Keep It Straight and Get It Out
Romans 5:6-15
Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6)
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the third Sunday after Pentecost is the epistle reading Romans 5. I will refer to the other two readings as well. A.L. Barry, one of our former presidents of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod once said these words to a group of delegates at a LCMS convention. “Keep the message straight Missouri. Get the message out Missouri.” By saying Missouri he was refereeing to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. He was saying that right doctrine and evangelism go together. His words are very much the theme that runs through all of our readings for today. His words are very important. He is telling the church to make sure that we have the message of Jesus straight and then he is telling us to get that message of Jesus out into the world. “Keep it straight and get it out.”
We see an example of this in our Old Testament reading from Exodus. The Lord rescued the children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt and brought them to Sinai. He made them His treasured possession. He loved them and cared for them. He also worked through them by making them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. First, the people needed to get things straight. It was the Lord who rescued them from the bondage of slavery. Second, they needed to understand that they were to be a light to the other nations. God worked through His treasured people, his kingdom of priests, His holy nation to reveal Himself to the rest of the world. Have you ever wondered why the Israelites had all of those laws and regulations and specific instructions that they were to follow? First, the Old Testament laws were there to point people to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. But there was a second reason for all of those laws. The laws of God set the nation of Israel apart from everyone else in the ancient world. The other nations were to look at Israel and see the just decrees and realize that the God of Israel was not like the other gods but that He was actually the one true God.
We see in our Gospel reading the Lord working through His apostles. Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching and proclaiming the Gospel and healing people. He then called the twelve Apostles to go out and do the same thing. They were able to do this because they were under the authority of the Lord. The apostles were with Jesus throughout His ministry. They were instructed by Him. They were first to get the message right and then to get it out. The Lord then sent the apostles out to proclaim the Gospel, first to the nation of Isreal and then to the rest of the world. Some of these apostles and some of their associates like Luke and Mark were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the New Testament. It is the same New Testament that we currently have. The Lord worked through His Apostles to get the Gospel out into the world and for it to go out to every age until Jesus visibly returns.
We were not there at the foot of Mt. Sinai, nor have we been called to be Apostles. But we are God’s people. We belong to His church. We are a part of the body of Christ. This is what Peter says about us. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” God had been gracious to us and has shown us great compassion and mercy through His Son Jesus Christ. Paul says it well in our epistle reading for today. “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person- though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”
Sin separates all people from God. It is Jesus who wipes our sins away by His shed blood on the cross. It is Jesus who has reconciled us to God. He has made us right with God through His death and resurrection. Jesus has saved us from this present evil age and has brought us into the Kingdom of God. We are a treasured possession in the site of God through His Son, Jesus Christ. It has been revealed to us that God loves us and is with us. It has been revealed to us that we have been given the gift of everlasting life. That is a life in the full presents of God forever. A.L. Barry said to get it straight. The marvelous Gospel message is this. We have been justified by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way of salvation.
It is important that we get the message of Jesus straight and it is important to get it out. The Lord has saved us and He works through us. He works through us as Christian parents as we raise our children in the faith. We raise them in the faith by bringing them to church each week so that they can hear about Jesus and receive His gifts. We raise them in the faith by praying with them, having family devotions each day, and by talking to them about what God’s Word has to say. We will be tempted to only focus on the earthly success of our children. But we must remember that the first call of Christian parents is raise our children in the Christian faith. As Christian grandparents we can be a great encouragement to our adult children who are raising their kids. We can also be a positive influence in the life of our grandchildren. Sharing the message of Jesus always starts with the family. God works through all of us ordinary people to get the message out. We have been richly blessed by God and as stewards of God’s blessings we are moved to support the mission work of the church so that others can hear the Gospel and come to faith and be saved. We are given opportunity to share God’s Word with our friends, co-workers, members of our community, and family. Invite them to church and talk to them about the Lord.
Many of you are familiar with the Christian author, CS Lewis. He was an atheist who became a Christian. What is interesting is that once he became a Christian, he said that he now had something to write about. Once Lewis became a Christian, he had something say. Did he ever. He wrote several books sharing the message of Christ.
It is the same with us. Not that we are going to write books but like Lewis we do have something to say. We have something to talk about. When we meet with people we often talk about the weather and sports. We talk about our children and grandchildren. We talk about our ailments and our Dr. Appointments. We sometimes talk about our work we even talk about politics. All of those things are perfectly fine to discuss. I enjoy those subjects. But there is more to our life than those things. We have something to say to the rest of the world. We have something to talk about. We have the most important thing to share with others. We have the most wondrous message to discuss. It is the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.
What A.L. Barry said to those delegates at the LCMS convention several years ago is absolutely spot on. “Keep the message straight Missouri. Get the message out Missouri”. God is faithful to us and so we are moved by the Lord to be faithful to His Word. We hold to the teaching of God’s Word regardless of how popular it might be in the world. As Christians we cherish the Gospel revelation given to us.
We believe in Christ and we are moved to share the Gospel. As Christians we now have something to talk about. We have something to share. It is wonderful to think about how God works through us to bring peace, hope and love to the people around us. Knowing that as we speak it is the Holy Spirit that is doing the work to bring people to faith. Keep the message straight and get the message out. Amen.