1 Lent Year C 3/9/2025
Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
Words are very powerful.
They have the ability to bring life…
They have the ability to bring death…
We can build people up with encouraging words…
We can tear people down with negative and rude words.
St. James writes:
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father,
and with it we curse human beings,
who have been made in God’s likeness.
Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.
(James 3.9-10)
Nevertheless, words are of primary importance in our relationship with God and with others.
Our words and actions speak volumes about what we believe,
what we worship, what we hope for.
In our reading from Romans, St. Paul writes about the power of the tongue.
The power of confession…
He also writes about the power of our hearts and minds.
The power of belief…
And how these two things go together.
Both what we confess and what we believe.
Building his case from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, chapter 30, he writes:
“The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart”
In the Old Testament quote it speaks of the law being present on the person’s lips and heart.
In other words, the Hebrew person grew up memorizing the Torah…
They knew the law in their hearts…
And so, the law was on their lips.
In our New Testament text, St. Paul writes that on our lips and in our hearts is the Gospel.
He says:
It is the word of faith that we proclaim.
In fact, many of us make the sacramental gesture to remind us of the importance of the Gospel…
Before the reading of the Gospel each time we gather for worship,
We pray:
May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart.
For Paul…
The Gospel is close and easily accessible.
Meaning it is right here…
It is present.
He says:
…if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
It’s a quite powerful verse.
Simple and powerful.
And it ties together confession and belief.
As the late theologian John Stott wrote:
Thus the heart and mouth,
inward belief and outward confession,
belong essentially together. [1]
St. Paul goes on:
For one believes with the heart and so is justified,
and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
And then quoting Isaiah he says:
“No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”
So, if anyone every asks – what it means to be a Christian?
It means confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord and believing this in one’s heart.
The scripture says:
For one believes with the heart and so is justified,
and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
We are justified and saved by belief and confession.
Notice it doesn’t say:
If one confesses with the mouth they might be saved.
Nor does it say:
If one confesses Jesus as Lord and keep all his commandments they will be justified and saved.
You see salvation…
being justified from our sins…
Is a matter of the grace of God.
It is a matter of faith in the work and ministry of Jesus.
Not our work.
Some might say…
Now wait a second…
That seems too easy…
You mean I just confess Jesus is Lord… and that’s it.
Well not if we mean it as some ritual code or magical formula.
But when we couple the confession of Christ Jesus as Lord with the faith that God gives us – as the scripture says:
We are saved!
That’s what grace is!
Grace is God’s gift to us.
Grace is receiving all the benefits of being God’s children without earning or deserving them.
We are not saved by good works, or hard work.
We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.
We are saved by the work of Jesus.
We are made righteous by the righteousness of Jesus.
That doesn’t mean that good works and following the commandments of God aren’t important.
They certainly are!
But good works that are pleasing to the Lord come from one who has received his grace and mercy.
Good works flow out of the grace that we have received.
They are empowered by the Holy Spirit who is present within the redeemed.
As Jesus said:
I am the vine; you are the branches.
If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit;
apart from me you can do nothing.
(John 15.5)
And this grace is not just for a select few.
It’s not just for the insider’s club.
It is offered to everyone.
St. Paul writes in our present text:
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.
And then he quotes from the prophet Joel,
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Everyone!
No matter what country they are from,
no matter what skin color they have,
no matter what education they have,
no matter their social class.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Paul emphasizes this point in Galatians, saying:
There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
neither slave nor free,
nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(Galatians 3.28)
Anyone who ever puts a boundary line on this is not preaching the Gospel of Jesus.
Hear the good news today.
Hear the promise of God this morning.
All who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved.
Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners.
Because of his death on the cross.
A perfect sacrifice atoning for the sins of the world.
By his grace…
Through faith…
We are saved, justified, redeemed, born again, made new, reconciled, and made his children… co-heirs with Jesus.
By faith we were baptized into his death and resurrection.
By faith we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
By faith we proclaim that Jesus is our Savior.
By faith we receive the sacrament of his body and blood.
By faith we are saved.
Christians, we are the people of God.
We are his children.
Let that truth get into your spirit.
Let that truth hug your heart.
And with this truth, let us go into the world proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people around us.
In this season of Lent, let us accept the invitation of what the season is… to draw closer to Jesus Christ by self-examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial;
and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.
(BCP, 265)
And in this season…
Where we experience the goodness of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ in powerful ways…
May we proclaim this goodness to all the world.
To truly love our neighbor is to tell them about the good news in Jesus.
May we shine the light of Christ as his children in this world.
In this season, may we know more fully who we are…
And who we proclaim with our words and actions.
That is Jesus Christ.
Amen.
[1] John Stott, The Message of Romans, TBST (Downers Grove: IVP, 1994), 283.
