“Listen for the Message”

Scripture: Romans 10:16-21

Our passage last week ended with the words “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15) Isn’t it interesting that Paul didn’t say that the heart would be beautiful, or the voice would be beautiful, or even that the faith of the one who shares the good news would be beautiful. Most people never associate beauty with their feet, so why them? Why the feet?

There may be several reasons – first, it is our feet that carry us everywhere when we respond to the Lord’s call to share the good news with others. Second, the Psalms offer some thought regarding our feet – that they symbolize authority when we read that “You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet”. Being under someone’s feet means that you are subject to their authority (Psalm 8:5-8). And later, we read of firm feet as a sign of faithful service – “My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not slipped.” (Psalm 17:4-5)

The “beautiful feet” of Romans carry us throughout the world with the authority to faithfully share the Good News of Jesus Christ – that makes them beautiful! But we should note that we aren’t told to force this great news upon anyone, or even to make sure that everyone listens and accepts the message of Jesus Christ. By faith in the Lord Jesus, we are called to take the message, and to share it with anyone who will listen, and we are to let the Lord do the rest.

But what if the people don’t like the message, or don’t want to listen to it, or receive it, or learn from it?

Read Romans 10:16-18

Paul, a Jew, and a committed one at that, would discover that his mission wasn’t to save the Jews – he would be called to carry the Good News to the gentiles. Throughout the book of Acts, Paul proclaimed Jesus within the synagogues, and never backed away from his people, but his true calling was to the non-Hebrew world. Even so, he seems to lament the fact that he couldn’t reach more of his brothers and sisters, and he writes of Isaiah’s similar frustration.
Read Isaiah 52:13-53:1
In this passage, we read that the “suffering servant” will show great authority over the rulers of earth, and will reveal great things to the people, but in 53:1, the prophet cries out in anguish over the fact that while many have both seen and heard the truth, few have come to believe and trust in the powerful message of God.

That can be our own frustration at times, can’t it. We take up the call that the Lord places on us, and we follow the leading of the Spirit to the very ones who need to hear the Good News of Jesus, and at times, it seems that no one will respond to the Lord’s call on their lives! But Paul’s point is that it isn’t our job to convict them – we are only to go and share with them. If no one shares with them, they will never hear the Good News, and if they never hear the message of Jesus Christ, how could they possibly ever believe in him?

That is the call that is upon every single person who refers to themselves as “Christian”. And when we are inclined to ask “Didn’t anyone hear what I just said?”, Paul would tell us that if we tell others about Jesus, they will most certainly hear, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will respond. That is why once is never enough. Unfortunately, we sometimes look to evangelists like Bill Graham as an example of successful “message carrying”. But if we look carefully into the lives of those thousands of people who came forward at his one invitation, we would, nearly every time, discover that a friend has been a Christian witness for these new believers for years!

One attempt, one invitation, one offer of the message, is never enough. Faith will always come from hearing the message, but it is also dependent on receiving the message, and that is the difficult part. Different people receive through different means, and our responsibility is to find the one that speaks to them. And that requires diligence and perseverance and faithful trust on our part.

Never give up.

Read Romans 10:19-21

Paul poses 3 questions that we need to consider carefully. The first is attributed to Moses in Deuteronomy 32:19-21. Moses is telling the people that the Lord has been angered by their disobedience. They have turned their lives toward false gods, and the one true God will now turn his face toward other nations, and the love that he shows toward them will be taken away from Israel.
The Lord tried over and over for hundreds of years to convince Israel that his way was created simply to give them a founded hope in him. But few would ever come to him through Jesus. And quite honestly, I’m not sure that he has given up on Israel even now! It is just that they no longer have him exclusively – that salvation has now been opened up to every other nation, and it will come to all simply by faith in Christ.

And even though Israel still resists the message of eternal hope, and even though they have been given every opportunity to accept him, they are very unhappy that others are now being given hope in the Lord. They had it all, but refused to acknowledge the fullness of the one who offered it to them many years before.

The second and third questions are based in Isaiah’s prophecy. In Isaiah 65:1-5, the prophet offers these words from God – “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations”. This was initially a judgment on Israel, but think about all the people who the Lord has called during the last 2,000 years! It no longer matters who you are, or what you have done, or how long you have resisted God’s way, or who and what you have worshipped in the past – the only thing that matters is whether you accept the Lord for who he is, and for what he has taught and done for each of us.

The passage from Deuteronomy 32 also tells us that God is “jealous” of the fact that so many – Israel in the former days, and now most of the people of earth – refuse to accept the message that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we see jealousy as meaning distrustful or suspicious. But God’s jealousy is more along the lines of “hurt”. The Lord is ‘hurt” every time that we trust in our own judgment, in our own understanding, in our accepting of the ways of earth instead of following the way that has been created for us by God in Christ.

Every time someone turns a deaf ear and cold heart to Jesus, the Lord is “hurt”, but at the same time, there will be someone else who will hear the Lord say “Here I am! And I am here for you.” And what is the message that some seek and accept, while others impulsively deny? It is the basis for our faith.

The message is this – that we are to put our trust and faith in the cleansing blood of Calvary, and in the death that Christ accepted in our place, and in the resurrection that carried Jesus from the darkness of the tomb and into new life eternal - that by accepting this act of love, given by God to all who will believe, the death sentence that each of us so richly deserves will be destroyed.

That is the call that is upon every single person on earth, and as we grow in that call, and as our faith becomes stronger and surer, we discover that the life we live will also change in recognition of who Jesus is for us. This is the message that can change the world, if only someone will carry it, and share it, and encourage others to claim it.

Never get discouraged. Never give up. Never hesitate. Never change the message to make it more acceptable to the world. Never try to make our own way in the world. Never go in our own direction. And never decide that it just isn’t worth the effort! That is who the Lord’s messengers must be.

Will you be that kind of messenger for Jesus Christ?