Beautiful Feet

July 14

2 Chronicles 3-5

Psalm 80:4-7

Proverbs 17:27-28

Romans 10  

Beautiful Feet

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him they have not heard?  And how will they hear without a preacher?  And how will they preach unless they are sent?  Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news of good things!’”  Romans 10:14-15  LSB

In Romans 10, Paul clearly laid out the process by which we are saved.  “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your hearts that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.”  He went on to explain that “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  Whoever includes everyone, Jew and Gentile.  Salvation is open to all who will believe.  He then asked a series of leading questions.  “How can they call on whom they have not believed?  How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?  How will they hear without a preacher?  And how will they preach unless they are sent?”  He is stressing the importance of sharing the gospel with everyone!  In verse 15 Paul quoted Isaiah 52:7,  “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who proclaims the good news, who announces peace and proclaims good news of good things, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” LSB  The Jews would have been familiar with this verse and He wanted them to make the connection between Isaiah’s prophecy about the Messiah to Jesus of whom he was proclaiming. 

The gospel message has not changed in the last 2,000 years and the means by which it is delivered remains the same as well.  People call on Jesus because they have believed in Him and they believe when someone tells them about Him.  If no one tells them, they cannot believe.  The gospel is and has always been spread one person at a time.  Each person has to make a personal, individual decision to believe.  Living in the Bible belt in the United States, it is easy to get the idea that everyone has heard about Jesus and if they want to believe they will so we don’t need to shove it down their throats.  Or we think that if they want to know about Jesus, they will ask someone.  There is a church on every corner so they have every opportunity to learn about Jesus if they are interested.  Unfortunately, that is not usually how it works.  Most people come to faith because someone took the initiative to invite them to church or to tell them about what Jesus means to them.  Walking into a church where you don’t know anyone and you aren’t sure what to expect is intimidating.  Even if they are interested, most people won’t take that first step unless someone invites them.  We don’t have to go across the world to spread the gospel, there are people all around us who desperately need to hear about Jesus.  Paul’s use of the word preacher here could make us think that we are off the hook if we are not a vocational minister, but that would not be accurate.  Paul is using this term to emphasize the importance of preaching the word to everyone.  We each are given opportunities to tell people about Jesus.  Sometimes we plant seeds, sometimes we bring people to church where they can hear the word, and sometimes we need to just love people so that they ask questions.  We each have a role to play in the process.  There are people who will never come to church and the only way they will ever hear about Jesus is if someone they know tells them.  Jesus has “sent” each of us out into the world to proclaim the good news to anyone who will listen.  It can be scary and uncomfortable but pray that God will give you opportunities to tell people about Him and that He will give you the words to say that will touch their hearts.  Pray that He will open your eyes to those around you who do not know Him so that you can begin to pray for them.