INTRO.- ILL.- The London Missionary Society almost lost the most prominent missionary of the nineteenth century when they were considering him because the candidate forgot his sermon. Had it not been for one member of the society’s board, they probably would have rejected the young man. The candidate was David Livingstone.
Livingstone (March 1813–1 May 1873) was the Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
James I. McNair, writing in Livingstone the Liberator, told about Livingstone’s embarrassing time: he took his text, read it very deliberately and then his sermon fled his mind.
“Friends,” said the flunking missionary, “I have forgotten all I have to say.” And hurrying out of the pulpit, he left the chapel.
David Livingstone, the missionary, had a complete lapse of memory. DID THAT EVER HAPPEN TO YOU? How embarrassing that would be or could be! But there are worse things to be embarrassed about or ashamed of.
ILL.- When Canada’s Justice Landreville of the Ontario Supreme Court admitted before a Senate-Commons investigating committee that “I often lie on minor matters,” many Canadians were shocked. A man who is vested with the responsibility for handing out justice, and who had often commanded those before the bar to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God,” had himself handled the truth loosely.
That judge should have been ashamed of himself! Have you ever been ashamed of anything you’ve done in life? WHO HASN’T?
ILL.- One day while passing a house of ill repute, Socrates, the famous Greek thinker, noticed one of his students inside. Stepping to the doorway, Socrates called out to his disciple. The latter hid himself, as Adam did when he committed the first sin. However, the youth finally had to show himself. His face was red with shame. He hung his head, expecting a stern rebuke from his teacher. But Socrates spoke in the tones of a true father:
“Come forth, my son, I pray you, come forth! To leave this house is not disgraceful; the only disgraceful thing was to have entered it.”
Chances are you’ve never been to a prostitute house, but the truth is we’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And for those sins we all are ashamed and prefer not to think about them.
However, there is something for which we should never be ashamed and that is our faith in Jesus Christ!
PROP.- In our text, Paul clearly states: DON’T BE ASHAMED. And then he tells us why.
1- Don’t be ashamed - you’ve been saved and called
2- Don’t be ashamed - you’ve been given grace
3- Don’t be ashamed - you’ve been given a ministry
I. DON’T BE ASHAMED - YOU’VE BEEN SAVED AND CALLED
8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.
Saved and called to a holy life. Why then should we be ashamed in this life?
ILL..- When I was 18 or 19 years old I had my first major car wreck but thank God, no one else was involved and no other car was involved. I was going to work at Safeway near 10 p.m. and had a wreck on a back road, going to Joplin, MO. I was driving along about 50 mph on a back road that I was not familiar with and suddenly it made a sharp 90 degree turn to the left, which I never made. I saw that I was going to hit a telephone pole so I quickly laid down in the front seat. Somehow I missed the pole but still sideswiped it and the guy wire as I went between them and then took out a farmer’s wooden fence.
Thank God I was saved! Saved from what? I was saved from death and also any serious physical harm. God saved me so He could save me later on! He saved me physically so He could save me spiritually, because I wasn’t ready at that time.
Saved. When you say that you’re saved most people in the world will want to know what you’re saved from: car wrecks, bad accidents, financial ruin, etc. And we have been saved from something or several things.
Do you know what you’re saved from? Sin. The devil. Death. (in the sense that death is not the end if you’re in Christ). Hell.
Have you been saved from sin? Basically, yes, but I know that you still struggle with certain sins. How do I know? BECAUSE I DO TOO. The young man may be old but the old man is still alive and active. In other words, we think of sin as youthful thing but sin still haunts in various ways even when we age. AM I CORRECT? You may not have a lust problem but there may be other problems. And lust is still a problem for most of us even when we age, that is, lust for material things or comfort or even laziness. Yes, laziness is a sin.
It almost seems like we never stop “wanting” in life. There is that something that seems to nag at us or tug at our desire strings: that house, that car, that TV, that whatever. Suffice it to say, we all need to be continually saved from our sins, delivered that is, and that can only happen in Jesus, as we yield our will to Him.
When we willingly say and mean, “Lord Jesus, thy will be done. No matter what, thy will be done.” And then when we choose to do His will He will give us greater strength to overcome the sin of the world.
But the greatest truth is that we’re saved from what sin can do to a person and that’s to send a person to hell or experience the second death. How do we know this? How can we be sure? It’s because of Jesus, because of who He is and what He did for us on the cross. He bore our sins in His body on the tree!
Romans 4:7-8 “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
AND IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF JESUS! In Him alone do we put our truth and faith!
The point is this: You’re saved and called to a holy life and a heavenly future with no worries, no fears, no hungers, no pains, etc. Don’t be ashamed in this world. Hold your head high, you’re headed for heaven!
II. DON’T BE ASHAMED - YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN GRACE
This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
ILL.- Evangelist Dwight L. Moody loved to study the Bible topically, and it occurred to him one day that he had never studied the subject of grace. Setting aside a day, Moody gave himself to the study of God’s grace. But a second day was required. Even on the third day Moody had not finished his task.
By the late afternoon of the third day, however, Moody was so filled with his subject that he had to go out on the street and talk to somebody about it. Stopping a complete stranger, Moody said, “My friend, do you know anything about grace?”
Surprised at the question, the man replied, “Grace who?” “Why,” Moody responded, “the grace of God that brings salvation.” (Titus 2:11) Moody then left the stranger standing on the street considering the good news of the grace of God.
GOOD QUESTION: Do you know anything about grace, the grace of God?
ILL.- How do you make this thing work? Electronic gadgetry is some times hard to work, don’t you think? Remember when VCR’s first came out? Many people had a terrible time trying to program them.
And then there are cell phones, smart phones for dumb people. They are not just phones anymore! You can talk to people, you can text people, access the internet, listen to music, take pictures, take videos, etc. MERCY, HOW DO YOU MAKE THESE THINGS WORK?
And there is the GPS. Now everyone knows how simple and easy it is to use the GPS. RIGHT? WRONG! We can turn it on but sometimes we may have trouble programming it to go where we want. But if you can figure out how it works it will take you to where you want to go. Otherwise, it will tell you to “recalculate.”
Likewise, the grace of God will take you to where you really want to go but only if you can figure out how it works. Otherwise, it may tell you to “recalculate,” because more than likely, you are going in the wrong direction.
Here is how the grace of God does not work: The grace of God does not say, “everybody come on down or come in,” because you’re basically a good person. The grace of God does not allow people into heaven who don’t want to be there!
The grace of God does not allow the impenitent or unrepentant person into heaven. However, if you can figure out the grace of God it will take you to where you really want to go in the next life.
Romans 3:24 “We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”
II Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Titus 3:7 “Having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
There it is, there is it! That’s how the grace of God works! Because we’ve been saved by the grace of God and we trust His grace in the person of Jesus, we’re headed for heaven! It’s all because of Him and His grace or graciousness! So don’t be ashamed. Live in faith. Live strongly, passionately.
III. DON’T BE ASHAMED - YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN A MINISTRY
11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”
ILL.- I was ordained into the gospel ministry on Sunday, Feb. 4, 1968, by the elders of the Fairview Christian Church in Carthage, MO. The preacher, Boyce Mouton, gave the charge and I was privileged to preach and I’ve been preaching ever since. Actually, I started preaching prior to that time, when I was 21 years old (about 1965) and about a year after I accepted Jesus.
I was, in a sense, appointed a preacher, a herald or messenger of the gospel message contained in scripture. I believe in the message and the mission. I’m convinced that the most important thing in the world is to connect people with Jesus, that is, to convince them that He alone can save them and take them to heaven and give them the abundant life.
ILL.- David Hume, 18th century British philosopher who rejected historic Christianity, once met a friend hurrying along a London street and asked where he was going. The friend said he was off to hear George Whitfield preach. "But surely you don't believe what Whitfield preaches do you?" "No, I don't, but he does."
And I believe in what I’m preaching! It makes a difference when you really believe in the product you are trying to sell. I used to work for a home decor company and their products were just ok, BUT THE GOSPEL IS THE BEST! Jesus is always the best!
I was appointed a preacher, a proclaimer of the Scripture and gospel. Now what about you? Have you been appointed? Do you have a ministry? You do whether you realize it or not.
II Corinthians 5:17-20 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”
Because we’ve been reconciled this makes us ministers of reconciliation!
We’ve been saved to serve, told to tell, and won to win! Because we know the truth in Jesus we are responsible for pedaling that truth.
ILL.- Bernard Reichel was conducting the final rehearsal of his great choir for the production of the “Messiah.” The chorus had sung through to the point where the soprano solo takes up the refrain, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”
The soloist’s technique was perfect—she had faultless breathing, accurate note placing, and flawless enunciation. After the final note all eyes were fixed on Reichel to catch his look of approval. Instead, he silenced the orchestra, walked up to the singer with sorrowful eyes, and said, “My daughter, do you really know that your Redeemer liveth?”
“Why yes,” she answered, flushing, “I think I do.” “Then sing it!” cried Reichel. “Tell it to me so that I will know and all who hear you will know that you know the joy and power of Him.”
Brothers and sisters, if you believe it then sing it, preach it, tell it, share it, give it away! And be proud that you are God’s appointed person to do it.
CONCLUSION--------------------------
There are some things that we do in life that may cause us shame, but there is one thing for which we should never be ashamed and that’s our faith in Jesus Christ! We need to live it and shout it from the housetops.
A light is not to be hidden but rather to be put on a stand where it can forth it’s light! Be not ashamed.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
