Are you unashamed of the gospel?

Text Romans 1:16, 17 Time 17 06 18 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

I want us to look this morning at one of those texts where important truths are succinctly summed up in just a few sentences. The words are in Romans 1:16, 17 where Paul says

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

One writer (Leon Morris) has said that the words in these two verses have an importance out of all proportion to their length. This is really what the letter is about. 

The well known American preacher John MacArthur has said of what is in these verses 

"This is the most life-transforming truth ever put into men's hands. If we really understand and respond to the truths in these two verses time and eternity is totally altered." 

I want to say three things about these verses.

1. Here is a gospel of which you can be unashamed

Paul begins by saying For I am not ashamed of the gospel. That for follows on from his statement in the previous verse that he was eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. At the time of writing the letter (about 57 or 58 AD) Paul had never been to Rome but he knew that there at the heart of the Empire there was a church and indeed their faith was being reported all over the world. He had met many of its members when they had travelled elsewhere and his hope was that he could visit Rome. This for two reasons.

Firstly, so that he could impart to them some spiritual gift to make you strong - that is, that they may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. He had often made plans to travel to Rome but had been prevented. He wanted to have a harvest among them, just as he had had among the other Gentiles.

The other thought that comes out towards the end of the letter is that he could pass through Rome en route to Spain, where he wanted also to preach the gospel and they could assist him in this new venture. What Paul does in Romans then is to set out his stall, to say what he preached, his gospel. And this is where he begins and the first thing he says is that he is not ashamed of this gospel.

The word gospel is a funny word. It is from the old Anglo-Saxon word godspel or good news and we use it to represent the Greek word evangel or euangel. Literally that does mean good news and so some modern Bibles translate good news rather than gospel. The Greeks would use the word for a piece of good news and Christians began to empty it to refer in brief to the good news that God had sent his Son into this world to be its Saviour. We use the word now both to refer to the first four books of the New Testament - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who each tell us the story of Jesus's coming - and the basic message of salvation, the message about how salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

That is what Paul is talking about here then when he says that he is not ashamed of the gospel. His statement that he is not ashamed suggests that he might have been tempted to be. People get ashamed for various reasons good and bad.

• Some people are ashamed of their background - where they are from, their family, the fact they are poor, etc.
• Some are ashamed about things they can't do or don't know - I can't dance, my Greek is no good, I'm not a great driver, etc.
• People are ashamed of what they look like (their height, their spots, etc)
• People get ashamed because they need help, because they are lost, because they are socially awkward, etc.

Many things we are ashamed of we don't need to be ashamed of, although sometimes shame is the right response. Shame on us all that we are not better than we are, that we do not love the Saviour more. 

Why might Paul have been ashamed of the gospel? Writing about the gospel in 1 Corinthians he says that Christ crucified, which is at the heart of the message, is a stumbling block to Jews who demand signs and foolishness to Gentiles, who seek wisdom. On the face of it the gospel is not marked by amazing miracles or remarkable wisdom. It is a simple message about ho sinful we are and how we can be saved through a man who died on a wooden cross. At the time it was a forbidden religion and then as now persecution of Christians was common. 

But Paul was not ashamed of the good news and we ought not to be either. Are you ashamed of it? I'm sure that if you understood it better you would not be. There is nothing to be ashamed of.

2. Understand why you can be unashamed of the gospel - it's God's power to bring salvation

The reason you do not need to be ashamed is this because it is the power of God that brings salvation. 

It is tempting to think of the gospel as simply a message or way of life, like a philosophy or a lifestyle choice. It is much more than that. The good news is that God is at work in this world, powerfully at work and he is transforming everything by this very means - through the gospel. 

There is something dynamic about the gospel, something powerful. God is in it. It is not a self-help thing or a bit of good advice. It is not a course to do or simply a set of beliefs to subscribe to. No there is power in it. 

Paul know that power in his life and if you have come to know the gospel for yourself then you will know the power that it has to change lives. It can indeed change whole families and communities and nations. The power of the gospel, as unassuming as it may seem, is something incredible. One of the proverbs says that a gentle tongue can break a bone and the gentle gospel of Christ can bring men down and build them up again with great power.

I read a story by an American preacher about a young woman in his church who worked in a large umbrella factory in Philadelphia, at that time thought to be the biggest umbrella factory in the world. She said to him one day, rather discouraged, "Pastor, I'll have to hunt another job." He wondered what the problem was. Had she been sacked or made redundant? Were they short of orders? No, they had more orders than they could fulfil. The problem was a lack of electricity. They didn't have enough power to keep all the machines going at once, and so her machine was not running half the time and if she didn't work she wasn't paid. The trouble with the factory was that they had more machinery than power.

That is our problem sometimes. We have the machinery - the meetings points, the man power, the literature. What we lack is gospel power. Never forget the power of God found in the gospel. It was great power that created this world and great power that sustains it and great power that raised Jesus from the dead. That same power is at work when the gospel is declared. 

The gospel is not something aimless or without direction either. It can save people, it can rescue them. By nature we are lost, sunk in sin and degradation. There is no hope for us but the gospel gives the hope of salvation - that is all the blessings that trust in Christ includes. Negatively, it is salvation from God's wrath, from futility, from slavery, from hell itself. 

There is no reason to be ashamed of good news that can actually save people and deliver them from their sins!

I read a story of a terrible fire in Dublin many years ago. It was a high rise block and many people could be seen at the window pleading for help. Part of the tragedy was that a portable fire escape was brought and when it arrived there was great hope. However, it proved to be too short to reach any but those n the lowest floors. The gospel is not like that - it's not like a bridge that reaches only half way across. No it saves completely.

Remember that is what the gospel can do – it saves, it delivers, it rescues.

3. Recognise that the key to the gospel is always faith

In the rest of the material we want to consider this morning the emphasis is on the importance of faith or trust. That is at the heart of the gospel of salvation. We can say three things from there. It is by faith 

1. In every case

Paul says For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Paul reminds us that the gospel is received by faith. Because it is based on faith and no other qualification then everyone who believes can be saved. having said that, there is an order about things. God brought his gospel to this world by first taking a man, Abraham, and from him creating a nation, the Jews. It is to the Jews that the Messiah was promised and to the Jews that the Messiah came. He was a Hebrew and Aramaic speaking Jew who lived in the Promised Land and who was circumcised on the eighth day and who kept the Jewish Law revealed to Moses and who worshipped in the Jewish Temple first built by Solomon.

After the coming of Messiah, however, after his life and death and resurrection and ascension into heaven, he poured out the Holy Spirit on all people and so the gospel began to go out to all peoples - not just Jews but Gentiles or non-Jews too. Messiah having come the importance of the Jewish laws began to fade into the background and the thing that had really mattered anyway all along came to the fore - faith, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I think we can extrapolate here too and says that if the gospel is first for believers and for religious people, people within the orbit of the church, people like ourselves, it is also for the unbeliever, for the non-religious, those outside the church's orbit. They also can believe in Jesus Christ - indeed must if they are to be saved.

This ought to give us confidence as we go out with the gospel then. It is for everyone. We don't have to worry that we are evangelising the wrong people. Who ever we come into contact with, we can assure them of the saving power of God as long as they believe in Christ. All they have to do is to trust in him. 

2. At every point

Paul then gives some further explanation - For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Again he is emphasising faith. Yes righteousness is important. No-one can go to a holy and righteous God who is not holy or righteous themselves. But how can sinners like us be righteous? And here is what we might call the genius of the gospel. We can be saved through an alien righteousness. By that I mean a righteous that in the first place is not our own. It is someone else's. It is, we learn elsewhere, the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself. That righteousness becomes ours when we trust in Jesus Christ.

We have no righteousness of our own but by faith we can receive the righteousness that God himself provides. In the gospel a righteous status, which is God's gift, is being revealed – a righteous status that is altogether by faith. Through Christ we can be righteous, we can know a righteousness from God, as we trust in him. 

Again this should give us confidence. Here is a righteousness from God that can be ours and that is found nowhere else, the righteousness we need for life on earth and for heaven. 

As for the phrase from faith to faith which is what Paul actually wrote. It could mean from God's faith to our faith, or from the faith of one believer to the faith of another as the gospel spreads or from one degree of faith to another or just faith through and through from first to last as the NIV has it. Certainly the emphasis is on faith. We cannot know this righteousness except by faith but once we believe then that righteousness is ours whoever we are. 

We have a great message then. You can be right with God just by believing. 

3. In every time

The last thing Paul has here is the line just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." The quotation is from Habakkuk 2:4. Habakkuk had complained about the wickedness in the land and God had replied that he would send the Babylonians to judge the people. But how can God use such wicked people to judge them? Part of the answer is that the people are to live by faith – humble commitment to God in faith. Even in the Old Testament then this idea of living by faith, of finding righteousness through faith is there. This is the second time that Paul underlines this point - that even in the Old Testament the teaching was that we find righteousness by faith. 

This has been the teaching down the ages then and we should not try and abandon it now. Rather we should boldly go out and let everyone know. We have an obligation to do so and we ought not to be ashamed of this wonderful gospel for all.

The current crisis and how to think biblically about it

Text Revelation 6, etc Time 15 03 20 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
I realise that at the moment it is difficult to get away from the subject of corona virus and in some ways it would be good to forget about it for an hour and simply worship God. However, having thought and prayed, I thought it was best for us to look at this subject and, of course, I want us to look at it in light of what we may find to help us on it in the Bible.

So I want to say three things this morning. First, I want to say something about the present crisis. Then I want to point you to some Scriptures that will help us. Finally, I want to say some practical things that arise out of what we are facing.

1. Some basic facts about the present crisis

On March 11 the World Health Organisation classified the spreading COVID-19 coronavirus that began in Wuhan in China a pandemic. When a disease spreads over a large geographical area it is called an epidemic and when it is global, as covid19 now is, then it is called a pandemic. At the moment I think the numbers are around 157,000 known cases worldwide, about 1100 in this country. Although around 76,000 have recovered (about 20 in this country) nearly 6,000 have died (21 in this country). At present there is no vaccine to use against the disease, although they are still working on it.

In many cases the effects of the virus may be quite mild but in order to stop the spread of the disease for the sake of others, it is best for people who have it to remain isolated (14 days they recommend). This means that there are financial implications for people affected. On top of the uncertainty and the way tourism has been severely curtailed the pandemic has brought in its wake something of a financial crisis and the problem for governments is deciding what will keep people safe and yet not lead to too great a financial burden on people.

Two terms worth mentioning in this connection are containment and mitigation or delay. We have recently moved from the containment to the delay phase it seems. The containment phase is where measures are taken to slow the spread of the condition, usually for the purpose of making preparations before it becomes an epidemic or pandemic. Delay seeks simply to reduce the severity or seriousness of the condition. One of the problems governments have is that some approaches that may be beneficial during the containment stage could become counterproductive during the delay stage.

So we are being encouraged to keep washing our hands and not shaking hand with others and so on. The hope at present is that we can get through this with as few deaths as possible but quite how it is all going to unfold nobody knows.

2. Some Scriptures to help us on this subject

Let me mention some Scriptures to help us here. I have 8 altogether. Each has a valuable lesson.

1. This crisis has something to say to us

In Job 33:14 Elihu suggests that God speaks to us in different ways. He mentions dreams and suffering. More generally God does speak to us in his providences and so I think we should be seeking to learn from it. Of course, when seeking to read providence we need to be careful we do not misread it. We need to be guided by the sure word of Scripture.

2. This crisis is not something new

Firstly, in Ecclesiastes 1:9 we are reminded that What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Yes, this virus is new in that it is a new strain of coronavirus but crises are, even global crises are not new. Things like this have happened before. Think of the “Spanish flu” of 1918-1919 that killed more people than World War I or one of the most extreme pandemics ever recorded, the Black Death (1347-51).

3. This crisis reminds us of our ignorance

Then do not forget Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. This verse is always true but this current crisis is a strong reminder of the fact. $$ I am hoping to go to a conference the week after next but if the government bans such gatherings or if the organisers decide to call it off I won't be going. We were pleased to hear a while back that our son Gwion had won tickets to a film festival in New York in April but now the festival has been postponed and he won't be going. It is good for us to remember that we are in God's hands.

4. This crisis reminds us that God is in control

As another biblical proverb puts it (19:21) Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails. Why he has allowed this virus to arise we do not know. But we do know he has his own purposes in it.

5. This crisis reminds us of the pestilences and economic trouble that marks the last days

Then more acutely we read earlier from Revelation 6 about the famous horsemen of the Apocalypse. Revelation can be a controversial book but the way to understand it is as a book describing how it is in the last days, the period John was in and that we are still in, between the first and second comings of Jesus. Revelation 6 describes four horses - a one white, one red, one black and one pale. If we forget about the first two for a moment and concentrate on the other two then, taking them in reverse order

The pale horse and rider are in 6:7, 8 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

This is a reminder of how things like famine and plague will stalk the earth during this period. Famine and plague don't always lead to death but death and decay stalk this earth nevertheless and it comes in by many routes. Coronavirus is one of them. Our society has insulated itself as best it can from death and often refuses to discuss the subject but it continues to be a fact of life. Death and decay are everywhere as this present crisis reminds us. Like a rider on a pale horse death stalks us at every point of our lives and when it comes close we can be devastated.

Then further back in 6:5, 6 we read When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "Two pounds of wheat for a day's wages, and six pounds of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"

The scales are a reminder of how food was eked out in times of siege and famine. The prices quoted for wheat and barley have been estimated at something like eight or sixteen times what they would normally have been. The reference to oil and wine has been paraphrased as “don't cheat on the oil and wine” or “don't overcharge” for it. Famine and drought and other factors can easily have economic repercussions and it is the poor who suffer, often Christians who can be pushed to the bottom of the heap in an unsympathetic world that has quite a different agenda. That is what is happening now. It is another reminder of the troubles that plague this world and that are nevertheless not out of control but all part of the sovereign purposes of Christ.

Jesus himself also tells us in Luke 21:11, 12, speaking again I think of this period Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. There will be ... pestilences in various places he says. This virus should not surprise us.

6. This crisis reminds us to love our neighbour
Other Scriptures worth mentioning are those that call on us to love our neighbour as ourselves. It is surely our duty at this time to do all we can to make sure we do not pass on germs. Obviously we ought to be looking out for the elderly in particular at this time.

7. This crisis reminds us of the importance of praying for those in power

In 1 Timothy 2:1, 2 Paul says I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. It is especially difficult for those in power at times like this. Do pray for them as they make their decisions and act and react.

8. This crisis is a time for faith and prayer not fear and worry

Also those Scriptures that warn against worrying. It would be so easy to become fearful and to start worrying at such a time at this. Jesus says (Matthew 6:34) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Paul says (Philippians 4:6) Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

9. This crisis reminds us that creation is groaning and we groan too longing for redemption

In Romans 8:22, 23 Paul writes We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. When Paul writes of creation groaning he includes many things but among the groanings would be things like this virus. We too groan inwardly in the face of it for it makes us long for a day when this will all be over and God sons will be redeemed.

10. This crisis reminds us that this present world is passing away

Similarly in 1 Corinthians 7:26-31 Paul says Because of the present crisis, (I'm not sure if he means something specific to that time or to this whole period but he says) I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

Perhaps there are other Scriptures we could mention but that is enough to be going on with.

What I want to thirdly and finally is to say three practical things that arise out of this current crisis.

3. Three practical lessons that arise from the present crisis

Overall I think there are three things we can learn from this crisis, most obviously.
1. We are all interconnected in this one world God has made
The first known patient to have contracted the virus was identified in the City of Wuhan, China on December 1, 2019, less than four months ago.
In late December a Wuhan doctor wrote online that there were seven cases of what he described as SARS connected to the food market. The authorities later forced him to deny this.
By January 1 this year the authorities had identified the food market in Wuhan as the centre of the outbreak so it was closed and deep cleaned.
On January 7 the Chinese declared that they had discovered a new virus and on January 11 the first death came, a 61-year-old man who had bought food at the Wuhan market.
On January 24 came the first case in Europe, in Bordeaux. Two more cases were confirmed in Paris by the end of the day and a cluster of infections was discovered in the French Alps.
On January 31 came the first cases in the UK.
On February 2 came the first death outside China, in the Philippines, when a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan died in Manila.
We are in what is often called a global village. We are all interconnected and this current crisis reminds us of that. We cannot ignore what happens in China, even if we want to do so. In a few short months what began in a city far away, one we may not even have heard of, is affecting our daily lives. John Donne wrote over 400 hears ago that famous Meditation (XVII)

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

More positively, if a virus from Wuhan can come all the way here then so can the gospel message. What we say here today can go all over the world. We have a powerful message - that Jesus Christ saves sinners. Let's tell the world!
2. Death is not far from any one of us
They say that in most cases the disease will be mild. However, we know that it can kill you. Some 6,000 have already died and we are told that we can expect many more to die. Inevitably we wonder - will I die? The fact is we do not know. We know we will die but we do not know how or when. This crisis reminds us that we will die and although that may not be a pleasant thing, it is a good thing. Embrace it.
3. We all need a Saviour
Finally, it is a reminder that we all need a Saviour. This crisis probably makes us feel anxious. It remind us how vulnerable we are and how ignorant. It reminds us ultimately that we need a Saviour. There is no other name by which we must be saved except that of Jesus Christ. We must all put our faith in him and I want to urge you once again to do that.