The Twist

Text: Romans 10:5-15
Theme: “M7: The Twist” (8th in a Series)
8th Sunday after Pentecost
August 7, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

IN THE NAME OF JESUS

5 Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”[a] 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”[b] (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’”[c] (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”[d] that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 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. 10 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. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[e] 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[f] 14 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? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”[g]

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, one business firm that is going gangbusters in our beleaguered economy is the Apple Computer Company. The iPod, the iPhone, and now the iPad have sprung forth from the technological wizards employed there. According to the last earnings report, some have said that the firm has more money than the United States, and it led at least one pundit to suggest that we start calling our country “iAmerica”.

Apple’s Chief Executive Officer, Steve Jobs, has generated nothing short of a cult-like admiration and adulation amid our country’s business elite. Even his physical health is front-page news. In January of this year, Steve Jobs announced that he was taking his second, health-related leave of absence from the company. In 2003, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and in 2009 he was given a liver transplant. Meanwhile, the company continued to develop its second-generation iPad and everyone simply assumed that other company executives would be on-hand to publicly announce the new product, when it was completed, at company headquarters.

The month of March arrived. To the shock of nearly everyone concerned, guess who showed up when the Apple Computer Company introduced the second-generation iPad to the world? That’s right! Steve Jobs walked out on stage to a tumultuous ovation. According to CNN, John Jackson, a CCS Insight Analyst, was beside himself: “That he even came out on stage will go down in history as a big deal. It’s a significant gesture.”

This little incident illustrates quite graphically where many people are at – Christians and non-Christians alike – when it comes to Jesus Christ. He lived on earth over two thousand years ago. He died a horrific death. The report was that He rose from the dead. He said a lot of nice things, offered up wholesome teachings, told some neat stories, shocked many people, comforted as many people if not more, healed people of their afflictions, laid down a way of life that people strive to imitate.

But now He’s gone. He, like Steve Jobs, has taken an “extended leave of absence”. People admire Him, respect Him, even worship Him. Yet, as we confess nearly every Sunday in the Creeds, He is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He’s somewhere in heaven. And that’s all well and good, many people think. “God’s in His heaven; all’s right with the world,” it is said. But you and I know that not all is right with the world. Down here where the rubber hits the road, in the real world and not in some spiritual or religious never-never land, Christ is apparently on an extended leave. Still, we take comfort in all the wonderful things Christ did. We draw solace from the sovereignty of God. But, you have to admit, it can all sound like a lot of wishful thinking – especially in a world where the Dow Jones drops over five hundred points in a day and the country, adding insult to injury, loses over a trillion dollars in private wealth; the unemployment rate is painfully high; a rocket-propelled grenade brings down a Chinook helicopter carrying U.S. Navy Seals.

From a mission point of view, an absent Jesus, a Jesus seemingly on extended leave, is a hard sell, my friends.

All that being said, I’m here today to share some very, very good news. The selection you just heard from the New Testament Book of Romans untwists the twisted thinking that suggests that our Lord is AWOL. The world out there – both figuratively and literally – can “tie us up in knots.” But this piece of literature, inspired by God and delivered by the apostle Paul, unties the knots, lets us go, and enables us to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a Lord who is closer to us than our own skin.

Hear these words: “The righteousness that is by faith says: ‘Do not say in your heart “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) ‘or “Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That 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.”

Unshackled, untied, and untwisted from this notion that God is absent, we look forward now to the remainder of today’s worship. All of it – including a baptism, a reaffirmation of the baptismal covenant, an ordination, and the Holy Supper -- simply illustrates the point: Our Lord is with us – right here and right now.

Amen.

Amen.