august 13 2023
August 13th 2023
Old Testament: Job 38:4-18
Psalm: Psalm 18:1-18
Epistle: Romans 10:5-17
Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33
Sermon Text: Romans 10:5-17
Sermon Title: “Faith Comes From Hearing”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Where were you, when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding”. (Job 38:4) “Do not say in your heart, who will ascend to heaven … or, who will descend into the abyss”. (Romans 10:6b-7a) “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved”. (Romans 10:13) “So, faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ”. (Romans 10:17)
In the Old Testament reading, Job has been through the wringer, losing nearly everything that was of any value to him. He had for the most part remained faithful to God, but even Job was beginning to question God’s judgment in allowing these horrible things to happen to him. It is for this reason that God addresses him, reminding him by asking a series of questions, who is in charge here. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding”; (Job 38:4) you who know more than God.
After this lengthy questioning from God, Job responds “I have spoken once … but I will proceed no further”. (Job 40:5) He confesses, “I uttered what I did not understand … therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes”. (Job 42:3b, 6) As we heard last Sunday in Romans, even in bad times, “God is working all things together for our good”. (Romans 8:28a)
Paul begins this morning, “for Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them, but the righteousness based on faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven? (that is to bring Christ down) or, Who will descend into the abyss (that is to bring Christ up from the dead”. (Romans 10:5-7)
What Paul is saying is that no one is capable of the perfect righteousness demanded by God’s Law, but Christ has come down from heaven, and being both true God and true man fulfilled the whole law for us and atoned for our sins by His death in the cross. “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised (bodily from the dead) for our justification”. (Romans 4:25)
The Word of God’s Law condemns all who reject it and all who fail to keep it perfectly, which is why we are in desperate need of God’s grace and mercy. The Law always condemns and accuses us. So, Christ does not require us to search for Him in the highest heaven or the lowest abyss, instead He comes to us in His means of grace; the Word and Sacrament. So, salvation is not a matter of doing or earning, but rather of receiving.
Paul then asks, “what does it say? The Word is near you; in your mouth and in your heart (that is the Word that we proclaim)”. (Romans 10:8) “The (Word of the) Gospel is the source of faith because it both invites us and also creates faith”; (LSB note on 10:8) for we do not create faith in our own hearts or decide to believe in Him. The rest of our text this morning, which is likely familiar to you, continues to speak of the Word of the Gospel and how it relates to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith and confession of faith are joined together in the next verses, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved”. (Romans 10:9-10) Our confession is that “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9); but what does this mean?
Well, in his Large Catechism on the Second article of the Apostle’s Creed, Martin Luther focuses on the phrase, “in Jesus Christ our Lord”. Then he asks “what does it mean that Jesus is Lord? It means that He has redeemed me from sin, from the devil, from death, and all evil. Before this, I had no Lord and king, but was captive under the power of the devil. I was condemned to death and entangled in sin and blindness”. (Large Catechism, Second Article, par. 27)
But, through Christ our Lord’s atoning death and bodily resurrection, “He has snatched us poor lost creatures from the jaws of hell, won us, freed us, and restored us to the Father’s favor and grace … our Lord and Redeemer has brought us back form the devil to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness and keeps us safely there … ”. (Large Catechism, Second Article, par. 30-31) This is what it means to call Jesus Lord and this is what we “believe, teach, and confess” in our churches.
Paul continues, “for the Scripture says, everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. (never be embarrassed or ashamed for trusting in someone who is unreliable) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him”. (Romans 10:11-12)
Here Paul declares his hope that since Jesus is “Lord of all”, some of the Jews will one day repent of their unbelief and turn to Christ, “for God our Savior desires all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”. (1st Timothy 2:4) Holy Scripture declares in several places, “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord (Jesus) will be saved”. (Romans 10:13, Acts 2:21, and Joel 2:32)
But how will those who have never heard of Christ come to Him? Paul next asks four rhetorical questions. “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach, unless they are sent”. (Romans 10:14-15a)
Paul is pointing out that everything necessary for our salvation has already been done by God and that the proclamation of the Word is the means that He uses to bring people to saving faith; what Paul calls elsewhere, “it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe”. (1st Corinthians 1:21b)
Thanks be to God that He has provided the way for the good news of the Gospel to go out into the world. Jesus said to His disciples before His ascension, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Whoever does not believe will be condemned”. (Mark 16:15b-16) “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations … baptizing them … teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”. (Matthew 28:19b-20a)
This is what we call in the church the “Office of the Holy Ministry”. The church continues to send out ministers of the Word; “As it is written; how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news” (Romans 10:15b) of Jesus’ atoning death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. This is the message that is “the power of God for salvation for all who believes; to the Jew … and also to the Greek”. (Romans 1:16b)
In the Augsburg Confession, Article IV on Justification, “it is taught that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God on our own merits or works … but that we receive forgiveness of sins and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith”. Immediately after this most important doctrine of justification, the reformers speak of the Office of the Ministry in Article V.
There we confess “to obtain such faith, God instituted the Office of the Ministry … providing the Gospel and the Sacraments. Through these, as through means, He gives the Holy Spirit who works faith, when and where He wills through the hearing of the Gospel”. (A. C. Article V, par. 1-2) Article XIV of the A. C. also states, “It is taught among us that no one should publicly teach or preach or administer the Sacraments in the church without a proper call”. “No one” means “no one”!
No individual may take it upon themselves to preach or administer the Sacraments without proper authority. But what about emergencies? First of all, let us define an emergency. It does not mean a mere inconvenience, but rather “imminent danger of death or severe spiritual anguish and affliction, combined with the inaccessibility of any orthodox ministers”. (Marquart, “The Church”, page 163)
These are rare exceptions of course; for example, a lay person can baptize a child if it is believed that the child is dying and the pastor is unable to make it. There is even a form for this in the Small Catechism. Or if two lay people are isolated because of an emergency, one person can and should announce Christ’s forgiveness to the other. But this is only for emergencies and the normal practice/order is to resume when the emergency is over.
However, it needs to be said that there is no such thing as an “emergency Lord’s Supper”. Luther cites three reasons for this; 1. The Lord’s Supper by its very nature is a public act of the church; 2. The Lord’s Supper (while a means of grace) is not necessary for salvation; and 3. To administer the Lord’s Supper outside of worship is schismatic”. (Luther, cited in Marquart, “The Church”, page 163, note 47)
What is a schismatic? They are someone who causes division in the church by their promoting doctrine contrary to the church’s teaching. Some schismatics may be acting in ignorance, out of weakness of faith while others may be acting out of a hatred of the truth, but whatever the motive, it is still a sin that needs repentance; for Paul declared, “watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine you have been taught; avoid them! For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ”. (Romans 16:17-18a)
Of course, this does not forbid private communion of the sick and shut ins, provided this is done by the ministers of the church. It also does not forbid lay people from assisting the pastor with distributing the Sacrament. Still, our Lutheran fathers taught, “the Holy Supper should never be administered privately by someone not occupying the office of public ministry”. (Marquart, “The Church”. Page 163)
Chemnitz, in his book “Ministry, Word and Sacraments” asks “What then is the office of the ministers of the church”? “This office or ministry has been committed and entrusted to them by God Himself through a legitimate call (to do three things);
I. To feed the church of God with the true, pure and salutary doctrine of the divine Word. II. To administer and dispense the sacraments of Christ according to His institution. III. To administer rightly the use of the keys of the church … by either remitting or retaining sins”. (Forgiving or withholding forgiveness) God deals with us in the church through these means; “For it is God Himself who speaks, exhorts, forgives, baptizes, etc, in the ministry and through the ministry”. (Chemnitz, pages 26, 29)
CFW Walther speaks to these issues also in his book on “Church and Ministry”. Echoing the Augsburg Confession, Walther taught, “the ministry of the Word, or the pastoral office, is not a human institution, but an office that God Himself has established”. (Thesis II on the Ministry) Luther also adds, “You are not lords over the (pastors and) ministry; for you have not instituted it, but God’s Son alone has”. (Walther, Thesis II, page 182) God has promised that He will be present with and bless the ministry of Word and Sacrament in His church; “He will through the ministry carry out the whole matter of salvation”. (Chemnitz, quoted by Walther, page 183)
In light of our recent Synodical convention, where we announced that we were no longer in fellowship with several other “so called Lutheran” church bodies over doctrinal errors and practices, I think it good and right to remind you that our church does not allow women to bear this office of the ministry. We confess this based on the Word of God in both 1st Corinthians 14 and 1st Timothy 2; “I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority”. (1st Timothy 2:12a)
Now, let us conclude with the final verses of Romans 10. Paul says that even when the Gospel is proclaimed, most refuse to hear; “for they have not all obeyed (accepted/believed) the Gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what they have heard from us”? (Romans 10:16) This was true in Isaiah’s time and Paul’s and also in our own.
Very few believe the Gospel message when it is proclaimed. This is not the fault of God, the message, or even the messenger; but as Jesus said in the parable a few weeks ago, “seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear … for these people’s hearts have grown dull”. (Matthew 13:13b-15a) Jesus was as Isaiah described Him, “despised and rejected by men … we esteemed Him not”. (Isaiah 53:3)
Still the Word must continue to go forth; “for faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ”. (Romans 10:17) So, even though we know that many/most will reject the Word, we continue to proclaim the Word; knowing that it is the primary means God the Holy Spirit uses to draw people to faith in Christ.
So, is there anyone in your life who needs to hear this Word of Christ? Perhaps family members or friends who don’t attend church with any regularity (spouse, children, parents). They certainly need to be receiving God’s Word and gifts on a regular basis. Do you invite, encourage and exhort them to come and receive the gifts of God here in this place? Or do you excuse or try and justify their absence or even blame others for it?
Or maybe its you, who haven’t been for awhile; you too need the gifts Jesus offers in this place; forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. For the Word of God is the greatest treasure you can imagine. There is nothing more important than this; for we know “a person is not justified (forgiven, declared righteous before God) by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ”. (Galatians 2:16a) And “faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ”. (Romans 10:17) Amen.
The peace of God …