Rev. Roland J. Wells, Jr. - Pastor

The Second Sunday After Pentecost - June 2, 2002

Lessons: Romans 1:16-17, 3:22-28; Matthew 7:21-29

"The Gospel is the Power of God"

Introduction:

I remember the morning classroom news one day in about third grade. Several of the kids in my class lived in the same neighborhood, and I envied them. You see, the big kids of the neighborhood would get together every evening from spring to fall, for neighborhood-wide games of 'Kick the Can,' and 'Hide-and-Seek.' One of my classmates had a younger brother, about age three, named Duncan. The buzz in class that morning was about Duncan's actions the night before. That night when playing hide-and-seek, time came for the game to begin, and the 'It' began to count. Duncan, age three, ran about 20 feet, squonched up into a ball in plain sight in the middle of the yard. When the 'It' quit counting, and began to 'seek,' he immediately tagged Duncan. Duncan was amazed. He said, "How did you see me? I had my eyes covered up!"

Duncan thought that if he couldn't see, he couldn't be seen. He thought that if he just covered up his eyes, if he couldn't see, he couldn't be seen. He thought that if he covered up his eyes, he'd be invisible. He didn't understand what it meant to be hidden.

Duncan mixed up what it meant to be hidden; but when it comes to matters of faith, the world is equally confused. The world wants to know God, but they can't see him. Is the hiddenness a matter of blindness of the seeker, or the invisibility of the one being sought?

This is a basic question as we approach God. Are we blind or is God invisible? Is God hard to find, or are we just unable to find him? The kind of god we understand makes a big difference in how we approach God.

I) Is God Hidden or Are we Blind?

In the world, things can be made pretty much invisible. Hunters spend a lot of money on constantly improving camouflage. Saddam Hussein hides weapons systems. Hogan's Heroes have tunnels under their bunks. Arthur Anderson plays with numbers. Poof, and with a little work we can make all sorts of things hard to see. Sometimes stuff is hidden.

Or maybe one has a hard time seeing. I have a good friend who runs a body shop, but is color blind. Every time he paints a red or green car, he has to ask someone to come down and take a look at it, and make sure the colors match! Sometimes we can see but we can't, at the same time.

Sometimes stuff is hidden; sometimes we are blind. So what is our problem in understanding God? Is God hidden or are we blind?

II) The Key to World Religions

There is a huge difference when we ask this question in terms of world religions. In Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, most forms of animism, in the old Greek and Roman religions, and in modern Islam and Judaism, god is hidden, needs to be pleased; merit is earned by working to understand and please that deity. God is hidden, those gods are in need of being unveiled and sought after. (Judaism, has materials that certainly cross over to Christianity, but in its modern practice, that god needs to be appeased by works in order to reach 'salvation.') These other world religions have a god under blankets, or away on a mountain top, one that needs to be vigorously pursued and uncovered.

Christianity, on the other hand tells of a God fully revealed, fully explained and pursuing you. In Jesus Christ, we have God chasing you down the block, trying to get your attention, revealing himself to you. How? Through his Word. In Christianity, we see that the problem is ours. We, by nature are blind, and unable to perceive God, just like we can't hear radio signals. Radio signals are there. We just can't perceive them. So how does the breakthrough happen? How can we begin to meet and understand God? Where does the connection come from?

III) The Connection is the Gospel.

The connection is the Gospel, the message about Jesus. How does this work? Romans 10:17 says, 'Faith comes from hearing, and what is heard is the preaching of Christ.' Faith comes from hearing the message about Jesus. Faith, a deep trust in God, begins by hearing what Jesus has done on the cross. Faith is produced, is created, is begun, when the message of what Jesus has done for us hits our ears and drops into our heart.

Why does the Gospel do that? Because it's not just words. Jesus tells us in John 6:63, "My Word is Spirit and Life." The Word that Jesus tells us, his Word, the Gospel Word has in it God's Holy Spirit. Always and faithfully, whenever the story of Jesus death and resurrection is told, it brings faith.

So we just recite the story? Well, that would work. But that story is fleshed out in many ways. When you or I tell what Jesus has done in our lives, that's the Gospel with skin on- our skin. When we hear the promise in song, or we hear it on TV, or read it in our devotions, when we study it together, when we read Christian books that tell the story, when we hear a sermon, or talk about Jesus with our neighbor over the fence- each of these are channels for the Gospel. Whenever we tell what Jesus has done and is doing, that's the Gospel.

The Gospel produces the faith that grows the relationship with God. Faith is like a virus, that grows and grows by its nature. It invades you. It changes your basic makeup. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." And Paul goes on, Rom 3:22ff: This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

So the Gospel is the power of God. It's God's means of invading all times and all people with the one thing that will heal them. That simple story, telling what Jesus has done is the whole ball game. Telling that story does the work. The Gospel alone does the work to bring people back into a relationship with God. When we tell the story, it plants the seed; it brings the life. It's not up to the winsomeness of the teller. It's not up to the power of brilliant theological argument. It's not up to the slickness of the evangelism program. It's not up to the earnestness of your repentance, nor the totality of one's faith or surrender. It all depends on only the Gospel, which is the only thing that can bring us to faith in Christ. But the story needs to be told.

Summary: Got Lips?

Back at the beginning of the sermon we talked about little Duncan and getting mixed up about what's hidden and what's not. The problem is not that God is hidden. The problem is our blindness, and only the Gospel can break through that. Only the coming of the Gospel makes it possible to hear God's 'radio waves'- to be back in touch with the living God. Everything God needs to do to bring us to him is right there in the Gospel.

The problem is not that God is hidden. God is in full sight right here in the New Testament. The Living God desires to reach out and chase down every human being on the planet. He desires to put his arms around every human being and surround them with his love. But they have to hear. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation.

The problem is not that God is hidden; the problem is that that Gospel breaks into people's lives when it is spoken. The Gospel infects people when they hear it. The Gospel begins to work when it sneaks into people's ears. But how does it get there? How has the God of the universe chosen to enact his plan for the future of humankind? How has God chosen to heal the entire human race and give them eternal life?

Reach up and place your fingers right under your nose. Those are lips. Those are the channel the God of the Universe has chosen to bring his plan into action for the whole world. Your lips. Those two little lips you're touching. That's God's plan. Your lips. It all comes down to your lips. Got lips?

The God of the Universe desires to work his entire plan for all of humanity out through those two little rubbery things under your nose. Amazing. Story-lips. That's all it is. Got lips? The milk commercial almost got it right. But it's not the milk, it's the lips. It's the story. That's your task for the week. Invitation, Amen.

Romans 1:16-17, 3:22-28

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. [17] For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. [25] God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- [26] he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

[27] Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. [28] For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Matthew 7:21-29

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' [23] Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

[24] "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. [26] But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. [27] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

[28] When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, [29] because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.