"Say What?" 3-30-25

Overview

Called to Witness: Not Ashamed of the Gospel

Throughout the Gospels and Acts, Jesus repeatedly appoints, sends, and commands his disciples to testify. He promises power through the Holy Spirit Acts 1:8, chooses his followers to bear lasting fruit John 15:16, and sends the Spirit of Truth so they can testify alongside Him John 15:26-27. At the end of Luke, Mark, and Matthew, the same charge is given: proclaim repentance and forgiveness Luke 24:47-48, preach the good news to all creation Mark 16:15-16, and make disciples of all nations Matthew 28:18-20. This commission was not given only to those gifted with words like Peter—it was given to every disciple, with no exceptions for the quiet or the cautious.

The neglect of evangelism is a sin we are all guilty of, whether we tend toward talking or toward keeping to ourselves. Paul's bold confession in Romans 1:16-17 cuts straight to the root: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." Shame is a fear of being embarrassed or humiliated, but Paul's posture is the opposite—he is eager (v. 15) to proclaim Christ in Rome. Why? Because the gospel is the announcement that we are not stuck in our sin. Jesus Christ entered creation, bore the full wrath of God on the cross, died the death we deserved, and rose victorious—imparting his righteousness to all who believe.

This was the very verse that broke open Martin Luther's anguish. He had hated God because he could never measure up to the demand of righteousness. But God revealed through "the righteous shall live by faith" that our righteousness is not built by our deeds, prayers, or efforts—it is ours in Christ. Every believer sitting in the pew is righteous, not because of who they are, but because of who they are in Christ. That truth is not meant to stay locked "down in our heart"—it is meant to bubble up until we cannot help but share it.

What holds us back? Often it is fear of saying something wrong, lack of theological training, or the sense that we are "not salespeople." But sticking to the basic gospel—that Jesus died for our sins and we are made righteous through him—is never wrong. Sharing God's own word is never wrong. The disciples had no seminary; they had Jesus. You know who Jesus is, and you know who he is in your life—that is the experience you bring. And evangelism is not sales: the product never fails, fades, or rusts. The promise of salvation in Christ is eternally golden. This week, keep your eyes open for the people God has placed in your household, workplace, classroom, or grocery aisle. Go forth, not ashamed, knowing you are righteous in Christ—and proclaim that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

Transcript

If you would please open your Bibles to the letter to the Romans, this is on page 133. 3s

If you are using a Pue edition of the Bible, page 133, we're in Romans chapter 1. 12s

While you're looking for that, I want to share some verses with you. 19s

From the book of Acts, Jesus stood with his disciples and he told them, 24s

you will receive power. 30s

When the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, 31s

in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 37s

In John the 15th chapter, Jesus said to his disciples, 43s

you did not choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you to go and bear fruit, 48s

fruit that will last so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 54s

He continued on telling them, when the advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, 60s

the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father, He will testify on my behalf. 66s

You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. 72s

In our gospel reading today, we hear Jesus telling his disciples, 80s

you are witnesses of these things. 86s

You, the repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name 90s

to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. 95s

At the end of the gospel of Mark, Jesus tells his disciples 99s

go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation, 103s

the one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 109s

And finally, at the end of the gospel of Matthew, 116s

Jesus came and said to his disciples, 121s

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, 124s

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them 133s

to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always 139s

to the end of the age. 146s

Appointed, sent commanded to testify, to witness, to proclaim. 151s

I find there are two types of people. There are those who love to talk and those who prefer to just keep to themselves. 162s

And we know that there is a mixed bag in this room right now of those who love to talk 171s

and those who would rather just keep to themselves. 179s

But what we're talking about today, we're talking about evangelism. I know the word that strikes 185s

fear at the heart of all of those who prefer to keep to themselves and keep quiet. 195s

But Jesus did not command only Peter. We know Peter loves to talk. He did not command Peter 204s

to go. He did not command Peter alone to be a witness and to testify. He commanded all 210s

his disciples. He didn't give caveats for those who like to be quiet and keep to themselves. 218s

What stops us? What stops us from opening our mouths? 228s

I have a confession to make to you as I was studying for this sermon. I thought, 235s

this is interesting. I think I have some distance from this because I'm one who likes to talk. 241s

Not evangelizing just doesn't really compute because I always want to share. And so I thought 248s

I had some distance from this, but the Lord, blessed the Lord. He quickly opened my eyes and 256s

convicted me and said that the neglect of evangelism, the sin of neglecting evangelism. 264s

Well, that's one that we are all guilty of. If you would please look with me at the beginning 275s

part of verse 16 in Romans chapter 1, we're Paul writes for I am not ashamed of the gospel. What is 284s

shame? What is being ashamed? That is, that's really a fear. It's reluctance of a fear of being 297s

embarrassed or humiliated and Paul says he's not embarrassed. In fact, he is quite the opposite. 307s

If you look at the verse just prior in verse 15, he says, he has an eagerness to proclaim the gospel 314s

to you also who are in Rome. He is so eager to get to Rome to be able to share the gospel. 323s

He is not fearful of sharing the gospel. He is not scared to go to Rome. He is eager to be able to 333s

proclaim the good news. And he explains exactly why in that last part of verse 16. So let's turn 341s

back to 16 where Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation to 350s

everyone who has faith to the Jew first and also to the Greek. He is not ashamed of the gospel because 359s

the gospel is good news. It is good news and what is that good news? It is salvation. 371s

It is salvation. The gospel carries with it the power of God for salvation for those who hear it. 382s

The gospel boil down to its root is that we are not stuck in our sin. We are not condemned 392s

in our sin but Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity entered into creation. 402s

And he suffered upon the cross taking upon himself the full wrath of God and dying the death 410s

and the punishment that we deserve and yet rising to new life resurrected victorious over sin 420s

and death itself and he imparts that righteousness, his righteousness, his victory to those who 430s

hear and believe. It is the power of God for salvation. Evangelism is the call to proclaim 439s

the gospel. Evangelism is the call to open our mouths and speak the good news that Jesus Christ 455s

died for our sins and that we are saved because of Him and through Him. Verse 17 says for in it, 465s

the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith as it is written. The one who is 480s

righteous will live by faith for those who have heard the good news for those who know that we 487s

are saved by grace through faith. This is a good word. Martin Luther struggled. He struggled 497s

with that 17th verse. He heard that the one who is righteous will live by faith and he questioned 508s

with every fiber in his being how he could ever be righteous enough and he was so bold to say 516s

that not only did he fear God he hated God. He hated God because there was a demand of perfection 526s

in the call of righteousness and at every turn Martin Luther was found to be imperfect. 537s

Unrighteous. No matter how many times he confessed his sins no matter how many good deeds he did 546s

no matter how many times he prayed he still found himself swirling in the chaos of his own human nature, 553s

the nature of sin, 563s

until by God's grace God opened that verse for Him and God through his word revealed to Martin Luther 567s

that indeed the the one who is righteous will live by faith but we are righteous 582s

in Christ we are righteous in what Christ has done for us and so all the deeds that we do 592s

are not building for our righteousness, all the prayers that we pray are not building for us a 607s

righteousness for those who have heard the good news that Jesus died for their sins and they are 615s

saved those who believe their righteous because their righteous increased and they know 624s

that he has done for them what they cannot do for themselves. All of you sitting here today 636s

all of you are righteous not because of who you are but because of who you are in 648s

Christ in Christ you have been made righteous and the one who is righteous will live by faith. 658s

I love the Him that we teach to kids I don't know if we'd consider it a hammer a song that song 672s

that says I've got the joy joy joy down in my heart and then there's a verse that says 677s

I've got the love of Jesus love of Jesus down in my heart. Where down in my heart? Where down in my 683s

heart I've got the love of Jesus love of Jesus down in my heart. Where down in my heart to stay 690s

now some of us take that very literally and think that the love of Jesus that we have 699s

down in our heart it is there to stay but then we keep it there and we don't let it escape. 705s

It may be kind of bulky but it may be appropriate to sing I've got the love of Jesus down in my heart 716s

to stay until it bubbles up and I can't help but share it with everyone around me. 723s

That's evangelism. We are rooted in the faithfulness we are rooted in the joy we are rooted 730s

in the love of Jesus it is in our hearts and if we share it when we share it it doesn't leave our 740s

hearts in fact it does the exact opposite it digs deeper roots more firmly ground itself 753s

cementing the love of God in our heart and it's not just for a day it's not just for while we live 766s

aside of heaven but it is eternally it is eternally ours. So coming back to evangelism 779s

where does the sin of neglecting evangelism how does that get stirred up in us what causes this? 794s

Oftentimes people are reluctant to share the gospel because they're fearful of saying something wrong 805s

and it's scary we don't want to turn anyone down the wrong path but is telling someone that they 814s

are saved by grace through faith wrong absolutely not. If you stick to the very basic fact that 823s

Jesus Christ died for our sins and we are righteous because of Him you are right on point. 830s

If you share God's own word with others are you saying something wrong when you share it 842s

as it is written it is God's word and it is truth it is not wrong. 850s

Another reason to tend to keep quiet keep to oneself not wanting to dip their foot into evangelism 860s

is a lack of experience it's scary to do something that you have not tried before it's scary 870s

to do something to share something to speak without having the full weight of years and years 880s

of theological training under your belt. 889s

Jesus did not give a caveat when he called to his disciples and said you are to go out and to proclaim 896s

you are to be my witnesses there were no seminaries they knew Jesus they knew the truth of who he was 905s

and who he was in their lives that's the experience that they brought to their witness 918s

you know who Jesus is you know who he is in your life that is the experience that you bring 928s

to your witness as you proclaim of all that he has done but what if we're not sales people 941s

what if we're just not born for sales we're gonna cut that one short really quick 953s

when we are evangelizing when we are proclaiming the good news we are not selling anything 960s

because when we're selling goods there's a chance that that good will fault her fail 966s

erode the good news of salvation in Christ and Christ alone it will never fail 975s

the good news that you are righteous because of Christ will never erode or rust or fade 984s

it is a promise eternally golden resting in the richness of God's own love and mercy for you 991s

now we're gonna get to the conviction part for those of us who like to talk and think 1008s

that evangelism or neglect of evangelism may not apply to us I was on a plane once 1016s

I had been in Omaha for a week and I was tired it was a short plane ride I just wanted to get home 1028s

and I sat down and there were two women that were sitting next to me and I found out they were 1036s

and soon enough they started chatting and they were talking about the Bible and I said to myself 1046s

nope nope we are not gonna intervene we are not gonna say anything and they continue to talk 1053s

and I couldn't help it by God's grace while I wanted to neglect evangelism while I wanted to neglect 1066s

these two saints that sat next to me the Lord did not allow me he opened my lips and it was the 1078s

most fruitful conversation they were just coming to know the Lord and it was such an honor and privilege 1088s

to be able to share in that conversation I have other times other stories in my life where I know that 1097s

as a talker I have chosen to not speak I have chosen to neglect the opportunity to share the good news 1106s

I confess that to you as I confess it before the Lord because neglecting evangelism 1116s

we are all guilty of that regardless if we like to talk or if we like to keep to ourselves 1127s

we are all guilty of neglecting sharing the good news 1136s

I want to encourage you this week encourage you to keep your eyes open to those around you who may 1143s

not have heard the good news they may be in your own household they may be in your workplace 1153s

your school room they may be in the grocery store we have heard many times about God's 1159s

saying divine appointments for us what is evangelism but meeting that divine appointment to share 1171s

the good news the good news that Christ has died Christ is risen and Christ will come again 1181s

my brothers and sisters you are the disciples of Christ you are the witnesses of what he has done for you 1191s

I encourage you I encourage you to go forth go forth this week seeking the people that God is sending 1203s

you to seeking the people that God has placed in your lives to share the good news and just as Paul says 1213s

go forth not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who has 1228s

to the Jew first and also to the Greek for in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith 1238s

for faith as it is written the one who is righteous will live by faith go forth knowing that you 1246s

are righteous in Christ 1259s