8/10/25 Romans 10:5-15 “Show and Tell!”

04 Aug 8/10/25 Romans 10:5-15 “Show and Tell!”

8/10/25      Romans 10:5-15        “Show and Tell!”

I remember 11 years ago when I finally finished my schooling.  I was a very happy camper.  I had learned that the only ones who will miss the best sermon ever are those who aren’t tuned in today.  They will never know the difference because they are not tuned in.  The rest of you are stuck with me in person, well, kind of in person.  This might not be the best sermon you ever hear but you are here to know, they are not.  Anyway, I was glad to be done with my 8 years of schooling but I will miss some of the people who were there with me on this journey.  It was a long journey for an old man and I would like to thank everyone again who helped me on my way.  Then I was back home with my family and my churches with my best years ahead of me.  I was back home with a more than believing heart that knows what really needs to be done and this is what Paul is talking about today.  Once I was done with all this schooling, it is time to take it to the world in the name of Jesus Christ.  It was time to be like the disciples and take the bread and fish to the people.  Let’s see if we can all find good ways to do this.

There is an old parable about an ancient philosopher who came to help a city and its people turn from their sins.  This almost sounds like Jonah and Nineveh but it’s not.  Anyway he preached to the people in whatever place he could find.  At first he had some good results but it came to a point to where no one listened to him anymore.  One day a child came up to him and asked him why he kept on doing this when the job seemed hopeless.  The old philosopher told the child, “In the beginning, I thought that I could change men.  Now if I still shout, it is only to prevent men from changing me.”  How sad but true that is today!

After I had completed my schooling where I learned many things on a scholastic level, I realized that some things were not really worth retaining.  I have tried not to let schooling change me but I know that it did.  One of the important things that I have learned came from some of my fellow students, namely Bob and Phil.  There is one thing that we can never quit doing and that is proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and King of everyone’s lives.  We are not on a hopeless task but it is a big job.  Now, the people hearing Paul’s words weren’t the only ones to benefit.  We benefit by hearing and then giving our witness.  We grow every time we tell our story.  This is true of all you people who hear this message today.  You will benefit greatly if you give your witness and so will others who hear you.  It’s a win-win situation.

Often times we get caught up in someone else’s situation at the expense of our own.  This is what I mean.  How often do we look down on someone and think that they aren’t saved?  It happens all the time because we have a tendency to think we are superior to the unsaved after we have been saved.  You have all seen people like this.  Sometimes I think, but I know it’s not true, that there are whole denominations like this.

This is what Paul is talking about in the first part of this passage.  He is telling his listeners that it is of no use to point out that this person is going to heaven and that person is going to hell.  And by the way, my theology professor, Dr. Chun, pointed out that there is such a place as hell and it is far worse than we imagine.  He also said not to confuse hell with Hades.  He told us that in Biblical times, Hades was a place where all the dead went.  It was a place for the dead and you could never come back from Hades.  This is an important concept when Jesus died and descended to the dead or Hades.  This means to the ancients that Jesus was actually dead.  The miracle was that He came back from the dead.  There has been lots of speculation that He was in hell and this and that but Dr. Chun says otherwise.  I will also say that Dr. Chun is one of the most brilliant men I have ever met.  The whole class would just be waiting for the next thing he said because so much of it was brilliant.

Anyway, Paul is telling these people not to worry about where the next person will go.  That is mere gossip and speculation.  The Scripture never tells us to do this.  The Scripture tells us to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ by our preaching, teaching and modeling our lives after Him.  It never tells us to maim or malign others just because they aren’t on the same page as we are.  Remember that we are all on a journey and every person will be at a different place.  We are called to nurture others and not torture others.

Sometimes people get so caught up in this that I wonder if they realize the damage they are doing.  Jesus came to love all people and not just the people we like or who are like us.  I have never heard Jesus say, “You have to leave this church because you don’t believe quite right.”  As a matter of fact, He said just the opposite.  “Come to me all you who are tired and weary.”  This is why I try to tell you to invite anyone and everyone that you meet.  Don’t invite them to save them but invite them because they need to see and feel the love of Jesus Christ.  They need to feel our arms around them in the love of Jesus Christ.

Then Paul is telling the people of his time that they can no longer follow the Law and be saved.  Something new has happened and that is Jesus Christ.  Now remember that these people had followed the Law for centuries.  This isn’t something they took lightly and we know that because of the many times they tried to put Paul to death because of his talk about Jesus.  I can’t really liken this to anything today unless it would be changing Islam.  But think of a tradition that we have always had and what would happen if we tried to drastically change it.  There would be all kinds of resistors and there would be trouble.

Well, Jesus was radically different than what the Jewish people were used to seeing.  Jesus is trying to tell them that there is a new life possible.  If they just accept what Jesus was saying then they can now be saved for eternity.  It was real easy.  They didn’t have to follow the Law anymore.  They only have to confess their sins to Jesus, ask Him into their lives as their Lord and Savior and eternity is theirs.  This was radical for them but it shouldn’t have been.  All they had to do is read their Scriptures or our Old Testament to see all the signs pointed to Jesus as being the long awaited Savior.  Dr. Chun would say, “Read the Scriptures!”

Everything we need is in the Scriptures for us today.  When you hear someone tell you that the Bible doesn’t really mean this or that, run as fast as you can in the other direction because this person is not telling you the truth.  The Bible is the book of truth.  All the truth we will ever need is right in the Bible so beware of the wolf that tells lies.  This is usually Satan trying to lead us astray and I must say that he has done a fine job in our society.

I think one of the neat parts of this passage is that Paul tells us to point to ourselves in righteousness.  Can you do that?  Of course you can or at least most of you can.  Paul is telling his audience and us, if they or you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for it is by your heart that you believe and are justified and by your mouth that you confess.  Anyone who trusts in Jesus will not be put to shame.  This is no different for the Jew or the Gentile, for you or for your neighbors.  Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

So understand that you are special.  You are not a ‘nobody’ or something like that but rather you are special.  Most of us may not be that special in the ways of the world.  We aren’t presidents of the United States or a world class basketball player and the world may not ever know our names.  But that is ok.  Even in this world, our friends and neighbors know us.  Our families know us and love us.  All this matters but in the long run, none of this really matters.  What matters is that God knows everyone of us by name and He calls us by name.  What matters is that Jesus will be with us no matter what happens or what we do.  What matters is that Jesus loves us and considers each and every one of us to be worthy of Him, very worthy.

You are righteous, not by anything that you did but because Jesus loves you. You have a believing heart.  You try your best to love your neighbors as yourself.  You are trying to do all the things that Jesus commands you to do.  However, you also fail in this.  Here is a little news flash for you.  We all fail at this.  I fail at this.  This doesn’t mean that Jesus does not love you.  It does not mean that you are not righteous.  It means that you are human and you fail a bit.  It means that even though you do falter, Jesus is right there to help you along.  I praise the Lord for this because this one thought has gotten me through many jams.

You see, when I went to school, it was hard.  People my age were not made to go to school especially at that level.  There were a couple of times when I was ready to quit, pack it in and come home.  Has anyone else been pushed to the brink like this?  Anyway, when I got over my little pity party, I would remember who really loved me and cared.  Then I would turn to Jesus in prayer.  Jesus not only got me through those hard times but He is responsible for my graduating from there at age 63.  God is good!  And all the time…  Praise the Lord!

And this brings us to the last thing I want to talk about today.  Paul asks the questions, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?”  I think that we can all agree that it is hard to call on Jesus if we don’t even know him.  There is an alarming statistic out and maybe you can correct me if I’m wrong but something like 30-40% of young people, children in this country have never even heard of Jesus or the Bible or anything to do with the Good News.  If you add in all the parents of these young people, then you have a bunch of people who cannot call on Jesus because they don’t even know Him.  This is a statistic that we should be ashamed of and we need to better this somehow.

Then we have to ask ourselves how can they believe if they haven’t heard?  We have a country with millions of people who have never heard the name of Jesus.  The atheists seem to be winning.  We also love to point at all the reasons this is happening.  I will give you a free piece of information.  You are to blame because you don’t take this wonderful word out so people can hear the sweet name of Jesus.  It’s up to us to preach the Word with our words and our actions.  We can’t just talk like a Christian.  We have to actually be a Christian.  This begins in our pulpits and extends out to you folks in the pews or online.  When you see someone in trouble go to them in the name of Jesus.  We need good preachers so if you know of someone who might have some potential, let me know.  I don’t think that we have had one person go through confirmation in the ten years when I was their leader, who isn’t a more than good candidate for the ministry.  Think about that.

Paul talks about being sent.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have all been sent.  We all have gifts from God and we are to use them.  Our country is falling totally away from Christ because we, the church, are not doing our job.  Many churches are more like country clubs where worship is a show.  The physical grounds are more important than the message.  This needs to be changed and that happens when you notice your neighbor is in trouble.  It happens when you notice someone is good at preaching.  This is why I had the confirmation students give a mini-sermon.  The job of ministry belongs to all of us.

I happen to be talking with another retired pastor a while back who attended a church where we both knew the pastor but had never heard him speak.  I asked him what he thought of the sermon.  He told me that on a scale of one to ten, the person rated a -35.  -35!  That’s outrageous!  We have to do a better job of raising up new pastors.  Just because someone wants to be a pastor doesn’t necessarily mean that they are being sent from Jesus Christ. There are other things that enter into this.

I believe that we are on the edge of revival in this country.  Several years ago, I decided that we should have a revival meeting.  It was a lot of work to put it together but I’m really glad that we did.  We had guest speakers come in.  We did altar calls.  We had lots of music.  It was just a good thing to do.  I do not know if anyone came to Christ those three nights but if one person did, then it was worthwhile.

All God asks is that we do what we can to help the person in front of us to know Jesus.  Jesus loves each and every one of you.  We love Him back by being obedient.  We love Him back by showing and telling others of this love that is so undeserved and yet given to us so lavishly.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.