The Map to Rightness with God

Romans 10:5-15

My wife and I took the back roads to return from visiting our friends in Sidney, Ohio, this past Wednesday. Ordinarily, from there we would take I-75 South. But after catching Route 741 near Dayton, we got to see some slightly different territory and wound up on I-71 South, close to the Morrow Montgomery, Fields Ertel exit.

Ann was behind the wheel as she usually is when we take long trips--mostly because I can read out loud to her from whatever book I’ve selected for that journey without urping my cookies. (This is something which none of the other members of our family can do.)

Now, you need to know that we get a charge out of simple things. We just joined Costco, one of those big warehouse retailers. So Ann asked, “Do you want to look for the Costco that’s around here somewhere?” “Sure,” I told her.

Many of you probably think that what I'm about to tell you about is a man thing. But it’s not. It's a people thing. The two of us spent twenty minutes looking for this place, cutting down one road after another. One of us would say, “Maybe it’s over here” and off we’d go. Or the other one would suggest, “Let’s try there” and we’d go tearing in the other direction.

After about the sixth U-Turn, I said to Ann, “You know, we probably could ask for directions.” She laughed and said that might be a good idea. But she had another inspiration and sure enough, she got us to the Costco. (Where, I might add, we purchased a carton of chocolate chip cookies and some cheese.)

Our little mini-adventure is probably emblematic of the way you and I go through our lives most of the time. We chase after one wild hare after another and in the end, have little to show for it. That can be fun sometimes, as it was for Ann and me coming back from Sidney.

But sometimes, it’s good to have a map. One pastor talking about this morning’s Bible lesson points out that maps have always been valuable things for soldiers, saliors, and airmen and women. But paper maps have obvious limitations. They can be torn. With a bit of wear, they can become virtually pulverized or their ink can be erased. If a paper map gets caught in the rain, it can become pretty useless. And even it survives all those threats, the acid in the paper on which it’s printed, will begin eat it up.

During World War Two, the Brits came up with a brilliant idea. They created silk maps, imprinted with pectin-based ink for their airmen. As someone has pointed out:

“Concealable silk maps were stuffed in hollow boot heels, tucked into cigarette packs, or sewn in inner linings inside flight jackets. During an initial search, the silk maps were frequently missed. Silk maps of France, of Belgium, of Germany and elsewhere helped scores of downed airmen flee to freedom...”

What kind of map are you using to get to a place of rightness with God, a vulnerable type made of flimsy stuff or the resilient kind?

In today’s Bible lesson, Paul talks about two kinds of righteousness. Righteousness is one of those Biblical words that gets thrown around and is usually misunderstood. In the Greek of the New Testament, the word is dikaiosounai. It basically means to be accounted right with God. In legal terms, it would mean to be acquitted of the charges against us. When it comes to God, it means being certified as worthy of living with God for eternity. So, it’s an important word. While living this life and facing death and the life beyond, I surely want to be counted worthy of living with God.

Paul says that there are two roadmaps to righteousness and with each, he attaches a representative.

With the first one he associates the Old Testament law giver, Moses. (Frankly, I think Paul is a bit unfair to old Moses here. But I will leave that discussion for another day for now.) This road map--the Moses road map--to rightness with God says, “If you obey the law of God, God will count you righteous, right with Him.”

That folks, from the Bible's perspective, is absolutely wrong! It’s the view of Islam, of the Mormon Church, of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and of every cult group on the planet. It’s the view of materialists who believe that money makes the man, of women who think that looks are the end-all and be-all of life. In short, this is the view of people who believe that you and I can be good enough, virtuous enough, worthy enough, exacting enough in our personal standards and integrity to earn our way to worthiness of being with God or acceptable to the world.

This paper road map to rightness with God will fall apart and will leave us far from God. Why? Because, as the Bible tells us, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

What does that mean for us? Just this: God refuses to allow a drop of moral imperfection in His presence. I don’t know about you, but I’m not perfect. I mean I’m really not perfect. I’m more like the guy you may have read about who prayed, “Dear God, I’m having a good day so far. I haven’t lied or cheated or cursed or lost my temper. But, Lord, I’m about ready to get out of bed and then I’m really going to need your help!”

When I come to God in prayer or when I stand before God’s judgment seat at the end of my life and I’m asked why my requests or why I deserve to be accepted by God, I sure don’t want to be left with, “Look at all the good things I did.” Because sure as shootin’, someone else will be able to come up with a much bigger list of rotten things I’ve done. I cannot get to rightness with God by being a good person. I’ll never be good enough. And neither will you.

Fortunately, God has given us another road map to rightness with Him. It’s the silk map, the one that will last forever. It comes from trusting Jesus with our whole lives.

It is the righteousness of those with faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus, Who voluntarily bore our sins on a cross and took the death sentence for us, has risen from the dead. He sits at the right hand--the power side of God--and says every time one of us surrenders to Him, or confesses our sins and seeks forgiveness, or makes a prayer request in His Name, or after following Him, stand before the judgment seat at the end of our days, He’s the One Who says to God the Father, “He or she is a sinner, Lord. But I’ve covered them with Myself. They’re with me.”

Do you believe that? Paul tells us today:

“...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. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The Scripture says, ‘No one who believes in Him will be put to shame’...[and] ‘Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you came here this morning feeling ashamed or if you doubted your place in God’s kingdom, put away your shame, doubt, and guilt right now. Tell God that you trust Jesus or that even if you find it hard to do so, that you want to trust Jesus. The God we know in Jesus will reach down to us in our weakness and give us His strength. Faith--trust--in Jesus is the road map to rightness with God and nothing can destroy it or your relationship with Jesus once you let Him give it to you.

Now, one other thing. Right after reminding us that “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved,” Paul asks these questions:

“But how are they [in other words, how are other people] to call on One in Whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in One Whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim Him? And how are they to proclaim Him unless they are sent?”

The point is that you and I are to be like the Auto Club for our friends and neighbors, our co-workers and family members. We need to share the road map that lasts forever with those who don’t yet know Jesus Christ.

Once again this morning, I issue a simple challenge to all of us--including me: Let’s make it our business to invite at least one spiritually-disconnected people to know Jesus or to worship with us once a month for the rest of our lives.

Sharing Christ with others is one very important part of the mission He has given to all of us who believe. We get to help people know the roadmap to rightness with God. Jesus is, He Himself tells us, “the way, and the truth, and the life” and He says, “No one comes to the Father but through Me.”

You and I are privileged to help the world know that. No wonder that Paul writes, quoting a passage from the Old Testament: “How beautiful the feet of those who bring good news!” We might paraphrase, “How blessed the ones who show others the way to God.”

[The information about the silk roadmaps of World War Two comes from homileticsonline.com.]