Beautiful Feet

This morning we finish up chapter 10 of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Last Week we ended with verse 11:

Romans 10:11–13 CSB

¹¹ For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, ¹² since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. ¹³ For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

This is a quote from the prophet Joel:

Joel 2:32 CSB

³² Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for there will be an escape for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the Lord promised, among the survivors the Lord calls.

NOTE: This same passage is quoted by Peter (to the Jews) in Acts 2:17-21

The passage in Joel is about the “Day of the Lord” coming and how punishment and wrath is coming because of the rebellion of the people of God (Israel). BUT, they passage quoted in Joel 2 is a plea for repentance – because even up to the final hour god can relent from his punishment and offer grace, healing and restoration.

Paul says that everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. He also said that the message of the gospel was extremely clear and easy to understand and that it’s not far from anybody.

SO WHY DO SOME PEOPLE NOT BELIEVE?

Romans 10:13–21 CSB

¹³ For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ¹⁴ How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. ¹⁶But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? ¹⁷ So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. ¹⁸ But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. ¹⁹But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding. ²⁰ And Isaiah says boldly, I was found by those who were not looking for me; I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me. ²¹ But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

THEREFORE:

Everyone who does NOT will NOT be saved.

So, why would the Jews choose not t be saved? Surely there must be a good reason?! We might also ask, how does someone become a Jesus-follower? That is something Paul is going to explain clearly:

Romans 10:14–15 CSB

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

1. They cannot call on Jesus if they have not believed in Jesus.
2. They cannot believe in Jesus if they have not heard about Jesus.
3. They cannot hear about Jesus unless someone tells them.
4. They cannot tell them unless they are sent.

That is the logical path that Paul walks down.

Call on the name of Jesus

Romans 10:13 CSB

¹³ For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

I think we have to define what it means to call on somebody.

If I say you need to call somebody, what does that mean to you? Picking up your phone dialing the number calling.

If I say I am calling on someone, that means something different, right?

Calling on someone could be visiting them in the hospital or stopping by their house to see how they’re doing. Calling on someone is something that people used to expect pastors to do.  Pastors would go from house to house of those inside the the parish and call on people to see how they’re doing. This was their way of checking in because there was no Internet, there were no telephones or texting back in those days.  But even this is not quite what Paul means by “calling on the name of the Lord”.

So what does it mean to call on the name of the Lord?

Calling on the name of the Lord entails identifying with the community of those who trust him for salvation:

1 Corinthians 1:2 NIV

² To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

The people who call upon him includes both Jews and Greeks since “all” (πᾶς) who commit themselves to Jesus as Lord will be saved from God’s wrath on the day of judgment. (10:11-13)

Calling on the Lord is not just a one time act, it’s a way of life. It’s becoming part of a community with other believers, and becoming part of a family with them and with God our Father. Calling on Yahweh, calling on God, means He’s the one that you turn to when you have problems, when you struggle, when you have joy, when things are heavy on your heart. It means He’s the one that you entrust your future to because you know he is in control. It means you plan and prepare but you understand that it’s God’s will that will be accomplished eventually – and so you seek Him in all of those things.

So Paul said anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Before you call on Jesus, you must believe in Jesus.

Then Paul goes into an argument and this argument is very important. How can someone call on the name of somebody if they don’t believe in them?

Romans 10:14 CSB

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

I don’t about you, but I enjoyed the Peter Pan movie called “Hook” with Robin Williams in it. It tells a story of the lost boys in Neverland. Of course the favorite characters are Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle. What if I asked you to use my phone and call Tinkerbelle. Would you do it? I don’t believe either of them exist so I would probably never pick up my phone and call them right? Some people feel that way about Jesus.

It’s not just about believing in their existence, it’s about believing who the person is and what they’re capable of doing.

EXAMPLE: My toilet overflows and there’s junk all over my floor and I need someone to come and fix it and clean everything up who am I going to call? I probably won’t call the electrician even though I know one. I probably won’t call a veterinarian, or a brain surgeon, or either of my boys. Who would I call? Probably a plumber! Why? Because that’s the person who’s qualified to take care of that situation. I might call a handyman if that’s somebody who’s capable of doing plumbing and other things and have them come in and fix it. I call them because I believe that they can take care of the situation and that they can do what I can’t do for myself.

When Paul says that people will not call on God if they don’t believe in Him it’s the same situation. If they don’t believe that God exists they won’t call on him. If they don’t believe that God is capable of fixing their problems then they won’t call on him. But if they understand who God is what God has done His nature his character his personhood, then it would be very easy for them to call on God no matter what their situation.

You cannot believe in someone you have never heard about.

Romans 10:14 CSB

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

Well that brings up the next question. How can you believe in someone if you don’t know them right?

If I don’t know that a plumber can actually fix something I go based upon his title, but I also will probably go based on reviews and what other people think. Hard for me to know who to call on unless somebody’s told me about somebody or I can find their information somewhere right? Well it’s the same with God. People will not choose to believe in God unless they’ve heard about God.

If you wanted to know the final score of the Word Cup, how would you find out? If you want to learn how to do your own plumbing to fix your own toilet, how would you find out? But what if you did not have the internet? Or the library? Then how would you find out? Someone would have to explain it to you.

When I travel I like to find nice, local places to eat at. My method? I ask the locals where they like to eat. I listen and if it sounds like the type of food I would enjoy I go there. Some of the places we have been to are not in the internet, and are off the beaten path. I would not know if I was not told.

How can they hear unless someone preaches?

Romans 10:14 CSB

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

So they can’t believe in someone they don’t know about and they can’t know about someone unless they hear about somebody. That can come through reading the Bible, but that’s the point. There has to be a telling. So WHO is going to tell people about Jesus?

• that’s what we support missionaries for, right?
• that is why we give to the SBC, right?
• That is why we have “preachers” or “pastors” – they are the paid professionals after all, right?

People can google him, they can look him up online, they can read about him in the Bible, which is a great thing to do all of those things. But when someone stands up and says, “let me tell you about my God”, that makes a tremendous difference in how people choose to accept who God is and what he does.

So WHO is the person responsible for doing this telling?

How can they preach unless they are sent?

Romans 10:15 CSB

¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

So they can’t hear unless somebody tells them and then he goes on to say people won’t tell them unless they’re sent. The word apostle means sent one. So Paul was obviously an apostle and one that was sent by Jesus Christ himself to go preach to the Gentiles . It’s important to note that he also preached to the Jews while preaching to the Gentiles.

Before Jesus left this earth he gave the command to the disciples:

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

He told his disciples to “GO make disciples”.

So are we called to go? Wasn’t that just a calling of the apostles is that exactly what their title was? And I don’t feel like I’m an apostle? So…

In Matthew 28 19-20 Jesus tells his disciples that part or making disciples is teaching them to observe all the things that Jesus has commanded.   What is the last thing that was commanded of them? Go! So to teach them to observe all the things that Jesus taught would mean to teach them to observe this last command as well which is to go and tell others about Him and to teach others about Him.

While some people may have a special calling of justice doing like Paul did and going to other countries and other people groups or being itinerant and going around from town to town and sharing the gospel, most of us will probably not have that ministry. But all of us are called to share Jesus.

Helping other to hear and to know and to understand who Jesus is and what he commanded is part of the calling of being a disciple. It’s about going and telling.

I know a lot of people don’t feel comfortable telling others about God and about Jesus. And our society wants you to believe that it is inappropriate for you to talk about your faith in public. They are wrong. Very wrong. It is not only appropriate, it is necessary and helpful for them. Telling them about God who He is what he’s done for them and how they can have a relationship with God is the most important and valuable thing you could ever talk to them about.

What if I don’t tell it right what if I mess it up what if what if what if what if what if. Let me just say that God’s got your back. If you’re seeking him if you’re calling on Him and living for him and you’re in the process of sharing about Him with somebody else, you can trust that God can even take our worst most fumble efforts and use it for His honor and glory. Yes, we should be concerned to make sure that we represent God well and that we present him in the truest way that we can, but we should not be constrained by fear and avoid sharing at all.

Do you like feet? I have ugly feet. Laura has pretty feet. Hers looked like normal feet and you can tell where she walks because it looks like a normal footprint whether it’s in the sand or coming out of the pool you can see the little wet footprints. My footprints look like somebody just took a rock and slammed it on the ground. I have flat feet. They’re ugly. Some of my toes are permanently bent from being smacked into things and broken too many times now they have little hairs on them kind of like hobbit feet. They’re just not pretty at all. If there’s two jobs I could probably never do because they would gross me out it would be a dental hygienist and the other one would be a podiatrist.

Paul goes into a quote about how you can have beautiful feet :).

Romans 10:15 CSB

¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

Beautiful feet come from using them to take the good news of Jesus to others. So anytime you make an effort to share Jesus with others, you have beautiful feet. Feet are your carriers they get you from point A to point B, and if you don’t have feet you can still be beautiful because you can take your wheelchair or whatever you have and still go with the gospel and take it to other people . You may not have beautiful feet but you’d have a sweet ride 🙂

Isaiah 52:7 CSB

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

The quote that Paul uses about beautiful feet is a quote about a messenger who ran to the hilltops to announce good news. This is what they would often do to get word out around a whole country. They didn’t have phones, or Internet, or email or TV, radio, etcetera. Somebody would run from place to place with the news and they would proclaim the news from the mountaintop so that people could hear it. And then they would run to the next town and do the same thing. Often they would go around the mountains of Jerusalem mountain by mountain by mountain proclaiming the good news when there was a victory in battle.

Do you know what the word “marathon” means?

Actually it’s the Greek word for fennel, and it’s the name of a town in Greece that was known for growing fennel. However, according to both history and folklore there is another meaning of the word marathon:

The word gained its modern significance from the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, where the Athenians defeated the Persian army despite being heavily outnumbered. According to legend, a Greek messenger named Pheidippides ran from the battlefield at Marathon to Athens, a distance of approximately 26 miles (42 kilometers), to announce the victory. Upon arrival, he reportedly exclaimed, “We have won!” and collapsed, dying from exhaustion.

Have you ever run a marathon? When you were done did you feel like you died? You could actually call that an historic reenactment!

This story of a man running 26 miles to announce victory is the idea of a messenger who brings good news, news of peace is another way that it’s used in the passage that’s quoted in the Old Testament. To announce that victory has been won, and that the enemy has been defeated, and that there is now peace. Victory has been won through Jesus Christ over sin and death the enemy has been conquered, and we now can have peace with God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the good news that is to be proclaimed.

The good news needs to be told or it is not news at all.

SIDE NOTE **************************

If you believe in election and that God calls and saves only those he has chosen, the message of this passage is: go share the good news!

If you believe that someone chooses and God’s election is based upon those he foreknew would come to Him, the message of this passage is: go share the good news!

DOCTRINE is very important. However, the doctrine of election vs free will has bothered me for most of my days as a pastor for no other reason than how divisive and contentious people have become over it.

I want to be clear: you should form your theology in this area based upon what you can back with scripture. However, regardless of your position the work that we have of sharing the good news DOES NOT CHANGE!

We show and tell.

We show people how God loves by the way we live, and we tell people how God saves through Jesus Christ.

And in the end, they need to believe. Whether they are made to believe by God or chose by their own free will does not matter quite frankly. Someone shares, someone believes and becomes a child of God.

THAT is the hill worth dying on. The other stuff is fun to debate 😏

*************************************************

So back to Paul’s argument. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Salvation is within reach – it is simple and attainable.

But not everyone who hears the message, obeys or acts on the message:

Romans 10:16 CSB

¹⁶ But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message?

So why would someone not believe?

• because they have not heard?
• because they are rebellious.

Paul is particularly talking about the Jews here. Why have the Jews not believed in the Messiah – in Jesus? Why have they chosen NOT to call on the name of Jesus?

Romans 10:17–18 CSB

¹⁷ So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. ¹⁸ But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

If faith comes by hearing the message of Christ, maybe they have not heard?

Does that mean the Jews didn’t have an opportunity to hear?

No Paul says they heard and not only did they hear from Paul as he went on his missionary journeys they heard from Isaiah and they heard from Moses they’ve heard all along that God will take his message to the Gentiles and also that God will save both the Jews and the Gentiles through the anointed One or the Messiah. They have heard they have just chosen not to listen.

Well, if they heard, maybe they just didn’t understand?

Romans 10:19–21 CSB

¹⁹ But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding. ²⁰ And Isaiah says boldly, I was found by those who were not looking for me; I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me. ²¹ But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

Does that mean the Jews didn’t understand? And that’s a valid question. It’s possible that somebody could hear the news and not actually understand it.  Valid, but not for the Jews who had every advantage and more information at their fingertips and the gentiles.

If God makes the gospel clear even to gentiles, who know nothing of his ways, then surely unbelieving Israel, with its advantage of God’s revelation in Scripture, has understood the gospel.

Romans 10:21 CSB

²¹ But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

Israel understood, but:

• refused to accept its principles (they had zeal but not according to knowledge 10:2)
• refused to accept its practices (established their own righteousness 10:3)
• refused to accept its proposition (the rejected/rebelled against it)

When presented with the simple truth of the gospel – you have a choice to make. One is belief, the other is rejection/rebellion. Even to choose not to act is an action in and of itself. You have chosen NOT to take that step of faith in Jesus, not to receive the gift God offers.

The gospel requires a response.

The reality of the good news of Jesus is that it does require a response. Even choosing not to believe or not to accept is a response, it is in fact a rejection.

Since most of my illustrations revolve around food I thought today would be no different. I have here a snack. If I say to you it’s available for anyone who will come up front and receive it from me. You now have to make a choice You either choose to come up front and receive the snack, or you choose to stay in your seat and not have it or to perhaps even just get up and walk out because you’re offended that I’m talking about food again. Once the scenario is presented the decision must be made , and even indecision is a decision.

So in our passage we really have three groups of people.

1. The Jews. They represent the people who have heard the word, understood the word, they know about God they know about Jesus, and they choose not to believe. They choose to reject Jesus.
2. The Gentiles. they represent the people who have heard the word and received it with gladness. People who are open to listening to what God had to say and to the story of Jesus
3. The messengers. Paul being one of them obviously, but then the command for all of us to have beautiful feet.

If you are in group one it is my hope and prayer that you will choose to call on Jesus as your savior and the boss of your life. He is trustworthy. You can believe in him and on him. See me or anyone sitting in this room if you like to do this today.

Romans 10:13 CSB

¹³ For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

If you are in group two it is important that you are also in group three. You will never experience the fullness of the blessing of being adopted into God’s family until you help someone else come to the family. Be the messenger:

Sharing Jesus is one of the greatest privileges that God gives to the church.

God could have preached his Word from the clouds without any human participation, but he chose to use imperfect, broken people like me and you to be his ambassadors. God gave us the unspeakable privilege of participating in his majestic program of redemption, which he planned from the foundation of the world.

And the most powerful way for them to learn about God would be to hear it from somebody else who has experience.

I pray that you will have beautiful feet.