Romans 10:5-17
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Through Jesus Christ means that we are justified, given eternal life freely by the death and resurrection of Jesus. He then went into a series of questions about what does that mean for our action? Like, if we are justified freely as a gift? Why would we behave ourselves? And the answer was, is that when were baptized into Christ, the sinner in US was killed with Christ, and a new person was raised from the dead, that God raised you with Christ to make you like him. So our behavior follows just as Jesus Christ was perfect. We have a new person inside of us who wants to live that same one. Paul ended that section, by proclaiming the amazing power of the promises of God, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, no power on earth, not even life and death itself. These promises are certain and true. Last week, we looked at Romans chapter nine, where St. Paul expressed his anguish over the fact that the promise of God that went out to the nation of Israel was rejected by them. That many people who are part of God's chosen people turned away from the Savior when they heard about him. And so St. Paul comes into Romans 10. And he raises the solution for that problem. It's preaching. He talks about the preaching of the gospel of the proclamation of Jesus Christ, going out into the world, as the solution for unbelief. That both for Israel, God's chosen people, and for the Gentiles, the rest of the world, it's the proclamation of Jesus Christ, that will gather all of the last into the faith so that they can hear and be saved. And I think today, that gives me a good opportunity to talk about why Lutheran preaching is a little different from preaching in other denominations. And very specifically, Romans 10, helps to explain it. A Lutheran sermon, you may have noticed, if you listen to other other kinds of preachers is quite different. That's because one, a Lutheran sermon is designed to be proclamation and not just teaching. That's a very specific use of that word, proclamation. The difference between proclamation and teaching is a very simple phrase, it's the word for you. Now, that doesn't explain a whole lot. You're looking at me like, wait a second pastor. I'm building suspense here, right? What does it mean? When we use the words for you, rather than just teaching? Perhaps I can explain it best by looking at a wedding. When you go to a wedding. One in the Lutheran church, at least we spend a lot of time talking about marriage, I have this rather lengthy introductory reading that I have to do that as part of the service will sometimes read Bible readings from from different sections of Scripture that have to do with marriage. I'll stand up there and I'll give a eight minute sermon that includes talking about what marriage is supposed to be and how Christ can come into a marriage and, and be part of it and strengthen it. But you know, what makes a wedding none of that. Right? Because you can talk about marriage a whole lot, and still not actually get married. There is a moment in a wedding ceremony when the pastor says, I now pronounce you husband and wife. And at that very moment, they are all the sudden married. Right? The words going out, accomplish the thing that is being said. That is the difference between proclamation and teaching. When I say I pronounce you husband and wife all the sudden the thing that is happening is deliberate. It is not teaching it is doing proclamation in the Lutheran church is like that when we're talking about Jesus as well. You can have A pastor who stands up and says all sorts of abstract things about the Bible. We could go through and do all sorts of word studies, help you see all the themes that are going on in Scripture, talk about doctrines, talk about anything under the sun. And that is good teaching. But what you really need is the for you, don't you? I can talk about how Jesus died on a cross. I can talk about how God offers the forgiveness of sins. But what you need is the word of God in your mouth and in your heart, delivered to you. And so what a pastor does, is we say, Jesus died for you. Jesus gives you salvation, He gives you life by faith in Him. And that actually accomplishes the thing that is spoken. It is not an abstract thing where I talk about if you believe, or if you do the right thing, what simply God loves you. And I think that's what St. Paul is talking about when he's talking about the word being present, and delivered to you through the proclamation. He says, but the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. What he's saying is, we don't have to climb up into heaven to grab Jesus and make him ours. We don't have to descend into the depths, to make Jesus our Savior. The Word of God is here, proclaim to you and for you. And through that proclamation, you receive eternal life, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the word given to you. One of my professors at the seminary wrote this about preaching. He says, The preacher at some point in the sermon speaks to those whom God has gathered this day, and proclaims God, sure, and certain work even now forgiving their sin. It is also personal. This is the for you language of the sermon. It creates within the sermon a moment when God intervene, taking from you your last dying breath, and giving to you the first breath of eternal life. That is the gift of the word being here. And now. You don't have to grab it. You don't have to climb. You don't have to work. You simply here. As the preacher proclaims that it is not just something Jesus has done. It is something he has done for you. We also the Lutheran preacher, focus on proclaiming both God's law and his gospel. And they both come together. St. Paul writes, Moses writes about a righteousness that is based on the law, that a person who does the commandments shall live by. And very often, we all have to be reminded that we really like the law in our heart of hearts, because we want to think that we can do things right. I know I do. I constantly have to be reminded that I don't do things right all the time. I think we all do too, right? We constantly have to be reminded that we are sinners. And so there is always the need to hear. We make mistakes. And so often the law is pointing that out and saying you are a sinner. You need salvation. But sometimes when you hear a sermon like this, the law is not pointing out the mistakes that you've made, but the pain that we feel because of the laws work in the world. That's what the law was in last Sunday sermon. Last Sunday, I didn't point out that you're terrible, horrible people. I just pointed out that we all feel pain because our loved ones have often left the faith. And that's a law isn't it? When people leave the faith, we feel that pain and we need comfort. Today
the law is about missing understandings of the purpose of preaching. If we misunderstand why we're here, you might not know what to expect. You might think that this is all about me teaching you knowledge. But that's not what it's about. The law for today's sermon is Lutheran preaching isn't about teaching. And the gospel salts that Lutheran preaching is actually about delivering Jesus to you here in this moment. The gift of the gospel is always the gift of Jesus himself, and the salvation that He has won for us. And if I'm doing it, right, if I'm preaching correctly, and I've done my preparation, the gospel is not some throwaway line that says, oh, yeah, and Jesus died for you. It is the antidote to the law that you feel the pain that has been proclaimed in the sermon. So last week, the the law was all about the pain we feel when our loved ones leave the faith. And the gospel is being reminded that even in that Christ's promises are still sure and true. There is no reason to doubt them. Today, if the law is a misunderstanding of what preaching is supposed to be, the gospel is how much better it is that the preaching is not about teaching, but about giving you Jesus himself. Because knowledge goes away, doesn't it? The things that you learn about the ideas that Matthew is trying to bring across, or the factoids about St. Paul's life, they may fall out of your head. But you know what doesn't go away. The gift of eternal life received by the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the word that you get every time you hear it. And that's what we're here to receive. Now, you might think to yourself, Wait a second, how is it possible that some guy can deliver salvation through the Word? I'm so glad you asked. St. Paul tells us exactly that. He says, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Right. In fact, he goes into a long questions, a series of questions about how are people going to be able to be saved? He says in verse 14, but how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? This whole passage, all of what we've read from Romans, chapter 10, is a call for the proclamation of the gospel, to go out through the preachers so that everyone who can hear about Jesus and call on Him so that the word of God can go out into their ears, and into their hearts. And deliver fake is because God promises that through his word, he delivers salvation, not just to the world, but to you. That the work of Jesus Christ for you on the cross isn't something that just happened 2000 years ago, but it's delivered to you today. When you hear it. When the Holy Spirit works on and through this word, it is strengthen your faith. So you don't have to climb up into heaven to pull Jesus down. You don't have to grasp and cling and, and work to make Jesus urine. All you have to do is sit there and listen. Because God has sent some a preacher, a proclaimer. To deliver this word of salvation to you. Lutheran preaching is a little different. Because we see it almost as a sacramental act sacramental, as in a delivery of grace, right into you to give you the salvation you need. Lutheran preachers are not guides. We're not simply teachers to tell you about what God has done. It's a time of delivery, a gift for you so that you can be safe Because the word of God that God has given us is not something that is is waiting or passes. It is an active thing a gift of grace through Jesus Christ. In his name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai