5 Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim), 9 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. 10 For one believes with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation. 11 The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14 But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15 And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:5-15)
Dear Friend; how beautiful are your feet? Did you know the average American spends on average $60 per shoes based on the fact that Americans spend $121 Billion dollars on shoes each year? That's based on the 2.1 billion pairs of shoes sold here in the US! I don't know about you, but that is a large amount of shoes sold! If you're like me you buy a pair of shoes and think you're fine, but next thing you know it's been three years since you bought those shoes and you wonder why the soles are worn out? If you're an active runner your running shoes will wear out in 4 months; 12 months if you're an average runner. Work shoes will last between 1 to 2 years, and Sunday go-to-meeting shoes will last about 4 years, more if you get them re-soled and maintained. The song framed it best; "Never been with a woman long enough for my boots to grow old."*
The Bible is an action book with the word "go" in it enough times for us to know that God wants us moving to get His love and kingdom growing! Paul examines a part of that in this passage.
Paul has a way of taking something that feels impossibly complicated and placing it so close to you that you can almost reach out and touch it. That's exactly what he does in this passage. He's been talking about righteousness — about how it comes, what it costs, who can get it — and he's about to make the most important turn in the argument. Forget the idea that the gospel is something you have to climb to, something far away at the top of a mountain that only the most spiritually athletic can reach. Forget the idea that you have to somehow ascend into heaven to bring Christ down, or descend into the deep to bring Him up from the dead. You don't have to do any of that. The word, Paul says, is near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart.
That's one of the most disarming sentences in all of Scripture. Near you. Not up there somewhere, not behind a veil of religious complexity, not requiring credentials you don't have or a spiritual experience you haven't had yet. The word of faith that Paul is proclaiming is as close to you as the next word you're going to speak, as close as the thought that's forming in your mind right now. God has done the impossible distance-crossing already, in Christ, and what remains is not a long journey but a short confession.
And here it is, as plain and as profound as anything in the New Testament: if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Two things. A confession and a belief. Not a performance and a record. Not a résumé and a recommendation. A confession — which means saying out loud, in the hearing of others, that Jesus is Lord, that He is the one to whom all allegiance belongs, that every other claim on your life bends the knee to His — and a belief that the resurrection actually happened, that the tomb is actually empty, that the one who died on the Friday actually walked out of the grave on the Sunday. This is the heartbeat of the whole thing, and Paul says it with a simplicity that should make us stop and breathe for a moment.
Because here's what's easy to miss: the order matters. Belief is in the heart, and it leads to righteousness. Confession is with the mouth, and it leads to salvation. The inner conviction and the outward declaration belong together — you can't have a living faith that never takes verbal form, and you can't make an honest confession that isn't rooted in something genuinely believed on the inside. But Paul is saying that both of these things are available to everyone, without exception, without qualification: "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on Him." The same Lord. Generous to all. Call on Him and see.
Then Paul asks a series of questions that build on each other like steps on a staircase, and each one is worth following all the way down: How will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him of whom they have never heard? How will they hear without someone to proclaim Him? How will anyone proclaim Him unless they are sent? And then the verse that has launched more missionaries and more conversations at kitchen tables and more moments of nervous courage than perhaps any other in the letter: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." Beautiful feet. Not eloquent lips or impressive theological credentials or a platform with a large following. Beautiful feet — the feet of the person who simply goes, who shows up where the word hasn't yet arrived, who is willing to be the link in the chain between someone's hearing and their believing and their calling and their salvation.
This is where the personal becomes missional, and where the good news stops being something we receive and becomes something we carry. Every person in this room who has ever heard the gospel and believed it is standing in the middle of that chain. Someone had beautiful feet that brought the word to you. And somewhere ahead of you, there is someone who is waiting — perhaps without knowing they're waiting — for the word to arrive on feet that turn out to be yours.
The confession that saves is meant to travel. The belief that produces righteousness is meant to be spoken into the silence of someone else's not-yet-knowing. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" — everyone, without distinction, without qualification — but the calling requires hearing, and the hearing requires someone willing to go and speak, and the going requires feet willing to be beautiful in the service of news that is genuinely, astonishingly good.
PRAYER: Lord, give us the courage to open our mouths with the confession that saves and the willingness to go with the feet that carry the beautiful news to everyone who hasn't yet heard it. This we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Think of one person in your life who hasn't yet heard the good news in a way that made it personal to them, and take one step this week toward being the beautiful feet that bring it.
I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me.
Let's surprise someone with love today!
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
*Heard It In A Love Song
