Romans 1:16, 17
I serve on the board of directors
for India Rural Evangelical Fellowship, a ministry dedicated to evangelism and
church planting in South India, especially in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Every year we send teams of pastors and
medical professionals to our home base in Repalle, Guntur District. The pastors speak at large evangelistic
meetings in Repalle and surrounding villages while the medical team provides
care for thousands of students in our schools that range from grade school
through high school.
Our team is in India right now. Upon arrival they were confronted by the
police from Guntur and forbidden to preach publicly. This opposition is not entirely new but it
reflects an increased opposition to Christianity in a region where historically
we have been free to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our team continued with the meetings on our
own campus and many have come to Christ this past week.
Opposition to the gospel is common
in many places around the world.
Countries controlled by communism and Islam forbid Christians from
evangelizing and many seek to outlaw gatherings of Christians. In many other places the power of Satan and
paganism has bound peoples who then attack the presentation of the gospel. It seems a formidable barrier. What is the Christian attitude to such
opposition?
The apostle Paul lived in the Roman
Empire. The city of Rome was the center
of the Empire militarily, socially, economically, and intellectually. It was the very picture of human power and
wisdom. And that is where Paul wanted to
go! That is where Paul wanted to preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ in the shadow of all that human power and intimidation! He wanted to go into the very heart of the
Empire and make the good news of Christ known.
What was Paul thinking? He tells us in the opening of his letter to
the church in Rome. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the
Gentile. For in the gospel a
righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first
to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’”(Romans
1:16, 17).
Paul was not
afraid to bring the gospel to Rome. Rome
did not intimidate him. The philosophers
of Rome did not shame him. The gospel is
the power of God! It reveals the power
of God to save any person who believes in Jesus Christ, Romans included! What is the power of Rome against the power
of God that raised Jesus from the dead?
What is the intellectual and philosophical wisdom of Rome compared to
the wisdom of God? What are the gods of
Rome going to do against the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel? Paul saw that Rome really had nothing to
stand up against the gospel and the power of God and he longed to go there to “have a harvest” (v.13).
Where are you living out the
gospel? My friends and I are working
here in Shafter, CA. We do not face the
opposition our team in India is facing.
We do not face political opposition.
What we face is the opposition of simple secularism; people who live for
today and just don’t care. I want to
grasp Paul’s attitude toward the world around me. There is only one name under heaven by which
my friends and neighbors in Shafter can find salvation and that name is
Jesus! His good news is the power of God
for salvation and no power on earth can stand against it. I am not ashamed of the gospel!
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