But what does [Scripture] say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

–Romans 10.8-9 (NIV)

In today’s lesson, Paul is reminding us what is necessary to have a restored relationship with God. We are to believe that in Christ, God has acted decisively on our behalf to end our exile from him. In Christ we are put right in God’s eyes. We don’t deserve the gift nor can we do anything to earn it.

But practically speaking, what does it look like in our lives when we declare that “Jesus is Lord”? Is our salvation (restored relationship with God) really that simple? Well, yes and no.

Yes, it’s really that simple because as Paul makes plain in today’s passage, the Risen Lord is easily accessible to each one of us. We access him through prayer and Scripture, through worship and the Eucharist, and through Christian fellowship. Jesus is risen and ascended, and he awaits our acceptance of his gracious invitation to have life in him. Partaking in the traditional Christian disciplines, God’s means of grace, goes a long way in helping us do this.

So first we have to have in our heart (the biblical term that refers to both our center of emotions as well as the center of our knowledge and will) what God has done for us in Jesus. We have to say yes to grace and this requires a humble and contrite heart.

But saying Jesus is Lord is a bit more complex than uttering this straightforward statement because it is quite possible for us to confess that Jesus is Lord and then turn around and act like we are Lord instead. If this becomes a pattern of living, that is a pretty good indication that we really don’t believe that Jesus is Lord because our faith always manifests itself in action.

When we really do believe that Jesus is Lord, when we really do accept God’s gracious offer to us in Christ to have life in and through him, it changes us. We are off the hook in terms of trying to earn God’s favor and fixing our relationship with him by our own means–always a recipe for disaster.

When we understand and believe that our exile from God really has ended, we are transformed through the Spirit over time into the image of Christ. We seek to love and obey our Lord out of a profound gratitude for all that he has done for us. We remember his charge to us to be his light and salt to the earth (Matthew 5.13-15), and we behave accordingly. We look to Jesus as our role model and we seek to imitate him in all that we do, especially in our relationship with others. We are quick to forgive and offer mercy where none is merited. We look out for the well-being of others as readily as we look out for our own. We live the pattern of our lives to bring glory to God rather than to ourselves. We are jealous to protect his good Name, even though he does not need our protection. We strive to right injustice wherever we see it and can do something about it. We seek to serve instead of being served. We understand that giving rather than taking is the avenue to true meaning and purpose in life. In other words, we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6.8).

But to do this requires a humble and contrite heart that stems from a realistic knowledge of the human condition. We must be willing to let God be God and settle for being his creatures. With the Spirit’s help, we must end our delusion that we are somehow worthy of God’s love and mercy or that we can somehow earn God’s merit. Only when the pattern of our behavior is consistent with our Lord’s command to deny ourselves, take up our cross each day, and follow him, can we be certain that “Jesus is Lord” is more than lip service. It is body, mind, and soul service because we are putting our money where our mouth is.

All this, of course, starts with the season of Lent where we carefully examine ourselves and our motives, where we confess our sins and repent of them, with the Spirit’s help. We listen closely for God’s guidance so that we can begin to live in ways that bring him honor and glory and so that when others see us, they will truly know that we believe Jesus is Lord.

As the season of Lent winds down and the cross looms ever closer for our Lord, let us resolve to respond to his gracious invitation to us to have life in and through him. Let us go to the foot of his cross and lay our hurts, our sorrows, our brokenness, and our sins there so that he may take them from us and heal us. Then let us go forth in the power of the Spirit rejoicing in all that God has done for us in Jesus and show the world we mean it by living in ways that demonstrate our willingness to be his Kingdom workers here on earth. The work will often be difficult and costly, but in losing ourselves for Jesus’ sake, we find life and open ourselves to his power so that he can help us bear all that he calls us to do. And when you really do believe that Jesus is Lord, nothing will be sweeter than to bring honor to his Name as we answer his call to help him usher in New Creation and life.