2/4/07

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17)

Morgan Jackson, Director of Faith Comes by Hearing,tells of an incident in northern Nigeria. The local Muslim imam (Islamic leader) of the town gave the call to prayer through loudspeakers each morning between 5:00 and 5:30 AM. A local Christian pastor decided he would have his own call to prayer and placed an audio Bible tape into his cassette player. He turned it up loud and played it next to an open window. Morgan Jackson noted that thousands of Christians have been killed in Nigeria during recent years, a place where it's dangerous to have faith in Jesus Christ, and it certainly was dangerous to do what this pastor did. The imam summoned the Christian pastor, who assumed he was in trouble, but he dressed well and appeared before the man. The meeting was not what he expected. He learned that both the imam and the imam's wife had come to personal faith in Christ by hearing those audio Bible tapes.

Many have been enlightened and encouraged by today's Scripture. Romans 10 contains a number of wonderful verses that relate to the faith we receive from God's Word, like Verse 9 - If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you SHALL be saved. When you hear God's Word, the Holy Spirit will enable you, like the imam and his wife, to know that Jesus Christ is the One who saves us from our sins. We receive faith through HEARING the Word of God.

Verse 11 of Romans Chapter Ten says that if you hear the Word of God and then trust in the Lord Jesus Christ you will NOT be disappointed ever. Oh yes, life on this earth is difficult, but faith in the Lord will not let you down. If you fall, He will lift you up. When you hear, you will be given faith to believe. When you believe, you WILL be saved, and you discover with interest that you are NOT disappointed.

And notice Verse 12 about "distinction." Let's be honest here – we all have made distinctions between people. We want others to accept us just as we are, but for the most part we are not so generous with THEM. The human tendency is to judge people instantly, and we don't even know why. Perhaps it's something about the way they hold their head. Maybe they use their hands too much (or not enough)! Perhaps they look like somebody that treated you badly in the past. Maybe you have lingering prejudice in your mind and heart. Or possibly you were just in a bad mood that day.

Wonderfully, as it says in Verse 12, God makes NO distinction between people. If you hear about Jesus Christ and believe He is the Son of God who died for your sins and then rose from the dead, you SHALL be saved. He ACCEPTS you as His own, on the basis of faith alone. Humanly speaking there ARE distinctions between people and Romans 10:12 uses the example of the Jew and Greek, and at the time these verses were written, the two groups were completely unlike one another.

The Greeks worshipped the human body and gave high regard to what they termed "perfection." The Olympic Games were among the biggest events of that day, and the men who participated in them competed without clothing, presenting the idea that sporting events not only showed who was the fastest or strongest, but also, from their perspective, who was the best in physical appearance. The Greeks felt that the practice of circumcision, which was performed upon all Jewish males at the age of eight days of age, was an insult to the perfection of the human body.  The Jews strongly disagreed.

In the Greek culture, they worshipped many "gods," whereas the Jews acknowledged only One. The so-called "mystery religions" abounded in Greece, but were shunned by the Jews. The artistic pursuits including painting and sculpture were highly regarded in Greece (and also in Rome where they copied the Greeks). The Jews, however, felt the "arts" were a form of idolatry. The Greeks cherished logic and reason above everything else, whereas the Jews valued the perceived will of God as revealed in His Word, and many of the Jews did indeed base their lives on faith in the Lord.

There's much more, but it's important for us to note is that if you can imagine some group of people who are just the opposite of the way you think things should be, God will have some of His people living among them. It shocked the Jews, but God had His people even among the Greeks! He saves people from ALL nations, tribes, peoples and tongues (Revelation 5:9, 7:9). Any bad conclusion you might have about certain kinds of people is something to pray about; for there is no distinction with God.

Today's verse is this: Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). What would be the OPPOSITE of that statement and why is it important? I suggest this as the opposite: unbelief comes by hearing, and hearing by the ideas of this world. It's important to be selective about what we take into our minds.

I've always been a "reader" and through the years, read everything in sight. I know other "readers" and I'm surprised by those who can read, but don't do it like I do. When my children were little and when they became adults, bigger than I am, I read their books to understand them better and hopefully have a bond of relationship with them. My parents were readers and I did my best to pass it on. But not all reading is necessarily good.

It IS an excellent study in contrasts to compare the Jewish ways of doing things, 2000 years ago, with the Greek culture of that time. To be fair, what we know of the Greek "arts," including music, statuary, paintings, architecture and the theater, is simply beautiful in its entirety. And yet you can become involved with outward things to the extent that you miss the wonder and delight of faith in our Lord. Just as God has His Word and gives us “faith through placing it into our hearts, there is an enemy who is also very busy filling our hearts and minds with ideas that would distract us. The enemy uses words and other symbols to lead us into unbelief. Authors, writers, editors, actors, producers, directors and creators of video games, can be the unwitting tools of the one who wishes to mislead humanity forever.

Give your heart to the Lord. Prayerfully read His Word, the Bible. Let Him lead you.  Love the Lord and let Him draw you to love others. Like the imam, the wife & the pastor, you'll not be disappointed.

Lord, I place my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Open Your Word to my understanding that I may trust in Him more. In Jesus Name. Amen.