Saturday 6th January
Read 2 Timothy 1:11-14
“And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. 13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” (NIVUK)
We may think we would never be ashamed of the gospel. Yet we should read this letter closely and ask ourselves precisely that question. Paul encourages Timothy to not be ashamed (v8) and declares often that he is not ashamed of it also (cf Romans 1:18). If people who know the gospel as well as Paul and Timothy need to exhort and be exhorted not to be ashamed of the good news of Jesus, why would we think that we ourselves are immune?
Perhaps the reason it doesn’t occur to us is because the cross of Jesus and the suffering He endured is held in such esteem today by believers. People wear crosses around their necks and are proud of the price willing to be paid to save us. None of the opprobrium associated with a scandalous death on a cross is associated with our faith today. Consider one of the great artefacts of early Christian history, a piece of graffiti on the wall of the palace in imperial Rome in the first century. It depicts a Greek slave (Alexamenos) worshipping his ‘god’ and is a picture of a crucified man with the head of a donkey. Look it up if you have time.
The point is that shame is a normal response to the foolishness of the cross (cf 1 Corinthians 1) and even those entrusted with guarding and passing on the gospel were not immune. What do you think it would look like today to be ‘ashamed’ of the gospel?
