Bible Passage: Romans 1:16-17
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: October 11, 2026

Bulletin – October 11, 2026

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

I am not ashamed of the gospel. (Romans 1:16)  So writes Paul to the Roman Christians.  At first blush we might be inclined to respond patronizingly, “Oh, how good of you.”  But such a dismissive reaction misses the weight of what Paul is saying!

Paus is saying he is not ashamed of the Christian gospel.  “Gospel” is a word that means “good news.”  The Greek word is euangellion.  It is a word that is used outside of the Bible.  It is a word that is often used for really big “good news.”  For example, the news of a great military victory is euangellion.  There is an ancient inscription that says this about the birth of the Emperor Augustus:  “…the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings [εὐαγγέλιον] for the world that came by reason of him.”  Reading that makes the beginning of Mark all-the-more striking!  The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

The birth of Jesus was truly Good News!  For Jesus was the “Christ.”  The promised Messiah-King!  He was not some mythical “son of the gods.”  He was THE Son of God!  And the good news of Jesus doesn’t just include his birth of the virgin Mary.  It includes the life he lived of perfect obedience to his Father’s holy will.  And the good news of Jesus, the King, includes his death on the cross.  At Jesus’ cross, justice was served.  God’s justice.  God’s just punishment for sin was suffered by Jesus in the place of every sinner.  He died as the Substitute for sinners.  And then on the following Sunday, he rose from the dead.  This is the Christian euangellion.  This is the Christian “Gospel.”

But let’s back up for a moment.  The Christian Gospel proclaims a CRUCIFIED Savior.  Crucifixion was a form of capital punishment.  It was the practice of nailing a person to a cross.  The Romans didn’t invent it, but it is said they perfected it!  Crucifixion was intended to completely demoralize and dehumanize a person.  The condemned person was stripped naked.  They were nailed to the wood and then propped up and put on display for all to see.  Roman citizens were not crucified.  Crucifixion was reserved for the worst of the worst.  Non-citizens, slaves, pirates, those guilty of treason or insurrection.  The famous Roman lawyer and statesman, Cicero, once said this in defense of his client who was charged with treason:  “The executioner, the veiling of heads, and the very word ‘cross,’ let them all be removed from not only the bodies of Roman citizens but even from their thoughts, their eyes, and their ears.”  Cicero felt cultured Romans should not think, see, or hear anything of crucifixion!

Into this culture steps God’s man, Paul.  Paul, who would write to the Corinthians:  I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ – and him crucified! (1 Corinthians 2:2)  So strongly did Paul feel about preaching the “good news” of a crucified Jesus that he would write to the Galatians:  If we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than the gospel we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! (Galatians 1:8)  For Paul, proclamation of the crucified Christ was non-negotiable!

Why?  He answers why he has no shame proclaiming the news of a crucified Jesus even in a culture that was repulsed by the mention of it.  Because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. (v. 16)  Because the Gospel is God’s power!  The word for “power” is dynamos.  We get our English word “dynamite” from this word.  The Good News of Jesus is God’s dynamite!  Nothing has the power the Gospel has!  Not an Abrams M1 tank.  Not a SpeceX Starship  rocket, the most powerful engine ever built.  The Gospel is dynamite that works “salvation”!

What is the secret of its great power?  …in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed by faith, for faith. (v. 17)  At the core of every religion is really a concept of “righteousness.”  “Righteouness” being that thing a person needs to enjoy a pleasant eternity.  The question is always, “How does one attain this righteousness, this “rightness” with God?”  Most religions are instructions on how to have “righteousness.”  They give you the set of rules or regulations or disciplines or deeds one must do to be “righteous” and worthy of whatever heaven said religion holds forth.  The Christian Gospel is not a set of rules.  The Christian Gospel is news.  Good news!  It is the good news that Jesus has taken your sin and guilt away and so, in God’s sight, you are righteous.  You don’t “do” anything.  You simply “believe” that Jesus has done all the work necessary to get you to heaven.  It is good news you would never know unless God tells it to you.  In that way the Gospel “reveals” it to you.  And, by the way, this proclamation of righteousness-through-faith is nothing new.  Paul quotes the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk who wrote, The righteous will live by FAITH. (v. 17)

Paul was not ashamed of this Gospel.  Are we?  It’s not always easy in our culture, is it?  We are told our theology is old-fashioned.  Whoever wants to believe in a God who sacrifices his Son on a bloody, gory cross?  It is not easy to be the person to stand up in this culture and say, “I do!  I believe in that God and his Son!”  In a world that believes “decency” ought to be good enough to get anyone to heaven, it is not easy to confess, “You and I can never be good enough!  Only the given, gifted righteousness of God in Christ is good enough to get to heaven!”  Are you as proud to bear the name of Christ – and him crucified! – as you are to wear your Badgers, Brewers, or Packers gear?

God forgive us those times we have been ashamed to bear and confess his precious name.  And may he make us bold in our day and in our culture to stand with the apostle of old and say, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel!”

Amen.