Sermons for the Month
Call … and Salvation Arrives!
DATE: February 25th, 2007
SERVICE: First Sunday in Lent
TEXT: Romans 10:8-13“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN Life is more complicated than it should be. (Is that an understatement?!) For example, the other day I received a letter from my bank saying that my debit card had possibly been compromised. (I chose not to give that too much consideration, not wanting to overwhelm my mind with the possible implications.) In any case, they were sending me a new pin number, which would be followed by a new card. Once these items arrived I had to activate the card. That's simple, right? Well, first you have to listen to the long message to hear what number to push to get to the correct place to do the activation. Then it's this process of punching in your social security number and the card number and the new pin - each one followed by…was that the star or the pound sign? Then, if you want to change the pin number to one you can actually remember you start from the beginning, and then do a little victory dance when the recording proclaims you activated. This is until you go to Target a few days later, pull out the debit card as a long line is forming behind you, and learn that it indeed is not activated. SO…in the car, in the cold, on the cell phone that you hate, you call the number on the card and make a valiant effort to speak with a real person. The wait is supposed to be 10 minutes, but then it's 15, and then it is 20, but you don't want to hang up because you already have been waiting 20 minutes. The voice of a 10-year-old comes on the phone. You explain the problem. He finds you on the computer and proclaims that your card is not activated. REALLY, that's the problem??? (Forgive me Lord!) You have to go through the activation process again, he patiently explains. But there's one problem, you explain (for the third time, not so patiently). Having changed the pin number to one you could remember, you threw away the paper on which the one they sent you was printed. Oh…that's a problem with which he cannot help you. Guess what? You'll have to go to the bank …which I did…but we would be here all day if I continued. Do you see what I mean? Life is complicated. And, the amazing thing is this; that which is complicated is - in the whole scheme of things - very insignificant. I mean, activating my debit card is not remotely related to the vital issues in life, like eternal salvation or claiming God's presence in the midst of life's challenges. You would think that addressing those issues would be what's complicated. But, that's not the case! Just take a look at today's reading from Romans and you'll see what I mean. "…if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Even if you break that sentence down, it's not that complicated. To confess is not simply a "repeat after me" process, although it is a verbal affirmation. Confessing that Jesus is Lord is to make it clear in what we say and do that Jesus is Lord of our lives. It means that we believe all those things that we confess in the creeds - that Jesus is God's Son, that he died on the cross and was raised from the dead. But, for Jesus to be Lord also means that we acknowledge, "I'm not in charge of me". The second part, to "believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead," just expands the first statement. What we are talking about here is not just conformity, but a gut conviction. Now, that doesn't mean that we do not have questions and doubts. It does mean that we faithfully seek out the best answers to our questions or we accept that there are limitations to what we can prove or understand. So, to sum it up, the public confession is accompanied by a private belief, and the private belief finds its voice in public speech and behavior. As for the last part of the sentence, "you will be saved", there are two meanings for that word saved. The main focus is on eternity, on continuing our lives in God's care after death and being among those who are raised from the dead when Jesus returns. But, the word "saved" also means that we can count on God to be with us in the here and now, to strengthen us as we face life's challenges, and guide us as we live out our faith. And, this gift of present and future salvation is for anyone. First of all, this message of salvation does not have to be ferreted out, it's not hidden; it's as near as our ability to hear it and speak it. And, second, there is one God who is God of all and, EVERYONE who calls will be saved. It really is not that complicated, and yet we live such complicated lives, which is all the more reason to hear this message, and especially the part that reminds us that as we call, we are "saved", not just in death but in life. Jesus is a present reality in our lives, a forgiving and empowering force. How often do we forget this as we face day-to-day challenges? This week I was introduced to someone - at least in print - who is new to me. His name is the Rev. Dr. Henry H. Mitchell and he is well-known for the books he has written on and for his work in the field of Black Church Studies and Homiletics. In response to the text from Romans 10 he wrote about his struggle as a student in the 1930's with honest questions about the reign of Christ as Lord, and about eternal life. But, he wrote, that he did seek earnestly for faith. His faith was confirmed, he wrote, during an incident in the 1940's when circumstances required him to "call on the name of the Lord", for saving. Let me tell you the story in his words: "A final answer came during World War II, just after commencement at the college in Durham, where I taught. As I boarded a train headed north, I greeted many of my former students in that half-car behind the baggage, where we were permitted to sit. The seats were all occupied, so I went to the next half-car, where some 16 more students were seated. Suddenly the trainman ordered these sixteen to the car ahead, where there wasn't even room for them to stand. I advised them to keep their seats, whereupon the trainman reminded me of the laws of segregation. I urged him to maintain the law by sending the four white soldiers in that half-car to some of the hundreds of empty seats in the rear of the train (where the students would not have been allowed to sit.) He offered a violent threat and disappeared to the rear of the train. "Five minutes later he reappeared with enough white soldiers to gain a voting majority in that half-care. In front of his recruits stood four military police, with guns drawn. "What have you got to say now?" the trainman leered. I thought of my students and of my expectant wife, but stood my ground. I found the strength to do it because in my mind I said to my Lord, "I'll see our first child in heaven for the first time before I'll move an inch for this injustice." In that moment I knew for sure, as never before, that I had the option of eternal life while I trusted and served my Lord. I elected to take it. "As it turned out, the trainman failed in his bluff, and we rode on it peace. However, the faith was there before the deliverance, like Abraham in the sacrifice of Isaac. The celebration that concludes this story is not about deliverance, but about the sure and certain success of those that seek a saving faith."(1) In his heart, on that train, Henry Mitchell called on the name of the Lord, and he was saved. Now I have to tell you something that makes the story even more significant to me. I've never seen Pastor Mitchell in person, I do not know what he considers his ethnic background to be, but in his photograph he looks Caucasian. I asked a couple other people what they thought his ethnic background might be from looking at his photo, and they all said European. That means, I'm guessing, that he could have sat anywhere on that train or walked away from the conflict he described. Instead, calling on the name of the Lord, he stood up for what was just. In doing so he not only was saved, but was a bearer of salvation. And, that my friends, is the point. We too can call on the name of the Lord, we too will be saved, and we too can be the ones who bring salvation to a world that needs it.
AMEN
(1) Lectionary Homiletics 2007, Preaching Romans 10:8-13 by Dr. Henry H. Mitchell, www.goodpreacher.com