Not Ashamed of the Gospel

In one paragraph

The pastor was in Romans 1:8-17, working toward the letter's theme verse and asking the congregation to do something with it. He moved through Paul's personal remarks to the Romans quickly before landing on verse 16 and what the gospel actually is, sending everyone home with a written assignment. Paul opens his letter to the Romans with personal remarks before he ever gets to his argument. He is...

Read together

1. Romans 1:1-7 introduction of Romans where Paul spells out the gospel in the first seven verses
2. Romans 1:8-16 main passage for the sermon, Paul's personal remarks and the theme verse
3. Romans 3:23 we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
4. Romans 6:23 wages of sin is death, free gift of God is eternal life
5. John 3:16 God so loved the world, whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life
6. Mark 12:31 love your neighbor as yourself, noted as the golden rule but not the gospel
7. Ephesians 2:14-18 the wall of hostility has come down, quoted as a summary of the gospel
8. 2 Corinthians 5:19 God was in Christ reconciling the world, quoted as a straight Bible statement of the gospel
9. 1 Corinthians 1:18 the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to those being saved it is the power of God
10. Mark 10:45 the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many
11. 2 Corinthians 5:21 for our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God
12. 2 Corinthians 8:9 though He was rich yet for your sake He became poor so that you by His poverty might become rich
13. 1 Timothy 1:15 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost
14. 1 John 4:10 not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins
15. Romans 5:8 God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us
16. Romans 8:1 there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
17. Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all
18. Habakkuk 2:4 the righteous one shall live by faith, Old Testament source Paul quotes in Romans 1:17
19. Romans 1:17 the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, the just shall live by faith

Talk about it

1. Pastor Nathan described several people's attempts to boil the gospel down to ten words or less. Which of those short statements resonated most with you, and why?
2. Will Campbell's version was 'We're all bad but God loves us anyway.' What do you think that phrase gets right, and what, if anything, does it leave out?
3. Paul says in Romans 1:14 that he is a debtor to Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish alike. Do you think he means he learned from them, or that he owes them the gospel he received? How does either reading change the way you think about your own responsibility to the people around you?
4. Pastor Nathan assigned everyone to write the gospel in one sentence, ten words or less. What did you come up with, and what was hardest about getting it that short?
5. The C. S. Lewis quote raised the point that if you cannot explain something so that anyone can understand it, you either do not understand it or do not believe it. How does that land with you when you think about your own ability to explain your faith?