10-12-2019

Good Morning All,

  Romans 10:13; “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

    Our group of Lutheran churches have joint confirmation classes once a month.  I find them to be very enjoyable and enlightening.  Hopefully, for the small churches that bring one or two students, they do not feel so alone when they see there are seventy or so of them in the area.  The pastors take turns teaching the class and it gets interesting.  During a break in the session I just taught, one bright young man asked me about the “contradictions in the Bible”

    First, I told him that there are no contradictions in the Bible.  We may not understand or, more likely, we misuse the Bible for our own ends and that leads to trouble.  But I let him choose the path and we went down it.  He asked how does this verse, this part of Romans, match up with the part in Matthew 7 where Jesus says, “not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Apparently, he had been challenged by a friend or acquaintance and wondered what was what.

    Since time was short, we went right to the heart.  This is Scripture showing us the difference between knowing about God and knowing God as the one in whom we place our faith.  I talk to many people who will tell me they know all they need to know about God.  The conversation goes like this, “I know who God is and I know who Jesus is and that is good enough.”  They walk away, smug in their answer, and I hear the words of Matthew in the back of my head, “not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord will enter.

    So how does this fit with Romans 10?  Romans 10 is spoken by people of faith, people who truly place their faith in God.  Romans 10 speaks to people who know God, not just about God.  In Matthew, Jesus is portraying the truth that faith changes you.  Faith changes the way you speak, the way you act, the way you treat people, the way you look at life in general.  True faith is seen in your life.  The way you live is the way you believe.  If you truly trust in God’s saving grace, you will live and act in that manner.  If you do not believe that God’s grace has been poured out upon you then you live another way.  You can think that you know all about God.  You can even go through the motions of religion but without faith, they are empty and hollow.  They are, like Jesus called the Pharisees, “whitewashed tombs”.

    As class began, you could tell the young man was thinking a little more broadly about how the entirety of Scriptures covers our whole life.  He was thinking and that is always good.  I hope next month to see him again and visit some more.  Hopefully, he truly calls upon the Lord, he sees God’s grace as abundant in his life and he lives as one who trusts in God’s loving will.  Hopefully, you will also.

Father, you give me faith to move mountains yet too often I let it lie dormant.  Move me by your Holy Spirit to trust in your great mercy and to know you as my only Savior.  Be with those who struggle mightily this day and give them the courage, the confidence and to find the comfort in your holy name.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret