“The Word and the Name”

Scripture: Romans 10:1-15

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that isn’t the end of our commitment – it is only the beginning of what it means for our lives. Jesus has set a new covenant in place – one that replaces the first one that was made many years before. The people had been promised that the Almighty would be their God, and that they would be his people (Exodus 6:7-8), but in Jeremiah 7:23, a caveat was added to the promise – that it would continue to be in effect, as long as they obeyed God! If they didn’t, Leviticus 26:14-33 says that all promises would be null and void, and calamity would reign in their lives.

The old covenant was totally based on adherence to God’s law, and through the ages, Israel added more and more requirements to the law in an attempt to ensure that it was never broken. Sacrifice would be used to seek forgiveness for their failures, but this would become a never ending requirement, even to the extent that it had to be made daily! The law became more and more difficult to keep, and Israel would slip further and further from the Lord’s will.

But there was a plan to set the covenant right. Christ would come to be the perfect sacrifice, made on our behalf, and in Luke 22:20, we read that the new covenant would no longer be based in the law, but in the shedding of Christ’s blood at Calvary. The new covenant would be received by faith in Christ, not by perfection in us, and the minutiae of legal detail in the law of Moses would be supplanted by Jesus’ teaching on the word of God.

So what is that word for each of us?

Read Romans 10:1-4

Paul had once been, by his own confession, the “ultimate” Jew (Philippians 3:4-6) – a man totally committed to following the law, as well as one who expected that same commitment from others. He zealously persecuted the followers of Jesus wherever he could find them - until, that is, the day that he finally met the Risen Lord on that road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-18). After that, he did his best to love those very ones who he had hated so much in the past, and he carried the word of God with him to share with all who would listen. But even as his mission has turned to the salvation of gentiles, he would never give up on praying that his fellow countrymen would also turn their lives back to God.

He readily acknowledges that the Jews have a great enthusiasm for the Lord, but that it is based in their own understanding, and not in the wisdom of God. Righteousness and faithfulness can never be defined by our own desires and ways, but must always be lived by following in the ways of Jesus. Depending on adherence to the law for salvation didn’t work in the past, and it will never work throughout eternity. But that doesn’t mean that God’s way is no longer important for our lives – we must still strive to follow the Godly steps of Christ as part of our Christian witness.

The law was given to Israel, and by the first covenant, Israel was offered God’s promise. But Christ, in overturning the law as a means to eternity, has also opened salvation up to all who believe, not just the Jews.

Read Romans 10:5-13

Our love of God is no longer evidenced by the things we do. Dedication to the law is a “head” submission to God; following the word of God in Christ Jesus is an obedience that comes from the heart. Paul offers a quotation from Deuteronomy 30:11-14, in which even Moses tells us that receiving the word of God is not so very difficult; that it isn’t confined to heaven where someone has to go up to claim it and bring it back to us, it isn’t so far away that someone will have to journey great distances and endure great hardships to discover it and then bring it back to us. No, he says, the word of God is perfectly near to us right now – it is “in our mouth and in our heart so we may obey it”.

Yes, it is true that we use our mind to read and study and learn about God’s word, but if that knowledge remains in our head, and never moves to our heart, the fullness of the Lord’s truth will continue to escape from our lives, and the world’s false wisdom will fill the void that hollow faith leaves behind.
And when the Word fills our heart, it will also settle on our tongue, and whenever we speak, the truth of God will be revealed to others. And those human words that then emanate from our heart will be both our confession and the evidence of our faith. Believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, and that he was crucified and risen into new life!

But what if our life’s testimony does not reflect the teachings that we have received from Jesus? It simply means that even though we may have heard the gospel message, we haven’t actually learned it and accepted it. That is what sin is – knowing, but still failing, and that is a burden that we all carry.

Paul continues with the thought that even though we may fall short, if we continue to trust in Christ and his word, we will never be put to shame. The intent here is that we will do our very best to never stumble over the word again. Isaiah 28:16 tells us that a cornerstone, the foundation and reference for our faith, has been set in place for us, and that the true believer will trust the substance of that “stone” against all that the world can ever bring against us.

Read Romans 10:14-15

Paul raises the question of how anyone might come to trust in the foundation of God’s word that resides in the life of Jesus Christ. And he offers four rhetorical, but self answering, questions that are to give us affirmation of what God would have us do - that first, can anyone trust in the Perfect Foundation if they have never believed in him; second, how can they ever believe, if they have never heard about the way and truth of Christ; third, how can they hear if no one has ever shared the gospel with them; and fourth, how can anyone share the Good News if they haven’t been called to do that very thing?

Each of these steps is predicated on a successful outcome from the previous one, and the truth is that each step can easily fail due to human will. The listener can decide that believing isn’t worth their time to learn and accept; the one who shares the gospel can decide that they would prefer to avoid witnessing to others, and refuses to respond to the call that the Lord places on their lives. Our ears hear, our mind processes, but it is our heart that believes and our tongue that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Jesus is my Lord; Jesus is my Savior. What do those words really mean for us? The prophet Joel (2:32) wrote that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, just as the Lord has called on all to become his people. But how do we call on that precious Name? Is it by rote or by obligation? If so, the words are still coming from our mind. But if we call by love and trust and recognition of Jesus for who he truly is, then his word has truly taken up residence in our heart, and will flow across our tongue.

Do we love the truth that comes from Almighty God Himself? Do we live the faith we have received? Every moment? Of every day? In every way possible?

How beautiful are your feet?