First Sunday of Lent

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Confessing Jesus Christ

 Romans 10:8b-13

“The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because 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. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Coming here today has brought up many memories about our church plant in NJ. Once I recall being asked to give expert testimony for the case of the Sailor’s Mystery Signature. Walt’s Last Will & Testament was being contested. One of the key points of the dispute was his signature. Why me? Why was I asked to give expert testimony on a man’s signature? Because I had witnessed one of the only legal documents accessible, the Cape May Courthouse Church of Christ incorporation papers.

  • So what is the role of a witness? One who has seen or heard; one who has experienced an event. Let’s call that the “Behold” phase of being a witness. You’re standing on the street corner. A yellow F-150 runs the red light and hits the black sedan. You are the witness because you beheld the event in question.
  • And there is a second phase, the “Declare” portion of the role of the witness. Whether it is simply giving your statement to the police or going to court to testify, you are turning to give your voice to the events in question. While some will discount testimony as mere perception, our whole legal system is based on the fact that testimony is not perception but the report itself. And testimony is not the event itself for it is the hearers of the testimony, the jury, who are called to decide how credible is the testimony. And the jury, once convinced by the testimony, is persuaded to act on the testimony as evidence. The event affects the witness; the testimony affects the jury.
  • And so too our faith. We were not witnesses of the actual events 2000 years ago. We rely on the faithful testimony of eyewitnesses. We deem them reliable and therefore we believe. We are not left alone with just the eyewitness accounts, but God’s Spirit testifies to our spirit the truth of these events. And from our belief, we then have experiences with a living Christ. And from our experience, we then give testimony. And the chain of witness continues.
  • Like a hinge—Behold><Declare. You cannot declare what you do not behold. And if you behold, you have the opportunity, if not the responsibility, to declare. [i]

So what have we experienced as Christians? The season of Lent, this first Sunday of Lent in the Christian calendar, focuses our attention first and foremost to our experience of sin. Sin…let us count the ways. Recently, I have heard sermons on Narcissism, consumerism, selfishness, and a series on greed. The church has a tradition of naming the seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins. The list includes pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth.

  • However you name sin, sin only becomes real when you move from the abstract to the concrete in your life and experience. For example, Spotlight, when the reporter realizes he is the one guilty of complicity of child molestation by burying the story years earlier. And even more concrete, when I come to recognize the harm my own sin causes, not abstractly, but last Tuesday afternoon.
  • And in the midst of that sin, many, not all, call upon the name of the Lord. What does that call look like? How does it sound? In what pitch is it sung? Throughout the centuries and across many neighborhoods, the words and the cries may seem quite different. So as we listen to people, are they crying out for God? How does their soul express their experience of sin in the world and their experience of sin in their own lives? And even if their call upon the Lord is different than my call upon the Lord, when they call, the Lord hears them all.
  • But also, this text draws us to a hopeful end. For it is not the confession of sin that this first Sunday of Lent points us to, but the profession of our faith. While it is true, no one is righteous, it is also true, no one is hopeless.
  • And I then confess, profess, give testimony, and declare to the fact that Jesus makes a difference in me and in my community of faith. And that profession, just like confession, can be expressed in myriad of ways. And communities and traditions might express it differently than I do. Most often communities do it through liturgy. Through prayer, song, worship, reading of scripture, fellowship, or other spiritual disciplines and sacrificial service, we together experience a living Christ and profess our faith.

In preaching it works like this. Vs 8b “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)”. It is this same Roms 10 text that in the larger context continues,

“But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.”

  • In the preacher’s study, many contextual and exegetical gems are examined. Historically, she might note that Paul is calling the diverse Roman community to realize that when “all” profess “Jesus is Lord”, then “all” of them are saved. Some of the historical and exegetical material might get left behind in the study because the preacher is looking for how the theology of the text applies in 2016. The preacher beholds the living word of God and swivels in the chair of the study to the pulpit to proclaim what is seen and heard. The person in the pew hears that preached word and beholds its transforming power in the heart and swivels to life, family, work, and community to proclaim faith.
  • Near us and even in us is the transforming word of salvation. We can be changed, forgiven, renewed, and enriched.
  • That in a nutshell is a theology of proclamation as testimony, or the witness or preaching.

But the role of witness is not just reserved for preachers. The role of witness is bound to your baptism. Romans 10 comes after Romans 6. All who are baptized have such a view as this. Listen to Paul’s audience in the text … [Re-read Romans 10:8b-13]

“The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because 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. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

That text is a living word. So we behold Jesus… (Refrain)

  • We behold Jesus… Who met a woman at a well treating her as a person of dignity.
  • We behold Jesus… Who met a blind beggar and gave him relief.
  • We behold Jesus… Who met 5000 hungry folk and gave them bread and fish.
  • We behold Jesus… Who ministered to a rich guy in a sycamore tree of all places and brought salvation to his house.
  • We behold Jesus… Who restored life to the brother of two grieving sisters.
  • And we behold the countless stories, one right after another, of Jesus encountering people in their darkest hour, encountering people in their pain, encountering people in their suffering, encountering people in their sin.
  • And we behold that salvation is good. And all of these stories still testify today.

I believe Jesus is raised from the dead. Therefore, I confess that Jesus is Lord.

In the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, Amen.