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For I am not ashamed of the gospel,<br />
because it is the power of God<br />
that brings salvation to everyone<br />
who believes.<br />
Romans 1:16<br />
“Unashamed”!<br />
Presumably, when Paul the apostle told<br />
the Christians in Rome that he wasn’t<br />
ashamed of the gospel, he had experienced<br />
in some way and at some point exactly that<br />
temptation!<br />
We know for example, that in his pre<br />
Christian life Saul had hated the gospel.<br />
He had concluded that Jesus of Nazareth ,<br />
a crucified man, was an embarrassment to<br />
good Jews like him.<br />
But such was the transformation in Saul,<br />
that not only did he change his name but<br />
also the direction of his entire life. All<br />
because what once he believed to be a weak<br />
message was in fact strong.<br />
Perhaps even as a follower of Jesus, Paul had<br />
not been entirely without those times when<br />
he felt the awkwardness of faith in Christ.<br />
On numerous occasions the Lord has to<br />
reassure him in the middle of a mission,<br />
“don't be afraid.... keep on speaking .”<br />
And here he was addressing people<br />
who lived in the capital of an Empire<br />
synonymous with power, about a message<br />
of a Saviour whom Roman power had killed.<br />
Yet in this gospel, Paul claimed, was the<br />
power of God to save anyone and everyone.<br />
This gospel of a handful of nails and a<br />
broken body was a message of such glory<br />
that Paul would give everything he had to<br />
proclaim it, whatever the consequences.<br />
So as we embrace this text as our Motto<br />
for <strong>2020</strong>, in what will be a year of Mission,<br />
perhaps it's no bad thing to begin by<br />
acknowledging that we too are not immune<br />
to being ashamed of the gospel.<br />
Our silence or nervousness can be an<br />
admission that in work, home and<br />
neighbourhood, we don't always find it<br />
easy to live with confidence as disciples of<br />
Christ. Our society with its secular agenda<br />
can appear to be a very powerful voice which<br />
drowns out the message of the cross. It is<br />
tempting to keep quiet and not rock the<br />
boat.<br />
But Paul would encourage us to speak up.<br />
For there is nothing in science, history or<br />
literature which has anything like the kind<br />
of power which the good news of Jesus<br />
possesses. In the gospel is freedom and<br />
forgiveness, hope and love, unmatched and<br />
unrivalled.<br />
Let this year of <strong>2020</strong> be one in which we<br />
know and tell the gospel with unashamed<br />
confidence. It has saved us and it can save<br />
others.<br />
Peter Baker | Senior Minister
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