Romans 10:11-17
During a long dry spell one summer, the pastor of a church announced that there would be a prayer service in place of the regular service the next Sunday. As the week went by, not a drop of rain had fallen, and on Sunday the sun rose again to bake the already dry ground. The members of the church arrived one by one and took their seats. The pastor of the church came out, looked at all of them, and then said, “Dear friends, you all know why we are here today. We are here to pray for rain. Why is it, then, that none of you has brought an umbrella?”
The word “faith” is a word that gets thrown around quite a bit. Fans of a certain sports team will say that they have “faith” in their team. Investors talk about having “faith” in the companies or products that they are investing in. And quite a few people talk about the “faith” that they have in God.
How many people really understand what it means to have “faith?” Sports fans quickly lose the “faith” that they have when their teams hit a losing streak. Investors will quickly change their loyalties when their company or product doesn’t produce the returns that they expect. And, sadly, many people who claim to have “faith” in God quickly turn from him when they have troubles or problems in their lives.
True “faith” is too important for people to misunderstand. True “faith” is the only way for people to have eternal life. Our text for today encourages us to follow the instructions that God gives us to enable people to have true “faith.” In fact, it makes it pretty clear that this is our greatest mission in life, and it should be our highest priority. Let’s turn to our text where our Lord through Paul encourages us to
“Spread the Saving Word”
I. The Word Meant for All
II. The Word that Produces Faith
Who here doesn’t have a little bit of fear about finding yourself in an embarrassing situation? We try to do everything that we can, no matter what we are doing, so that we will not embarrass ourselves. Nobody likes to find themselves in a situation where other people are laughing at them or making fun of them because of something they did or said. Nobody likes that.
The shame that such a person feels will pale by comparison to the person who, on Judgment Day, stands before God and realizes that he doesn’t have an answer to the one question that God will ask him, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” Literally millions of people will fumble around talking about their “faith,” but God will see through their shallow lip service to a heart that lacks true “faith.
Paul explains how we can be sure that we will not find ourselves in that not only embarrassing but eternally terminal situation. He wrote, “As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ The key word in that verse is the word “trusts.” Paul was addressing a concern raised when people saw that God’s own chosen people, the Children of Israel, did not believe in him. They had crucified Jesus. Had God failed, they wondered? Had God embarrassed them or put them in a situation to be embarrassed because he let them down?
The Children of Israel embarrassed themselves. They had the Messiah in their midst, but they did not worship him as their Savior. They had the powerful Word pointing them to Jesus and his miracles supporting his claims, but they still rejected him. They did not trust in him for their salvation, and, as a result, they found themselves drowning in unbelief. Their “faith” was in their bloodline, their heritage as “Abraham’s children.” But when they would tell God to let them into heaven because they were “Abraham’s children,” thinking that earned them special privileges, they would only find a closed door to heaven.
Paul explained that it isn’t a person’s bloodline or heritage that opens heaven’s door. He wrote, “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” When God chose Israel to be his special people, he never intended that they would be his only children. When God told Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation and that through him “all nations on earth would be blessed,” (Gen. 12:3) he wasn’t talking about ancestries and family trees. Paul said very clearly, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
We are here today celebrating our Mission Festival. We are here to rejoice that God has opened his heart of grace to people of every nation and race. And we are here to ask God to help us to be his messengers, to spread that saving word in whatever way that we can so that people will know what to day when they stand before God on Judgment Day. Through Paul, God assures us that we will “never be put to shame” if we put our trust in him. If we “call on the name of the Lord,” which means to publicly profess faith in him, we “will be saved,” we will have the answer we need to God’s question, and we will not suddenly see the door being closed on us.
So, you might ask, how do we know that our “faith” is true faith and not just a here today gone tomorrow shallow hope that we have been lead to the true God? Paul explains in our text that true faith is not something that we can go out and find. It isn’t something that we can experiment with until we get it right. If you remember your Catechism lessons, you will remember hearing that we are dead, blind, and enemies of God because of sin, and putting our hope and trust in him would have been the farthest thing from our mind.
But something happened, something that God did for us, not that we did for God, that assures us of an eternity in heaven.
The Word that Produces Faith
What was it that happened that assures us that we will live eternally in heaven. Someone shared God’s Word with us and that word put true faith into our heart. Paul explains the process when he writes, “How, then, can they call on (which means to profess publicly) the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” Paul shows us how important it is for people to carry out God’s command to spread his saving word. If any one of the steps mentioned did not happen, peoples could not be saved. It’s that simple.
People can’t believe anything that they do not know. You cannot believe that Columbus discovered America in 1492 if no one ever told you that he had done that. You cannot believe that without first hearing that it happened. In the same way, you cannot believe that God has forgiven you because Jesus died on the cross for you unless someone has told you that he has done that.
But you are here today to worship God and to serve God because someone did tell you about him. Someone in your life brought that message, and through that message the Holy Spirit created faith in your heart, faith that gave you a new life, raising you from the spiritual death that sin had brought to you, opening your eyes to see through the blindness of sin, and breaking down the wall of hostility that sin had built between you and your God. You will not be embarrassed on Judgment Day, because you have been given the answer to that all-important question—“Why should I let you into my heaven?” You know that it is because of Jesus.
But there was still the question that caused this whole discussion. What happened to the Children of Israel? Paul wrote, “But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’” The warning is well taken. If it rains, everyone who is out in the rain will get wet. But when God’s Word is preached, it will not necessarily be received and believed by everyone who hears it. The devil will fight that Word, putting doubts and unbelief into the minds and hearts of some of those who hear it. Satan will not simply allow God to take everyone to heaven without putting up a good fight for their souls.
That does not change our mission. That does not alter our calling from God. God’s Word is still the one and only way for people to come to faith, as Paul wrote, “Consequently, faith come from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of God.” People cannot have faith, they cannot go to heaven if they do not hear God’s word. True, some will reject that word. But others will hear and believe. God has told us that his word does “not return to [him] empty, but will accomplish the purpose for which he sent it.” (Is. 55:11)
The Word works. You are proof of that and so am I. There are millions who need to hear that word. And there are people ready to take that word to them. Pray for those who are called to preach and teach God’s word. Learn it and share it yourself, and pray that God will use you to reach some of those who do not know that Jesus died for them. And stop worrying. You will not be embarrassed when you stand before Jesus, because he has called you to faith, true faith, through his gospel, and he promises to keep you in that one true faith. Confident of his promises, go now and share the saving word.
Amen.
“The peace of God….”
–Rev. Roger Rockhoff