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August 10, 2014

Preachers

Preacher: Pastor Braun Campbell Series: Christians in the Captial Category: Biblical Scripture: Romans 10:5–10:17

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
St. John's Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA

Romans 10:5-17

Let me tell you about this great new keychain I just got! Well, it’s not a keychain, really, at least not the kind people usually have in their pocket or their purse. It’s got a sort of Swiss Army knife-like design where I can take all my keys and stack them in, so each one opens out individually. When I’m done with a key, I just fold it back in with all the rest. I hadn’t even heard of this thing a few weeks ago, but now I notice how much of a difference it’s made in the days since I’ve had it. This little device keeps all my keys neatly organized, without them jangling around in my pocket or getting all tangled around as they slide through the multiple key rings I’d had linked together. It’s brilliant! It fills a need I’d somehow known even though I couldn’t say what it was, and I would never have found it on my own.

Take a moment and think of something that you know is truly brilliant, great, and cool. It could be an item, could be a place, could be a book, could be an activity – what it is to you is what matters. Got it? Good. So, what it is it about this whatever-it-is that makes it brilliant, great, and/or cool? Talk to me and tell me what I should know about it, so I can understand just what’s so special about it. What would you say? While the specifics details are going to depend on whatever it is you’re describing, for me to see its relevance to my life and my situation, it’d help if you told me about your experience with it and/or what you’ve learned that makes it matter so much to you. You have the opportunity to introduce me to something awesome that I would never have found on my own.

You’re Christians in the capital. As we’ve gone through these weeks of summer, God’s word in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans has pointed out what a unique message that we have in age and location in which we live. So why is it, then, that most of us have such a hard time actively communicating the good news that we have in Jesus?

The most common answer would probably be a lack of opportunity. There doesn’t seem to be a good time to bring Jesus into a conversation with your coworker or classmate. Depending on where you’re at, you might not even feel free to speak about your faith. But even if you could, and even if you had a perfect opening to do so, do you think that the person with whom you’re talking really needs Jesus? Because they do! They do. You do. I do.

Last week, Pastor Meehan pointed to the “holy burden” that Jesus’ disciples carry, how we are compelled to address the need at the heart of our broken world. Everyone needs to hear the message of good news – the gospel we Christians are uniquely able to share – because each soul has a built-in longing for God. We were created to be connected with God, with other human beings, and with the rest of God’s creation, but sin destroyed those connections. You can see its consequences all around you; it’s not just on the evening news. You know people who are hurting, and you might be hurting, too. And in some way, each of us know that this is not the how things are supposed to be. People experience the desire to fill that “God-shaped hole” in their lives, even if they don’t know that it’s there. But try as you might, it’s impossible to find God on your own.

Today, the readings both Romans and Job tell us of God’s transcendence, how who He is and what He does is exceeds our human limitation to comprehend or experience. While God has left His fingerprints all over the universe, because of sin, we can’t find Him and reconnect with Him. He is transcendently great, and He is transcendently holy; we are not. If you’re trying to connect with God by living a perfect (or even just good) life, that’s an impossible task. You’ll only heap more and more pressure and disappointment on yourself, and it will crush you. If the connections destroyed by sin are to be remade, it’s up to God to make that happen. I know that I could never get to God. I would never have found Him on my own. But He came to me.

Let me tell you about the God I know in Jesus. By grace, God has given me faith to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, who came into our world to destroy the destroyer’s power and to reconnect me and all people with our Creator. As we Christians confess in the Apostles’ Creed, Jesus became human to live the perfect life I could never live and give himself up to death as the perfect offering I could never be. He rose from death, breaking its chains and its authority, and ascended to God the Father as the living mediator between humanity and divinity. And he will come again to bring reconnection with God for me and all of Creation. He has done all this that I may be His own.

The God I know through Jesus is, indeed, awesome – not because He is unknowable and transcendent, but because He has acted specifically so that I can know Him. Jesus has given me new life. It is life which, like his, will not be stopped by death; however, it’s life that I have right now. It changes me and, when I head off into sin, calls me back to repent and know God’s forgiveness. Jesus gives me an identity as his brother and friend, a foundation which shapes both who I am and what I do in each and every day. Jesus gives me hope, even in this broken world that sees so much senseless violence, suffering, and greed, because I know that nothing is greater than his authority, and I look forward to that day when he returns to put an end to all of evil which plagues the present age. And best of all, Jesus has given me redemption. He has given me a restored relationship with God, reconnecting me with my Creator, setting me free from my slavery to sin. Jesus, God the Son, has done all this that I might be his own, all out of his love. Jesus is my new life, source of my identity, my hope, my redemption. That’s what Jesus has done for me. And that’s what he has done and will do for you.

We get to go and tell our world about Jesus. As Christians in the capital, you are preachers. You might not be a pastor, but every Christian has been given a commission in Baptism to share the hope that God has given the world in Jesus. As a preacher, you proclaim good news that would change lives, connecting people with the God who loves them and is calling them to be His own. Preaching this gospel message is a confession of Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah, point to him as your Lord and Lord of all creation. That confession is an indication of the Holy Spirit’s work: not just His work in your life in giving you faith, but in working through you to connect others with Christ. The Spirit is also at work in the lives of the people who hear you tell out the good news you have in Jesus, meeting the need at the heart of our broken world. As a preacher, a messenger of God’s grace, your “feet” will be beautiful –a sight for sore eyes – to those who are hurting and longing.

If you’re wondering how you can tell out the gospel, think about what Jesus has done for you and the people around you. Speak to how this good news has worked in your life.

This weekend, we here at St. John’s are blessed to have the opportunity to learn more about the work that Apple of His Eye is doing here in the national capital region. It’s especially appropriate in the context of where we’re at in Romans, as Paul longs for the Jewish people to know Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Apple of His Eye is continuing Paul’s work, looking to connect these people – who are so close to our Savior’s heart, and the nation to which he first came – with God’s love in Christ. Many of the workers from Apple of His Eye are themselves Messianic Jews, and they, like us, can speak firsthand as to what Jesus has done in their lives.

As Christians in the capital, we are preachers. So many people are waiting to hear the good news we have to share, even if they don’t know it. They would never find God on their own; but He will find them, through you.

So, let me tell you about the God I know.

Amen.

other sermons in this series

Aug 31

2014

Love in Action

Preacher: Rev. Jack Meehan Scripture: Romans 12:9–12:21 Series: Christians in the Captial

Aug 24

2014

Plainspoken

Preacher: Pastor Braun Campbell Scripture: John 1:43–1:51 Series: Christians in the Captial

Aug 17

2014

Grafted Branches

Preacher: Rev. Jack Meehan Scripture: Romans 11:1-2a–11:13-32 Series: Christians in the Captial