Romans 10

As we enter into Romans 10 we get a sort of encapsulation of the Gospel. We see that Christ is near. Our role is to confess that reality through our belief in that reality.

There is a reminder here, as Paul calls us to confess our belief, that Jesus has already done the work. Jesus is already near.

Our work is not finding Him, He is already found, it is trusting that He is already present.

When my kids were much younger they used to love to play hide and seek. You would start and I would count and they would hide. Because they were young and our house was small they always hid in obvious places. You joked and pretended you couldn’t find them and then evenutally did and everyone laughed.

Then it would be my turn. I would hide in a place that could be easily found but maybe not by younger eyes. They would look and look and not find me.

Ultimately I would have to send out a homing beacon. Whoop. I would yell. Then whoop! again. Just to help them find me.

This is the reality of God. We don’t think we can always find Him but the reality is that He is always and already near. He has never left. We may not always feel like we can see Him but He is continually showing who He is to us.

He is near. Our job is to trust HIm in that through what we say and what we believe.

Let’s look at a couple realities that Paul gives us concerning JEsus and why our call is belief.

Jesus is already near. Our role is to trust Him and tell others.

What does that mean?

First let’s look at

Jesus is closer than the words we speak and the beliefs we profess

Romans 10:4 ESV

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Paul is still expressing his desire for all people, Jews and gentiles, to be saved. He has given us an argument that God is sovereign and does what He wills

And that just because it doesn’t look like everyone is responding to God’s grace does not mean that God is stingy with mercy.

IN this chapter Paul reminds the church in Rome again that God is near. It is not with our confession and belief that God comes near. God is near and we are called to respond to that.

Paul says that Jesus is the end of the law. Meaning that when we try and complete the law we cannot. And when we cannot we find that Christ is the end. HE is the One who has completed the law for us.

We find Jesus at our every end and we find that He has completed the very thing that we haven’t been able to.

Karl Barth calls religion the highest achievement of humanity. That religion is really humanity’s attempt to connect to God or become like God. There is no greater move on our end than to practice religion.

But, Barth, in his commentary to Romans, would tell us, religion is still not enough. Religion, or keeping the law, or trying to be good enough, is still not enough. It does not get us far enough.

It can make us good people. But not good enough. Religion has a definite end. We see that in some of the frustration that it brings us. We try and behave and do well and then we are disappointed. Or we find that religion can be manipulated and people can use it for evil ends, for selfish ends.

Paul tells us that Christ is the end of our achievement, humanity’s highest end. At the end of our trying we find Christ. And He is the one who fulfills what we cannot on our own.

Look at what Hebrews says:

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Hebrews 12:2 ESV

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

No matter the end, Jesus is there. Whatever end you are facing, Jesus is present to meet you. He is at every end but He is also closer than our own words.

Look at how the passage continues.

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Romans 10:6–8 ESV

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);

Paul here is practicing contrast. He is saying, look at what this is not. Sometimes it’s helpful to understand something by understanding what it is not.

He gives us opposites in order to understand the reality.

He is saying you don’t have to ascend into heaven or have to descend in to the abyss to try and find or help out Jesus. Christ has done all the travelling and we find that all that time

“the word is near you.”

Christ is already present, our job is to in faith agree with His work in our lives. To His presence and nearness in our lives.

And He is not playing favorites.

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Romans 10:12–13 ESV

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.”

Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

It is not a matter of who you are, or who you were. It is not a matter of what you did or are doing. It is a matter of what Christ has done and where He is.

He is present. He is close.

But Paul also addresses how people know that.

Chapter 10 is a helpful summary of the theological invitation to Christ and the ecclesiological mandate of the church.

We have heard the invitation but we also have to look at who is being called to extend it

Jesus is sending those who will go and those who will share

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Romans 10:14–15 ESV

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!”

Paul asks another good question.

How will people call on Christ if they have not believed? And how do people believe if they have never heard?

And how can they hear without someone preaching?

It’s at this point that we often feel like we can relax and think, well, the preachers have it from here. There is not much else to do.

But that is not what Paul is saying.

The proclamation of the Gospel is not just for a select few people during a very specific time on a Sunday morning.

The being sent and proclaiming the Gospel is for anyone who has called on the name of Jesus.

It is the call of the church.

Look at this verse in 1 peter

1 Peter 3:15–16 ESV

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

That is not a time and space specific call. That is the call of every Christian in any circumstance.

That doesn’t mean that everyone will preach or everyone will find a streetcorner and begin yelling with a megaphone.

It does mean that we are called to be a witness of what we know and what we’ve experienced. And that the witness is to be verbalized.

That witness is to go as far as God’s presence goes. Meaning anywhere that God can possibly be is the place where God’s witness belongs.

This is the call of the church.

Romans 10:15 ESV

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!”

We are go to go to every end and to every word to show where He is. To share what He is doing.

The church is to look like what God would look like on the earth. We are the representation of Christ in the world. And I am constantly shocked that He has no plan b. The church is the picture of God in the world.

I am shocked because the church doesn’t always look like God in the world. We look like angry and indifferent groups of people.

This is why we need God in our own lives at every end and in every word. Because left to ourselves, we will usually find ways to slip in our own agendas. It’s hard not to.

Our feet are to be beautiful because our feet lead people back to Jesus. They show others where Christ is.

Showing and sharing the hope of Christ takes words and actions. It is the both and of the church. We have to proclaim Christ but we also have to go, we have to move our bodies, we have to demonstrate.

We want to show that Christ is in every end and Christ is in every word.

That takes our feet showing and sharing.

The conductors of the Japanese rail system use something called point and call. The Japanese train system transports 12 billion people a year.

And it is among the safest in the world.

Those who run the train demonstrate something called point and call.

They have to say what they are doing but they also have to show it.

So if the conductor is coming to a stop, they will say the place where they are stopping and then point to it on the tracks and point to it on the schedule.

If the ticket usher is calling for everyone to come aboard, they will speak that but then will also point to the entrance.

The reason for doing this is to raise awareness. By utilizing their bodies in pointing they are showing the importance of what they are saying.

The church is called to point and call. We are called to show people what Christ is like through how we live our lives. That is pointing. Then we are to call and share what Christ has done. We have both to do.

We all have to live at some point with the reality of JEsus in our lives. We have to do something with Christ.

For some of us it’s to confess that Christ is closer than our end and our words. He is present and near us, not far from any one of us.

For some of us it’s to believe that Christ is closer because He loved us enough to rescue us

For some of us it’s to show the world who and where Christ is though how we point and call to the reality of Jesus.

In any and every case, Christ is not far from any one of us. Some of us need to invite Him into our lives through belief and some of us need to demonstrate that belief.

In any case we make much of Jesus who is at every end and closer even than our words.