"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."  (Romans 1:16)

Paul is writing to the church in Rome. He is eager to meet them and to share with them. And, in the course of the opening remarks in his letter, he makes a very significant statement, one that might strike us as rather odd. He says, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel”.  Now, we may find that to be a rather strange thing for him to say. Why should he imagine that anyone could possibly think that he would have reason to be ashamed of the gospel?  He clearly believes that there is such a possibility however, otherwise he wouldn’t have made this statement! From our perspective, it is not immediately obvious, but think for a moment. Think how he describes himself, and the other apostles, in 1 Cor 4 v 13 – “Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.”  It’s hardly an enviable reputation, is it?.  The scum of the earth? The refuse of the world?  Given what Paul's reputation had once been, it could be easy to imagine that he might be embarrassed or ashamed of the gospel that has gained him his current reputation. And yet he is not one bit embarrassed or ashamed – and we’ll see why in a moment.

Why should Paul, and the other apostles, have this unenviable reputation? Why should the Gospel of Jesus Christ cause them so much bother?  You don't need me to tell you that the word ‘gospel’ means Good News.  Surely people like to hear good news?  Is it not the bearer of bad tidings that is in danger, rather than the bearer of good news?  Here’s how Paul explains the situation. Turn in your bibles to 1 Cor:18 – 25.  Paul writes: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:  “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength." How could the good news of Jesus Christ be a stumbling block to Jews?  Wasn’t He the very Messiah for whom they had been waiting for so long?  Yes and no!  Yes, He certainly was the promised Messiah but He was not the Messiah that they imagined they would receive.  Jesus didn’t fit their expectations.  They were expecting a king, a military genius who would rid the land of the gentile invaders and restore the Kingdom of Judah and enable them to regain the glory days of David and Solomon.  But, of course, Jesus didn’t do any such thing.  He went around preaching and teaching and healing people.  He mixed with sinners and denounced most of their religious leaders as hypocrites.  He healed people on the Sabbath, the day on which absolutely no work was to be done. What’s more, He had been executed by the Roman authorities.  All of that was bad enough.  Jesus didn’t fit their expectations of what the Messiah would be like and that made it difficult for them to accept that He could be the Messiah, but that wasn’t what offended the Jews so much.  No. Deuteronomy 21 v 23 is quite clear, “anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse” and, to the Jews, crucifixion constituted being hung on a tree. For many Jews, therefore, preaching of a crucified Messiah was exceedingly offensive.

What about the Gentiles, who had no such preconceptions? Well, actually they just had different preconceptions when it came to what constituted religion or wisdom.  When they looked for religion at all, they looked for logic, effort, ritual and sacrifice (often human).  They found none of that in Paul’s preaching.  Instead they heard him speaking about a man who had spent a mere three years preaching and teaching, without establishing any great school or community, and who then had been executed as a criminal!  And Paul asks them to believe that this man has somehow come back from the dead?  That by his death and resurrection He has somehow paid for the sin of everyone?  That there is no more need for regular sacrifices to multiple Gods; that all that is required is faith in this man Jesus, who is both son of God and God himself - the one and ONLY God.  To the gentiles, identifying as the Christ someone who had been executed after only three years ministry was perceived as utter foolishness.

However, Paul is not embarrassed or ashamed of the gospel he preaches. Quite the reverse!  He counts it an immense privilege not only to be called an apostle but to suffer for the sake of the gospel. Why? Turn back to Romans 1 v 16.  Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile”.  It may be controversial, it may offend the preconceptions of the community in which he grew up, the world may denounce it as nonsense, but Paul knows that this gospel is God’s chosen and effective means for saving both Jew and Gentile from destruction.  He believes it – yes, but more than that – He knows it because he has experienced for himself the saving and transforming power of God. Remember who and what Paul once was.  As Saul, he was one of the most ardent persecutors of the Church, now he is one of the leading advocates of the gospel.  He has been utterly transformed.  Look at where he is – Corinth – the Sodom or Gomorrah of its day – today we might call it ‘sin central’. If it was going on, it was going on in Corinth!  And yet, in that centre of depravity there is a flourishing church – a church with problems, yes; but a church made up of men and women from every walk of life, all transformed and reconciled to each other by the power of the gospel.  This wonderful gospel has the power to reconcile people to God, the power to break down barriers between people and it is for everyone.

And so Paul is neither afraid nor ashamed to preach the Gospel. He will declare what God has done at every opportunity, whether the time is convenient or not, to both emperor and pauper, to Jew and to Gentile, regardless of the risk to life, limb or liberty, regardless of what anyone may think of him or say about him.  In Eugene Peterson's "The Message", Paul’s words are rendered thus, “It’s news I am most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else!”.

So what about us?  Are we ashamed of the Gospel?  Do we behave as if we are?  In 2004, the Rev Dr Brian Fletcher chose as the theme for his presidential year “Not Ashamed of the Gospel”.  As I listened to him preaching on this subject at the Methodist Conference, I couldn’t help but ponder - are we really proud to proclaim, both by our preaching and our lifestyle, the authentic gospel of Jesus Christ, in all its fullness - every bit of it?  Or does our preaching and our lifestyle give the impression that to some degree or other we are ashamed of the gospel?  Is there any reason to suppose that we might be, or that we could be?

There is no doubt that that the authentic gospel of Jesus Christ still provokes reactions like those  Paul experienced.  Paul experienced hostility both from amongst the very people whom he would have expected to receive the news with gladness (God’s chosen people, the Jews), and from the world at large.  And, sad to say, 2000 years later the situation hasn’t really changed.  The gospel, when it is proclaimed with authenticity, without being watered down or having bits left out, still offends an unbelieving world.  And that ‘unbelieving world’ isn’t somewhere ‘out there’, far away – it’s right here – the community in which we live and work and go to school.  The vast majority of the people around us perceive the gospel as irrelevant at best.  In fact, it is probably more accurate to say that they regard God, if they believe He exists at all, as irrelevant and His standards as unimportant, being merely the church’s opinion!  It's a dangerous situation because when people start to regard God as irrelevant, then that has an effect on their thinking, their view of the world, their perception of right and wrong.  (When you get home, read Romans 1:18 onwards and you will see that Paul describes the process very well).  But most of all, as a society drifts further and further away from God so the authentic proclamation of the gospel becomes increasingly irritating and unacceptable to it. Why? Simply because one of the first effects of the authentic proclamation of the gospel is that people are convicted of their sinfulness. That’s what the Holy Spirit does.  And people don’t like being convicted!  They don’t like being told that the way they are living is wrong and so they react just like the gentiles of 1st century Asia Minor.  They ridicule the gospel, scoff at it, dismiss it as irrelevant, portray it as being politically incorrect, subversive, and un-loving!  And so the pressure comes on to cause us to be ashamed of the gospel, to water down our preaching and to compromise our beliefs and lifestyle in an effort to "fit in".  The world tries its utmost to make us embarrassed and ashamed of the gospel so that we'll shut up so it won't have to deal with its sense of guilt. Have we fallen for the ploy?   J. B. Phillips translates Romans 12 v 2 as “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mould”. I wonder to what extent we have squeezed ourselves into the world’s mould?  Have we become more concerned about pleasing people than pleasing God?

It is not only from an unbelieving world that we come under pressure. There is pressure from within the church too.  Just as within the nation of Israel there were many who had their idea of what the Messiah should be and rejected Jesus because he did not fit in with their idea, there are many within the organisational church who have their own ideas as to what the gospel should be and are offended by anything that challenges those ideas.  I believe there are two troublesome strands of theology and practice within the organisational church today. One strand is profoundly religious, self-righteous, Pharisee-like, works-orientated, ungracious – appearing to hate the sinner with the same zeal as it claims to hate the sin; while the other strand is irreverent, universalist in the sense of appearing not to perceive any need for personal salvation, lacking any sense of the fear of God and excusing of sin – appearing to confuse loving the sinner with condoning their behaviour. Neither of these strands seem to give any credence to any manifestation of the gifts or ministry of the Holy Spirit, and each exerts its own pressure to make us feel ashamed of those aspects of the gospel that challenge their distortion of the truth.  Dear friends, have we fallen for it?

Is it possible that it could be said of us that we are ashamed of the gospel?  Surely not. But let me ask you to think for a moment. Think back to when you first became a Christian, when Jesus first came into your heart as your personal Saviour.  How does your life now compare with the early days of your Christian life?  Have you still got the same fire and enthusiasm to tell others, or has something inside gone cold?  In your workplace, when you’re out shopping, on the steps of the church, what is the topic of your conversation?  Does Jesus get a look in or is your conversation so full of football, the latest tv soap, the cost of living or whatever else, that there’s no room left for Him? And what about your home and family?  Do you speak up for Him or has pressure from whatever source silenced you?  Is your light hiding under a bowl?

I believe that if we are honest, all of us would have to admit that we have allowed pressure from one or more sources to make us ashamed of the gospel to a greater or lesser degree, making us less ready and prepared than we know we should be to share, witness and to live out, the glorious good news of Jesus Christ.  But take heart.  Part of that glorious good news is that it is never too late to start again with Him. Remember Peter?  Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him that fateful night in Gethsemane and, though Peter was adamant that he wouldn’t, that’s exactly what he did. When Peter realised what he had done he was broken-hearted.  For the next few days he is in crisis. Oh he’s in the right places at the right times, but he doesn’t really know what to do. And then Jesus meets with him on the shore of Galilee, forgives him and restores him.  If anyone ever felt that they had completely and utterly failed Jesus it must have been Peter. If ever there was anyone who had cause to fear that there was no way back it was Peter. But with Jesus there is always a way back – if we are willing to take it with Him.

John says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”.  He wrote those words to the church – to you and to me.  If we confess to Him that we have indeed allowed ourselves to be pressurised into being less than prepared to live out the gospel, and if we ask Him to enable us by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to resist that pressure and live out the gospel to His glory – regardless of what people may say about us or think or do – then He will do it.  I trust that the flame within all our hearts may be rekindled so that we may proclaim the good news, the Word of God, unafraid and unashamed.