A Blog for the Church

If you watch Fox News or get your news from either FoxNews.com or MSNBC.com, you may have noticed a somewhat surprising advertisement that is pro-Bible. In the commercials, folks from various backgrounds, cultures, ages, etc. are filmed saying “I Am Not Ashamed” – the campaign’s primary tagline. USA today is also running print ads (and individual churches can sponsor billboards) with Bible verses that address some of today’s hot-button issues: abortion, homosexual marriage, etc.

Additionally, they’ve set up a website where users can proclaim their unashamedness either by writing a little something (like you would on someone’s Facebook wall) or by recording a video of themselves reading from the Bible and then uploading this to the site.  This is great…except for one thing.

Talking About Being Unashamed Isn’t Enough

You’ve probably heard about all the statistics indicating that about 80% of Americans claim to be Christians. But is that really true? Take 10 of your co-workers or neighbors or the people you see at the grocery store, gym, or restaurant…would you consider 8 of them to be authentic Christians?

Some might be able to answer “Yes,” but most of us respond with an immediate, “No way!”

It seems that there’s still a wide gap between who some people say they are and who they really are.

Let’s be honest, it’s pretty easy to forward on that forward-this-if-you-love-Jesus email, or check that box on the survey, or agree with this or that statement, or read a blog like this and comment with an “Amen” or “Right on,” or slap that Jesus fish on your bumper, or listen to Christian music, or go to Christian movies, or wear the Christian T-shirt.

It’s easy to look Christian.  It’s not so easy to be Christian.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there actually is something about the Gospel that many of us are ashamed of, an aspect of it that we try to soften, get around, or otherwise avoid.

The Gospel Is Offensive

That’s the case for several reasons, not least of which because of the exclusive claims of Jesus. In today’s world, exclusive claims are about as appealing as the plague, so we try to avoid them like we would a plague. Sometimes we do this passively, just by leaving that part out and focusing on the love of God and how Christianity is a much better way to live. Other times we do it actively, by reinterpreting passages or excusing exclusive claims as metaphors.

For example: God’s love is much more appealing than God’s wrath, to be sure.  But God is still wrathful and that’s still part of the Gospel.

Are you ashamed of that?  Are you uneasy about Jesus saying that the gate leading to life is narrow, and only a few will enter through it? Are you ashamed of the part of the Gospel where Jesus demands that we repent? Are you ashamed of the Gospel that has Jesus claiming to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one can get to the Father except through Him?

My guess is that most of us, in one way or another, find ourselves ashamed at times of the Gospel. It’s hard not to be when our culture rejects Jesus’ claims to be exclusive, and even harder when people we love and respect are unable to accept the Gospel’s terms.

But notice what Paul says after declaring that he is not ashamed in Romans 1:16:

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes… (Emphasis mine.)

Do you see how Paul chose to phrase it? Instead of going the negative/ashamed route, he chose the positive/unashamed route. We can either be ashamed because the Gospel doesn’t offer salvation to those who refuse it, or we can be unashamed because the Gospel offers salvation to everyone who believes it.

The former makes the Gospel bad news and the latter makes it good news.

What, then, is there to be ashamed of?