1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.  2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.  6 But the righteousness based on 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 with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
— Romans 10:1-13, ESV
You can play the game, you can act out the part, though you know it wasn’t written for you.
Tell me, how do you stand there with your broken heart, ashamed of playing the fool?
One thing can lead to another, it doesn’t take any sacrifice.
Oh, father and mother, and sister and brother, if it feels nice, don’t think twice.
Just shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel.
Things are gonna be just fine, if we only will.
— James Taylor

JT was on to something, maybe even on something, when he wrote that song.  Like most popular music, it deals with the most popular theme in the world, love.  Everyone wants to love and to be loved.  Love can be shown and love can be showered in many ways.  Some loves don’t last, because they are selfish, obsessive, and destructive.  Good lovin’ lasts a good long time, however, especially when it is sacrificial, giving, and redeeming. 

From a Christian perspective, there is no love greater than God’s love, and God proved it in the person and work of Jesus Christ (ref. John 3:16).  Such love is received by grace through faith.  And when the love, grace, and faith are real, we want to share it with others, too.   

As we move in this section of Romans from the doctrine of election to the call to evangelism, let us see how believers can shower the people with the love of God by sharing the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Shower Love

God’s love is like a laser.  He focuses on the elect, predestines them for salvation, effectually calls them, indwells them, and secures them for eternity.  Paul has made this abundantly clear in his epistles, especially Romans, most especially the preceding eighth and ninth chapters.

You and I, however, are not God.  We do not elect.  We do not know who the elect are, and never will, fully, until Heaven reveals them.  Therefore, we cannot love with a laser, focusing only on certain souls, loving some while hating others.  We must love with a shower, and shower all people, everyone, with the love of Jesus Christ.

Loving everybody, however, begins with loving somebody.  For Paul, it was his fellow Jews.  Paul was not a nationalist, racist, nor anti-Gentile in any way.  He simply carried a special love for his family, his born race of Jewish people, who were largely lost.  I am sure Paul was willing to witness to everyone, the book of Acts proves this, but his motif was to go to the Jew first, then to all the Gentiles (ref. Romans 1:16, 2:9-10).  

Who are your Jews?  Who do you love that is lost?  Who do you have a “heart’s desire” for them to be saved?  Who do you love that may have many good qualities, but lack the “knowledge” of how to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ?  Who do you love that has broken God’s “law” and lacks the “righteousness” of God that comes only through faith?  

Shower them with love.  Love prays.  Love invites.  Love brings people into the three most important places in our lives, our heart, our home, and our church.  Love is kind, friendly, warm, and forgiving.  Love is giving and sharing. Love showers others with time, dinners, good conversation, and most importantly, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Shower the Gospel

When you shower someone with the gospel, you are doing a very loving, powerful, and positive thing.  You are literally flooding them with good news, which is essentially the meaning of the word “gospel.”  Who does not want and need some good news these days?

The gospel is good news to the weary soul.  People are weary these days.  They walk around like the Bancini character in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” saying, “I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m so very, very, tired.”  Whether they can articulate it or not, they are tired of clinging to the subtle heresy espoused by false religion and worldly philosophies that declares good people go to Heaven, bad people don’t.  How can you know if you are ever good enough?

The Pharisees of Jesus’ and Paul’s day had a peculiar belief.  If any one of them could be perfect for just one day, sunup to sundown, it would force God’s hand to make the Messiah to show up.  They did not know if he would descend from Heaven, an angelic figure on a white horse, or if he would ascend from the dead, perhaps King David, or Solomon, or another descendent.  Obviously, it never happened, and it never was necessary.

The gospel preaches a pardon of peace with God you do not have to purchase, earn, or score by keeping points.  Salvation cannot be gained by working, but rather by resting, trusting, believing.  Shower this truth on some weary soul.

The gospel is good news to the wayward soul.  We may not know how much good we have done in this life, but we all know we’ve done some bad, we’ve done some sinning, we’ve all rebelled against God.  And part and parcel of the good news of Jesus is the bad news that we are sinners, and sin separates us from God.  We are all wayward souls, without the gospel.

But the gospel is the prodigal’s way back to the Heavenly Father.  It is forgiveness of all sin.  It is freedom from guilt and shame and punishment.  It is the bridge to a forever relationship with God, by His grace, through the gift of faith, in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Shower the people you love with the gospel by telling them all they do not have to do anything to be saved, but simply listen, agree, and commit.  Those are admittedly three big words.  They are big on love, big on the gospel, and big on eternal salvation.

Listen: “The word is near you.”  Get the people you love under the sound of the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Get them a Bible.  Get them into your church.  In our culture at least, the word is very near.  There are Bibles on every bookshelf and churches on every corner.  The right ones shower the gospel.

Agree: “Confess with your mouth” literally means to agree with what you hear.  It is to affirm and agree with the historical and biblical facts about Jesus, particularly that He is “Lord,” God, Creator, Master.  He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless, spotless life, sacrificed His life substitutionally on the cross, and “God raised Him from the dead” on the third day.  

Commit: “Believe in your heart” cannot be superficial, it must be total.  Jesus cannot be your Savior if He is not your Lord.  Saving faith is a deep and abiding commitment, based on what you’ve heard and know to be true, that you will become a follower of Jesus Christ all throughout this life, as He guides you to the life to come in Heaven.  The Spirit and the word enable such belief, and true believers are all in.

In reality, you don’t do anything to be saved, you experience something.  You are “justified” and “saved” by the experience of grace, alone, through the gift of faith, alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ, alone.  This is the gospel to shower and share with the people you love.  If they only will listen, agree, and commit, they can be transformed into children of God, forever.

Shower the People

Such love, such good news, is for “everyone.”  God knows exactly whom He has called, I do not.  I so know that “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved,” and that’s all I need to know.  Here’s what else I know:

You can run but you cannot hide, this is widely known.
What you plan to do with your foolish pride, when you’re all by yourself alone?
Once you tell somebody the way that you feel, you can feel it beginning to ease.
I think it’s true what they say about the squeaky wheel, always getting the grease.
Better to shower the people you love with love … 
— James Taylor

I have experienced the love and grace of God.  I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.  I’m going to live for the Lord on earth and go to Heaven when I die.  

But I don’t want to go alone.  I want my whole family to be there.  I want all of my friends to be there.  I want as many people as I can influence in the world to be there.

So I am going to shower them with love.  It is what people want and need.  God has given it to me, I’m going to give it to them.

I am going to shower them with the gospel.  I’m going to stay in a gospel-centered church and constantly invite others to attend.  I’m going to make a Bible available to everyone who will have one.  I’m going to encourage them to listen, agree, and commit to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am going to shower the people with love and the gospel.  Please, sing along with me!