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Hear this ancient Japanese parable. Once there was a poor stonecutter who owned nothing but his chisel, his hammer, a small bamboo hut, a ceramic rice bowl, and a pair of wooden chopsticks. He was too poor to marry, and he ate alone every day of the rice doled out to him by his employer's wife. His clothes were made of rags.

One day he saw a samurai warrior ride by the stone quarry on a fine horse, and he saw that the warrior was wearing beautiful red silk clothing like he had never seen. The stonecutter lamented out loud how he had not fine silk to clothe his body, and his cry carried to the heavens. So the heavens clothed him in red silk, and placed the new samurai in the court of the emperor.

One day, while in procession in the company of the emperor, the samurai noticed that only the emperor had a golden parasol held over his head. He lamented that the emperor was more powerful than he, and the heavens heard his cry. The samurai was made the emperor.

In the heat of the summer the emperor noticed how the sun scorched everything with its hot rays. He realized he was not the most powerful being, so he wished to be the sun. The heavens heard his cry and made him the sun. He directed his power, heat, and light everywhere, and scorched the earth.

But one day he noticed that a cloud placed itself between the earth and himself, and he could not send his rays wherever he wished. He realized that something was more powerful than he, so he wished to be the cloud. The heavens heard his cry and he became the cloud. He blocked the sun's rays and sent floods upon the earth. Everything yielded to his power.

Everything, that is, except one. A rock would not yield to his force. No matter how much water fell, the rock would not budge. So he cried out once again that he wished to be the rock, and the heavens heard his cry. He became the rock and did not budge when the sun shone upon him and the clouds rained upon him.

But one day a man who had a hammer and a chisel came. The man hewed stone out of the great rock, and the rock cried that there was one more powerful than he, so he wished to become that man. The heavens heard his cry and he was made a stonecutter. Day after day he cut small stones from great rocks, and it was very hard labor. All he owned was a hammer and a chisel, a small bamboo hut, some ragged clothing, a ceramic rice bowl, and a pair of wooden chopsticks. But he was now happy.1

Or was he? The ancient parable ends here, but I think the cycle kept going, don't you? The human heart is a reckless and restless prodigal. It is a wild mustang straining against every rope which tries to subdue it. It is a garden which brings forth every manner of weed and thistle which chokes the delicate flowers and tender shoots.

It is this wild, reckless heart that God is after. The testimony of the entire Bible is that God searches for hearts, but even God has trouble with us because we are so fickle.

The other side of this is that man has tried to find God, too. "Man is incurably religious," we are told. And so he is, so we are. In times past people have ransacked the universe searching for God. They recited incantations or burned incense or spilled blood, all in an effort to find God. And all the while, God was close by to be found. This is what Paul is saying in Romans 10. "The word is near you," he says. "It is in your mouth and in your heart."

I. The Word Is Near You: You Don't Have To Bring Him Down

Paul had been around. He knew the efforts of people to squeeze Christ into molds of their own making. It had gone on from the beginning. The Twelve wanted Jesus to act "normal." Herod and Pilate wanted him to be an "ordinary" criminal. The Christians in Corinth were confused about gifts and sex, and wanted to shape Christ to fit their distorted sense of right. The Christians in Colossae were troubled about the power of the stars and tried to fit Christ into the confused theology.

And today? Jesus has been made into everything from a radical revolutionary to Superstar to ascetic hermit. But Paul's insight for his day is as contemporary as a computer. "The word is near you." We need not try to pull Christ from heaven. He has already come! This is great news. Our task or responsibility is therefore not to try to earn his love or attract his notice.

We need not bribe God! The Word is near you, and you do not need to bring Christ down. He is already here. This is not a command to find the Savior or get to work, or even to show up at church every time the doors open. It is a promise of Christ's presence in your life, no matter what.

Generations of our ancient ancestors did all sorts of things to catch God's attention and earn his love. They burned incense and slaughtered animals. They bruised and beat their own bodies. They treated others harshly, thinking it was God's will. All of this was done to earn his care. But Paul says that we need not do anything to earn God's care. We already have it! The word is near you. You do not have to bring Christ down.

II. The Word Is Near You: You Don't Have To Raise Christ Up

Christ is not the representation of a distant, unreachable God. But neither is he a dead prophet. Jesus lived with all the verve, strength, and integrity which any man has ever known. His life was neither decoy nor sham. It was as real as yours and mine. In the same manner, his death was not a fake. When Jesus was spiked to a cross, the blood that dripped onto the soil was real. His life was snuffed out like a candle in a storm. But on the third day that flame was rekindled, and it shines today in the heart of every person who will flee the darkness.

God is with his people in all circumstances. He is alive, and we need not spend our time trying to resurrect him as if he were dead. He is in this world working with people in events both ordinary and unusual. Consider this event. A Christian missionary was taking a flight from Nairobi, Kenya, to Mombassa. About fifteen minutes into the flight one engine died and the other was having trouble. Just prior to this, the missionary had struck up a conversation with a man seated across the aisle him. This man was an German tourist who was not interested in religion. "I don't have time for that," he told the missionary. But as the plane began to loose altitude he changed his mind! When the plane leveled out this man jumped across the aisle, grabbed the missionary by the arm and said, "Now, you tell me how to be saved." The Christian explained simply how to receive Christ, and the tourist knelt in the aisle and asked Christ to come into his life. When the plane safely landed a few minutes later, this man began to speak in German to the other tourists with him. Before long eighteen others prayed to receive salvation through Christ.

The word is near you. You do not have to bring him up.

III. The Word Is Near You: You Can Confess His Presence In Your Life
Hear again Paul's promise in Romans 10: "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." A meaningful confession is an expression of what is in the heart. To confess Christ is to express belief in both words and especially in significant action.

The Christian Church has spent twenty centuries fighting over words. Some of this is right, because the Church needs correct theology, and proper language in which to express that theology. But much of the squabbles have been of little consequence, other than diverting effort from the genuine work of doing what Christ called the Church to do.

Confession of Christ is the life of the Church. It is life lived in harmony with God. Paul's call for confession is based on the fact that God has given himself to humankind in love through Christ. When one lives in harmony with that love, he is confessing Christ. When she does not live in such harmony, she is denying Christ.

An acquaintance recently called me from Seattle, Washington. I was surprised to hear from him because I had not spoken to him in over fifteen years. This is the story he told me. He had started a Christian coffeehouse to witness to students at a large university in Louisiana. This is where I had gotten to know him. Things went well for a year or so, but people began to lose interest, donations dropped off, and he finally gave up in disgust. This man was angry - angry at people, angry at the university, and especially angry at God. He packed up his family and moved as far from Louisiana as he could get - thus, Seattle. In his conversation to me, he said, "I have been running from God for fifteen years. And I just got tired of running. I recently began praying and attending church again, and for the first time in fifteen years I feel as if my life is on target again."

The word is near you. Are you running, or angry, or hurt?

The word is near you. Are you trying to resurrect Christ from the dead in order to have him do something in your life?

The word is near you. Are you scurrying around trying to earn his love?

How near is the word? A baby bird was heard to ask its mother, "Mother, what is air?" To this she made no reply but spread her wings and flew. A baby fish asked its mother, "Mother, what is water?" She made no reply but swished her tail and swam. A baby ant asked its mother, "Mother, what is dirt?" She made no reply but stretched her legs and dug the burrow a little deeper. A child in a nursery asked her mother, "Mother, what is love?" She made no reply but picked up the child and hugged her.2

Like water to a fish; like air to a bird; like dirt to an ant; like love to a child. So is the presence of the word - God himself - to those who love him. The word is near you.


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1. Adaptation of an ancient Japanese tale told in Storyfest Ministry Magazine, Vol. 1, pp. 3--4.

2. From a suggestion by Edward E. Thornton, "Awaking Consciousness: The Psychological Reality in Christ--Consciousness," in Review and Expositor, Vol. 76, No. 2 (Spring 1979), p. 185.