7 AUGUST 2011. MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES. -Romans 10: 5 – 15 Matthew 14: 22 – 33 - Robert

If you found today’s Epistle from Romans Chapter 10 more than a little difficult to follow, you are in good company! In his commentary on this letter, William Barclay (for example) writes: “It is agreed by all commentators that this is one of the most difficult and obscure passages in the letter to the Romans. It seems to us that what we have here is not so much a finished passage as the notes for a passage...(with) a kind of telegraphic quality...”

It is part of a longer argument designed to demonstrate from the Old Testament that the way to a right relationship with God is through faith in Christ, and not through rigid obedience to the Jewish orthodox law. And the word I would use as the key to understanding it for our purposes this morning is the word ‘CHOICE’.

A key passage which Paul draws on here is in Deuteronomy Chapter 30, verses 11 & following. In our Church Bibles it is starkly headed ‘The Offer of Life or Death’. (Have a look in your own time and you will see just how it relates). In the situation Paul was facing, you could not have both salvation through faith in Jesus and salvation through correct observance of the Jewish Law. You must choose. One way leads to life – the other to death.

1,200 years before, Joshua had called the Israelite people to make a choice which rings through the Old Testament. He called the people to renew their covenant with God and cease all worship of other pagan gods – because you cannot have both. ‘Choose this day whom you will serve’ he cries. (Joshua Chapter 24). And in a verse inscribed on a chalice Barbara and I were given for our wedding, Joshua declares in 24:15: ‘But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’

Or let me take you to a service of baptism in the 2nd century as described by St Hippolytus of Rome. It is dawn on Easter Day, and the candidates have completed three years of preparation. They go down to the water, which he says should be pure and flowing. And there each candidate makes their choice. First they renounce evil saying: ‘I renounce thee, Satan, and thy service and all thy works.’ They are then anointed with the oil of exorcism. Then each turns to the east and affirms his or her faith and commitment to God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Then they go down into the water and are baptized. Then they come up out of the water and are confirmed and receive communion. They have made their choice. You can see the parallels with our services today when adults are baptized and confirmed in the same service. Our liturgy today is based as closely as possible on that of Hippolytus. It is a service of clear choice and commitment.

Now this kind of choice (or something very similar) is exactly what Paul is describing here in Romans 10 verses 9 to 13. It doesn’t matter who you are, Jew or Gentile, you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, and so enter into an exclusive relationship with God, and the promise is that ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’ (v.13 quoting Joel 2:32). To do that means breaking with the past and starting afresh. You have chosen the way of life.

How do we apply this today to ourselves? First of all, we affirm that it makes no difference at all who we are. In this passage the distinction is between Jew and Gentile. For us the distinctions will be different but no less clear. Paul says in verse12: ‘The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him’ whoever they – or we - are.

I find that people tend to fall into two categories. Some feel instinctively that they are not good enough for God to bless them – possibly because they are conscious of some wrong-doing or possibly just because it is a first natural reaction. Others are the opposite, and feel that, basically, they are good people leading good lives, and that, provided they don’t do anything too way out, they will be able to call on God for help as and when needed.

But it’s clear that there is no distinction between the greatest sinner and the most upright citizen. Each of us has a choice to make. A choice that originates in the heart and mind, and then expresses itself in words as we confess our faith.



Whether it is in the context of a great cathedral or church service, or in the quiet of our own prayer-time, we begin (as those Christians I described have from the very beginning) with renouncing everything that stands in the way of our Christian faith or in opposition to it. Everything that in practice claims first place in our lives and therefore displaces Jesus from prime position.

Then, (metaphorically) we turn to the east where the sun rises and gives life to the world, and confess our faith in Christ, who died for the forgiveness of our sins, and rose from the dead to give us hope for the future and the assurance of eternal life, and put our whole trust in him as our Lord and Saviour.

That is the choice every Christian has to make. Perhaps it is in the context of a church service, perhaps quietly at home; perhaps in a clearly defined moment which we will always remember, perhaps more gradually over a period of time, but underlined in ink (so to speak) by a conscious and deliberate prayer.

Just as those first Christians struggled between the pulling power of the Jewish Law and faith in Christ, so our struggle today is generally between our Christian faith and the pulling power of the secular world with its different priorities, values and way of life. We are called to choice, not to a vain attempt to hover between the two – a feather for each wind that blows (as Shakespeare so neatly puts it). We have to live in the secular world and its culture without allowing its values to topple Jesus from this throne in our hearts, in our minds and in our daily living. As hard for us today as it was for those first Christians to whom Paul was writing in his letters. We are not called to be ‘hoverers’ but to make Christian choices.

But the rewards are immeasurable once that choice is made and renewed day by day. When the risen Christ is enthroned in our lives, our lives are filled by his Holy Spirit, who brings us faith and hope for the future, and love, and all things beautiful and truly desirable.

And, in the light of this, I ask again – how does this apply to us today? The news is full of financial crisis which will probably affect our lives and may well become a source of real anxiety in one way or another. We await to see the full impact and what it will mean for each of us. In Luke chapter 12 Jesus says to us: “Watch out! Be on your guard... for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he goes on to warn about the fate of those who store up material things but are not rich towards God.

To some, the idea of taking refuge in a spiritual relationship with God will seem simply escapism. – a comfort blanket. But, on the contrary, to me these words are a crucial reality check. What is the more important? When we choose our priorities in life, that choice will determine everything else. Do we store up treasures on earth or in heaven? Again it comes down to choice. And when we choose to put God first, and our faith in Christ as our first priority, and seek first the kingdom of God, the practical result is that other things – although very important – fall into their right place. We have chosen the way of life, not the way of death.

And when times are hard, the Lord of our lives comes to us (as he did to those disciples on the lake) and meets us in the storms of life. And in those times of confusion, doubt, fear and anxiety, he has a clear command: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” That is when you know you have made the right choice, because the presence, the love and the guidance of the Lord far outweighs anything this world can offer. Today we join with those disciples in the boat as we worship him and say “Truly, you are the Son of God”. As Isaiah had said long before and Paul quotes him here: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring us such good news!”