The taproot of righteous living for God is a righteous standing before God. Noah possessed both. He found favor with God that gave him a righteous standing before God that enabled him to live faithfully in ways that pleased God. Noah’s faith in God produced a very large boat on dry ground for the saving of his family and a new start for humanity.
Genesis 6:5-9: A right relationship with God produces a living faith
Genesis 6:5-9 compares the unrighteousness of the world and the fact that Noah found favor with God. Amid an unrighteous world, Noah trusted God and it was counted as righteousness. What kind of faith did Noah possess that found favor with God?
Hebrews 11:7 reminds us of several truths about Noah’s faith. First, it was the kind of faith willing to receive the warning of God concerning the judgment of sin. The good news of God’s saving acts (in Jesus Christ and the Ark) are always preceded by the bad news of our sinful rebellion against a righteous God. The good news is good because the bad news is so bad.
Second, it was the kind of faith that responded to God’s message of judgment not with arrogance or contempt, but with humble fear. Noah revered God more than he feared man’s opinion. Every beam set in the Ark pleased God while evoking the displeasure of sinful men.
Third, it was the kind of faith that enabled him to begin construction of a large boat (the Ark) even though it had never rained, nor had the earth produced enough water to float such a large ship. The building of the Ark must have seemed like a “crazy” act of foolishness to the world. But isn’t this the nature of a saving faith that produces a living faith (I Corinthians 1:18-30)? What seems foolish to the world is God’s wisdom.
Fourth, it was the kind of faith that simultaneously “condemned the world” by serving as a contrast to the wickedness of the age and it was the kind of faith that “became an heir of righteousness.” When we live by faith we will stand out and stand up for what is righteous, good, and true.
Genesis 6:17-22: Living faith is an obedient faith
Living faith is an active faith demonstrated in obedient living. God established a covenant with Noah (Genesis 6:18). God committed Himself to the saving of Noah’s family as Noah trusted and obeyed God. Further, out of this covenant, Genesis 6:22 notes, “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” Noah obeyed God, built the Ark, and gathered the animals. He did all this trusting God and His enabling power to do all God commanded him to do.
Genesis 8:20-22: Living faith Honors God
After Noah escaped God’s judgement of the world by a world-wide flood, he worshipped God as God reiterated His covenant promise to Noah that He would never destroy the world in the way the He had in the flood, but that He would provide Noah with every resource needed to begin anew.
The next and final time God will judge and destroy the world will be by other means (II Peter 3:1-13). God sealed His covenant with Noah by setting a rainbow in the sky (Genesis 9:13-14), a sign not of decadent sin but of God’s saving grace. B&R — Note: The lesson above is the first of a new series in the Bible studies for Life series. Shrum will be writing the commentaries for this quarter as Mike Dawson rotates off.