5th Sunday After Pentecost The Very Rev. Steven J. Belonick 2016

Transcription

1 5th Sunday After Pentecost 2016 The Very Rev. Steven J. Belonick 2016 I. Let me say just a few words this morning about the reading that we just heard from St Paul s letter to the Romans. I want to focus on verse 9 (turn to it). Paul says that if we confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. St Paul is saying that the Faith that is saving joins what we say with our mouths and what we believe in our hearts. In other words, Faith requires a MOUTH-HEART connection. II. Paul s words are found within a chapter that he probably felt hard to write. In this chapter, he expressed his sadness over his people Israel. He was heartbroken over them because they ignored God s way for them to be right with Him. Instead, they thought they knew better thinking that they could be saved 1

2 by following rules and regulations. We humans have a tendency to do the same, even in the 21 st century. III. Paul told them that what really matters when it comes to faith is to confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord. In putting these two words together LORD JESUS - Paul would have shocked his readers because they used the word LORD only for God. They did not refer to God by His Name YAHWEH because it was too holy to be used. Instead, they referred to Him as Adonai which is translated, the LORD. Adonai was the one who was in charge; the one who had power and authority; the one who had slaves who obeyed him. For the Jews who were considering the Christian Faith, Paul s combining of the words LORD JESUS meant that Jesus, the person born in Bethlehem and the carpenter s son, was in fact God. He was not simply A lord, but THE LORD. The name LORD JESUS therefore was a test of faith. And to confess Him 2

3 with your mouth, as such, meant that you had come to accept Him as the One Who was in control, the One who had power and authority over you; the One whom you would obey in every realm of life. We can only imagine what a leap this was for the Jews. III. For Gentiles, to call Jesus, the LORD JESUS was also earthshaking, because the word LORD was a word typically used to refer to the Roman Emperor. Emperors considered themselves to be gods. In fact, in 83 AD, Emperor Domitian made his subjects call him MASTER AND GOD. So for the Gentile to call Jesus LORD JESUS - meant that you were transferring obedience and worship from the Emperor to Jesus. Jesus, then, held the supreme place in your life. As you can imagine, this was a dangerous thing to do. So, the word LORD, was in fact the touchstone of faith for both the Jews and the Gentiles. It wasn t simply a title. It had consequences. 3

4 IV. St Paul not only connects living faith with confessing the Lord Jesus with one s mouth, but also with believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Simply, FAITH required a conviction of the heart, which the ancients believed to be the center of a person s being. For Paul, then, confessing with our mouths and being convicted in our hearts was inseparable. And this mouth-heart connection was the definition of personal trust in God. And it is through this trust in the Lord Jesus that we are saved. Words, then, matter and the conviction of the heart matters. V. This is the starting place for us. Everything proceeds from whether or not we can call Jesus LORD with all that that implies. Jesus asked His disciples: Who do you say that I am? He didn t ask them: Do you appreciate my teachings? Do you appreciate my worldview? No. He asked them, Who do you say that I 4

5 am. He asks us the same question. Hopefully, we can answer: You are the Lord and I confess you with my mouth to everyone who will listen, and I believe it with my whole heart, and I live my life in a way that expresses that faith. If we can say this, then Jesus will respond to us, Your faith has saved you. Amen. 5