Romans 1:16, "I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto
salvation; to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
This week, Michael writes
that in Acts 3 there is the story of a lame man who was asking for alms. The
Apostles Peter and John said, "silver
and gold have I none, but such as I have I give unto you. In the name of Jesus
of Nazareth, rise up and walk." A huge crowd gathered around since
they knew the lame man who had been healed and Peter delivered a message
of salvation. The crowd was in awe of Peter's message. Then they took note
that he had been with Jesus.
Our culture says that it's
foolishness to proclaim the name of Jesus; that to identify as a “born again”
Christian is considered foolishness. This is the theme of 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, “Where is the wise, and
where is the scholar? We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, to
the Greeks foolishness, and to the Jews a stumbling block.”
1 Corinthians 1:24-31 “but
to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God
and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than
men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your
calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak
things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and
the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has
chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that
are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in
Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption — that, as it is written, “He who
glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
Only a few weeks before
Peter healed the lame man in Acts 3, Peter had denied Jesus. He said when he
was confronted by a maiden, "I am
not one of his...I never knew the man." How did Peter get to the
point that he was convinced that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto
salvation? Peter had to be delivered from himself. As one military
commander said, "I have found the enemy and he is me." Dietrich Bonheoffer
said, "When Jesus bids a man, "come," He bids him, "come
and die." In order to live for him we must die to self. The point of “repentance
unto salvation” is when we come to realize that we can't make it on our own; that
apart from Christ, I'm not wise enough, strong enough, rich enough, that I'm
just not good enough to approach a just and holy God. What changed
Peter? Peter received a new nature when he was “born again” of God's Holy
Spirit at the day of Pentecost. Having received Christ's righteousness in the Spirit,
when we sin in the flesh by breaking fellowship, 1 John 1:9 says, "if we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and forgive us
from all unrighteousness."
Our challenge is to grow
into maturity in Christ; to grow up into Him who gave his life on our
behalf. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin
on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him. We were all
born with a sin nature that we inherited from Adam. Brother Lawrence of
Open Doors said, "I'm not surprised
when I sin, I'm surprised when I don't." Paul said, you who have
been “born again” of God's spirit need to wean yourself from the milk of
salvation and feed yourself on the deeper things of the spirit of truth.
Let's continue Michael's message on "Not being ashamed" in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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