By Pastor William Kang, InterHigh

Romans 10:4-15
“Through Christ’s being brought down to earth (i.e., his incarnation, Rom. 10:6) and his being brought up from the dead (10:7), God has made righteousness readily available (10:8).  One does not have to ascend into heaven or plumb the depths of the sea to discover it.  All one needs to do to attain righteousness is to respond in faith to the gospel as it is preached.  Verses 9-10 draw conclusions from what Paul has said about the ‘righteousness that is by faith’ in verses 6-8.  With the mouth one confesses ‘Jesus is Lord.’  The confession that Jesus is Lord is one of the most basic distinguishing marks of being a Christian.”[1]

According to this passage, what does it take for a person to be saved?  According to this verse, to be saved on must “confess with his mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’” and “believe in his heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).  

According to this passage, what needs to happen first in order for a person to believe the message, to call on Christ and be saved?  In order to believe the message, a person must call on Jesus.  In order to call on Jesus, one must hear about him.  One can only hear about him only if someone is sent to preach about Jesus.  And one can only preach about Jesus if he is sent to do so (Romans 10:14-15).

In light of this, how seriously have I taken my role as one who must “bring good news” to those who “have not heard?”  I have taken this role very seriously.  In fact this role is central to my life, even before I became a pastor.  This world is fallen and needs to be saved, and people can only be saved if they hear the message.  Christ commands all of his followers to give this gospel message to the world (Matthew 28:18-20).  Having received salvation and having become a follower of Jesus it doesn’t make sense for me to find a purpose in my life other than fulfilling the great commission.  There is really no other game in town. 

Reflect on the words, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”  List the people (known and unknown) God used to bring the gospel to me?  Who are the people God is asking me to go to?  There are many people who give the gospel to me.  There were my parents.  There were my youth leaders—Joy Byun and Yeon Hee Kim.  I wish I could find them and let them know that I became a Christian and a pastor.  There were my current leaders, Pastor Ed and Kelly.  Words cannot express the debt that I owe to them.  Not only did they teach me to obey the gospel over the past 20 years, they have modeled for me what it is like to be a Christian and to be a leader. There were scores of Christian thinkers: C.S. Lewis, Ravi Zacharias and many others who have helped encourage my faith.