Faith Comes From Hearing the Word of Christ

Over the last thirteen years that I have been the pastor here at St. Paul Lutheran Church, one of my primary spiritual concerns has been church attendance. That less that half of the members of this congregation attend church on the Lord’s Day has always weighed heavily upon my heart and so I take every opportunity I can to encourage folks to come to church.

But I can’t remember that I have ever told you why this is such a concern for me as your pastor.

It’s because I know that your church attendance affects your eternal salvation—not just because God commands it (which he does) and to willingly, knowingly break his commands is to endanger your immortal soul.

But church attendance affects your salvation because faith in Jesus comes to you in no other way than by hearing the Good News of his death and resurrection. The Bible says: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.”

I have one goal as your pastor—and that is to see you go to heaven. Jesus Christ has provided all that is necessary for your salvation—but for you to enter into eternal life, it is necessary for you to believe in him --and the only way for you to believe in him is to hear the message of Christ.

It is that message that brings us to saving faith—but it is also that same message that sustains our faith throughout life. And so to come to faith in Jesus Christ and to persevere in faith—it is necessary to hear the word of Christ. The Bible says that:

Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.

To be saved, it is necessary to believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus, it is necessary to hear the Good News about Jesus. There is one place on the face of the earth where that faith-giving preaching and hearing is possible: and that is the Christian Church. Only the Christian Church has the message of Christ that gives and sustains faith unto salvation.

Now, that does not mean that you can’t hear religious messages elsewhere—you can. The Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the various world religions all have a religious message—but none of these messages are the Gospel—they are simply variations on the law—the idea that you can be right with God through obedience to various precepts and rules.

Moses wrote about a righteousness before God according to the law—that the person who did the commandments would live by them. And that is true. But what Moses knew—and the neighborhood cults and various world religions don’t—is that the standard for “life through obedience to the law” is: perfection—which none of us has.

That is why coming to church is so important—because it is only in the Christian church that you can hear of another way to have a life with God—the ONLY way to have a life with God—and that is through the righteousness of faith in Jesus. The Bible says:

The righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

The righteousness of the law says: do this and you will live. It is so simple-- and the only problem with that message is that it is so impossible. We haven’t done the things that the law commands-- and so rather than the law being a word of life for us—it becomes a word of death and damnation since we have failed to do what it says.

But the righteousness based on faith—that is, the way to a life with God based on faith in Jesus, doesn’t direct us to our own efforts—either in keeping the law OR in bringing about a Savior for ourselves. Instead, the righteousness of faith tells us to not even let those thoughts have a place in our hearts!

There is absolutely no need for us to make our way up to God --because God has sent his Son Jesus down to us—taking upon himself our flesh and perfectly fulfilling the law’s demand in every place where we have failed.

There is absolutely no need for us to undergo some great suffering and offer up some great sacrifice so as to atone for our sins because Christ has already done that for us—laying down his life on the cross and rising up victorious over death and the grave.

The message of the Bible is that we must not even let this thought (that by our efforts salvation can be gained) enter our mind. Instead, the message of righteousness through faith—a message that is only heard in the church-- says this:

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

The message of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen for the sins of the world is the word of faith and it is only heard in the church. It not only calls for our faith (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!)—but it is the way that the Spirit creates faith in us (the gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes).

Everywhere the Good News of Jesus in preached throughout the Christian church, there the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts—calling us to abandon any hope of saving ourselves-- and leading us to trust what Jesus has already done in his death and resurrection.

And God makes an absolute promise regarding that word of faith that we hear in the church: that if we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and believe in what he has done for our salvation—we will be saved. The Bible says:

With the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Being justified and being saved are really just two sides of the same coin but there are some nuances worth mentioning.

The moment we believe in Jesus Christ and trust him as our Savior, we are justified by God—that is, he declares that we are right in his sight. But that faith that is in our hearts is meant to be publicly expressed—in the words that we say and in how we live our lives. That is our confession.

When God says that we are saved in this confession he is making a promise for the future: not just that things are fine between us and God right now—but that we can be confident that the hardships of life and even the darkness of the grave will not overcome us—but that God will bring us safely through—that he will save us. We can count on it because God has promised it. The Bible says:

“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Throughout the Christian church on this Lord’s Day there are millions of our fellow Christians all over the world who are assembled to hear the Good News of Jesus preached. Asians. Africans. Hispanics. Europeans. Men and women. Rich and poor. Young and old.

And they are all hearing the same basic message that you folks are hearing today: that putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ—following him as your Lord and Savior—you can be confident about the future—that God will never let you down—that your faith in Jesus is not misplaced. That is the central message of the church that our fellow Christians are hearing this Lord’s Day.

No matter the color of their skin—no matter how much money they have—no matter their gender or their place in society—they all stand with us at the foot of the cross—equally blessed-- with the riches of salvation that Jesus earned for us there: forgiveness for all our sins—a renewed and right relationship with God—strength and guidance for the day—and eternal life. This is God’s salvation and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

But on this same Lord’s Day-- when Christians throughout the world gather together to hear the Good News of Jesus for the strengthening of their faith and to thank God for the riches of his grace--there are billions more who do not believe in him—who do not know the comfort of that wonderful promise that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. What about them? The Bible says:

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

At the beginning of this morning’s message we talked about the importance of being in church to hear the Good News of Jesus for our own life of faith—that we are brought to faith and sustained in faith through that message and that there is no substitute for it. But there is another purpose for coming to church—and that is to be equipped for our own part in the mission of the church.

You see, God’s loving care and concern that he showed in Jesus Christ extends—not just to you and me and folks who are already Christians—but his loving care and concern in Christ extends to every person in the world. He wants ALL people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth and call upon his saving name in faith.
But how can they call upon Jesus’ name if they’ve never heard of him? They can’t. And how will they hear of him unless a preacher is sent to them? They won’t. And how does the kingdom of God grow if those who already believe in Jesus don’t support the mission of the church? It doesn’t.

Jesus’ last words before his ascension to those who already believed him was to go and make disciples of all nations. Of course, the power to bring people to faith is his alone. The means to salvation is the Good News that he provides in his death and resurrection.

But every person who has called upon the name of the Lord in faith—every person who is right in God’s sight through faith in Jesus—every person who is saved for eternity-- is also called by God to be about the business of making him known to others.

We do this by giving for the mission of the church so that preachers can be trained and so that missionaries can be sent to places where the Gospel hasn’t reached.
But we also do this by speaking up for Jesus and making him known in our own lives. It begins with those who are closest to us in our family and in our circle of friends and extends to those who know in our schools and workplaces and neighborhoods.

Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. That is true of us in our own life of faith and it is true for all people. No one will be saved who has not heard and believed the word of Christ.

And so we rejoice to come into the Lord’s house and hear the Good News of Jesus so that we can be strengthened in our own faith—but also come here to be reminded that there is a world full of people who need that same blessing of faith that we have and that we have a unique place in Christ’s mission to save others. Amen.