“Unless Christ’s Word Is Preached”

Romans 10:13-17

Today’s text not what we think it is. I chose it for this series of sermons specifically because it sounded like a call to evangelism. It is in truth part of a larger section of Scripture in which the Apostle Paul deals with Israel’s rejection of Jesus.

Verse 14 and the beginning of verse 15 are an example of how Paul carried on an argument with an unseen opponent. The questions asked in verses 14 and 15 are a rhetorical response to verse 13: “For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’.”

Here are the questions as they are found in William Barclay’s translation: “How then can men appeal to someone in whom they have not put their faith? And how can they put their faith in someone of whom they have never heard? And how can they hear without someone to bring the message to them? And how can they bring them the message of him unless they have been sent by God to do so?”

In response Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7, as we find it in The Message: “A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God.” Over the centuries there had been a multitude of messengers sent to Israel. This Paul goes on to write, again from The Message:” But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another, ‘Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it’. The point is, before you trust, you have to listen.”

Many of us are working with a false assumption. We believe that everybody in our culture has been exposed to the Gospel. We assume that they hear but don’t listen. It is easy therefore for Christians to think that our attempts at evangelism amount to nothing more than casting pearls before swine. Thus we ask, “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it? Before you trust you have to listen.”

But then come the words that should spur us on to witnessing, evangelizing, and other missionary endeavors: “But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.” There are a lot of non-believers in this supposedly Christian nation. Many of them have rejected Jesus. They have no excuse. There are also many – probably a lot more than we believe - who cannot trust Jesus because they have never heard about him in other than superficial ways.

So what are we to do? We keep preaching, teaching, witnessing, doing mission, and evangelizing. We keep telling and living the Gospel story. We don’t get discouraged. We don’t become cynical. We don’t stop trying.

Let’s think about our own personal faith journeys. Why are we here? Because somebody, somewhere, somehow shared the Gospel with us in a way that we could hear, feel, and understand. Somebody cared enough about us to tell us the greatest story ever told. Somebody thought that it was important that we hear about Jesus. You and I are living, breathing proof that some people have heard and trusted the Gospel. We are people who listened.

Nobody can reject or accept a Gospel they’ve never heard. No one can hear the Gospel if it is not proclaimed. The sad truth is that many around us will hear the Gospel without listening to it. Many will reject it. There may be only a few who trust and accept it. We will often be tempted to give up on the hardhearted and hardheaded people around us. When we are we must remember these words of Scripture: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth… How are they to hear without someone to proclaim?... Whom shall I send, and who will go for me?”

In today’s offertory anthem the question was asked several times, “Whom shall I send?” Who will go forth in the name of the Lord? Who is God calling? How do we answer God’s question?

With the chorus of the above mentioned anthem: “Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.” If not us, then who will it be? Who will hold all those hardhearted, hardheaded people in their hearts? “Unless God’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to… how are they to hear without someone to proclaim?”

Somewhere, somehow, somebody told us about Jesus. Now it’s our turn to tell others. Many will find excuses for not listening. We, however, have no excuse for not telling. Amen.