Tag: Romans 10

Are you Zealous for God?

Old Testament Reading: Exodus 22 & 23
Psalms Reading: Psalm 40
* New Testament Reading: Romans 10

Paul starts Romans 10 like he started Romans 9, wishing that Israelites would be saved.  He lamented in verses 2-4, “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.  Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.  Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”

Are you zealous for God?  If so, great!  But as Paul pointed out, zeal is not enough.  Do you try to establish your own righteousness (through rigidly following a bunch of rules or making up your own rules)?  That didn’t work out too well for the Israelites, and won’t work out well for you either.

Fortunately, Paul revealed what *is* needed in Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

This sounds too simple to be true, but it is.  We need to publicly proclaim “Jesus is Lord” – and live it, not just say it.  And we need to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead – not just head knowledge, but knowledge that will transform our lives.  If we do this, we will indeed be saved!  Praise God!

Since this is true, evangelism is critical!  Paul points out in Romans 10:14-15, “How then can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

If we have the right relationship with God, we will have the love of God in our hearts.  And just as God doesn’t want anyone to perish, we too won’t want anyone to perish.  But how can people be saved if they don’t know about God and Jesus?  And how can they know unless someone tells them?  In the “Steve Mattison” translation, this passage pretty clearly says that you and I have a responsibility to tell others about the good news of the gospel, and you and I have a responsibility to send missionaries to tell even more people.  How are you doing with that?

A lot of people who dabble at Christianity need to get serious about going all in with God or quit pretending.  In Revelation 3:15-16, Jesus said, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other!  So because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

You may be wondering how does this apply to you?  I’m glad you asked.

Have you made a public confession that Jesus is your Lord?  If so, does your life reinforce or contradict that confession?

Do you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead?  If so, does your life bolster or refute that head knowledge?

Are you actively spreading the gospel and/or funding missionaries so they can spread the gospel?

-Steve Mattison

Reflection Questions

  1. See Above!
  2. What has God revealed about Himself today?
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There is No Difference

Romans 10

May 26

One of my favorite childhood stories is The Sneetches by Dr. Suess.  It tells the tale of two groups of the same fictional creature that are cliqued together by the presence and the absence of a green star on their bellies.  Those with the stars participate in exclusive events, while those without are excluded. More conflict follows, and you’ll love how it ends — But don’t take my word for it. Be warned there may be spoilers ahead.

Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. – Romans 10:3-4

Christian of the 21st century have the tendency to be the star-bellied sneetches, or the modern-day pharisitical Jews. We are really good at identifying each other through our branding, participating in exclusive events together, and making sure others know they are not on the same level as us. We believe through family heritage, denominational existence, or culture perpetuations that we have increased in value and rarity like a fine wine. By comparison, we may look at others struggling with more physically or mentally identifiable sin, rolling in the hot mess of their struggles, and working through the consequences of poor choices, and keep them on the outskirts because they are a little too rough around the edges. Be informed. We all are the same sinful species.

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him – Romans 10:12

Again I say, woe to you, Christian.  You may be in a different position, but it is like comparing one steaming pile of muck to another. We are rotting stacks of stench that stink, stank, and stunk.  Polishing one pile of manure doesn’t make it more appealing than the pile to the left or right. However, one thing is true.  With age, compost makes some pretty fertile soil. In this process of breaking down, we come to terms with who we really are in Jesus Christ and can grow the seed of the Kingdom of God.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. – Romans 10:9-10

Our eyes shouldn’t be focused inward on our marshmallow roast, but rather outward, leading others to the saving conversations about the grace of Jesus Christ. There are so many who already know Christ but are ashamed to try to live more abundantly because of the odor their life is currently putting off.  It is good to remind them you’re a decaying mess too.  Love like Jesus. The bigger the trash-fire, the greater the compassion, cause Lord knows we need it too.  The same creatures with the same Lord.

-Aaron Winner

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. What stood out to you most in today’s chapter and devotion?
  2. Have you ever been guilty of a “better than…” attitude? Is that a good way to attract more people to become followers of Jesus? How can you improve?
  3. How pretty are your feet? Re-read Romans 10:12-15. How and where can you take the good news beyond your saved little circle/clique to the hurting world who is just like you?

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How Was I Supposed to Know?

Romans 10 14b

Imagine that judgement day is here and you are standing before Jesus.  Imagine that you grew up outside of the church and nobody ever shared a Bible with you or even bothered to explain what was going to happen in the future.  Imagine Jesus telling you to go get in the line where they throw you into the fire because you did not accept Christ as your savior.  I suspect you would go kicking and screaming saying that wasn’t fair.  You would probably shout back at Jesus, “How was I supposed to know?”

In Mark 16:15, Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  He said to go into ALL the world.  Like many of you, that is why I am passionate about missions.  That is also why I went with a team to Peru on a mission trip.  We have an extremely important message to tell others; in fact, lives depend on that message.

Romans 10:13 says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  And then verse 14 asks the obvious: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”  That is so obvious that you don’t even need me to explain that to you.

But I like explaining things.  Let’s imagine that you know of someone that is locked in a room that is on fire and the only way they can get out is to unlock the door with a key.  The problem is that they don’t know where the key is, but let’s say that you know where the key is.  Would you take the time to call them and let them know where the key was so they wouldn’t die in the fire?  Or would you not really have the time or energy to make that call?  I am very confident that each person reading this devotion would take the time to call that person to tell them where the key was.  People respond with crazy amounts of urgency when there is a life to be saved in a fire.

So why don’t people respond with the same urgency when trying to save a life for eternity?  We have information that people need to hear to save their life.  We have the “key” that they need to save their life, and that key is Jesus.  If they don’t ever hear about Jesus, they are going to be sent to that line where they get thrown in the fire.  In my story and in the future in real life, you are going to die in the fire if you don’t have the “key”.  Someone needs to tell them about the key to life.

Don’t be the reason that someone says, “How was I supposed to know.”

Rick McClain

Thankful for this Current Age

Romans Chapter 10 

 

Building off of the previous chapter, Paul again laments that his brethren have missed their Messiah.

 

But by God’s grace, knowing that His own chosen people would reject His son, He made the saving power of Christ’s sacrifice available to everyone, Jew and Gentile alike.

 

The Jews were full of knowledge, and knew all there was to know about the appearance of their Savior, but they still missed it.  Let that be a lesson to us all, to not be so stubborn and arrogant as to miss truths, whether they be large or small.

 

Another big shift at this time, beyond salvation becoming available to Gentiles, was the idea that righteousness with God was not going to be obtained by works, by keeping the law.  Instead, it is now attainable by confessing with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead.  Through these things you will be saved.

 

In verse 10, Paul says “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”  How seemingly simple that is, compared with the copious laws and rituals the Jews had to observe to obtain the same outcome.

 

I am so thankful for both of these changes.  We take them for granted today, but for thousands of years, things were quite different.  In fact, for the majority of history, God was the God of his chosen people Israel only, who were under the law, with no access to Christ.

 

To say that Jesus Christ is Lord seems so easy to us today.  But at this time, for a Jew to say this meant that they fully accepted that Jesus was the son of God, which was a very big step for them.  Likewise, for a Gentile to proclaim Jesus as Lord meant that they were putting the Lordship of Christ over whatever Emperor they were under.   As we know, this was a dangerous public statement to make in those times, for Jew and Gentile alike.

 

greg 3

Never take your position in history for granted.  I am thankful for many things based on our current technology, such as automobiles, air conditioning, modern medicine and indoor toilets.  But I am most thankful that we are living in an age where we have access to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Greg Landry