Plugged In

Plugged In

Romans 1:8-17

Rev. Brian North, Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA

August 29^th, 2010

Have you ever done something, or said something, which you were really ashamed of afterwards? Or maybe you’ve had the experience of anticipating feeling ashamed of what it was you were about to do or say, so you didn’t go through with whatever it was. Perhaps even some of us are still ashamed of something from our past, or there’s a current facet of our life that we’re ashamed of, and that’s holding some of us back from being all that God has called us to be. Shame can be a powerful force in our lives.

I remember when I was younger – probably in 4^th grade or so – I had a very shameful experience. I’m embarrassed by it still, but not ashamed. I played on a youth soccer team, and we had a soccer exchange with a team in Canada. The kids on my team went and stayed in Vancouver with the kids from another team in their homes – one child with each family – for a night or two, and in the midst of the weekend we played a soccer game against each other. I don’t remember much of the details, but one thing sticks out in my mind: I remember waking up on the morning I was to leave and my parents were picking me up at this house where I’d been staying, and when I woke up, I realized that I had wet the bed I was sleeping in. I was so embarrassed and ashamed of what had happened that I didn’t say anything to anyone. It didn’t dawn on me that the host family could probably tell right away…and I don’t know that I cared whether or not they discovered later or if I even thought about that. I was so ashamed. All I could do was shower, pack my stuff, and get out as fast as I could. I don’t remember anything else from the weekend.

Shame like that oftentimes causes us not to acknowledge something in our lives. For instance, I was ashamed and didn’t acknowledge what I’d done in my sleep. So shame – or the fear of it – can cause us to keep things to ourselves. We try to hide what it is we’re ashamed of. And almost always we’re ashamed of something negative or wrong in our lives: We’re ashamed of our quick temper or our massive debt or the lack of cleanliness in our homes or some hidden sin or some other facet of life that falls short of what it could and probably should be.

Now, our faith isn’t a negative thing in our lives, and yet so often we treat it as if it were. And so in this morning’s passage, Paul has some words of encouragement for us as he writes to say that shame has no place in the expression of our faith. Listen and follow along in your Bibles as we look at Romans 1:8-17.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. ⁹God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ¹⁰in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

¹¹I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— ¹²that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. ¹³I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

¹⁴I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.

¹⁶I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. ¹⁷For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,^[a] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”^[b]

I want to focus in particular on verse 16 in particular. In it, Paul writes these words: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” Paul is saying that shame has no place in his life when it comes to the gospel. He proclaims the gospel message freely to all people. Anyone who will give him an ear, he will tell them of Jesus Christ, whether they agree with him or not. Fear of shame or embarrassment does not stop him from proceeding forward with the gospel message.

Now, Paul tells us he’s not ashamed, but he also tells us why he isn’t ashamed. He writes, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” The important part of this verse is that it’s the power of God. We aren’t in control. We don’t save ourselves. We don’t supply the power. Like a power tool that can’t operate unless it’s plugged in or it’s battery hasn’t been fully charged up: we are plugged into God’s grace, charged up and ready to go and be used by Him for his purposes. God is the one who supplies the power. That is why it’s so important to have a proper understanding of God’s grace, because it is his grace that has done this for us. It’s his grace expressed in the gospel message that gives us strength and power to be used by him in all situations and in all circumstances – including overcoming whatever shame-based fears we may have.

Now when Paul encourages us not to be ashamed of the gospel, he knows what he’s talking about, because he lived in an environment that was hostile to the message of the gospel. He had every opportunity to step down in shame and remain silent about his faith in Jesus Christ and what God had done in his life. It’s not like he only preached to nice, clean-cut people who were friendly and amenable to the gospel message.

We see this illustrated in a story about a Christian man owned a barber shop. One night, at a church revival service, the barber felt greatly burdened to do more with his testimony for Christ. He wanted to live without any shame for God. The next evening, the barber began attending an evangelism class at his church. He attended faithfully every night for two weeks. He rehearsed all the material, took extensive notes, and memorized the assigned Bible verses. At the end of the two weeks he received a plaque acknowledging his completion of the course.

The next morning, in the barber shop, he hung the plaque and bowed his head. “Dear Lord,” he prayed, “help me to witness to the first man to come through that door this morning.” At that moment in walked the biggest, meanest, foulest man the barber had ever seen. The man had recently lost a bet with some “biker” buddies and now he had to get his head shaved. He was not happy to be there at that moment. Well, the barber did not feel very comfortable quoting Scripture and reciting everything he had memorized with this man.

The rest of the day did not go any better for the barber. At 5:00 p.m., the barber was sobbing with shame. He had not witnessed to a single person. He bowed his head again. This time he prayed, “Lord, if you will allow one more opportunity, I promise I will do my part.” At that, the door opened and in walked a pleasant looking gentleman. The man smiled at the barber, apologized for coming in so late and took a seat in the chair.

As the barber draped the man in his protective sheet, he began to try to remember what he was supposed to say. He began to get very confused. As the barber put shaving cream on the man’s face, he tried to remember the answers he had learned to the possible objections. As the barber began to sharpen his razor, he realized that he simply could not remember A THING he had learned. This made the barber very nervous and soon sweat began to break out on his forehead.

Finally, in desperation, he shook the razor at the man and screamed, “ARE YOU PREPARED TO DIE??!!!”¹

I know that for many of us here this morning, the idea of entering into a conversation about God might seem like something we just couldn’t do – whether it were a Hell’s Angels type of guy or the little old lady or young little boy who lives next door. We worry about what to say, we worry about what the other person might say, how we’ll respond, and so forth. We’re ashamed to acknowledge to someone that we don’t know the answers to their questions. We’re ashamed to acknowledge that we have our own questions. We’re ashamed to acknowledge that we believe this crazy historical account of a man named Jesus who lived, died, and rose from the grave. We’re ashamed of believing all that in a culture that says that “God is dead,” to paraphrase Time magazine from April 8, 1966. We don’t know what to say or do in the face of all that. Let Paul’s words remind you and me that there is no reason to be ashamed of our faith…there’s no reason to apologize for believing or to apologize for God. God has the power to take care of himself, and he’ll take care of you and me, too.

Let me give you a true story from my life that’s a more positive one than the fictitious one of the barber I just shared with you. When I was in college I got to know I guy named Jeremy. We had a couple business marketing classes together, and in one class we joined together with a couple other people to work on a class project. After the class was all done, we decided to get together for dinner at a local restaurant and celebrate the completion of the project, the end of the quarter, and our time together as classmates. As it turned out, only Jeremy and I were able to make it. And wouldn’t you know it, the conversation turned to Christianity, the existence of God, and other matters of faith.

Now, remember: I wasn’t a particularly strong Christian at that stage of my life, as I’ve shared with you before. I had one foot tentatively in the door of the Church and my faith, and one pretty firmly in the door of the world and all it’s trappings. I had every reason to intellectually and emotionally slink away in shame from that conversation and hide in the shadows of sports or school or some other subject I was comfortable talking about. And yet God gave me faith and courage and words to say that I have no idea where they came from – except to say that the power of God was in me in that conversation. The Holy Spirit inspired me. Now, at the end of that conversation, Jeremy didn’t ask me to baptize him right there in the restaurant with the water I was drinking or anything. Conversion isn’t ultimately our responsibility – it’s God’s. I simply answered his questions, and in the process shared my understanding and my experience of Jesus Christ, the Bible, and so on.

But, I wasn’t ashamed of the gospel – in fact, quite the opposite. In the midst of that conversation I felt inspired and full of faith, and like I had been used by God to move someone just a little closer to Jesus Christ. I could see it in Jeremy’s expression, in his questions, and in his responses, that God was working on his brain and on his heart. Some kind of seed was planted that night, all because I wasn’t ashamed of the gospel, and I was plugged into the power of God.

You see, God doesn’t call all of us to be great theologians like Saint Augustine, or John Calvin or to be preaching to tens of thousands like Billy Graham; God simply wants to use each of us where we are in our faith. The Christians in Rome certainly weren’t future house-hold names, and yet Paul says in the first verse we read this morning that their faith is “being reported all over the world.” Those words are more true now than they were then. And when we bear witness to the gospel message, that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again, then the power of God really is revealed here in Chehalis and all over the world as well.

So let this morning’s passage be an encouragement to you that we too can live courageous lives of faith for this gospel message. We can let our fears go and we can live without shame. And when that happens, we will see that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who has faith. We’ll see that power unleashed. We’ll see more people coming to know God and his infinite love and grace. And in the meantime, we’ll grow deeper in faith as we trust in him and his power to sustain us and give us the right words at the right time. We’ll realize that indeed God’s grace is enough. So don’t be ashamed of the gospel; don’t be ashamed of God. Just stay plugged in to the gospel and the power of God will work through you and me and our faith. Let’s pray…