I love the summer days here in central New
York. It has been sunny and very warm. It is raining torrentially at the
moment, drenching fields and valleys with friendly rain making all the
vegetation joyful. We had a couple join us for lunch yesterday. We fixed some
Indian curry. They loved it. We talked about some possible ministries starting in the fall. Alice and I walked in the evening, meeting some
neighbors again, who are very friendly and gracious. We stopped by the local
Ice Cream store where we met some of Alice's former and current students and
their parents.
Our new church is located in the "city center", as they say in Great Britain. In the same block you will find the Ice cream shop which was pretty busy, along with the bank, a medical clinic, funeral home, library, restaurant, and barber shop The beautiful and laconic river flows dividing the town in the middle. The parsonage is located in the upper section and the church is located at the lower level. The High School, behind the village green, is just across from the church. The town center is generally busy with people of all ages. Praise the Lord for the villages, towns, and cities all over the world. Praise the Lord for the people who live there, work there, play there, and, best of all, worship the Savior there. May His Name be praised and glorified where people of every tongue, language, and people group serve Him and worship unafraid and unashamed.
Romans 1:16 states, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power for salvation for all who believe.” All of us have numerous experiences in life where we have felt ashamed. It is the very nature of human experience, the very nature of all human beings, the very nature of human personality to feel shame. It starts very early in life and ends late in life. Shame is part of the human condition and the very nature of human personality, from the time we are very young in life to when we die.
Shame, it seems to me, grows out of an egotistical love, a sinful love, a selfish love that is too concerned about me looking badly. In New Testament times, we find that there were a great number of people who did not want to admit that they were followers of Jesus Christ. Today, we would call them “closet Christians.” These “closet Christians” were ashamed to let anyone know that they were Christian.
The primary and most popular image of this behavior was Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling senate of Israel. Nicodemus did not want his fellow senators to know that he was a follower of Christ. Nicodemus was ashamed to let the other “big shots” in the senate know that he was a “born again” Christian, that he had deep religious feelings, that he was committed to Jesus Christ. There were many “closet Christians” in those days who didn’t want other people to know that they were followers of Christ because it could cost them their life, their family, their job, their life itself.
Knowing that there were many “closet Christians” who were ashamed of being disciples, the Apostle Paul said very clearly, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God for salvation." The Good News we proclaim and share is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not ashamed of you and me, no matter how bad we have been, no matter how rotten we have been, no matter what we have said or done. It needs to be clearly said today that Jesus Christ is not ashamed of your life and mine, though this concept is hard for us to comprehend because we are so prone to shame, and so prone to being ashamed about our bodies, our brains, our behaviors, and our brothers and sisters. We are so prone to shame that it is difficult for us to conceive of the possibility that God is not ashamed of us. Because shame is so deep within us, it is almost impossible for us to conceive that God is not ashamed of us.
We need to be very clear and without any doubt that our Lord and Savior is not ashamed of you and me. He, the one who is Sinless and stainless, is not ashamed of us in the midst of our sinfulness. Jesus loves sinful people. He loves selfish people. He loves failing people. He loves rebelling people. He loves runaway people. He loves people who are ashamed of all the ugly things that they have done. It is all about and because of His "grace," which is a free gift. He freely gives us his love to sinful people.
We boast in the good news that Christ loves us just the way we are. We boast in the Gospel, that all of our sins are fully and freely forgiven. We boast in the cross that Jesus Christ has died for our sins and that we are invited to walk the way of the cross. We boast that Jesus is Risen from the dead, and He gives eternal life to all who believe in him and walk in His ways. We boast in the church of Jesus Christ. We boast in the great cloud of witnesses all around us. Because we boast in Christ and His Gospel, it is natural that we want to share with the world around us about Jesus Christ.
In Christ our Lord and Savior.
Pastor Brown https://youtu.be/1vmY2ztb5xc
Our new church is located in the "city center", as they say in Great Britain. In the same block you will find the Ice cream shop which was pretty busy, along with the bank, a medical clinic, funeral home, library, restaurant, and barber shop The beautiful and laconic river flows dividing the town in the middle. The parsonage is located in the upper section and the church is located at the lower level. The High School, behind the village green, is just across from the church. The town center is generally busy with people of all ages. Praise the Lord for the villages, towns, and cities all over the world. Praise the Lord for the people who live there, work there, play there, and, best of all, worship the Savior there. May His Name be praised and glorified where people of every tongue, language, and people group serve Him and worship unafraid and unashamed.
Romans 1:16 states, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power for salvation for all who believe.” All of us have numerous experiences in life where we have felt ashamed. It is the very nature of human experience, the very nature of all human beings, the very nature of human personality to feel shame. It starts very early in life and ends late in life. Shame is part of the human condition and the very nature of human personality, from the time we are very young in life to when we die.
Shame, it seems to me, grows out of an egotistical love, a sinful love, a selfish love that is too concerned about me looking badly. In New Testament times, we find that there were a great number of people who did not want to admit that they were followers of Jesus Christ. Today, we would call them “closet Christians.” These “closet Christians” were ashamed to let anyone know that they were Christian.
The primary and most popular image of this behavior was Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling senate of Israel. Nicodemus did not want his fellow senators to know that he was a follower of Christ. Nicodemus was ashamed to let the other “big shots” in the senate know that he was a “born again” Christian, that he had deep religious feelings, that he was committed to Jesus Christ. There were many “closet Christians” in those days who didn’t want other people to know that they were followers of Christ because it could cost them their life, their family, their job, their life itself.
Knowing that there were many “closet Christians” who were ashamed of being disciples, the Apostle Paul said very clearly, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God for salvation." The Good News we proclaim and share is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not ashamed of you and me, no matter how bad we have been, no matter how rotten we have been, no matter what we have said or done. It needs to be clearly said today that Jesus Christ is not ashamed of your life and mine, though this concept is hard for us to comprehend because we are so prone to shame, and so prone to being ashamed about our bodies, our brains, our behaviors, and our brothers and sisters. We are so prone to shame that it is difficult for us to conceive of the possibility that God is not ashamed of us. Because shame is so deep within us, it is almost impossible for us to conceive that God is not ashamed of us.
We need to be very clear and without any doubt that our Lord and Savior is not ashamed of you and me. He, the one who is Sinless and stainless, is not ashamed of us in the midst of our sinfulness. Jesus loves sinful people. He loves selfish people. He loves failing people. He loves rebelling people. He loves runaway people. He loves people who are ashamed of all the ugly things that they have done. It is all about and because of His "grace," which is a free gift. He freely gives us his love to sinful people.
We boast in the good news that Christ loves us just the way we are. We boast in the Gospel, that all of our sins are fully and freely forgiven. We boast in the cross that Jesus Christ has died for our sins and that we are invited to walk the way of the cross. We boast that Jesus is Risen from the dead, and He gives eternal life to all who believe in him and walk in His ways. We boast in the church of Jesus Christ. We boast in the great cloud of witnesses all around us. Because we boast in Christ and His Gospel, it is natural that we want to share with the world around us about Jesus Christ.
In Christ our Lord and Savior.
Pastor Brown https://youtu.be/1vmY2ztb5xc
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