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What Are You Ashamed Of

Romans 1:16 "For fI am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for git is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to hthe Jew ifirst, and also to hthe jGreek. 17 For therein kis the righteousness of God revealed from kkfaith to faith: as it is written, lThe just shall live by faith." [1]

I.   Plan

     A. Truth

     B. Together

II. Power

     A. Trust

     B. Totally

III. Purpose

     A. Temperance

     B. Told

Introduction:  We have been focusing on faith for the past few weeks.  We heard of a man named Eli who was mentor to the Samuel in the Old Testament that served to place the kingdom of Israel into the hands of their first two kings.

The children of Israel were under the rule of judges who were supposed to be speaking for God.  For a leader to be a Godly leader means that leader must be totally faithful to God.  We see what happens as a society decides to progress themselves away from God and places themselves into the hands of leaders who only want power in their hands.

For the past several years it seems that world leaders of nations once known as being faithful to God are progressing further and further away from sharing their faith in God.  In other parts of the world we are seeing nations that are led by leaders who proclaim freedom from any religion yet the morality in their countries, in some respects, is closer to Biblical values than what we are forced to hear in this nation though our national motto states otherwise.

We have providentially been examining the notion of faith in God while we have been studying the New Testament book of Hebrews.  The statement was made that in order to trust God a Christian must first have faith in God.  We examined the idea of realizing the truth that what is not seen is more real than what is seen.  It is only through faith that we can make this tangible.

The apostle Paul was commissioned to bring the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those outside of Jacob’s lineage.  Jesus is the Savior of the world and now in a way we are in the lineage of Paul.  We are to share our faith in a way that points us out to others that we believe that Jesus is our Savior, God the Father is our Heavenly Father, and The Holy Spirit lives within us.  He guides us to where we can witness the gospel to those who have been called to hear it.

In a nation that is founded on the idea that the majority rules, we are hearing fewer and fewer people saying today that they are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.  I wonder if there is anything that the majority of society can say that they are ashamed of today.

What are you ashamed of?  That would be an awesome question to politicians that are supposed to be representing others.  Wouldn’t you like to hear someone ask a panel of candidates that question?  Wouldn’t you like to hear their answers?  One more question while we’re at it; does the politician that you support have the same ideas on what is shameful that you do?  If you know that they don’t, why in the world did you vote for that one?

Paul said right in the first chapter that he wasn’t ashamed of the gospel of Christ.  We are His bride.  We better never say anything else than that but it seems we are being shamed to agree with the Bible by those who have a voice and are being allowed to speak today.

Scripture:  The scripture today is Romans 1:16-17.  Please stand if you can for the reading of God’s Word.

Prayer:  Please be seated.

Message:  What is the gospel of Christ?  If you say that you are a Christian you are saying that you understand that Jesus is the plan that God had before the beginning of time as we know it.  When Jesus said in John 14:6 that He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life, that means there is no other way to the Father except through Jesus.  That means that there is no truth that does not agree that Jesus is Lord.  That means that there is no everlasting life together with God without life with Jesus.  That is the gospel of Christ!  Paul said that he was not ashamed of that.

Apparently others in that day were ashamed of the gospel of Christ or Paul would not have made the statement that he was not ashamed.  More and more people today are denouncing their faith by what they are not ashamed of anymore.

I’ll be one of the first to admit that there was a time that I was confused about what to be ashamed of.  The apostle Paul might have been saying the same thing here.  As you read verses eight through fifteen, it sounds almost like an apology for a feeling that was held before.  But now Paul is thanking God for the privilege of even knowing the faithful people he is writing to.  They are constantly in his prayers and in his mind.  He is longing for the day when he can make the trip to be with them and preach the good news to them.  It’s hard to imagine that this one who was once known as Saul would have once made arrangements instead to be at their crucifixion.

Now he is interested in their mutual comfort and common purpose of using those gifts which God gave them for His glory.  Paul is joyful over the knowledge that even those who were not Jews were bringing others to salvation through Jesus.  Now instead of considering these people as a dredge on society, Paul understands that he is in their debt.  Later Paul explains that we should not be in debt to any man except in love.  Romans 8:13”Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for nhe that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” [2]  We owe each other the love that God gives to us and we shall never repay the debt of love which God gave us.

My misunderstanding once caused me to refuse to be associated with some of those that I was led to witness to.  Since I was wrong about those things, it caused me to further examine myself for the things that might be a shame to God about me.  There was a point in Paul’s life when he was known as Saul that he was ashamed of the gospel of Christ.  He was so ashamed of the gospel of Christ that he assisted in the persecution of those who carried the name Christian.

What is the gospel of Christ?  “git is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to hthe Jew ifirst, and also to hthe jGreek.”  The good news of Jesus Christ!  Gospel means good news!  Paul told the Christians in Rome that the gospel of Christ is the power of God which brings salvation to every person who has faith in Jesus.  The gospel of Christ covers all of humanity totally and all that we must do to receive that power of love is to believe.

Jesus came first to the Jews; as a descendant of King David according to the prophets.  Salvation for mankind did not start and end with the Judeans though.  Even the Greeks are included.  Thank God for that.  My dad’s folks came from Ireland.  My mom’s people came from Greece. I am totally saved even though according to some I am from a mixed marriage.  You see my dad grew up here in Moncure.  My mom was from up north so I am half southern and half yankee.  If ya’ll thought that to be funny, there was a time that my granny Brady was ashamed that Daddy married my mom.  Partly because of where she was from; partly because she had been divorced.  I loved my granny Brady.  She loved me too.

You see, sometimes we are ashamed of things or even people who God gave us to love instead.  That is the power and miracle of the gospel of Christ.  To totally love someone where before there was a vacuum of hatred takes a miracle.  Aren’t you joyful for the miracle?

So what do you think?  Is it natural for Jews and Greeks to get along?  We understand that the term Jews refers to a person from the tribe of Judah.  Does that mean all people from the other eleven tribes of Jacob or Israel (as he was renamed) are not Jews except for those descended from Judah?  As we read through the Old Testament there were wars fought where one tribe or group of descendants from one of the twelve sons would kill those in the other tribes.  You didn’t have to be a Greek to be hated by a Jew.

Remember my Uncle Albert?  Uncle Albert would come to visit.  His thing to say was, “Who’s winning the good or the bads?”  That limits who you hate or tolerate pretty handily.  Back in Paul’s time you might say that anyone who was not from Abraham was though of to be Greek.  The good guys were Jews.  Today I hear that white supremacists are against people of black or brown color.  That limits the good guys from the bad guys as my Uncle Albert used to say.

So what is the purpose of the gospel according to this that Paul wrote to the Romans?  The righteousness extended by the gospel of Christ is extended to not only the Jews but also to the Greeks.  Jews and Greeks were accustomed to being at odds with each other as society is attempting to do to us today.  How can there be peace when tempers are flaring?

Many years ago there was a movement to take alcohol out of society.  It was ironically called the temperance movement.  Temperance is the ability to control flaring tempers so that civil society can exist.  The temperance movement was started by women in churches for a good purpose.  They equated sobriety with temperance.  If your husband isn’t drunk he won’t get into a fight.

Well that didn’t work out too well because you can’t force temperance.  The gospel of Christ brings temperance only when there is solidarity of believers.  Paul said that the gospel of Christ brings all people groups together only when they truly trust Jesus.

How is it passed along?   “For therein kis the righteousness of God revealed from kkfaith to faith.”  From one group of faithful ones to the next the gospel of Christ is told to all who will accept no matter what their skin color happens to be.  No matter what family they were born into; the gospel of Christ is from the same plan.  There is not one plan for the Jew and another plan for the descendants of Ishmael.  There is not one plan for the white race and another plan for people of a different skin color.  There is not one plan for the Native American and another plan for the invaders from other countries.  There is one gospel.  There is one good news.  There is one Savior.  His name is Jesus.  That is the gospel; that is the good news of Christ.

Prayer: 

Invitation:  "lThe just shall live by faith."  There is no justification without the gospel of Christ.  You may think that you are living without Jesus but unless you have received Him as your personal Lord and Savior, you are already dead and you don’t even know it.

The invitation today is examine yourself.  What are you ashamed of?  Is there something about someone else that shames you?  Examine yourself.  Momma had a way about her that would infuriate me.  I‘d bring up something that someone else had done or said that I considered shameful.  Her answer was always, look at yourself.  It might be that what you see in that one is what you know that you are capable of yourself and that is why it makes you so mad.  You have no idea what that other person is going through or where they have been.  When you go there and don’t fall into temptation then you can say that you are not ashamed of yourself.  Otherwise, God will enlighten you whether you want him to or not.  Let’s pray, Let’s sing…

f So Ps. 40:9, 10. See Mark 8:38.
g 1 Cor. 1:18, 24. So 1 Cor. 15:2. Luke 2:30, 31, 32.
h Acts 14:1. & 18:4. & 19:10. & 20:21. ch. 2:9, 10. & 3:9. & 10:12. 1 Cor. 1:24. & 10:32. & 12:13. Gal. 3:28. Col. 3:11.
i ch. 2:9. See Acts 3:26. Comp. Matt. 21:43.
h Acts 14:1. & 18:4. & 19:10. & 20:21. ch. 2:9, 10. & 3:9. & 10:12. 1 Cor. 1:24. & 10:32. & 12:13. Gal. 3:28. Col. 3:11.
j See Mark 7:26. & John 7:35 marg.
k So ch. 3:21.
kk So ch. 6:19 (Gk.).
l Cited from Hab. 2:4. See John 3:36. & Phil. 3:9. Cited also Gal. 3:11. Heb. 10:38.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ro 1:16–17). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
n So ver. 10. Col. 3:14. 1 Tim. 1:5. See John 13:34.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ro 13:8). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
g 1 Cor. 1:18, 24. So 1 Cor. 15:2. Luke 2:30, 31, 32.
h Acts 14:1. & 18:4. & 19:10. & 20:21. ch. 2:9, 10. & 3:9. & 10:12. 1 Cor. 1:24. & 10:32. & 12:13. Gal. 3:28. Col. 3:11.
i ch. 2:9. See Acts 3:26. Comp. Matt. 21:43.
h Acts 14:1. & 18:4. & 19:10. & 20:21. ch. 2:9, 10. & 3:9. & 10:12. 1 Cor. 1:24. & 10:32. & 12:13. Gal. 3:28. Col. 3:11.
j See Mark 7:26. & John 7:35 marg.
k So ch. 3:21.
kk So ch. 6:19 (Gk.).
l Cited from Hab. 2:4. See John 3:36. & Phil. 3:9. Cited also Gal. 3:11. Heb. 10:38.