NOT ASHAMED
A pastor, a boy scout, and a scientist were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot came back to the cabin and explained that the plane was going down but there were only three parachutes and four people. The pilot then added, "I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wife and three small children." So he took one and jumped. The scientist jumped up almost immediately and said, "I should have one of the parachutes because I am the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me." So he took one and jumped. The pastor turned to the Boy Scout and with a sad smile said, as I am sure that all of you would, "You are young and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, and I’ll go down with the plane." Then the Boy Scout said, "Relax, pastor, the world’s smartest man just jumped out of the plane with my backpack!" One man’s boast can be another man’s salvation. Paul had many reasons to boast but he chose to boast in the Gospel.
Rom 1:16 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. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Today we are starting a new series called Romans -Unashamed, Undeserved, Unstoppable. It is fitting that today we have baptisms and our message is entitled Not Ashamed. In stepping forward and being baptised today these people are really living out this sermon today.
There are a lot of things in my life that I am not proud of. I am not the perfect father, just ask my kids. I sometimes get impatient and I loose my temper. There are times I am not the role model that I want to be for my kids.
I am no the perfect husband, just ask Naomi. I am not great a very good listener and I sometimes have a hard time expressing emotions.
I am not the perfect pastor. I am not always very organized and I admit that I am often much more task oriented then people oriented.
This is not a perfect church. It never has been and never will be. The reason that it is an imperfect church is that it is filled with imperfect people who make mistakes. If you are new to BBC let me just apologize now if you get offended.
The global church around the world is not perfect either. It has often has not done a very good job communicating Gods love and character to the world. In fact, many have been turned off Christianity and hurt by the church in the past. Again, if you have been wounded by a church in the past as a pastor I apologize.
This nation of Canada we live in is not perfect. Certainly the province of Ontario is not perfect. I mean, any province that would elect a premier like … oops, let’s not get into politics.
There are a lot of things I am not proud of. One thing I am proud of is Jesus. He has never let me down. I am not ashamed to be called His follower and I am not ashamed of the bible because in it is the message of salvation.
1. The Gospel is Good News – our strength (the power of God for salvation)
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because he understood what it was. The Gospel is the Good News of salvation. It is the information through which the Holy Spirit leads people to pass from death to life. It releases God’s dynamic power for salvation. There are six basic Greek words in the New Testament that are translated POWER. The word found in Romans 1:16 is DUNAMIS from which we get our word, “dynamite”. The gospel is dynamite!
I have been asked before why I felt I had the right to “push my beliefs upon other people”. The prevailing thought in the world today is that religion is a private decision. People say things like “you believe what you want to and I’ll believe what I want to” as if it was just believing that saves you. The truth is that it is not just believing but what you believe in that brings salvation. Many Christians today shrink away from sharing their faith because they are made fun of when they try to share it.
When we lived in Kuwait I was asked by a Muslim official if I was granted residency would I proselytize my faith – which was illegal in that nation. I said yes. If I had the cure for cancer but kept it to myself I would be terrible person. Only a monster would withhold the cure for AIDS from the world if he had it. E.g. Commercials - Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.
A grandmother took her 4 grandsons to Disneyland. During the course of the day she bought each of them a little flag. When the parade started they stopped to watch the marching band of "toy" soldiers. All at once, the grandmother realized that the four-year-old was gone. She searched all about, calling his name, and making her way through the crowd. She was trying to determine what to do when she noticed the marching band of toy soldiers. There, at the end of the line, smiling merrily, and waving his flag, was her grandson, having the time of his life, completely unaware that he was lost! So many are like that today – walking through life blissfully unaware of the fact that they are lost. But someday the band will stop playing. Then and only then will those unreached realize that they are lost.
Is 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
Charlie Peace, a criminal in England, was being taken to his execution and listened to a minister reading from the Word. When he found out he was reading about heaven and hell, he looked at the preacher and said, "Sir, if I believed what you and the church of God say, and even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that."
We hold the greatest news the world has ever known. It is our job to share it.
God forbid that I should travel with anybody a quarter of an hour without speaking of Christ to them. -- George Whitefield
2. The Gospel is Global – our salvation (for everyone who believes)
One of the reasons I am not ashamed of the Gospel is that it is for everyone. The Gospel is not limited to a certain people group or nationality. Part of the Good News of the Gospel is the fact that it is for ALL PEOPLE. It is not cultural biased or ethnically slanted. It is for men and woman, children and adults, every colour, tribe and nation.
Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
With Christ all people are equal. Paul says here that salvation was “first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” He is not saying here that Jews were better than the Gentiles. He doesn't mean they are first in terms of superiority but simply first chronologically.
Prejudice judges a man’s character by his outward appearance. Discrimination deprives a person of the right to have. Segregation deprives a person of the right to belong. Stereotyping deprives a person of the right to act. Racism deprives a person of the right to exist.
Galatians 3:26-29 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
This passage says that we are all equal when it comes to our ETHNICITY. In Christ there is neither Jew or Gentile.
There was a little boy named Eric who had been adopted from South Korea by an American family. When he was 5, his family was having lunch at a restaurant, and Eric made conversation with a boy at the next table. At one point the boy asked Eric, “Why don’t you look like your mom?” “’Because she’s a girl,” he replied.
A pastor was once looking through some old church records of a Norwegian congregation which listed it’s membership as: "52 souls and 2 Swedes."
Being such a multicultural church is a blessing, but it also means that we all have to work at understanding one another. Before coming to BBC I was pastor of a Mennonite church. Most from the church had come out of the Old Colony and they still had a lot of traditions and customs which I didn't understand. I remember once calling a friend and asking him if he wanted to go for lunch on Thursday. He was scared and asked if I had offended him. In that culture they have something called DONADOCK – which is Low German for Thursday. That is the day that pastors visit people to excommunicate them from the church. I was trying to be friendly and it came across wrong.
It says we are equal when it comes to our SOCIAL/ECONOMIC STATUS. In Christ there is neither slave nor free. We do not have slavery here in Canada, but we do have diversity when it comes to economic status.
James 2:1-4 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favouritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
What does that mean for us as a church? It means that we welcome everyone and we make our programs available to people who often cannot pay what others might.
It says we are equal when it comes to our GENDER. In Christ there is neither male nor female.
I recognize that we as a church are part of a denomination that does not ordain women. We are the only Fellowship Baptist Church that I know that has women ‘pastors.’ I know that there have been great theological debates over this issue in the past. I know that there are churches (close to us) that have left the denomination because of this issue. Let me say today that Jesus declared that we are all equal when it comes to gender. Although there may be some different views of the role of men and women in the church, I am glad that we as a church have women pastors.
3. The Gospel is a Gift – our support (by faith)
The Gospel is a gift. The Good News is that you do not have to earn your salvation. There is no way that we, in and of ourselves could earn it. Jesus offers it as a gift. All of the religions of the world have as their core a required work to earn salvation.
If there are a thousand steps between us and God, he will take all but one. He will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours. -- Max Lucado
If any man had room for boast, the apostle Paul most certainly did. He could have boasted had he wanted for any number of reasons. Philippians 3:4 he states, "If anyone else thinks he has reason to boast, I have more." He was circumcised on the eighth day. He was born into the right family, the tribe of Benjamin. He was very faithful to his religion, as religious as they come. He keep all of the rules. However, he counted all of that as worthless.
Phil 3:7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
Back in 2004 there was a story from New Zealand about a sheep called Shrek who was found. The sheep had gotten lost when it was 3 years old and had lived alone in the mountains in caves for 6 years without being sheared. When he was found, the sheep was sick, could hardly walk and could not see because of the more than 60 lbs of wool that covered it’s body.
When he was found, the story was shown on TV. Eventually, in front of hundreds of onlookers, his wool was removed and he was nursed back to health. Look at how much happier he looked without all that wool! He went on to live to the ripe old age of 17, more than twice as long as the average sheep. His story inspired several books.
The bible says that all of us, like that sheep, were once lost. Our sin made us spiritually sick and crippled us. I often think of what my life would have been like without Jesus. I cannot imagine it. I am not the perfect husband or father or pastor but I can certainly say that, without Jesus, I would not be the person I am today. Because of that, I am not ashamed. I have seen from experience, in my life and in the lives of so many others that the Gospel really is good news.
Maybe you are here today and you have not experienced the goodness of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. It does not matter what your background is. It does not matter if you are man or woman, rich or poor. It does not matter what you have done or what mistakes you have made. Jesus offers you a gift this morning. It is the greatest gift you can receive. Accept it.
