Watch as Ray David unpacks Romans 1:8-15 and points us to the abounding grace of the Gospel.
A Powerful Unspoken Force
Think about the role shame plays in our lives. Every day we put on clothes, shower, shave, put on makeup and fancy clothes so that we can be with others and hide our shame. We all have things in our life that we have done, or things that have been done to us, that we are ashamed of. For some of us it is something more insidious like our family of origin, but we all have this latent sense of shame that controls our lives in ways that we don’t even understand. Shame is a powerful unspoken force in our lives.
Imagine
Imagine what it would be like if your shame was fully and completely removed. How would that feel? How would that change your life? Imagine that your greatest shame wasn’t just covered up or glossed over, but was fully removed, and had become completely untrue. How would that change you?
The Gospel Brings Shame
Have you ever felt ashamed to tell people you are a Christian? Or maybe it’s more nuanced – you tell yourself you’re not ashamed of the Gospel, but you’re ashamed of other Christians and being associated with them. In either case, if you’re honest, the Gospel can bring shame. And perhaps it is more than just cowardice – the Gospel is the story of a crucified Saviour, a God who was shamed on a cross. He was stripped naked, and bare and nailed to a tree by the rebels who opposed Him.
The Gospel is shameful to to those who think they have God all figured out. The Gospel is folly to those who think they know the way the world works. When you preach Christ crucified it is going to bring with it shame.
When the Apostle Paul looked out at a lost world, He didn’t get up on his high horse and look down at the people for being wrong and morally bereft – he looked out at them and thought that he was indebted to them to preach this shameful Gospel. The Gospel does bring shame because it is a Gospel of the cross. Our God suffers and dies, but He does so in our place.
The Gospel Levels Shame
Every single person who has ever lived stands equal at the foot of the cross. What this means is that the thing that brings you the most shame is no worse than the thing that brings me shame. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Gospel brings shame, but then it levels shame. There is no preferential treatment or room for one person to stand over another. You are not alone in your shame. Every single person who has ever lived stands equally guilty before the cross of Christ.
The Gospel Removes Shame
But what we really need is not a leveling of shame, but a removal of shame. We need for it to be permanently taken away. 2000 years ago, God forever removed my shame and transferred it to Himself in Jesus on the cross. On the cross Jesus became the curse that was yours. He bore all of your guilt and shame so that you never have to carry it again.
The Gospel removes shame because Jesus bore the shame that was yours and mine on the cross. He bore the shame, but wasn’t ashamed. He was stripped and bruised and beaten. The King of the Universe was mocked by His creatures.
For the Joy of Relationship
Christ hates your shame so much that He gladly bears it Himself – all for the joy of being reconciled to you in relationship. He hates your shame, because He loves you so much that He was willing to bear it in His own body.
Think about that thing that brings you the most shame…
It doesn’t even exist anymore. Because of Jesus on the cross that thing has come untrue. You think more about that thing than God ever will. Your shame is gone.
If you want to know what the love of God looks like, you look to the cross. Christ hates the fact that you bear any shame at all, so He joyfully took it from you upon himself for the joy set before Him. The joy set before Him is a restored relationship with his people. Because it is shame that keeps us from coming to God. We want to come to God, but we have these haunting accusations that tell us that we are not worthy to come to Him. But on the cross Jesus removed your shame. You can live in joyful relationship with him without shame.
From Obligation to Desire
When the penny drops that the Gospel removes your shame completely, the need to tell others about the Gospel goes from an obligation to an eager desire. You have to tell others – not out of guilt, but out of joy.
