11th Sunday after Pentecost (A)

August 11, 1996

Faith That's for Real

(Romans 10:5-15)

Not long ago, a night worker of a Kinko's copy shop in Birmingham, Alabama, was arrested for producing tens of thousands of dollars in counterfeit money on the sophisticated color copiers in his shop. It's not an isolated problem; with the improving quality of such equipment, treasury agents are facing a significant increase in such counterfeiting efforts. What used to take a skilled engraver and printing equipment now can be done on a color copy machine.

Yet no matter what the technology used for making the funny money, it is still counterfeit; it has no value except by deception and stealth.

There is such a thing as counterfeit faith as well. It is manufactured in different ways, but the end result is still the same -- men and women who miss the fullness, the joy and satisfaction that comes from a real, authentic relationship with the living God.

In the beginning of this tenth chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, the apostle is expressing his urgent desire that his fellow Israelites would come to faith in Christ. Yet instead of turning to Christ, Paul says they have substituted a different faith, a counterfeit righteousness that falls short of God's desire for them.

In order to help us judge the difference between counterfeit faith and authentic faith, Paul suggests several characteristics of faith that's for real. How do we recognize real faith?

I. Real Faith is Rooted in an Internal Transformation

Paul quotes from the book of Leviticus (18:5), in which the Lord through Moses tells His people to obey His laws. That is one kind of righteousness, Paul says, but it is focused on external behavior. As the entire gospel makes clear, men and women have proven incapable of fully satisfying that kind of righteousness; "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). The only righteousness that is authentic is one that is not only in your mouth -- external behavior -- but one that is in your heart -- internal transformation. And that is precisely what Christ offers -- to come into our hearts and transform us into new creations.

Paul says, "It is with your heart that you believe and are justified" (v. 10). He is talking about an act of the will -- a commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord. And yet it is an act that is produced only by the Holy Spirit working inside us.

Imagine for a moment I come home one day with a pet pig. I dress that pig up in silk and satin; I dab some perfume behind his ear; I set him down in a library and declare, "Look what a lovely, sophisticated creature I have created!" But the minute the door opens and that pig spies a mud puddle, he's out like a flash and wallowing in the mud. Because no matter how much I dress up that pig, make external changes, he's still a pig; nothing has changed his essential character and nature.

No matter what you and I attempt to do in our own efforts, real faith can only be created by God's grace working in our lives, producing an inner transformation.