Not Ashamed of the Gospel

SCRIPTURE: Romans 1:16-17 (ESV)

DATE: 6-11-17

SERMON INTRODUCTION

As many of you know, I studied music in college. What you don’t know is why I got interested in music to begin with. It all starts in sixth grade. In my Middle School, all sixth graders started off in an elective class other than band because — for some reason — band started a few weeks after school began. And I was in art class.

Now I’m no artist. But I remember the day when I was working on an assignment and my art teacher came up to my desk, looked at my work, and he said out loud for all to hear, “This is terrible. Try again.” And crumbled up what I’d been working on.

Now I know that many of you experienced much worse than that in sixth grade, but — for me — that was a moment of shame in front of my peers that stuck with me.

So when the music teacher came by — asking for volunteers to be in the band — my hand went up. And that’s why I got into music. It all started with a moment of shame.

Last month, an article was published titled “Shame, Guilt, and Fear: What 1,000 Americans Avoid Most.” And the point of the research was to find out what we Americans avoid most — shame, guilt, or fear? And somewhat surprisingly, “We worry less about guilt and fear and worry more about how we can avoid shame.”

Thirty-eight percent of Americans avoid shame more than guilt and fear. And if you focus in on people who attend church at least once a month — instead of the number being thirty-eight percent — it drops to a whopping thirty-seven percent. So this avoidance of shame doesn’t go away just because you go to church.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. Those with a college degree are more likely to avoid shame than those who don’t have a degree. And those between the ages of 35 to 54 are the most likely to worry about shame.

So how about a little audience participation. If you attend church at least once a month, have a college degree, and are between the ages of 35 to 54 would you please raise your hand — because we’re the shame avoiders?

Now it’s at this point that we all like to think of ourselves as the exception to the rule — “the research doesn’t apply to me Josh!” — but let’s pretend as if we’re an average group of Americans who seek to avoid being shamed above all else.

The article goes on to say that “shame has become particularly powerful in American culture in the internet age. A single mistake or embarrassing moment posted on social media can ruin a person’s life.” We’ve all seen this, right? There’s no mercy on social media when it comes to being shamed.

One of the researchers said, “What’s surprising is not that personal freedom, ambition, and ‘doing the right thing’ are valued by Americans. It’s that risk to our reputation is what matters most [to us].”

So if there’s a risk to our reputation — a risk of being shamed by others — we Americans — and even we Christians — cower in fear.

Now for some of us — this isn’t just theoretical — some of us have experienced being shamed before — and it goes way beyond what my art teacher did to me.

You’ve been made fun of.
Embarrassed.
Picked on.
And — unfortunately — it doesn’t end when you’re out of school.

Some of you have been shamed because of your skin color.
You’ve been shamed because of your education or lack of it.
If you grew up in the church you may have seen someone shamed for not being a good enough follower of Jesus — there are all kinds of reasons why we shame one another.

But did you know that there’s a huge difference between being shamed for something and being ashamed of something? And as crazy as it sounds, that “something” can be the same thing.

Meaning you can be ashamed of your skin color even when no one has shamed you because of it.
You can be ashamed of your education — or lack of it — or of not being a good enough follower of Jesus — we can be ashamed of all kinds of things even when no one has ever shamed us because of them.

You see, being ashamed is self-inflicted shame. So there’s shame — what others do to us — and there’s being ashamed — shame we do to ourselves.

And today we’re going to begin a journey in a book of the Bible — the book of Romans — and we’re going to look at two verses in Romans and these verses are about being ashamed — they’re about self-inflicted shame — they’re about being ashamed of something that followers of Jesus should never be ashamed of even in a culture — like ours — which avoids shame above everything else.

So what’s something that followers of Jesus should never be ashamed of even if others shame us because of it?

Well let’s turn to our Bibles to find out.

ANNOUNCE THE TEXT

If you have your Bible please turn with me to Romans chapter one. We’ll be looking at verses sixteen and seventeen together.

And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do here at Gateway is let you ask questions. So if you have a question during the sermon, you can text your question into the number that’s on the screens or you can submit it on the Gateway app.

SERIES INTRODUCTION

And if you’re new to Gateway — something important that you need to know about us — is that we love Jesus and we love the Bible. Because we believe that the Bible is the Word of God. And when we hear God’s Word preached — we hear God speaking to us.

And here’s our plan for the book of Romans. We’re going to go through Romans in small chunks over the next few years. So this year we’ll look at the first two chapters and then we’ll take a break — go to some others book in the Bible — and then we’ll come back to Romans next year — look at a few more chapters — take a break — look at some others books — and so on.

And here’s the reason for our approach. We want you to be familiar with the entire Bible — the Old and New Testaments — the Gospels and the Psalms — the prophets and the wisdom literature — letters written by Paul — like Romans —

and the letters written by James, John, Peter, and others. And we think that this strategy — of breaking Romans up — will help us engage you with the whole Bible without us being in one book for a long period of time.

So Romans one and two this year — then some other books in the Bible — then we’ll come back to Romans next year and the year after and the year after until we’re all the way through the book.

And our verses for today are the key verses in Romans — they contain Paul’s main point — and the rest of the letter is one long explanation of the two verses we’re going to look at today.

So if we get these two verses down — if we understand what they’re about — well then — the rest of Romans will fall into place.

So let’s look at these two verses.

RE-ANNOUNCE AND READ THE TEXT

Here are the words found in Romans chapter one. Beginning in verse sixteen.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17 ESV)

TEXT SETTING

So let’s talk about the guy writing this letter that’s in our Bible — and not only this letter — but Paul wrote about twenty-five percent of the New Testament. And when you add in the chapters in the book of Acts — that are about Paul — nearly one third of the New Testament is about or written by Paul — so he’s an important guy.

He was born a Roman citizen in the city of Tarsus, which was a prosperous city. It was exempt from having to pay taxes to Rome, the city was cultured, and was famous for its schools of education — it’s the kind of city you’d want to live in — cause tax free is pretty awesome.

Paul was taught a trade growing up — how to make tents — it’s what he did to make money. He was also trained in the Jewish faith. You wouldn’t meet anyone more religious than Paul. He was a Pharisee, which was a group known for their strict obedience to the Old Testament Law — they were rule followers to the extreme.

And what you need to know about Paul is that he started off hating Christians, he hated Jesus, and he hated the Christian religion. He loved to shame followers of Jesus.

So he wasn’t looking to become a follower of Jesus.
He wasn’t looking to have his views changed.
He hated followers of Jesus so much that he was on the scene when Stephen — the first Christian killed for following Jesus — was stoned to death.

Now a little unknown fact about Paul is that — in his High School yearbook — he was voted the least likely to ever follow Jesus. Pastor Ben has a copy of the yearbook in his office if you want to look it up. And I know that sets up a “And you’ll also find Ben’s picture in the yearbook” joke — but let’s not kid ourselves.

Ben’s picture isn’t in Paul’s yearbook — we all know that Ben graduated the year before Paul. And you can see that Ben’s humor is rubbing off on me — in fact — he helped write that joke.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled sermon.

One day — while he was traveling to Damascus to shame and arrest more Christians — Jesus showed up in Paul’s life. A light suddenly blinded him and he heard a voice from Heaven — the voice of Jesus — and Paul was told, “You’re mine now. So have the men traveling with you take your blind self to Damascus and a guy named Ananias is going to pray for you and you’ll be able to see again. And once you can see, you’ve got a job to do. For you’re now My apostle — My special messenger. And you have the job of taking My Good News — My gospel — to the whole world.”

And that was that. Paul really didn’t have much to say in the matter. When you’re blind — and want to see again — you pretty much do whatever the voice from Heaven tells you to do. And everything changed for Paul.

He no longer hates Jesus — he loves Jesus.
He no longer arrests Christians — he serves them.
He’s no longer an enemy of the gospel — in fact — he’s not ashamed of the gospel even when others shame him for believing it.

It’s a radical shift in Paul’s life because the gospel is powerful. The gospel is life changing. The gospel transforms those who believe it. So what is the gospel?

The gospel is the amazing news that — through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus — salvation — which means rescue — salvation is offered to all who believe this news. Rescue from what?

Rescue from Satan, sin, death, and Hell.
Rescue from being controlled by what others think of you, from past mistakes that still haunt you, pride that destroys you, and the identity that others have forced upon you.
It even rescues you from what shames you.

The gospel is Good News — it’s powerful news — it’s a rescue story that every person needs to hear because everyone is need of rescue. And we all know this. We all know that there’s something seriously wrong with us and the world. We’re all looking for a rescue — we just haven’t agreed upon who or what will be the rescuer.

Some think our rescue will come from a political party.
Others think our rescue will come from technology.
Others think it’ll come from ending terrorism.
But we all know that we need to be rescued from this messed…up…world.

And what the Christian faith says is that rescue has been provided for any and everyone who will believe in the best news ever to be spoken of in our world. The Rescuer has come and He’s provided a way for us to be saved from not only Satan, sin, death, and Hell — but we’re being offered a rescue from the power of shame that’s plaguing our nation.

So what does this mean for us? It means this.

PROPOSITION

“Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must not be ashamed of it.” We must not be ashamed of of the gospel.

Look with me in verse sixteen — and when you see a word in all caps, yellow, and underlined…go ahead and say those words out loud with me. Paul writes…

“For I am not ASHAMED of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation…” (Romans 1:16a ESV)

Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must not be ashamed of it.

Whenever and wherever the gospel is proclaimed — opposition will arise. The shame from others will be experienced and the temptation to be ashamed of it will surface. Paul understood this.

As one pastor said, “Paul was imprisoned in Philippi. Chased out of Thessalonica. Had to be smuggled out of Berea. Was laughed at in Athens. Seen as a fool in Corinth. Was considered an irritant in Jerusalem. And was stoned in Galatia.” All because of the gospel.

So what does it mean for us to not be ashamed of the gospel?

Is it even possible to live a life like Paul’s — a life that’s unashamed of the gospel?
And what would this unashamed life look like?

Here’s one characteristic of an unashamed life.

MAIN POINT 1

“Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must believe it.” We must believe the gospel. In verse sixteen Paul writes…

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who BELIEVES…” (Romans 1:16a ESV)

Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must believe it. Being unashamed begins with believing the gospel because you will never find freedom from the power of shame unless you believe the gospel.

So what does it mean to believe the gospel?

First, there’s a mental part to believing — “I think this news about Jesus is true” — but believing is more than that because — to believe the gospel — means that you receive God’s love towards you.

And true belief means change — you’re changed by God’s love. It’s like taking off old clothes and putting on new clothes — the gospel changes you.

So you may think — then — that believing the gospel is only for someone who doesn’t believe. But here’s maybe a new thought for us — someone who believes the gospel still has more believing in the gospel to do.

The unbeliever’s need to believe is pretty obvious. You don’t believe and you need to. You’re at step one where the gospel goes from…

Being unbelievable to believable.
From being untrustworthy to trustworthy.
From “never in a million years will I believe it” to “in a million years from now I will still believe it.”

And if you’re here today and you don’t believe the gospel — what you need to do is — believe it. And I say that with full confidence that the gospel has the power to change the hardest of hearts, the most skeptical of skeptics, and the most mocking of mockers.

So the unbeliever needs to believe the gospel. But so does the believer. “But Josh, I believe the gospel. How am I supposed to believe it more?”

OK. Say you’re an average American church goer who does everything you can to avoid being shamed for what you believe. The only reason why you avoid shame is because you’re not believing something about the gospel. It may be that you don’t believe in the gospel’s power. You have more faith in the power of shame than in the power of the gospel.

Or it may be that you have your identity wrapped up in being someone who’s liked by all people, so you don’t share your faith — you’re ashamed of the gospel. But the gospel tells us that our identity is in Christ, that we’ve been adopted into God’s family, that we’re princes and princesses of the Most High King. Believing the gospel should shape your identity more than the opinions of others.

So if you’re here today and you want to believe the gospel — maybe for the first time — or maybe you want to believe it more deeply — but no matter who you are — if what you want is freedom from the shame of others — here’s something simple you can do.

Right now, you can pray, “God help me to care more about what you think of me than what others think of me. God help me to care more about what you think of me than what others think of me.”

God I want to be free from the slavery of others’ opinions.
I want to be free from the power of shame that has chained me down for so long.
I want to be free with only one concern in life — what do You think about me — who do You say that I am — who am I in Your sight?

To believe the gospel is to receive freedom from the shame of others and from the shame we inflict on ourselves.

Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must believe it.

Here’s a second characteristic of an unashamed life.

MAIN POINT 2

“Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must share it.” We must share the gospel. Paul writes…

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to EVERYONE who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16 ESV)

Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must share it.

I’ve already mentioned some of Paul’s journey in being unashamed of the gospel. He pretty much got kicked out every town he visited. And that’s because he couldn’t be silent about the gospel — he had to share it.

Jesus had told him that this was his purpose in life and Paul wasn’t going to let any opposition stand in his way — no amount of shame would silence him — because the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Everyone. That’s an amazing word isn’t it? Everyone who believes will be saved. Later on in Romans Paul writes, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 10:11b ESV)

How about that for connecting the words “everyone, believes, saved, and shame?” That’s a great promise. It’s an encouraging promise. “Everyone who believes in Christ will be saved and will not be put to shame.”

We may be shamed by others temporarily, but ultimately we will not be put to shame for all eternity because our belief in Christ has set us free from the power of shame. So we’re free to be shamed, yet not ashamed.

And like Paul, this promise of the gospel fuels our desire to share the gospel with others. Jesus’ final words to His disciples were a commission to go and share the Good News of His gospel with all people. Because everyone needs to hear this news, so we need to share it with everyone.

And this is why we “go” as a church. As a church we worship, connect, serve, and go. And we value going because we’re to share the gospel — why? Because it’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

And as a church, we have multiple mission trips each year. One group got back from Ethiopia two days ago.

Caleb Garmon was on the trip and he had the opportunity to share the gospel with a group of people in a community where 90% of the people are Muslim. And I’m told that Caleb did a great job sharing the gospel as he spoke through an interpreter for the first time.

And why did Caleb and the rest of the team go to Ethiopia? Because they believe — like we all should — that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

And you may be here and you didn’t sign up to go on a missions trip this year. But here’s something you can do. Can you share the gospel with one person this week? You don’t have to go overseas to be unashamed of the gospel.

And remember — the power of God is in the gospel. And this Good News isn’t something to keep to yourself. It’s not something to be ashamed of. The gospel is something that’s to be shared with others.

So a “get out of your comfort zone and don’t be ashamed” practical step for you this week is to share the gospel with one person. Will you do that? God will give you the opportunity to share the gospel if you’re willing to be unashamed for Him.

Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must share it.

A final characteristic of an unashamed life.

MAIN POINT 3

“Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must live by it.” We must live by the gospel. Paul writes…

Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must live by it.

So a few things here. To be righteous is to be made “right with God” — which, implies that something’s wrong with us — and if you boil it all down — the biggest problem is that we’re not right with God.

We’re unrighteous.
We’re guilty.
We’re broken.
We’re rebellious.
We’re sinners.

But in the gospel how to be made right with God is revealed. And how are we made right with God? According to verse seventeen it’s “from faith for faith.”

And what that means is that we’re made right with God — and receive all of the benefits of being made right with God — benefits such as being given the power we need to live an unashamed life — these benefits are ours because we’re made right with God from faith for faith.

Meaning God’s faithfulness — in sending Jesus to live for us, die in our place, defeat Satan, sin, death, and Hell, rise from the grave, and ascend to Heaven where He sits right now ruling as King over all things — God’s faithfulness gives life to our faith so that we believe the Good News of His freeing us from shame gospel.

We’re made right with God from faith — God’s faithfulness — for our faith — so that — as we see in verse seventeen — we “live by faith.” We live with a confidence that what God has promised He will do because — He — is — faithful — so we live believing that He will do all that He’s promised — including giving us the power we need to live unashamed lives for Him.

For the “righteous shall live by faith.”

One way we’re living by faith — here at Gateway — is by starting our North Main campus.

Last week Pastor Ben talked about going or sending. Are you going to be part of that congregation or are you sending? But doing nothing isn’t an option. So if you consider Gateway to be your church then you’re a participant in what we’re doing at North Main. You’re either going or sending.

For instance — if you’re a musician — we need you to stop by and talk with the worship team out in the lobby before you leave today. They’re holding auditions because we need double the musicians we currently have in order to hold worship services at two locations.

We’re in particular need of drummers and bass players — but any and all musicians should stop by and find out if this is a way for you to help us go as we live by faith as one church in two locations.

But even if you don’t play an instrument — if you’re sending others to North Main— we’ll need you to fill in the holes left by those you send. Many of the people going to North Main are high capacity volunteers. They serve in multiple ministries, are in leadership positions, and are super dependable.

And we’re going to need you — if you’re sending — to live by faith and ask God how He wants you to serve here at County Road Nine as you send others to North Main.

And if we do this as a church — if we live by faith — we’ll please God and bring Him joy as we live unashamed lives for His glory.
We’ll live by faith as we step out of our comfort zones and make sacrifices so we reach people with the gospel we’re not currently reaching.
And you may not be going individually — or as a family — but we’re going as a church. And the question isn’t “Are you going or not going” the question is “Are you going or are you sending?”
But either way, we need you to live by faith — to live by the power of the gospel — and help us be a going church.

Because to go means you’re going to be unashamed of the gospel among a community that we want to reach. And to send means you’re going to rejoice at all of the opportunities to serve, lead, and sacrifice at this campus as we live an “unashamed of the gospel life” as one church in two locations.

Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must live by it. And we must share it. And we must believe. Because we’re not ashamed of it.

CHRIST CONNECTION

And all of this is possible — not because of what we’ve done, are doing, or will ever do — living an unashamed life is possible because of what Christ has done for us.

You see Jesus was shamed for you and me. He was never ashamed of us — but He was shamed for us. He was even shamed by us.

Jesus was shamed when He was arrested and as the soldiers beat Him and whipped Him.
He was shamed as the crowd yell “Crucify Him!”
He was shamed when they put a crown of thorns on His head and bowed down as if to worship Him when — they were really — mocking Him.
He was shamed as He was stripped naked and crucified on a cross.

Jesus was shamed for and by us — but He was never ashamed of us. So how did He do it? How did He live an unashamed life for us?

“For the joy that was set before Him [Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2b ESV)

He despised the shame.

It’s been said, “When shame began to threaten His heart…Jesus said to shame, “Shame, I despise you. I will not yield to you. I will not give you any satisfaction.

You may do with me whatever you please…but I will not obey you or follow you or give in to you. I despise you, shame, and will not let you rule me.” All because of “the joy that was set before him.”

As shame stripped away His friends and His reputation, His decency and His comfort — Jesus set His heart not on the present situation — but on the joy of the future where He would soon “sit down at the right hand of the throne of God.” And though He was being shamed, Jesus was not ashamed of His Father — nor of us — because He knew of the joy that was before Him.

And the gospel gives us this future oriented, joy-based focus.

And though the world may shame us. Though it may strip away our friends, our reputation, our decency, and our comfort — we look to the joy that is before us. The joy of eternity with the One who was not ashamed of us, and Who gives us the power to live unashamed lives for Him.

CONCLUSION

Do you want freedom from shame? Do you want to experience the power that fuels unashamed living? Then look to Jesus — for He is offering you freedom from the power of shame that’s plaguing our nation. Believe in Him. Because He — the One who was shamed for you — is the One who is unashamed of you.

Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for Your powerful gospel. It is Good News. It is life changing news. It is shame freeing news.

I pray that everyone here will receive what You’ve said to us through Your Word. Remind us often that the gospel is the power of salvation for everyone who believes. And because it is powerful, we must not be ashamed of it. We must believe it. We must share it. And we must live by it.

Help us as one church — soon to be in two locations — to live unashamed lives for Your glory and the good of all people. In Jesus’ powerful name we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION

Because the gospel is God’s power for salvation, we must not be ashamed of it. So go believing it. Sharing it. And living by it for God’s glory and the good of all people. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.