This evening I saw Romans 1:16 on a church sign. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." In modernity we could wonder why Paul would say such a thing. There are hundreds of millions of Christians in the world. Why would anyone be ashamed? However, it hasn't always been this way. When Paul wrote there were but handfuls of Christians in the Roman world. It sounded bizarre to speak of a God who died on a cross. The cross in the Roman world was used for the vilest of criminals. The scum of society were crucified. Today we have sentimentalized the cross by singing such songs as "On a Hill Far Away." For Paul's listeners the cross was far from beautiful. It was an instrument of torture designed to humiliate and break the will and composure of the strongest of men. The cross turned most men into crying, groaning, screaming pieces of human refuse. To have a son crucified would be a family scandal never spoken of at family reunions.

Try to imagine Paul beginning an evangelistic sermon to people of his day as he said, "Let me tell you about my crucified savior." Sounds of disgust would have erupted from his hearers as they turned away. His preaching of such a Jesus got Paul beaten, stoned, arrested, and finally executed. Such experiences would have shut up a common man. Most of us would have fled and never said another word about Jesus. Not Paul. He was not ashamed of Jesus. He knew who Jesus really was. Read Colossians one and Ephesians one. His description of Jesus is shear poetry. He wrote, "I know in whom I have believed. He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him." II Timothy 1:12