The 1st Sunday after Epiphany

SERMON

INI

Text: Romans 10:12-21

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.” But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” But to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

In Christ Jesus, whose compassions do not fail, dear fellow redeemed:

We are in the midst of a political season. Later this year we will elect a new President. Candidates running for this office from both major political parties are out campaigning and trying to connect with voters—hoping to establish relationships that will lead to support and ultimately to victory. Candidates routinely tell us and certainly want us to believe that they truly care about our concerns, and that, if elected, they will address those concerns. Some candidates without doubt do care about the concerns of the people they hope to represent, while others may well not. Whether you support Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, John McCain or Mike Huckabee—they are interested in your vote, for they each want to be your next President.

There is a Leader, however, who already occupies a position of much greater power than the President of the United States, whether we recognize Him or not. He truly does care about us, and His motives need never be questioned. He is fully aware of our concerns, and is also fully capable of securing our future. That Leader, of course, is God. He is our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier. In our text the apostle Paul assures us that GOD IS PASSIONATE IN HIS DESIRE TO HAVE A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OF US! He does so both to comfort us and to warn us! We are never to take for granted our relationship with our God and with His Son, Jesus Christ! God, after all, Paul says is rich to all who call upon Him—but He has no favorites! God, Paul says, proclaims His gospel of peace through His Word—so do not reject it!

I.

In chapters 9-11 of Romans Paul addresses the issue of the Jews. He laments the tragic rejection of Jesus by a majority of the Jews of his day, while he discusses the relationship between Jewish and Gentile believers. God chose the descendants of Abraham, the Jewish people, to be His own special people during Old Testament times. He did so, not because they were so numerous, or so righteous, or so special in any way in and of themselves, but rather He chose them, He says, “to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” because of His great mercy and grace (cf. Deuteronomy 7:6,9). He did so in order that they might then preserve God’s promise of universal deliverance on behalf of all of mankind. God established a close relationship with Abraham and told him: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3b). Abraham had believed God’s promises, and we are told that God “accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

The Jews, therefore, were entrusted with a great calling—to preserve and proclaim the gospel of salvation. Over the centuries, however, they had lost sight of their calling. They began to view their ethnicity as that which made them special. Family background, rather than personal faith, became the point of emphasis. The law, rather than serving to remind them of the need for the universal Savior, became the object of their religion—the means by which they believed they could save themselves. Instead of sharing the promise of the Savior with the Gentiles, they demanded that the Gentiles submit to all of the precepts of the law. Consequently, when Jesus finally came in fulfillment of all of the Old Testament promises, His own people by and large failed to recognize Him and in fact rejected Him. The evangelist John writes sadly: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:11-12).

Paul, seeking to emphasis for the Roman Christians the universal nature of God’s grace and promises, emphasized that “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved!’” The issue was not a matter of who they were, but rather what lay within their hearts! The Jews of Paul’s day had no personal advantage over the Gentiles of that day. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Paul had written then earlier in his epistle, but all had also been “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). The question was—whether they were Jew or Gentile did they understand their utter helplessness in view of their sins and had they come to rejoice in Jesus as their Savior from sin?! God’s grace and His blessing would fall upon all those who had that understanding and that faith, for it is that person who truly “calls on the name of the LORD!”

My dear friends—for you and for me today the distinction of being Jewish or being a Gentile has no meaning, but Paul’s words of comfort and warning certainly have direct application to us in our day. We have been called by God and entrusted with the task of “preaching the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). We have been saved “by grace…through faith” as a “gift of God” and for the purpose of doing “good works,” the chief of which is spreading God’s gospel (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10). Yet, how easy it is for us to forget that work—to forget that souls right here in Mankato and everywhere else in this world are dying and to do little or nothing to prevent it. We can become so comfortable with the thought that we are Christians, and that everyone else…well they just are what they are—we cannot help that! We can become lethargic about our witness, being content that we are confessional Lutherans and have the truth, but then fail enthusiastically to share what we believe. We can quite easily begin to think that I am, after all, a pretty good person—certainly not as bad as most others, and surely that will count for something. Such thinking places us along side the Jews of Jesus’ day—failing to see the enormity of our own sins, and trusting in ourselves—assuming that our own attempts at morality will get us through.

“To call upon the name of the LORD” implies an understanding of our desperate need for God’s forgiveness and our absolute trust that in Him and in Him alone we find a solution for our sins and thereby spiritual relief! God has no favorites! Do not assume that because you are a fourth generation confessional Lutheran that all will be well. Do not assume that because your father was a deacon, or your mother the President of the ladies’ guild that you have an inside track. No, God is absolutely rich in bestowing His blessings upon those and those only who rid themselves of their pride and self-confidence and call upon Him to save them! GOD IS PASSIONATE IN HIS DESIRE TO HAVE A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OF US! He is rich to all who call upon Him—but remember He has no favorites!

II.

Remember, He proclaims His gospel of peace through His Word—so do not reject it! The rest of our text speaks of the importance of the preaching of God’s Word. Its key thought is that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Before emphasizing that point, however, Paul asks a series of four questions: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” God has chosen to spread His gospel message of peace through us—through our speaking and writing…through our sharing of that Word! What a wonderful privilege that truly is! We speak of an effective doctor as having the gift of healing, for with his expertise he might well extend a person’s life. God has given each of us the Word, through which the Holy Spirit bestows everlasting life! That is why Paul exclaims: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things” (Romans 10:15).

But, there is a problem, which Paul identifies: “They have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘LORD, who has believed our report?’” We human beings have the power to reject the grace and mercy of God, and unfortunately many of us do! The vast majority of Jesus’ own Jewish people did in His day and continue to do so. The vast majority of Gentiles as well reject the gospel. Satan is certainly and deceptively powerful. But that gives no one an excuse. King David wrote concerning the witness of all of creation to God’s existence and power: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” (cf. Psalm 19:4) But Israel had much more than the witness of creation. They had Moses and the prophets. But God wanted His universal promises preached to all people, and so they have been. It was Paul’s hope as well as the LORD’s that His Old Testament people would become jealous of that fact, and so would then by faith return to their relationship with Him and receive the blessings He intends for all. Some indeed have, and so even today we have a Christian church composed of people of both Jewish and Gentile extraction. Yet, it remains true of most people in their relationship with God—“All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people!”

My dear friends—may those words never be spoken in reference to us! God proclaims His gospel of peace through His Word every time it is preached…every time it is read…every time it is studied. It is the “one thing (that) is needed” as Jesus told Martha (cf. Luke 10:42). Let us not ignore it! Let us not think lightly of it! Let us not reject it! How might I do that? I recall a dear friend of mine, who in our high school days, had a hard time getting up Sunday mornings to go to church. His excuse was: “I’ve heard it all already!” If God thinks it is necessary and continues to call pastors and teachers to proclaim the Word on a regular basis, ought we assume we know it all sufficiently and have no need to listen to them? How presumptuous is such an attitude! Luther wrote in the Preface of his Large Catechism that many people in his day had this same attitude--assuming they did not have to listen any longer to any preachers, for there was nothing new to learn. Yet, Luther himself read his Small Catechism each day and meditated upon its contents, so that the Spirit of God might freely work within his heart the joyous fruits of a truly sanctified life. Do we not need to do the same? Are we not influenced negatively by the sinful world of this day? Of course we are. Does not our sinful flesh need to be controlled? Of course it does!

Luther wrote in the explanation to the Third Commandment: “We should fear and love God that we do not despise His word and the preaching of it, but we should regard God’s word as holy and gladly hear and learn it.” GOD IS PASSIONATE IN HIS DESIRE TO HAVE A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OF US! He speaks of His desire as He proclaims His gospel of peace through His Word. Let us not reject it, but rather embrace its truths and rejoice in His grace and mercy, so that we might receive His every blessing! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting
To God alone be the glory!