“I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel”
Romans 1:16-17
Preached at St. Andrew’s, Ft. Worth, February 10, 2002
The Rev’d Quintin Morrow
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17For therein is the righteous- ness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Rom. 1:16-17).
In 1988 the bishops and archbishops of the Anglican Communion converged on Lambeth Palace, as they do every decade, for the Lambeth Conference. One of the resolutions coming out of the 1988 Lambeth Conference was the declaration of the bishops and archbishops that the decade of the 1990s would be the Decade of Evangelism. It was their intention that the various national churches of the Anglican Communion should band together in deliberate mission and common vision to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
In 1998 the bishops and the archbishops of the Anglican Communion again descended upon Lambeth Palace for the Lambeth Conference, and the report card on the Decade of Evangelism was in. It was an embarrassing failure. During the Decade of Evangelism church attendance continued to drop in England, continental Europe remained predominantly secular, and the Episcopal Church in the United States was still divided, strangulated by bickering and in-fighting, and unable or unwilling to stop the hemorrhage of people leaving its doors.
But I must qualify my verdict on the Decade of Evangelism. In the Western world it was a failure. In the second- and third-world it was an unbelievable success. There is a revival going on in Africa unabated and undeterred, which began in the 1930s. In Uganda alone, 80% of the population are baptized and active Anglicans. In most African countries there are more people than church buildings and more church buildings than pastors. In most African countries people walk for miles to attend church and church lasts all day. There is an evangelism explosion in Africa, Asia and Central and South America that resembles the one which accompanied the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter 2.
Why is it, then, that only in the Western world did the Decade of Evangelism underwhelm the visionary intentions of the bishops of the 1988 Lambeth Conference? I’ll tell you why. Because the Africans have got a Gospel and we don’t. More particularly, the Africans have a burning boldness about “the” Gospel, and we do not.
In his letter to the Church in Rome, St. Paul the Apostle was writing to a group of believers he had never visited. He wrote them from the city of Corinth. In the opening of his epistle he says that he has prayed for them, and has wanted to visit them but has here- tofore been hindered from doing so. He says in chapter 1 verse 15: So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
And what follows in two short verses is a threefold explication of the Gospel from the pen of the Apostle. Paul shares with the Romans firstly, his enthusiasm, or excitement, about the Gospel, secondly, the effect of the Gospel, or what the Gospel message faithfully proclaimed brings about, and thirdly, the explanation, or the content, of the Gospel. And each one of Paul’s threefold revelations of the Gospel he lived and proclaimed begin with the Greek word gar, and is translated into our English Bibles with the word “for.” Thus, St. Paul is sharing with the Romans in chapter 1 of his letter, and with believers and unbelievers alike down through the ages, the Gospel of which he was not ashamed, which he preached and for which he ultimately surrendered his life in martyrdom. The Apostle here is giving us the 3 most important “fors” of the Gospel.
Notice, firstly, Paul’s excitement about the Gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,” the Apostle declares in the beginning of chapter 1 verse 16.
The word Paul uses for our English word “Gospel” is the Greek word euangelion, which simply means “good news.” This is the same word from which we get our English words “evangel- ism,” and “evangelical.” This is the same word the angel of the Lord used to calm the fears of the shepherds at his announcement of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy—I pro-claim a gospel to you—which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:10-11).
And the Gospel is good news. In fact, it is the best news. The Gospel is the revelation of the love and kindness and mercy of God to sinners; it is the declaration that sins are forgiven in Christ; that the mouth of hell is shut to God’s elect; that eternal life awaits the saints; that the curse of the Fall will be overturned, death and pain destroyed and the bondage to sin in this life broken. This Gospel means new life.
And Paul declares that he is unashamed of this proclamation of good news from God. And though not ashamed of the Gospel, Paul would, and every believer who faithfully declares it will, suffer shame for it. You see, for while the Gospel of Christ is good news, it contains some truth people don’t want to hear. The Gospel begins with the proclamation that by nature we are sinners and that apart from grace we are dead in trespasses and sin. It continues with the news that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that the wages of sin is death. The Gospel proclaims a hell and the news that people really go there. It declares that we don’t have it in us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, even when those bootstraps are made of the finest religious leather. The Gospel says that we cannot earn God’s favor, or buy it, or inherit it from our parents. And just when that bad news is proclaimed, the Gospel of Jesus Christ reveals the cross of Jesus and the empty tomb. It declares that here is life, here is forgiveness, here is mercy, here is rescue, here is eternity. The Gospel then says that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin; that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life; that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners; and that the wages of sin may be death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul suffered shame for the Gospel of Christ. He was beaten for it, on the run because of it, shipwrecked while preaching it and finally martyred because he wouldn’t deny it. But he was not ashamed of the Gospel. He had an excitement, an enthusiasm, for the Gospel. Why? Because of the effect of the Gospel.
That brings us to our second “for”: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, Paul writes. The Apostle says that he is unashamed of the Gospel of Christ because of its source (it is the Gospel of God) and its effect (it results in the salvation of all those who receive it).
Paul says that the Gospel is the power of God. He uses the Greek word dunamis to describe the Gospel. It is the same word from which we derive our English words “dynamic” and “dynamite.” The Gospel has power—not the kind of power associated with authority, but the power which accomplishes things. And the power which the Christian Gospel has is focused precisely here: It and it alone has the ability to bring salvation to those who believe.
The concept of salvation is multifaceted in Scripture. Salvation can describe anything from a healing of disease to victory in battle. But the predominant use of the term “salvation” in the Bible relates to rescue. We even employ that word today to mean the same thing. If one is rescued from shipwreck he or she is said to be saved; if a boxer is close to collapse but makes it to the end of the round he is said to be “saved by the bell.”
The Gospel is the announcement that Jesus Christ, by His sacrificial death on the cross and His bodily resurrection from the grave, is the one and only rescue for the ungodly from the wrath of God. He is it. There isn’t another. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to Father but by me.” Notice He didn’t say that He was a way, a truth and a life. This old world, like Titanic, has struck the iceberg and is doomed. There is only one lifeboat: Jesus Christ.
There is an exclusivity to the Gospel that people in our multicultural society in love with relative truth dislike. That’s one of the causes of shame we must suffer for the Gospel. This Gospel declares that it isn’t enough to be sincere, because it is possible to be sincerely wrong about something. The Gospel says that God has provided one and only one saving provision for the forgiveness of sin and the rescue of sinners from wrath: The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it also says that whoever repents and believes this Gospel—whoever—will receive complete forgiveness and will be rescued from wrath and live forever in heaven.
In Romans 1:18, following verses 16-17, in which he describes his excitement about the Gospel, the effect of the Gospel, and the explanation of the Gospel, Paul says,
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Rom. 1:18).
The Philippian jailer in Acts 16 rushes into Paul and Silas’ Jail cell and quaking with fear cries out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They reply, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31). The Gospel is the good news that God loved the world so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for our sins. Thus, divine justice is perfectly fulfilled in the cross of Christ and repentant sinners can be forgiven, made right with God, loosed from bondage to sin, adopted into God’s family, given new life and made inheritors of eternal life. This Gospel is the best news possible because it provides the only rescue that matters—the rescue from the wrath of God, by the mercy of God. This Gospel is His work of love from first to last.
That’s why Paul isn’t ashamed of it, and neither should you be. This Gospel alone has the capacity to rescue from wrath and save eternally everyone who believes. And why?
That brings us to our third and final “for”: For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Rom. 1:17).
This Gospel is not a man-made religious scheme, or some self-help philosophy. Some of the character of God and the way the universe really works is revealed in it. This Gospel saves sinners because in it God’s justice is made manifest. And not just the justice with which He judges sin, but also the justice with which He regards all those who repent and place their faith and trust in His Son Jesus Christ. Christ died for our sins. Our sins were imputed to Him, or put to His account, and He was punished for them in our place. Thus, the demands of justice have been fulfilled. But if all that Jesus did was die for our sins, we could be made innocent but not righteous. We need righteousness to stand before a holy God. Jesus said in Matt. 5:20 that unless our righteousness exceeded that of scribes and Pharisees—the most outwardly righteous people of Jesus’ day—we would never see eternal life. The problem is I don’t have any innate righteousness and neither do you. But in the Gospel a righteousness is provided by God. In salvation, not only is our sin transferred to Christ and paid for in full, God credits, or accounts, Christ’s perfect righteousness to us. And this gift of righteousness wherein we are clothed in Christ’s flawless righteousness is appropriated by faith, and faith alone. Paul says he isn’t ashamed of the Gospel because it is the rescue of sinners. And it is the rescue of sinners because God’s righteous anger at sin and His loving provision of forgiveness and Christ’s righteousness to repentant and believing sinners is revealed.
Listen to the Apostle elsewhere:
8What 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 9and 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 (Phil. 3:8-9); 3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:3-7).
Here is the Gospel. Sin’s presence in you: “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23); Sin’s penalty to you: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23); sin’s payment for you: “God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8); sin’s pardon to you: “The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin” (I Jn. 1:7); salvation’s procurement to you: “If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, then you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation” (Rom. 10:9-10).
Paul was not ashamed to proclaim this Gospel because he knew it and it alone had the power to save poor, blind, lost sinners. And it had the power to do it because their sins are forgiven and Christ’s perfect righteousness is given to them because of faith. This Gospel is good news because it is by faith—it is revealed “from faith to faith.” It begins with faith and ends with faith. We are saved through faith alone—apart from good works—through faith alone in Jesus Christ, by God’s grace alone, because of Christ’s work on the cross alone.
Beloved, the Decade of Evangelism failed because we’ve grown timid about the Gospel. The church stands or falls on this Gospel. The Gospel has content. It isn’t about saving the whales, economic redistribution or social justice. It is the simple declaration that God loves and saves sinners.
We’ve got to get our confidence in the Gospel back. We’ve got to clear our throats and declare it to this generation. Now. Because this Gospel is the only way there is an urgency about its proclamation.
We must know the Gospel. We must believe the Gospel. And we must proclaim the Gospel. Today. Now. Paul says in II Cor. 6:2: “Behold, now is the appointed time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
Alister McGrath, who lectures in theology at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, wrote:
There is something intrinsically attractive about the Christian faith and supremely, about the person of Jesus Christ. It is like a “pearl of great price,” something that is recognized to be worth seeking and possessing, and whose possession overshadows everything else. The fundamental motivation for evangelism is that of generosity—the basic human concern to share the good tidings of life with those whom we love. It does not reflect a desire to sell or dominate; it arises from love and compassion on the part of those who have found something wonderful and want others to share in its joy. It is, as the old adage has it, like one beggar telling another where to find bread (The Renewal of Anglicanism).
This is the only Gospel we’ve got. We haven’t got another. If we don’t know, believe, have confidence in and share this one, everything else we do as a church—and I mean everything else—is a waste of time.
“Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (I Cor. 9:16)
AMEN.
