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August 7, 2011 Deuteronomy 30:9b-14 Romans 10:5-15 'Just Believe

Dr. Ted H. Sandberg

Rev. Mary Beth Anton tells oI a woman in her church who turned 50. To celebrate the occasion, her
husband oIIered to give her a grand party. The woman accepted and began making plans Ior the
event, but soon she became troubled by the expense and the Iuss dedicated to her birthday. So instead
oI a party Ior herselI, she and her Iamily threw a Thanksgiving Ieast Ior the members oI the church
and its neighbors, including the community who gather nightly to share their meals at the local soup
kitchen. She hired the best country-western band in West Texas.
On the night oI the party, all were welcomed, both neighbors who had never darkened the doors oI the
church and liIelong members. Everyone sat around tables eating and listening together as the band
played old-time gospel hymns. Following dinner, Jody Nix and his Texas Cowboys cranked it up.
BeIore long the wooden dance Iloor at the Iront oI the Iellowship hall was Iull oI dancing couples
young and old, members and neighbors dancing and laughing together.
Anton concludes, 'I don`t know iI anyone was converted that night, but Jesus was present and
introduced all around. I do know that several who had never been to church beIore are attending
worship regularly on Sunday mornings. Because oI the party, the members oI the church have
renewed their eIIorts to welcome visitors into their midst.
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This woman showed what it means to love
one another.
The message that Paul teaches us here in his letter to the Romans, the message he himselI received
Irom Jesus Christ, is a message that we Christians oIten miss, or Iorget, or ignore. Though it may not
be completely clear in the passage we`ve just read, Paul teaches us throughout Romans that what`s
important is believing in God, loving God. God gave humanity the law oI Moses so that we`d know
what God wants Irom us, how God wants us to act. As Paul puts it, 'Moses writes concerning the
righteousness that comes Irom the law, that the person who does these things will live by them.`
When the Law oI Moses didn`t work all that well in bringing humanity into a good relationship with
God, God sent Jesus Christ Ior the same purpose to show us how much God loves humanity and how
we in turn are to live our lives in a way that gloriIies God. This essentially is what the letter to the
Romans is all about.
At the risk oI being too technical here, let me share with you how Kyle Fedler explains what`s going
on in this passage Irom Romans. Paul uses passages Irom Deuteronomy creatively to be generous to
Paul. Fedler writes, 'where the law/commandment once stood, Christ now stands. The Deuteronomic
passage, |'Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard Ior you, nor is
it too Iar away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who will go up to heaven Ior us, and get it
Ior us so that we may hear it and observe it?`| the passage ends with the declaration that the word is
very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart Ior you to observe` (Deut. 30:14). When Moses
talks about 'the word he`s reIerring to the commandments the law. In place oI the law, Paul inserts

1. Anton, Mary Beth, 'Romans 10:5-15, Homiletical Perspective, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the
Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, Volume 3, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor,
General Editors, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2011, pp. 329. 331.


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Christ. We do not need to go to heaven to know God, God has come to us in the Iorm oI Christ who is
near as close as our hearts and mouths. Christ has replaced the law as the way to salvation.
With the coming oI Christ, the law no longer serves the Iunction oI reconciling humans with God. In
Iact, the law has become an obstacle to salvation. The very commandment that promised liIe proved
to be death to me` |Paul writes in Romans 7:10|. Martin Luther knew this as well. He too tried to
achieve salvation, not by strict adherence to torah, but by strict adherence to the medieval pillars oI
sacraments and cooperating grace. Like Paul, Luther Iound that what had once promised liIe brought
only more doubt, despair, and death. So both men understood that, in one sense, the coming oI Jesus
represents the termination oI the law as the primary means oI reconciliation and righteousness.
Jesus is the end oI the law in that he has IulIilled the very Iunction oI the law; he has reconciled
humans to their Lord. As John Calvin says, Christ is the meaning, the authority, the IulIiller, and the
way to the IulIillment oI the Law. He is HimselI the righteousness beIore God, the divine justiIication
that everyone is to receive and can receive through Iaith.`
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This is the message you and I are called to proclaim as Christians, but it`s a message that as I said
earlier, we oIten Iorget, misunderstand, or ignore. We tend to live by laws. 'Do this, don`t do that.
Baptists historically have been great at being against things. Don`t drink. Don`t smoke. Don`t play
cards. Don`t go to movies. Don`t dance. The list is long. Women at one point weren`t to wear make-
up. Certainly, women weren`t to hold oIIices in the church. They were to be subject to their
husbands.
Trouble is, the more we preach 'Don`ts, the more we turn people away Irom the truth oI God`s love.
There are certainly things that we aren`t to do. The Ten Commandments lay beIore us how we`re to
live in conIormity with God`s will. I`m not preaching, nor does any mainline Christian theology
preach, that 'anything goes. When Paul teaches us that in Christ the law is complete, he doesn`t
mean that we can ignore the law. When we want to know how God wants us to live, going to the law
oI Moses is a good place to begin, the place to start our search. And in many cases, we won`t need to
go any Iurther than the Law oI Moses. Tell the truth. Don`t steal. Don`t commit adultery. Don`t
murder. Many oI the laws are clear and teach us what God wants Irom us.
But there are modern questions that aren`t as easily answered. Why have Baptists historically said that
people shouldn`t dance, or go to movies? Supposedly dancing and movies can lead us to sin, and
thereIore we`re to avoid them. But TV leads a lot more people to sin. Many video games are Iilled
with violence which is destructive especially to the young. I don`t hear Baptists crying out against
TV, or video games. How should husbands treat wives, and wives treat husbands in 21
st
century
America? How should we relate to Jews and Moslems and Buddhists and those who don`t believe?
Most importantly perhaps, how do we share the Good News in this pluralistic society, a society much
more like the society in which Paul lived than the society oI the 40's and 50's in which many oI us
grew up?
I believe that we`re to Iollow Paul`s teaching. We`re to Iocus on being reconciled to God. Rather than

2. Fedler, Kyle D., 'Romans 10:5-15: Theological Perspective, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the
Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, Volume 3, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor,
General Editors, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2011, p. 328.


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Iocusing on the rules, on the laws, we`re to Iocus on God`s love Ior each oI us. That`s what the
woman in the story shared by Mary Beth Anton did. She turned Irom herselI and celebrating her own
50th birthday party to sharing with all her neighbors and Iriends. Rather than living by the rule that
says we`re to have a party Ior ourselves on our birthday, she shared with her church Iamily and with
all those on the highways and byways oI her neighborhood. In eIIect, she carried out the parable oI
the heavenly kingdom, and actually went a step beyond. She didn`t invite the poor and the lame and
the hungry because her Iriends didn`t come. She invited her Iriends and she invited everyone else as
well.
It`s really not all that hard, living out Paul`s teaching. All God asks oI us is to believe. Just believe.
Believe that God loves us. Believe the wondrous news oI Jesus Christ. And when we believe, we`ll
be obedient to God`s law and 'Love God and love your neighbor.
We gather at Christ`s Table to remember how much God loves us, to remember that Jesus came down
Irom heaven to show us God`s love so that God`s love will be close to us. We gather in turn, to
recommit ourselves to sharing this good news with the world. Indeed, the words oI Paul are true:
'How beautiIul are the Ieet oI those who bring good news! May we prepare our hearts and minds to
share together at Christ`s Table.