When I was in college, a rather large number of guys in my dorm watched the soap opera “Days of our Lives”. Now I remember sitting down with them one time and watching it. In that episode, a woman named Hope was caught in an avalanche while skiing. She was lost and everyone was worried that they would never find her. So one of the main characters said to her family in a comforting voice, “We have to have faith that we’ll find Hope.” “We have to have faith that we’ll find Hope.”
Faith. We hear that word so often in our world today. But, on what does the world base it’s faith? “We have to have faith that we’ll find Hope?” For many faith is merely a desperate hand reaching out in the dark hoping to find it’s way. It’s our last option when all else fails. But God presents faith as something very different. It’s true that faith is based on things we cannot see with our physical eyes. As the Bible says, “Faith is being sure of what you hope for, and certain of what you do not see.” But our faith is not a desperate hand reaching out in the dark. Ours is not a foolish, unsure hope without basis. No, our faith has a solid foundation and therefore affects every aspect of our life. I want you now to listen again to our second reading for this morning and I want you to think about what our faith is based upon and also how it directly affects our lives...
I. May our faith have a solid foundation
Did you catch the foundation for our faith? It’s actually expressed in a bunch of different phrases here in our text: That Jesus is Lord; that God the Father raised him from the dead; that God justifies and saves us. This morning I would really like to focus on the first one: that our faith is based on that fact that Jesus is Lord.
What’s in a name? My name is Andrew. It’s a good name. It fits me well, but it really doesn’t describe me. You know, Andrew originally meant “Manly or Macho.” Even though that is very true, I don’t think that really gets to the essence of who I am. Do you know what Jesus’ name means? It means “He saves” or “Savior.” You know, we talk about Jesus being our Savior all the time, but do we really think about what that means? First and foremost it means that if he is our Savior, then we are in need of saving, of being rescued.
You know, we don’t like to think about that. Our pride doesn’t want to hear about sin. Our society tells us to go to churches that tell us that “I’m OK, you’re OK.” That sin and hell aren’t real. But, if that’s true, what do we believe in? If we believe that Jesus is our Savior and yet we don’t believe that we need to be saved, our faith is based on nothing.
But, sin is real. And when we’re truly honest with ourselves, we know it. We look around and see the evil, hate and selfishness of the world. When we look honestly within ourselves we see anger, pride and selfishness. And the Bible tells us clearly what that selfishness and pride deserves. The wages of sin is death. Eternal death in hell.
But we believe that Jesus is our Savior. He himself told us that he did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom to rescue the world. With his perfect life and innocent death on the cross, Jesus paid the ransom and set us free from death, the devil and the guilt of sin. And so because of Jesus our Savior, God justifies us as we see in verse ten. He’s the judge that declares us innocent, because Jesus has already suffered the death penalty on our behalf.
And, this Jesus is our Lord. In the New Testament, the word Lord is used as the translation for the Old Testament name Jehovah. Our faith is based on the fact that Jesus is Jehovah. The name Jehovah literally means, “I am.” God is the great I am. And what better name could there be to describe him? He always is and always will be. He never changes.
And that’s important. Our faith is based upon a Savior/God whose love never changes. When he promises us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” He means it. You know, in this world, we never know who to trust. Even the people we love the most seem to let us down all the time. But God won’t let us down. When he promises, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, he’ll keep that promise. When he promises, I will be with you always; that nothing can separate you from my love; all things work for the good of those who love God... He’ll keep his word.
So our faith is not some vague last measure when all else fails, one final desperate hope. No, it is based upon the promises of our faithful, never changing Savior God. And where does this faith come from? Well, verse 17 tells us: Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Ours is not a blind faith. True, to believe in God means that we let ourselves fall back in the arms of our protecting God even though we don’t see him with our physical eyes. But we do see him, through his Word. We have the eye witness accounts of those who saw God made man in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes to see God and know him through the Word. And so without that word, any faith we have is just some vague desperation, a hand grasping for hope in the dark.
Now I’d give you one encouragement as well. When asked why they think they are going to heaven, many people say, “Because I have faith.” But is that the best way to answer? Is the reason why we go to heaven because I believe or because Jesus died for my sins. Let us always trust in the object of our faith and not in the faith itself. Why do I get to go to heaven? Because Jesus died for my sins. Faith is just the open hand that receives that gift of heaven.
II. May our faith share what it believes.
So now since our faith is not some last ditch desperate hope, but rather the well-founded confidence in God’s love, it will affect our whole lives. When we see the love of our Savior God, when we look down in our hands and see that gift of heaven that he has given us, we will want to thank him. What we believe affects who we are and how we live. If we have faith, we are going to confess that faith as it says here in our text. We are going to call on the name of Lord to worship and thank him.
You know, it’s kind of like an apple tree. If the roots of the tree are alive, what will it produce? Apples, right? Well, having faith is like having living roots. We are naturally going to produce fruit. Nobody tells an apple tree that it has to produce apples, it just does it naturally. It’s the same thing with us as Christians, the stronger our roots, the stronger our faith is, the more fruit we will produce. And so how do we strengthen our roots? Well, reading God’s Word, taking Holy Communion, remembering our baptism are the ways in which God waters us. The more we get of them, the more fruit we will produce.
And our text gives us one big example of that fruit. That we share with others the good news of how God has saved us. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! Now I could take my shoes off right now and show you that my feet aren’t quite so beautiful. But it’s not my feet in and of themselves that are beautiful, but rather because of the incredible message they are carrying. What a blessing and privilege to be able to help a person who is tormented by his or her sins to see and feel the comfort of God’s forgiveness. What a blessing and privilege to bring an unbelieving friend or family member into the family of God.
Now I want you to know right upfront, as we see here in Romans, not everyone is going to believe. But don’t we at least want to give them a chance? Is the fact that some will refuse to believe in God a reason to deny others the opportunity? Paul makes a really good point here. He asks us: How 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 I’ll even add one question to this. If they don’t believe, where are they going to go when they die? God tells us clearly in his Word, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe will be condemned. And this believing is not just some generic faith in a higher power, nor the desire to find hope, but rather the confidence that Jesus Christ is our Savior from sin.
And you know, the thing is, we don’t have to be fanatics. There’s no reason to come across as some Bible thumping know-it-all, goody two shoes that nobody ever wants to talk to. But rather, we can be lights, reflecting Christ’s love for us. We can live our lives as God would have us, showing the confidence and peace that we have in Jesus. Trust me, people will notice. They’ll get curious. They’ll ask. How can you be so calm when you know your dying of cancer? How can you deal with people in such a kind way when they treat you like jerks? And then you have the opportunity to share with them the love of Jesus in a non-obtrusive way, in a way that isn’t in your face Christianity.
And in the same way you can invite your friends and family that you know don’t go to church to come and hear the good news of the Gospel. “Hey, you know there’s a new church here in Doral. I think you might like it, it might be just what you’re looking for. You want to come with me next Sunday and check it out?” I don’t think any of our friends or family or neighbors would consider that offensive.
As many of you know, in two weeks, on March 18th, we are going to begin to have Sunday School and Adult Bible Class at about 10:15, or in other words, following the English service and a brief break. Now what I am proposing, and I would like to know what you think, is that we make it a “Friendship Sunday.” That we use March 18th as a way to do what Paul tells us here in Romans. That we each take it upon ourselves to invite a friend or family member, co-worker or neighbor to come and “check out” the new church in Doral. Invite neighbor’s kids or your children’s friends to come along. Again, if nobody tells them about Jesus and his love, how are they going to know? And we’ll talk more about that next week as we look deeper into how our faith affects our lives. But get going on thinking about somebody that you could invite.
For now, be sure that your faith is founded on the sure promises of God. Heaven is yours, not because you’ve earned it, not because you have faith, but because Jesus won it for you, because God has given you faith. And now may this faith produce fruit in your lives. As we say every Sunday at the end of the service: Brothers and Sisters: Go in peace, live in harmony with one another, serve the Lord with gladness. Amen.
