Compelled to Confess

Romans 10:5-13    

Everybody knows Frank.  In fact, everybody kind of avoids Frank.  He is such a drain.  Frank is walking negativity.  He is negativity in the flesh.  If you ask Frank how he is doing today, you will soon find out that his neck hurts;  that his neighbors are stupid; that it’s so hot outside that he really just wants to die.  Frank never seems to have a pleasant thought and it does not take a rocket scientist to know that is because deep in Frank’s heart he is not a happy man.

I am sure that we all know a Frank and at times we ourselves have been a Frank.  Our outlook on life can sometimes be so marred by bad happenings that all we want to do is complain.  Then, this complaining becomes a habit.  And soon, every word out of our mouths is a complaint, all because deep down inside we’ve come to believe that life stinks.  We to believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths through our complaints that life stinks.  It is a rule of thumb that how we feel about life in general or rather what we really believe about the very nature of our existence will nearly always be revealed in our conversations, if not by what we say, then by how we say it.  What we believe in our hearts, we will inevitably confess with our lips.

Paul says that those who find themselves believing in their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead and confessing with their lips that he is Lord will find salvation.  This means in its simplest form that if we have come to the conviction that almost two thousand years ago God did raise a man, Jesus of Nazareth, from the dead we will find true hope.  We will find a whole new world where we really experience the power of God at work.  We will find that the life we had that was so full of heartaches, complications and questions has passed away and we are being changed to being hope-filled people.

Because we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we will inevitably find that what comes out of our mouths reflects that Jesus is Lord.  In fact, we will be compelled to confess that Jesus is Lord.  Just as our old friend Frank was compelled to complain by his fundamental belief that life stinks, so we by the hope that is in our hearts that God did indeed raise Jesus from the dead and will raise us from the dead and therefore death is not the last word in God’s good creation are compelled to confess that Jesus is Lord.  He is God’s last word.

When we confess that Jesus is Lord we confess that there is no power on earth greater than him, and we will demonstrate this by living by his teachings.  Confessing Jesus as Lord does not end when we speak the words.  The power in the hope of resurrection given to us by the Holy Spirit will enable us to live like people who are certain that what we hope in is true.  We will live with joy.

Our scripture today states that if we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, then we will be saved.  Salvation has two aspects.  First, we are saved in the end from God’s final judgment on sin because of faith.  We know that God is our only hope, that the power which raised Christ from the dead will also raise us.  Secondly, we are saved now.  The hope that God has given to us keeps us from the self-imposed hell in which our old friend Frank lives.  The hope of our salvation compels us to live differently, to talk differently – to love.  This change in our hearts and in our behavior is a manifestation of God’s kingdom on this earth, a manifestation of our coming salvation.

Today is not Easter when we would typically hear a sermon like this.  Today is the first Sunday of Lent.  Sermons on this day usually deal with how to deal with Temptation – Money, Sex, Power, Chocolate, and Coffee.  But, we won’t consider that kind of temptation this morning.  Years ago the theologian Karl Barth said we should start the day with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.  Reading the news today it is obvious that there is a pall of hopelessness overshadowing the world.  Its like Frank suddenly became a news media mogul.  Our greatest temptation as a people of faith today is buying into this hopelessness and living accordingly.  Hopeless people do dreadful things in the attempt either to live for now or to not live at all.  Today, since it’s Lent, the Soul-searching Season of the Church year, let us each search ourselves to see what we really believe in our hearts.  Each one of us must ask inwardly, “Do I feel the hope?  Do I feel the change?  Do I feel the power which God raised Jesus from the dead raising me from the dead?  Am I being saved?”  If so, let us celebrate this meal together in the hope that God has given us by raising Jesus from the dead making him Lord and Giver of Life in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

A Heartfelt Confession

Text: Romans 10:8-13

           We don’t hide what’s in our hearts very well. What we believe and feel deep down will in one way or another come out in our outward expressions. Believe it or not people are an easy read if you just watch them for a while. If we do try to hide what’s in there as if to play a bluff in the great poker game of life, it will affect our sense of integrity to the point of where we begin to feel like we are living a lie and it becomes destructive. So it is best we just be open with what’s in there difficult though that may be.

           Another thing worth saying is that when we do act upon what is in our heart what comes forth in our outward expressions, in our words might I say, it sets in motion a chain of events that is so often irrevocable. This may be why we are so reluctant with trying to be open with what’s truly deep within us. For, when we open up, reality for us will change. Our words, our actions are powerful things for in them we posses the capability literally to change the course of history. So, if you think you are insignificant in the course of things, think again. It is an awesome thing that history is shaped to a large extent by the outward expressions of the hearts of people. Then to think that the Trinity works in and through this chaos to bring his gracious will about is an even greater mystery.

           When Paul here writes, quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” he is reflecting upon this powerful relationship between what’s in the heart and how it comes forth in our outward expressions with the ability to alter history. Except in this case he is talking about the Word of God, the outward expression of the heart of the Trinity which has ultimate sway on our lives and history by creating faith in us and more importantly by transforming our hearts with the power of Jesus Christ’s resurrection to reflect his own. This Word is the Trinity expressing his powerful, gracious love—his heart—into the human heart and thereby altering human history to sway our course towards the final day when his steadfast love and faithfulness put an end to the chaotic mess created by our acting out the self-bentness of our own hearts; the day when the heart of humanity and the heart of the Trinity are one. From his heart the Trinity spoke the Word of creation that brought everything into existence and gives us life. From his heart the Trinity spoke the Word of grace in Jesus Christ by him united himself to humanity, took upon himself the consequence of our self-bentness, suffered, died, and went to hell for us, and was raised from death, victorious over it, and now he reigns in power for us at the right hand of the Father. The Trinity continues to speak that Word today through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts and guides our outward expressions to be expressions of the loving heart of the Trinity.

           Have you ever wondered what that “sitting at the right hand of God the Father" is all about that we confess in the Apostles Creed and indeed, it is what is at the heart of what we confess when we say “Jesus is Lord?” It means first that Christ has really taken human life into the heart and life of the Trinity and this cannot do other than transform our self-bent hearts to be like Jesus' own. Just as the life of the Trinity entered into the life of humanity the moment Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb so also now in him, through his cross and resurrection and ascension, he has taken human life back into the life of the Trinity.

Now that’s pretty deep and abstract I know and doesn’t make much sense until you realize that it is real not only in heaven but also real to us here on earth from whom heaven is veiled through our union with the Trinity through Christ Jesus in the Holy Spirit, our bit of grace. For Jesus to sit at the Father's right hand is for us by means of our union to him in the Holy Spirit to sit in the unmerited favour of the Father's blessing which is the Trinity’s very presence with us. It is to sit in the Father's presence in Christ by our union to him in the free gift of the Holy Spirit given to us on account of Jesus faithfulness and obedience and his alone. To sit in the Trinity’s presence is to sit in the creative Word of the Trinity’s own heart that saves us and that word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. It is the confession that “Jesus is Lord” that arises out of our own hearts as a result of the Trinity leading us to trust in him and his love for us.

           We cannot make the confession of Jesus’ Lordship unless we believe in our hearts that the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit raised him from the dead. This believing isn’t something we just up and do. Faith comes about as a result of the Trinity being in relationship with us and therein proving to us his steadfast love and faithfulness. Then the Trinity seals faith upon our hearts by sending the Holy Spirit to live in us. The Holy Spirit's presence with us is the proof of the Trinity's love for us. It is his love, his self. The Holy Spirit's presence with and in us attests to us the ultimate proof of the Trinity’s love that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. It attests to the fact that the Trinity raised Jesus from the dead and that he now sits at the Father’s right hand reigning in power for us as the Lord of all creation. The Spirit testifies to us that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life for us. He is the loving presence of the Trinity’s own heart with us that speaks the word of new life into us and saves us now and for eternity. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to say with courage that Jesus Christ is “my” Lord. Therefore, we strive to serve him and not ourselves or any other idol. He is who lives in our hearts and makes our lives his own. Our lives are hidden with Christ Jesus in the life of the Trinity as Paul writes, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4). We can no longer trust anything but him and we will be saved.

           The first question of the Heidelberg Catechism reads: What is your only comfort in life and in death? The answer is: “That I with body and soul, both in life and in death am not my own, but belong to my faithful saviour Jesus Christ; who with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.” I don’t think I can say it any better than that. That’s the Word of faith from the heart of the Trinity which changes our hearts so that his Word is our word. Amen.