Unashamed of the Gospel: The Path to New Reformation

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Prayer

Unashamed of the Gospel:

The Path to New Reformation

Today is special because it is the Sunday which celebrates the Protestant Reformation.

Historically it has been celebrated on October 31st.

It commemorates a day in history when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Church door at Wittenberg.

The Protestant Reformation was an event which took place in church history.

If we desire to see a reformation in our day, we will need an unashamed witness of the gospel that by faith clings to the power and righteousness of God for salvation.

“Marking the anniversary of the Reformation isn’t about reveling in past glories or pining for an idyllic golden age. We celebrate Reformation Day because, when the church was deep in darkness, God shone the light of the his gospel afresh.

Luther made a discovery that changed the world then, and continues to transform lives and cultures today. What the German monk uncovered in his Bible is as explosive and wonderful now as it ever was.” —Michael Reeves

Now the Roman Catholic Church of the time, was “the church”

There were no other “churches” around.

No other places that a person could go.

The Scriptures were only read in Latin, a language that the common man couldn’t understand.

To be in opposition to the RCC, would be in opposition to the government, church, and the world.

“I defy the Pope and all his laws . . . if God spare my life many years, I will cause a boy that drives the plough, to know more of Holy Scripture than the Pope.” —William Tyndale

To take on the RCC would be virtually a death sentence.

At one point, Luther was called to appear before a counsel where many thought he would be killed.

This is what he said...

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason—for I believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves—

I consider myself convicted by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound. [Here I stand; I can do no other.] God help me. Amen.

Now we can and should look at a man like Luther and draw much encouragement for how to live today.

But I want to look at a text today that completely changed Luther forever.

In the book of Romans, Paul begins by reminding the believers why he is writing to them.

Romans 1:15 ESV

So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

He is eager to preach to them this “good news”

In one succinct statement, Paul gives his main point of the book of Romans.

Which is what we find in verse 16-17.

Romans 1:16 (ESV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel,

Unashamed of the Gospel

“Unhindered Boldness”

Paul is assuming that others have been and will be ashamed of the gospel he is preaching.

To be ashamed here means to be pained by others thoughts on a matter.

That feeling children get when their parents does something that embarrasses them.

At this point we should ask the question,

Why would Paul say that others are ashamed of the gospel?

Isn’t this the message of Jesus?

Why would people be ashamed of this message of Jesus?

The Cross of Christ is Offensive

“Stumbling Block”

Now the reality of the cross would have been much worse in the minds of Paul’s readers.

It would have been the equivalent to images of an electric chair in our own culture.

An instrument of death.

People would have associated the cross with the most despised and horrifying images in their minds.

Crosses were reserved for criminals and the worst of the worst in the society.

It would have been a laughing stock for Paul to say that the Christian hope is of a crucified Savior.

And now Paul is bringing this message to the “Prestigious City of Rome”

The splendid city of Rome with all it’s sophistication.

It would have been a temptation for Paul to try and paint the cross of Jesus in pretty colors.

But Paul knew what we should all know, the CROSS is OFFENSIVE.

1 Corinthians 1:18 NKJV

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:22–24 NKJV

For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The cross was regarded as foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews.

The fleshly temptation would be to be ashamed of this message.

But we have our own battles to face today.

Let me give you ONE.

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

1. "A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth."

2. "God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions."

3. "The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about ones self."

4. "God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem."

5. "Good people go to heaven when they die."

Now there are many problems in thoughts like these.

A person can think they are a Christian, and be drastically deceived.

They believe in “God” generally speaking.

They believe that this “God” loves them generally.

They believe this “God” wants them to be happy and feel good about themselves.

But when we start holding to the biblical gospel, people around us will not like it.

Even in our own culture, it is NOT cool to be a Christian.

If someone is found to be a Christian, typically they are mocked or dismissed.

So Paul is NOT offering here a shame free life.

He is saying that because he is unashamed of the gospel, inevitably he will be shamed by others…

Romans 1:16 (ESV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel,

The Cross of Christ is Counter-Cultural

“Against the Grain”

Now the city of Rome had a little different barrier than our own.

Our culture says,

“You can believe whatever you want, just don’t say what you believe matters at all.”

“You can believe whatever just don’t let it affect anyone else.”

But their culture was dominated with one particular message.

The message of the Roman culture was,

“Caesar is King!”

“Caesar rules the world!”

The cultural message of their day demanded that all people pay ultimate allegiance to Caesar.

People in that day did not have a choice of who to worship.

They were demanded to worship Caesar.

But the Christian message comes along and says,

“Jesus is King!”

“Jesus is LORD over all!”

“Though it looks like Caesar is ruling things, we believe Jesus is on the throne!”

Now what was a Christian supposed to do?

Were they supposed to just worship silently in their own homes.

“Don’t cause an disputes now…” No.

Listen to what Jesus says of those who are ashamed of His message.

Mark 8:34–38 ESV

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

They were meant to declare even against the culture of their day, “Jesus is Lord!”

What does all this mean for reformation?

The way of reformation is to be unashamed of the gospel!

This will inevitably mean that others think we have “lost our minds”

This will mean that others will look down on us.

This will mean that we may not be the most “popular”

Martin Luther, the man who is credited with sparking the protestant reformation, do you think he knew he was in the midst of revival?

Do you think he was planning to have this kind of impact around him?

No.

He was faithful and He was unashamed of the gospel.

Romans 1:16 (ESV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,

The Power of God

Paul says that he is not ashamed because it is power.

This gospel does not put to shame because it has great ability to save.

It’s NOT Advice

“You ‘should’…”

When we talk about the gospel, we cannot speak of it as though it is one among many options.

As though it is something that people can take or leave if they want to.

“You should follow Jesus because he is better than drugs.”

He’s NOT Jesus among all the other gods of this world.

It’s NOT Helpful

“A Little Push”

Our human condition continually seeks to think we are NOT really that bad.

We are only those who are a “little messed up”

We are only “a little broken”

We need more than a “little push”

We need Power from on HIGH.

It’s NOT Information

“Simply Facts”

It’s also not just information of scientific facts.

We don’t have just a little more information than the next guy.

We fundamentally have NEWS.

Now in Luther’s Day...

The church had begun to “rot” from the inside according to Luther.

Let me explain a few of the practices of the Roman Catholic church at the time.

One practice was the sale of indulgences.

The Roman Catholic Church had this idea of a place called purgatory where people would suffer before going to heaven.

Now an indulgence was money that people could pay to the Roman Catholic Church...

And the pope would pardon a person’s sins and granted access to heaven.

Now there was a practice in Luther’s day that was even worse than this.

They would sell indulgences even for dead people.

If your grandma died, they would come into town and tell you that she is suffering right now in purgatory.

“If you pay these indulgences, then she will get out of purgatory quicker.”

The RCC had created a whole system based upon a false doctrine that salvation could be “merited” or “earned”

Luther came to realize that salvation wasn’t something we obtain by any activity of our own.

Romans 1:16 (ESV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation...

It IS Intentional

“For Salvation”

The power of God has a purpose.

And that purpose is the salvation of souls.

This was NOT something the pope could grant.

Not something a person could achieve.

The Power of God for Salvation

Take a look at this image.

Since the garden of Eden, humanity has willing and actively chosen to rebel against God.

What this has produced is God’s holy and just wrath toward sin.

We are deserving of punishment before Him.

And all of the OT builds up to this.

God has promised to send someone to save His people.

He promised to send “salvation”

But the people didn’t know what this salvation looked like.

So when we talk about the power of salvation, we need to think of this illustration.

This illustration does not show that we are the powerful ones.

We are the weak and needy ones who needs someone to cover us.

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

And this salvation is God’s purpose in the gospel.

Romans 1:16 ESV

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.

It IS Impartial

“Everyone Who Believes”

Now when Paul penned this word, the Jew’s would have considered themselves to have salvation simply because they were God’s people.

But this is not the case for Paul here.

He says that salvation has become available for all people.

Then he gives the example of it becoming available which is first for the Jew and then the Greek.

This includes all people everywhere.

I want you to notice something though…

He says that it is for everyone who believes.

That means that right now there are those in our lives who do not believe.

There is NO power here for them.

John 3:16–18 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

What does all this mean for reformation?

The way of reformation rests in the power of God for sinners!

This means that in our weakness, He is strong.

This means that we don’t have to be great.

But we can point to the ONE who is great.

The freedom that comes from this is amazing!

Paul goes on and says…

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Listen to what Luther thought of verse 17...

I had . . . been captivated with an extraordinary passion for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But . . . a single word in Chapter 1 [verse 17], ‘In it the righteousness of God is revealed,’ stood in my way.

For I hated that word ‘righteousness of God,’ which . . . I had been taught to understand . . . is the righteousness [with which God] punishes the unrighteous sinner.

Luther is saying here he was taught that the righteousness of God was that by which he punished sinners.

But the reality of these verse show something different.

The Righteousness of God Revealed

Romans 1:17 (ESV)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith

It’s not that God was punishing sinners.

But it was the fact that God was giving His righteousness to sinners by taking on their unrighteousness.

It’s NOT What We Obtain

“Of Us”

Righteousness is NOT something we can gain in ourselves.

It’s not something we can get from “religious activities”

No amount of church services.

No list of sins we haven’t done.

No list of virtues that we have pursued.

None of it makes a man righteous.

So we can’t obtain it…

But we need it.

We can’t earn it.

But we desperately

Romans 1:17 (ESV)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith

It IS What We Need

“We Don’t Have It”

Though we cannot obtain right standing with God by ourselves.

We need it in order to stand before God.

To one day stand in the presence of God, me and you NEED to be righteous.

We need to be righteous.

But the great problem of the Bible is we cannot obtain it.

This is where the mystery of the cross becomes plain.

“Luther came to realize that salvation was a gift for the guilty, not a reward for the righteous.”

Salvation was NOT something for righteous people to have.

It was NOT something for “good” people to obtain.

It was a gift to sinful and wicked people.

Romans 1:17 (ESV)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith

The beauty of the gospel becomes clear at this point.

It’s that sinners are made righteous before a HOLY GOD by the righteousness of another.

It IS Outside of Us

“Alien Righteousness”

To say that it is alien simply means it’s foreign to the human experience.

It means the righteousness is something from outside of humanity but something we desperately need.

“You mean, here Paul is not talking about the righteousness by which God Himself is righteous, but a righteousness that God gives freely by His grace to people who don't have righteousness of their own.”

This is the beauty of the gospel.

“When I discovered that, I was born again of the Holy Ghost. And the doors of paradise swung open, and I walked through."

God the righteous judge becomes the one who both judges and justifies.

Romans 3:21–26 ESV

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

It’s NOT the righteousness of people who bring about salvation.

But it’s actually God’s righteousness revealed in the person of Jesus given to sinful people.

The way of reformation hopes in the Righteousness of God given to Sinners!

The way of reformation is not the way of this world.

The way of this world will continue to try and build up their own righteousness

They will seek to build their own resume.

Romans 1:17 ESV

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

Paul here was quoting from the OT.

It’s NOT What We Bring

“A Reward for the Righteous”

It IS What God Gives

“A Gift to Sinners”

Illustration from Michael Reeves

Luther argued that the gospel was breathtakingly straightforward.

He said the good news he had found was like the story of a wealthy king (representing Jesus)

who marries a debt-ridden prostitute (representing one who trusts him).

The girl could never make herself a queen.

But then the king comes along, full of love for her.

And on their wedding day he makes his marriage vow to her.

With that, she is his, and the prostitute becomes a queen.

He takes and bears all her debts, and she now shares his boundless wealth and status.

It is not that she earned it.

She didn't become a queen by behaving royally.

But when the king made his marriage promise, he changed her status.

Despite all her backstreet ways, the poor girl is now a queen.

Likewise, the greatest failure who accepts Jesus Christ gets to share his righteousness and status.

What happens is a happy status-swap:

When Jesus died on the cross, he absorbed and dealt with all our guilt and failure; and out of sheer love he now shares with those who trust him all his righteousness and life. —Michael Reeves

It means, wrote Luther gleefully:

Her sins cannot now destroy her, since they are laid upon Christ and swallowed up by him.

And she has that righteousness in Christ, her husband, which she may boast of as her own and say, "If I have sinned, yet my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned, and all his is mine and all mine is his. —Martin Luther

The way of reformation by faith trusts in the gift of God!

Romans 10:17 ESV

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

If we desire to see a reformation in our day, we will need an unashamed witness of the gospel that by faith clings to the power and righteousness of God for salvation.