anything in
us or anything in the world.

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That which is dead, after all,

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cannot bargain with
God or appease God. That

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which is nothing has
nothing to offer God.

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In other words, God's work
of creating life, creating

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hope, creating new futures, is
not contingent upon anything

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but his desire
and will to do so.

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Luther captures this in what is
perhaps one of my favorite quotes that

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you will find in Luther in the 28th
thesis of the Heidelberg Disputation.

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God's love does not find

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but creates that which is
pleasing to it. And later on,

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commenting on this,
he says, for this reason,

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sinners are attractive
because they are loved.

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They are not loved
because they are attractive.

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You see, all this highlights
the graciousness of God.

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The promise comes
unbidden without conditions.

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The promise is free. It
comes seeking faith and

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eliciting the very
faith it seeks.

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So,

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what does this all add up to?

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Well, Paul's
entire account of

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Abraham brings
to the foreground a

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remarkable turn of events
for Abraham and Sarah.

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And it adds up to a remarkable
turn of events for us as well.

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If I may be permitted to
step outside the borders of

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Lutheranism for a moment, well,
I'm going to do it regardless, I

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would like to borrow a
term coined by J.R.R.

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Tolkien in one of his
more philosophical essays

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that captures the
dramatic nature

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of this remarkable
turn of events.

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He called it a

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eucatastrophe.

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Now when we think of a catastrophe,
we think of a sudden turn

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of events that results in
significant hardship and suffering.

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His

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commentator,
Verlyn Flieger, points

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out that adding
the prefix eu, eu,

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meaning well or good in Greek,

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reverses the tragic
meaning to transform

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the word catastrophe
into the good

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overturning. It is a
good catastrophe.

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It refers to a sudden,

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unexpected, and

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surprising turn of events that
leads to a joyous outcome, or

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that delights us
when all appears to be

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hopeless and we
are filled with despair.

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It is a kind of
surprising good news,

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she says, that prompts
one to catch one's breath.

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Well, the preeminent
example or paradigm

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of this is certainly
found in Christ.

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Tolkien goes on to speak
of the birth of Christ into

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the fallen world under
the tyranny of Satan as a

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eucatastrophe of
the human race.

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The world was marred
and corrupted by human

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hatred and violence,
and then suddenly a

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light shined in the darkness.

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Good news of great joy
the angels announced, and

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the resurrection of Christ
became the eucatastrophe of

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Jesus' life.

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He announced he had
come to reclaim God's world.

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His words and deeds gave
hope to many of the day.

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Many believed
him and committed

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themselves to be
his followers, and

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then Jesus is put to death.

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Hopes and dreams
were dashed. Fear

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and despair
replaced hope and joy.

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But God raised Jesus from the

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dead, thereby
overturning what many

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immediately
perceived to be the

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tragic end of his
life and mission.

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We can see a
eucatastrophe in Luther's life

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with his turn from
angst and despair to faith

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and hope with the
discovery of the gospel.

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Luther had seen no way out
of his dilemma in which he was

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unable to meet the perceived
demands of God for righteousness.

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No matter how hard
he tried, he kept failing.

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Then the gospel, the gracious
promises of God, provided

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a sudden, unexpected,
and joyful turn of events

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when he realized that
the righteousness of God

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was not something

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from us that God
demanded from us, but

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something that God
bestowed upon us.

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Luther went from standing before
the gates of hell to seeing the

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gates of heaven open with Christ as
the one who revealed the gracious

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heart of God, and

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who had intervened
in our lives

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to bring about the

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eucatastrophe of
the human race.

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And like Abraham
and Paul, Luther

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believed that God
was able to do it,

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not because anything
in him warranted it, but

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because God had raised
Jesus from the dead.

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Well, Paul writes this account
of Abraham for our sake.

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We too are righteous by faith.

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In fact, we share
the faith of Abraham.

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We are his offspring
and descendants,

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heirs of the world.

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It's an amazing eucatastrophe,
an unexpected and joyous turn

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wherein we went
from being doomed

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enemies of God to
children of God and

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co-heirs with Christ.

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Amen. In the name
of the Father, and

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of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit.

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Amen.