No images? Click here NOT ASHAMEDMarch 30, 2022 This week, we were to take a closer look at what it means to be unashamed of the Gospel from the text of Romans 1:16-17. When we come to this text, it is easy for us to become discouraged and convicted by the number of times that we have been ashamed or embarrassed by the Gospel. At times we have all probably begun to share the gospel and then shrank back in fear. This fear is something that we must confront as we go forward in life. We are specifically warned in scripture to not deny Christ before men (Matthew 10:33) which refers to the gospel. If we understand who Christ is and what He has done for us, why would we ever be embarrassed by that or ashamed to speak of it? If we have been saved, at our lowest most sinful point, we know others can too. We have that testimony in our lives. We know that the Gospel is what is needed to save a lost and dying world and yet, we hesitate to share. One of the reasons, humanly speaking, that it can seem so difficult to deliver the gospel to those around us is because the Gospel is an offensive message to the world. It is offensive because it calls attention to and highlights the sin of the world. It unveils pride and confronts it. The gospel exposes a weakness and need to be rescued that we did not know we had. Our individualistic world says we have all that we need within ourselves for success but the Gospel breaks that down and says we need a savior because we can never do or be enough to merit God’s favor. Many who find the Gospel offensive are angry at God, whether they know it or not, and we become the messengers bringing this message to them and they can turn that hate and hostility towards us. As we come to this text we read “I am not ashamed of the Gospel” It may seem odd for someone of the highest Christian caliber as Paul to be writing that. Why would he, off all people, be ashamed? But we can see that he too had struggles in sharing the message. He was imprisoned for it, laughed at, considered an outlaw, and even stoned for sharing. It would not be hard to imagine him feeling some intimidation or even fear around sharing the gospel. Not only that, but Paul was going to Rome, the center of the known world at the time, a place of high thinking and high living. He was going with a message that a poor carpenter’s son died in a way that was not even legal for Roman citizens to save their souls and offer them a brand-new way to live. They would have likely thought it was pure foolishness. But Paul was not ashamed because he knew who he had trusted in, and the work Christ had done in his own life and the lives of others (2 Timothy 1:12). The gospel became Paul’s war-cry as he went into the city of Rome. In this text, Romans 1:16-17, Paul offers us to reasons why we should not be ashamed which are as follows:
The Greek word that Paul uses here to describe the power of the Gospel is “Dunamis” from which we get our English word dynamite. Conceptually, we understand that God is powerful but when we shrink from sharing the Gospel we are denying Him that power. If God is power, it stands to reason that all He does and all He says will be saturated in that same power. Our confidence in the gospel rests on the fact the message we share IS power. It is not about God’s power nor is it a source of power for us to draw from. It also does not result in the power of God. The Gospel itself is power. The words of the truth of the Gospel are power because it can save and deliver a person from their sin. The world needs to be saved from the coming wrath of God and the gospel is the power that can save them. When left to ourselves, we are powerless against the wrath of God. By nature, we are sinful, therefore we are the object of God’s wrath. We are in contempt of God and the thing that can pull us from this deadly place is the powerful message of the Gospel. The power is in the message, not in the way that you deliver or your personality or who you are, but it is in the words of the message (Matthew 14). It is in the preaching or talking about the Gospel that the power of God is demonstrated in saving men and women from destruction. The power comes through the communication of the words of God’s message to us. When we hear it, understand it, and believe it is when the power of the Gospel begins to take root in our lives, through the help of the Holy Spirit. To those of us who are saved it is power, but to the world it is foolishness (1 Cor 1:18-24). No one is going to come to a right understanding of the Gospel through human enlightenment. We often approach the gospel that way and try to intellectualize someone into the kingdom of heaven when all we can do is tell people who Christ is, what He has done, and allow God to work in their hearts. The gospel is so simple, yet so powerful. The only way for someone to be saved by the message of the Gospel is by the working of God in their heart to receive this simple yet vital message, faith in Christ. In Acts 8:1 we see God telling the disciples that they will be given the power once they receive the Holy Spirit and then that power will go out through them as they speak the words of God. That power was then displayed when 3000 people were saved. Each one of those 3000 newly converted lives demonstrated the power of God to transform the hearts and minds of men. The Gospel is the mind of God at work in the world and we are simply conduits of the message to the world. We do not have to be ashamed because we are sharing God’s mind, God’s will, and God’s message. We can have so much confidence in that. 2. The Gospel Reveals God’s Righteousness (Vs 17) As we approach this portion of the letter to the Romans, we are at the peak of understanding the theme of the book of Romans, the righteousness of God. Righteousness flows from God, He is the source. Understanding righteousness is the only way to understand the book of Romans. It is the rubric to the book of Romans. What is righteousness? It is conformity to a standard. In the Ancient Greek marketplace, this idea would be represented by scales. There would be specific measurements on the scales that would be accepted as the standard. Therefore, righteous behavior is behavior that can be checked against the standard of righteousness, which is God’s own perfection. God becomes the standard against which the scales are balanced, and the world becomes accountable to measure up to that standard (Romans 3:19) As we begin to look at our lives against the righteousness of God, we realize that we do not meet that standard because of the sins in our life. Because of a sense of justice that God has built into the hearts of humans, we try to balance the weights through works but in reality, that just further exemplifies our need for divine help because we can never meet the standard on our own. That same sense of justice testifies within ourselves that we are guilty and humanity can feel it. This understanding of that fact we are not righteous when held to the standard of God’s righteousness is a magnificent gift of grace from God. It reveals to us our problem and allows for the truth of the gospel to take root in our heart. It reveals a sense of unrest and unbalance in the life of the sinner. So, what then draws people to the solution of their problem? Miracles, philosophy, and intellect cannot draw them. The gospel offers the solution to their unrest. It offers and reveals the righteousness that is desperately needed to save them. The gospel offers a new view of God, His righteousness and the sinner’s life. This righteousness is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. The law cries we need to pay for our sins before God and Christ’s perfect life and death on the cross paid the price required by the law. Christ placed himself on the scale next to the standard of God’s righteousness and finally the scales of justice were satisfied. That is the good news of the Gospel. What God demands; He provides! This is what makes Him a graciousness and loving God. Jesus imputes that same righteousness to us through His death on the cross! Our faith exposes the righteousness of God to the world because it is through faith that righteousness is received. When we act and live in faith is when the practical righteousness is exhibited to the world. Our internal testimony reflects the righteousness as does the outward works of our faith. We are also called to be a sort “fruit inspectors” in the lives of fellow believers where we call them to live in a way that exemplifies the righteousness of God. Paul is therefore not ashamed to go to Rome to preach the gospel because the people in the church there are revealing the righteousness of God through their lives! The world lives with the anxiety of knowing that the wrath of God is coming. We do not and should not live that way because through the power of the Gospel, we have been adopted as sons of God and we can call him Abba! Father! When we consider sharing the Gospel with those around us, we should have no fear because the message of the Gospel is power and through it the righteousness of God is revealed. Take courage as you go out into the world with the message of good news from God! Paul was not ashamed of the gospel and neither should you be!
Selah:
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