Not Ashamed Of The Gospel Series

When I was a teenager, I was first an agnostic and then I became an atheist. Of all places I was in a church when I made the transition to an atheist. It was my conclusion that the worship around me was not real and all of life could be explained by natural science. I even felt sorry for people who were giving themselves to serving God because that would be a miserable pursuit and complete waste if God does not exist.

That was my conclusion for the next four years. Now my perspective is vastly different. If God does exist and he sent his son to die for us, the just for the unjust to bring us back to God then that is a game changer. Now instead of being a wasted effort, then serving God is of the highest value. It is the treasure we would sell everything to possess.

What happened to me to have such a different view? Now I believe with all my heart that God exists. Now I know God personally. I experienced the power of God spoken of in Romans 1:16-17. Now I can identify with Paul who wrote our passage. He was obligated to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ. He was not ashamed of the gospel. He was eager to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

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)

The Apostle Paul penned these words that are considered the central thought of Christianity. At one time he dedicated his life to stamping out Christianity. He was helping put to death the leaders of this movement following Christ. Then the power of God totally changed his direction. Paul was breathing our murderous threats against Christian leaders. He had secured documents so he could arrest them.

On his way to Damascus the power of God changed his life forever. In leading up to his declaration that he is not ashamed of the gospel he said he was eager to preach the gospel and obligated to preach the gospel.

The gospel is the power of God.

What could transform a teenager who felt sorry for ministers for wasting their lives for an empty cause? That transformation would lead to a life that would exclaim, I want every decision I make, everything I say and do to be to further the cause of God’s kingdom on earth. It is the power of God that transforms. The gospel is the power of God.

The gospel can transform the social elite or the social outcast. The gospel can transform the corporate CEO or the gang leader. The gospel can transform the family man and the gospel can transform the criminal. The gospel can transform the rich and the poor. All people need the gospel. There is not one too high or too low. The gospel can transform all walks of life. No one is out of reach to the power of the gospel.

The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news was proclaimed and waited for since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God the relationship with God and man was broken. We inherited the sin nature, and we have all sinned. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

All religions have in common that God is holy, and we are sinners. God is holy and pure like the snow on the top of the Himalayas. Man is impure like the mud in the mud puddle on the side of the road. You can’t mix the two together without making the pure impure. So every religion has some system of doing some religious duty to become pure to reach God.

It could be through some ritual of fasting. It could be through doing a pilgrimage. It could be burning candles at a church or lighting incense at a temple. There are countless ways people attempt to become pure to reach God. But we can never get pure enough. We can never reach up to God. He must come down to us. Jesus left heaven and became man and died on a cross and was raised from the dead. This is the gospel that Paul once opposed but now he is not ashamed. He is under compulsion to preach this good news.

It is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that is the power of God unto salvation. For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)