The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome to encourage them that through Christ, they, “have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, and they are the called of Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:5-6). Paul was encouraging the church; to be in unity, to have faith in Him, for it is through faith in Jesus and by His grace we have been justified.
At the centre of the Roman Empire, the church in Rome was still young. It was just over two decades since Jesus was crucified on the cross but rose on the third day and ascended to heaven. New believers both gentiles and Jews, were under social pressure very much like we are in today. Paul was reminding them that Christ is the most significant central point of their faith, Gentiles and Jews alike.
In Paul’s absolute humility, he identifies himself as a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and he declared that he was, “… not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)
For a young church, the gospel of Jesus was countercultural. Furthermore, death on the cross was deemed to be the most humiliating form of execution. From the unbeliever’s perspective looking in, ‘how could the foundation of your faith be built on someone who died hanging on the cross?’
In a recent trip home to New Plymouth from Auckland with my son Joabi, we stopped at Otorohanga for a kebab. After placing our order the owner got busy making our meal as we waited. As he was near the counter, we initiated a conversation, and it eventually approached religion and faith. He shared with us about his Sikhi faith, and we shared about Jesus. The more we shared, the more questions he asked as he tried to understand the concept of heaven and hell.
The certainty of our faith in Christ, is the guarantee of eternal life with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In contrast, for our new friend Harry, his faith gives him no guarantee, no assurance of what happens after he dies. He believed if you do good, you might receive blessings even in this lifetime. If you do good, you might receive a better life in the next life. Before we could pray for him, more customers entered for business, so we left. Before we left though, we asked him this one question; “would you not want to know for certain where you go after you die?”
I left my phone number and email hoping he’d call one day, and we rejoiced that we got to share with him the gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus our Saviour.
The challenge for you and me, is to preach the gospel unapologetically to whomever and wherever. Like Paul says, ‘let us not be ashamed of the gospel.’ Like Charlie Kirk, lets be fearless to share the truth of the Word wherever the Lord leads us. Evil has no hold on those who confess that Jesus is Lord.
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
I pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen and build in us a spirit of courage to speak Truth, to change the environment around us.
In His richest blessings
Frank Po Ching