Good Pagans, Bad Christians

Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone and I'm one of the pastors here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church.

! It's my joy to bring God's word to you today. Special welcome if you're new or visiting with us. We're glad that you're here.

And we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced that there's no one so good, they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it.

Which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in his word.

This morning we're continuing our series in the book of Genesis.

You'll remember that Genesis is the very first book in the Bible.

It tells the origin story, first of the world and the universe in chapters 1 through 11.

And then in chapters 11 through 51 it tells the story of God's people, the story of Israel.

We're focusing together on chapters 11 through 25 which tell the story of Abraham.

We're getting near the end by the way, we're in chapter 20 this morning.

And we're doing that for two reasons.

First, to prepare us to return to our series in the book of Romans.

Where we're going to pick up in chapter 4 which is about Abraham.

So we're looking at Abraham so that later we can again look at Abraham.

We're doing it for a second reason too which is that it allows us to ask this question.

What does it look like to follow God in faith?

This week, Abraham does it again.

What I mean by that is he does the very same sin he did back in chapter 12.

Now several months ago, you'll remember in chapter 12 he told Sarah,

Hey, when we go into this foreign country I need you to lie.

And I need you to tell people you're my sister rather than my wife.

And I want to do that because I'm trying to save my skin.

I'm afraid that if I tell people that you're my wife they will kill me to get at you.

And so in some ways, this is a repeat of what we've seen before.

If we were to go on to chapter 26 of Genesis, we would see it again with Abraham's son Isaac.

But there is this week a new angle which is this.

Abimelech serves as a contrast to Abraham.

We have a pagan king who does what's right.

God's chosen Abraham who does what's wrong.

So it raises this question for us.

When we come across non-Christians who are upright and moral,

does it mean our faith is unnecessary?

Do we really need to follow Jesus?

There's these people out there who are living good lives without him.

So with that question, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 20.

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

You can turn in your worship guide.

You can turn on your phone.

You can turn in your Bible.

No matter where you turn, Proverbs chapter 30 verse 5 tells us,

Proverbs 30:5

every word of God proves true.

He's a shield to those who take refuge in him.

So that's why we read now Genesis chapter 20 starting at verse 1.

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

From there, Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negev

and lived between Kadesh and Shur.

And he sojourned in Gerar.

And Abraham said of Sarah his wife,

She is my sister.

And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him,

Behold, you are a dead man

because of the woman whom you have taken,

for she is a man's wife.

Now Abimelech had not approached her.

So he said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people?

Did he not himself say to me, she is my sister?

And she herself said, he is my brother.

In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands,

I have done this.

Verse 6.

Then God said to him in the dream,

Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart.

And it was I who kept you from sinning against me.

Therefore, I did not let you touch her.

Now then return the man's wife, for he is a prophet,

so that he will pray for you and you shall live.

But if you do not return her,

know that you shall surely die,

you and all who are yours.

Verse 8.

So Abimelech rose early in the morning

and called all his servants and told them all these things.

And the men were very much afraid.

Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him,

What have you done to us?

And how have I sinned against you

that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin?

You have done to me things that ought not to be done.

And Abimelech said to Abraham,

What did you see that you did this thing?

Abraham said,

I did it because I thought

there is no fear of God at all in this place

and they will kill me because of my wife.

Besides, she is indeed my sister.

The daughter of my father,

though not the daughter of my mother.

And she became my wife.

And when God calls me to wander from my father's house,

I said to her,

This is the kindness you must do to me.

At every place to which we come,

say of me,

He is my brother.

Verse 14.

Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen

and male servants and female servants

and gave them to Abraham

and returned Sarah, his wife, to him.

And Abimelech said,

Behold, my land is before you.

Dwell where it pleases you.

To Sarah he said,

Behold, I have given your brother

a thousand pieces of silver.

It is a sign of your innocence

in the eyes of all who are with you

and before everyone you are vindicated.

Then Abraham prayed to God

and God healed Abimelech

and also healed his wife and female slaves

so that they bore children.

For the Lord had closed

all the wombs of the house of Abimelech

because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

I invite you to pray with me

as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven,

we do thank you and praise you again

that you have established this church

here in Southwest Colorado Springs

even before any of us thought of it.

It was in your mind.

We thank you that you have given us your word

and that you use it powerfully in our lives.

We ask that you would do that again this morning,

that you would open our eyes,

you'd unstop our ears,

you'd clear our minds,

you'd soften our hearts,

that we would see and hear

and believe and understand

everything that's written in your word.

We ask most of all

that we would see Jesus Christ,

that he would be more precious

and beautiful to us

than ever before,

that we would love him,

we'd follow him.

We ask these things in his mighty name.

Amen.

In the summer of 1998,

I started fourth grade

and I also started violin lessons.

And for the next three summers after that,

99 and 2000 and 2001,

I went to music camp

on the campus of Catholic University

in Washington, D.C.

And while I was there,

I made a friend whose name was Lee.

Lee and I were tight.

We were buds.

He was kind and accepting and funny

and really he was just a wonderful person all around.

But,

Lee was not a Christian.

Now, I loved Lee,

but Lee lived in New Jersey

and I lived in Maryland

and so it was more of a camp friendship

than anything else.

I remember after the last concert,

one of those weeks,

I was just crying in the car

as my parents were driving me home

because I realized,

I'm not going to have this buddy anymore.

But we had those summers together.

Summer of 2001 was the last summer with Lee

and that fall I started seventh grade.

When I started seventh grade in school,

I also started seventh grade in Sunday school.

And one Sunday at our church,

we had this lesson.

I don't remember what it was about,

but I do remember this.

At the end of the lesson,

and we had this handout

with these little illustrations on it,

we were told the application was,

you should hang out

and have Christian friends

instead of non-Christian friends.

And the reason you should do this

is because Christians

are better than non-Christians.

So if you do this,

your Christian friends will be kinder

and nicer and they won't lie.

And so that's really

who you should be tight with.

I was furious.

And I was furious

because my friend Lee

was better than the Christians that I knew.

In fact, the other 12-year-olds

at this church

were terrible.

They were kind of bullies.

They were little punks.

And so 12-year-old Matthew

went off.

And I informed my Sunday school class

that this was in fact incorrect

and that there were actually

some non-Christians

who were nicer than Christians.

To make things better,

there was another girl

in the class named Sydney

and she backed me up.

Yeah, that's right.

Tell them.

And so we staged

an insurrection

in the seventh grade

Sunday school class

at Alexandria Presbyterian Church

in Alexandria, Virginia.

And I don't think

our teachers quite knew

what to do.

This is not a sell

for teaching Sunday school,

by the way.

But I won't be in your class.

Thankfully,

it was the end of the class.

So I think we just kind of

wrapped things up

quite awkwardly.

But what we're getting at here

is there is a tension

which is this.

Sometimes Christians

do really terrible things.

And sometimes non-Christians

do really wonderful things.

Sometimes Christians behave poorly.

Sometimes non-Christians

behave quite well.

And what do we do with that?

It's part of the challenge

of this passage

this morning.

Genesis chapter 20

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

is a repeat,

as I mentioned,

of Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

In both,

Abraham tells Sarah

to lie.

In both,

she says

she's just a sister

rather than a wife

to protect

Abraham's life.

In chapter 12,

she tells this lie

to Pharaoh.

In chapter 20,

to Abimelech.

And so both Pharaoh

and Abimelech

take Sarah

into their household

as their wives.

Chapter 12,

remember God afflicts

Pharaoh with plagues.

Chapter 20,

God comes in a dream

to warn him.

That's what we see

in verse 3.

And there's an emphasis here

on how righteous

Abimelech is.

Verse 4,

Abimelech says,

Lord, will you kill

an innocent people?

Verse 5,

in the integrity

of my heart

and the innocence

of my hands,

I have done this.

Verse 6,

God says,

God agrees with him.

Yes.

You know what,

Abimelech,

you're right.

I know that you

have done this

in the integrity

of your heart.

In a certain sense,

Abimelech is innocent.

He's just trying

to do what's right.

Now there's a sense

in which he's not,

right?

He's done something wrong

even though he didn't

realize it.

And so he goes

to Abraham,

this is verses 9 and 10,

and he is livid.

What have you done

to us?

This is verse 9.

You have done

to me things

that ought

not

to be done.

And so he demands

an explanation.

Abraham,

explain yourself.

Even I,

a pagan,

know this is not

right.

Abraham gives

this incredibly

lame explanation

in verse 11.

I did it

because I thought

there is no

fear of God

at all

in this place

and they will

kill me

because

of my wife.

And in that

statement,

there is this

rich

irony.

because Abraham

says,

I thought

there is no

fear of God

here.

And yet,

who is it

that doesn't

fear God?

It's Abraham.

Abraham is the

one who doesn't

believe God's

promise from

the last chapter.

Remember,

it was just

the last chapter

when God

came to Abraham

and Sarah

and says,

look,

or two chapters

ago,

says,

look,

within a year

you're going

to have a son.

Abraham is the

one who does

not take God

at his word.

Who does

take God

at his word?

Abimelech.

Abimelech,

the pagan,

is actually

the one here

who fears

God.

God comes

to him

in a dream,

gives him

a word,

Abimelech

believes

and obeys.

And in case

we missed it,

the author

of Genesis

rubs it

in our

face

in verse

8.

Abimelech

tells his

servants

and what

happens?

The men

were very

much

afraid.

Three

verses later,

yeah,

I just didn't

think anyone

feared God

here.

So I

decided to

go off

the map.

So the

way of

things is

reversed.

Pagans

act well,

God's

people

act

poorly.

In fact,

if you've

lived on

this earth

for some

time and

you've been

in the

church,

you know

this.

It's a

common

experience.

There's a

man named

Abraham

Kuyper

who's a

Dutch

theologian

and actually

was prime

minister of

the Netherlands

for a while

when he

wrote a lot

about God's

common grace

and he

says this,

this is on

page 7

of your

worship guide,

the world

turns out

to be

better than

expected

and the

church

worse

than

expected.

Why is

that?

Seems

counterintuitive,

right?

We would

expect the

church to

always exceed

our

expectations.

God's

spirit is

at work

in a

special way

turning

hearts of

stone

into

hearts of

flesh

and that's

not true

in the

outside world.

So why

do things

not

appear,

play out

the way

that we

want to?

We're

going to

look in

two

sections

really

broken

out by

this

quote.

Why is

the world

better

than

expected?

Why is

the church

worse

than

expected?

First of

all,

why is

the world

better

than

expected?

The

world

is

better

than

expected

because

despite

man's

rebellion

against

God,

every

person

is

still

made

in

God's

image.

Despite

our

rebellion,

every

person

is

made

in

God's

image.

Brit

read it

for us

this morning

from Acts

Acts 17 · chapter mention

chapter 17.

This is on

page 3

of your

worship

guide.

Verse

28,

for we

are

indeed

his

offspring.

God

is

embracing

him.

There's

a sense

in which

we can

say

not

everyone

is

God's

child

in the

sense

that not

everyone

has been

adopted

by God

as one

of Jesus'

brothers and

sisters.

There's

a sense

in which

if you're

not a

Christian,

God

is not

your

father.

There's

another

sense

in which

if you're

not a

Christian,

God

is

your

father

in the

sense

that

he

made

you.

You

can't

erase

the

image

of

God

in

humanity.

So the

image

of

God,

it's

marred,

it's

obscured,

it's

twisted,

never

erased.

I want

you to

think about

it this

way.

A

number

of you

have

had the

very

painful

experience

of being

cut off

by a

son or

a

daughter.

So I

want you

to imagine

if that's

not your

experience,

imagine

with me

that your

son cuts

you off.

He says,

you know

what,

I'm just

not going

to talk

to you

anymore.

Done

with you.

As far

as I'm

concerned,

mom and

dad are

erased

from my

life.

No

matter

what,

if he

is your

biological

son,

he still

looks

like you.

Right?

He still

has your

nose.

He might

still have

your spouse's

smile.

His

physical

appearance

doesn't

change

even if

he has

cut

you off.

When he

talks,

he probably

still has

some of

your

verbal

tics.

When he

walks,

he might

remind some

people of

your dad,

his

grandfather.

The point

is this,

you can

act as

if your

parents

don't

exist.

You

can't

escape

the

resemblance.

Same is

true of

us and

God.

You can

act as

if God

does not

exist.

You

cannot

escape

the

resemblance.

Why is the

world better

than expected?

Because

everyone is

still made

in the

image of

God.

The image

of God

can be

obscured,

it can be

marred,

it can be

twisted,

it will

never be

erased.

Christ.

How is it

that we

explain

non-Christians

who are

kind and

generous and

moral and

upright in

many ways,

well,

in the

broad sense,

God is

still their

father.

And so

in some

ways,

they still

look like

him.

It is

possible

to accept

the gifts

and not

acknowledge

the

giver.

You can

distance

yourself

from God

as much

as you

want.

You

cannot

erase

his

image.

It is

critical for

us to

understand

this,

to really

comprehend

it,

because if

we don't,

we are

setting

ourselves

up for

disillusionment

in this

world.

We are

setting

ourselves

up for

disillusionment

when we

meet

wonderful

people

who are

not

Christians.

Remember

last week,

I told you

kids,

hey,

if you

want to

go to

college,

great.

Make sure

you pick

a college

where there's

a community

of believers

who can

sustain

and uphold

your faith.

This week,

I'll add

this.

When you

go to

college,

you will

meet

wonderful,

thoughtful,

smart,

and moral

pagans.

And if

you're

not

prepared

for

that,

it

will

shake

your

faith.

Wait,

this

person

is so

good,

what is

my

religion

worth?

It doesn't

mean that

your religion

is worthless.

It means

that the

image of

God

shines

through

in them

despite

and in

the midst

of their

sin.

It does

not mean

your religion

is worthless.

It means

that the

image of

God

shines

out in

them

despite

and in

the midst

of their

sin

and rebellion.

What is

it that I

say every

week?

There's

no one

so good

they don't

need God's

grace.

And no

one so bad

they can't

have it.

This part's

the first

half.

There's

no one

so good

they don't

need

God's

grace.

We can

also remember

this as we

talk with

non-Christians

we can

affirm all

the good

and beautiful

wonderful

things in

their lives

and we

can point

them to

its

source.

I've

mentioned

to you

several

times that

for the

last

three

years or

so my

chiropractor

and I

have had

this ongoing

conversation

about faith

and Christianity

and one

of the

lines he

likes to

use is

well I

act like

a

Christian.

And I

have several

responses to

that.

One of

them I

have shared

with you

well you

act like a

Christian except

in the most

important way

which is that

you don't

worship the

living God.

But the

other response

is this

and I've

said this

to him

multiple

times

yes you

do

because God

is your

father.

The last

time I

said that

to him

he said

well I

thought

you'd

say that.

Right

what are you

saying when

you say I

act like a

Christian?

You're

saying I

don't

need

God.

I don't

need

religion to

be a

good

person.

Well guess

what?

You're giving

witness to

God even

as you

deny him.

And your

moral behavior

however great

it is it's

twisted,

it's distorted,

it's pointed

in the wrong

direction.

And that's

what I mean

when I say

well you act

like a

Christian except

in the most

important way

that you

don't worship

the living

God.

The last

time I said

that to

him he

said yeah

you know I

kind of get

that.

You know the

things that I

do that are

good are

kind of

pointed in

the wrong

direction for

the wrong

reason.

Yes.

Exactly

right.

Are you

going to

accept God's

gifts and

then insult

the giver?

Are you

going to

look like

God the

father and

then act

like he

doesn't

exist?

What

greater insult

could there

be?

Yes,

non-Christians

are better

than expected

because the

image of God

is still

there.

That doesn't

mean they

don't need

God.

It gives

witness to

the fact

they've

rejected

him.

Remember

Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

the conscience

convicts the

fact that we

know right

from wrong

shows our

need for

God.

It doesn't

excuse us.

It's the

first half.

The world

better than

expected.

Perhaps this

is the

harder one.

The church

worse than

expected.

God's

grace.

We should

think,

we would

hope,

right,

that someone

who's

come to

Christ,

who said,

yes,

I'm a

sinner in

need of

God's

grace,

and the

Holy Spirit

is at

work in

a powerful,

an extra

special way

transforming a

heart of stone

into a heart

of flesh,

would always be

behaving better

than the world

around them.

And yet Abraham

shows us that's

not true,

right?

A

Bimelech has

the fear of

God, at

least in this

episode,

Abraham does

not.

Well,

come back to

the phrase I

mentioned earlier.

No one's so

good they don't

need God's

grace,

and no

one's so

bad they

can't have

it.

First half,

why are

non-Christians

so good?

No one's so

good they don't

need God's

grace.

Why are

Christians

sometimes so

terrible,

and no one

so bad

they can't

have it?

You don't

become perfect

the day you

become a

Christian.

Be great

that were

true,

be great

if God

came and

just after

that point

you never

sinned.

Some churches

teach that

that's

possible.

No,

the reality

of a

Christian

is not

that every

sin in

your life

is just

taken to

a place

where it

has no

temptation

or power

over you.

No,

the promise

of the

Christian

life

is that

you are

growing

holier

year by

year.

The question

is not

are you

perfect?

The question

is are you

in a different

place than

you were

ten years

ago?

is there

evidence that

the Spirit

of God

is at

work in

your life?

And where

a Christian

is today

depends on

where they

started.

Where a

Christian is

today depends

on where they

started.

Is Abraham

holier than

he was in

chapter 12?

Yeah,

I think so.

We've seen

Abraham's

great acts

of faith.

We're going

to see

them,

especially

in chapter

22.

Is Abraham

perfect?

Of course

not.

No one

so good

they don't

need God's

grace.

Abimelech.

No one

so bad

they can't

have it.

Abraham.

So if

someone comes

to you and

says,

I can't

believe you're

a Christian

based on the

things you

do.

yes,

that should

convict you.

And I

hope you

can say

this,

you should

have seen

me 10

years ago.

If you

think this

is bad,

you should

have seen

where God

had to

start with

me.

You should

have seen

the work

that he's

doing.

We also

see in this

passage that

even in the

life of

believers,

sin patterns

run deep.

Abraham's

fear flared

up.

This was

his go-to

pattern in

chapter 12

to lie about

Sarah.

Abraham's

fear flares

up here

again.

Many

chapters

later,

it does

the same

exact

play.

In fact,

it's going

to get

worse.

This

pattern is

going to

run

across

generations.

In

chapter 26,

which we're

not going

to get

to in

this

series,

Abraham's

son Isaac

does the

exact same

thing.

with his

wife,

Rebecca.

He lies

about her.

He says,

oh, she's

just my

sister.

Where did

he learn

that from?

Remember

last week,

Lot and

his daughters,

the children

always know.

We'll say

this.

There's a

part in our

confession of

faith that

we subscribe

to as a

church that

says some

sins are

worse than

others.

It goes

into this

long

explanation of

what makes

one sin

worse than

another sin.

one of the

things it

says is

sins by

older people

are worse

than sins

by younger

people.

Why would

that be?

You've had

more life,

right?

You've had

more time

to grow

in holiness

and in

God's word.

So there's

something actually

that's worse

about chapter

20 than

chapter 12.

Man,

Abraham should

know better,

right?

He doesn't

have the

excuse of

youth and

foolishness.

By the

way,

if you

think I'm

picking on

old people,

that part of

the confession

also says

sins by

pastors are

worse.

So what

goes around

comes around.

But Abraham's

older here,

right?

God has

made a

specific

promise.

Two

chapters

ago,

he said

in a

year,

Sarah's

going to

give birth,

and then

what does

he do?

He puts

her at

risk.

The point

is this,

are you

growing?

Is there

evidence

that God's

spirit is

at work in

your heart,

in your

mind,

in your

life?

Are you

today

someone who

has more

of the fruit

of the

spirit than

you did

two and

five and

ten years

ago?

More love,

joy,

peace,

patience,

kindness,

gentleness,

and self-control?

Is there

evidence that

God is

at work?

I told you

earlier,

there's a

disillusionment

that can

come,

if we

haven't

wrapped our

minds around

this,

there's a

disillusionment

that can

come when

we meet

wonderful

people who

aren't

Christians.

We need

to have

these

categories,

we need

to think

about these

things.

There's

also a

disillusionment

that comes

if we

haven't

thought about

these things

from meeting

terrible

Christians.

I think,

man,

you know,

people will

tell you

sometimes,

well,

I love

Jesus,

I just

can't

stand

his

followers.

Of course,

one of

his followers,

unfortunately,

is in the

mirror.

And yet,

the Bible

tells us,

right,

no one's so

good,

they don't

need God's

grace.

No one's

so bad,

they can't

have it.

And so,

when we

meet Christians

who do

terrible

things,

what should

we think?

Wow.

God

saves

people

like me.

We need

to be

realistic

about the

world.

We need

to be

prepared

for both.

Can't

let our

faith be

rattled

when we

meet

wonderful

pagans.

Can't

let our

faith be

rattled

when we

meet

terrible

Christians.

The way

we avoid

that is

we understand

God's

grace.

God's

grace is

not

about

my

behavior.

We'll

realize

no one's

so good,

they don't

need God's

grace.

No one

so bad,

they can't

have it.

It's a great

humility that

comes for us

with this

as well.

God

is not

impressed

with you.

If you

think

that you're

a Christian

because of

your great

and superior

behavior,

you have,

as I say

a lot

recently,

lost the

plot.

You lost

the plot.

God did

not choose

Abraham

because he

was great.

God chose

Abraham

because God

was merciful.

Christian,

God did

not choose

you because

you were

or are

great.

God chose

you because

God is

merciful.

The

scandal

of the

gospel is

this,

that good

people still

need it

and bad

people can

have it.

Scandal

of the

gospel is

this,

good people

need it,

bad people

can have

it.

Christians

behave

poorly

sometimes,

non-Christians

behave quite

well,

and it's

explained by

this,

this is on

page 7

of your

worship guide.

God's

grace does

not come

to people

who morally

outperform

others,

but to

those who

admit their

failure to

perform and

who acknowledge

their need

for a

savior.

The

kingdom of

God is

not a

meritocracy.

good

Christians

and bad

Christians

and good

pagans

both fall

short of

the glory

of God.

Both face

the reality

that the

wages of

sin is

death.

Both need

a merciful

savior as

their only

hope in

life and

in death.

Is

Jesus your

savior?

savior?

Is he

your only

hope in

life and

in death?

can you

say,

I'm

never so

good.

I don't

need

God's

grace.

If you

can,

you won't

be shaken.

You won't

be shaken

when those

who don't

know God

are

examples,

positive

examples.

And you

won't be

shaken when

those who

do know

God are

negative

examples.

You'll

say,

whatever

happens,

it's

God's

grace

for me.

Christian,

it's

God's

grace

for you.

Let's

pray.

Our

Father in

heaven,

we do

praise you

and thank

you that

the kingdom

of God

is not

a meritocracy

because if

it were,

none of us

would make

it.

We ask

instead,

instead of

looking at

ourselves and

those around

us,

we would

set our

eyes on

you.

We would

have the

right horizon

line,

that we

would compare

ourselves,

not to

others,

but to

you and

your holiness.

That would

drive us

to your

grace,

drive us

to see

how beautiful

and glorious

your mercy

is,

that we

would follow

you and

love you

with all

our hearts

and all

our lives.

We ask

these things

in Jesus'

name.

Amen.