16 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.”
What embarrasses you? When have you felt ashamed about something?
Years ago, Angie and I joined the church we’d been attending. The senior pastor was introducing all of the new members to the congregation (of nearly a thousand people). He knew me and mentioned I was in seminary at the time. Wanting to say something about Angie (who was in medical school at the time), he said she was working on her “PHT degree” which he explained was “putting hubby through”. People who knew us gasped (didn’t he know Angie was in medical school? Yes, but in the moment, he forgot).
That probably would have been embarrassing for him had it not gotten worse. He went on to another young woman, Kirstin, and as he introduced her, he asked if she was “with child”. She was not! I’m not sure who was more embarrassed – that pastor or poor Kirstin!
The message of the gospel is foolishness to the world. We don’t like being told we’re spiritual failures who can’t be good enough for God. We don’t like the idea that we can’t save ourselves. That kind of message is fine for other people, but I can take care of myself.
We don’t want to be told we are wicked; that we deserve wrath; that our best actions are like filthy rags. And yet, Paul writes in Ephesians 2, we all “were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind (Ephesians 2:1-3). We didn’t have a little sin problem, we were dead!
People don’t like to be told they have a problem. They don’t like being told they aren’t good enough. When we share the message of the gospel, it sounds crazy to people. And yet, it is the wisdom of God and the power of God. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1:18). And in the passage above from Romans 1 as well.
There are many verses I love in the Bible, but my two favorite words are “But God.” We were objects of wrath; we were dead in our sin; we were lost and without hope…4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
We need to remind ourselves each day of the beauty of the gospel. We are greater sinners than we can possibly understand; but we are loved by a God with love that is so much more than anything we can ever imagine. John Newton, the ex-slave trader who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace, wrote, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”
We are great sinners; Christ is a great savior! Let us rejoice in the message of salvation – foolishness to the world; but the power of God to us who believe!
Take time to reflect:
Have you ever felt ashamed or embarrassed by the gospel?
How do you understand your heart condition? When you read Paul’s words in Ephesians, do you see yourself in those words?
How has God transformed you since the first day you believed? How have you seen the power of the gospel in your life?
Take a few moments to reflect on where your heart and life still need transformation. Ask God to continue the good work he has begun in you and promises to bring to completion in the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).