In his science fiction thriller That Hideous Strength C. S. Lewis places his protagonist Mark Studdock in a crisis of decision. Pressed to choose between good and evil, he replies, “I want to think. I want to think.” Lewis observes, “Mark had said the wanted to think: in reality he wanted alcohol and tobacco. He had thoughts in plenty –more than he desired.”
Similarly, Paul has hunted his quarry out of every legitimate cover by the time he gets to Romans 10. All that remains is the choice: Confess Jesus as Lord or do not. On that choice hinges salvation or damnation. There’s no need to speculate about how one reaches Heaven – Jesus opened it in the incarnation. There’s no need to dither over the ethics of who goes to Hell – Jesus defeated it in the resurrection. All that remains is the decision: Will my heart embrace the truth? Will my mouth speak it?
“Jesus is Lord” – four simple syllables, doesn’t seem that tough. But it is, in fact, loaded language for two groups of people. For the Jew, Lord means YHWH God of Israel and this confession takes the straightforward mathematics of monotheism into the incalculable geometry of the Trinity. For the gentile, Lord was the title of Caesar and using it for anyone else constituted an act of rebellion against the visible world order.
So when Paul magnanimously promises that “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all,” what he essentially means is, “Anybody is welcome to get killed for following Jesus.”
As Helmut Thielicke observes, “In countless talks about Christ it has been my experience that what stands between men and Christ is not intellectual arguments but sins.” We don’t need more time to think. We don’t need more theology to think about. We don’t need more tobacco or alcohol or video games or Facebook posts or any of the other smorgasbord of distractions our society serves up: We need to choose. We have no choice but to choose. Live for Jesus and be a heretic to the easy answers of religion. Live for Jesus and be a traitor to the conflation of God and country. Oh for a beautiful pair of feet to kick us in the backside and move us across the line of comfortable indecision!
Please Choose from the Following Menu.
Doug
Collect
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you sent your only Son to keep on our behalf the covenant that we had broken. Grant us now faith to believe and courage to confess Christ as our means of salvation in Heaven and Christ as our standard of conduct on earth, that not the words of our mouths alone but the way we walk through life might carry the gospel to those who have not heard. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Benediction
May all the riches of Heaven and all the terrors of Hell
Confront you in the choice of Jesus as your Savior.
May all the wrath of religion and all society’s scorn
Confront you in the choice of Jesus as your Savior.
May all of the words your mouth speaks and every step your feet take
Confront your world with the choice of Jesus as its Savior.
In the name of the Father,
And of the Son,
And of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
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