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making Him famous…on your campus part 5

iGo Global Staff • Aug 31, 2012

School is back! Even here in the Republic of Texas school is officially rolling (we held on to summer as long as we could).  What now? You spent your summer, or part of your summer, or part of a past summer making Him famous overseas. So how do you continue that on mission lifestyle back home?

This week will feature a short series of blog posts to instruct, encourage, and equip you to do just that. You are on mission. There is an ancient work of God on your campus ready for you to join. Live to make Him famous.

Unashamed

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” –Romans 1:16

Paul’s declaration in Romans 1:16 is pure greatness. As you head to class day in and day out this year, we pray that you will be able to say with Paul that you are truly unashamed of the gospel.

But what does that mean exactly? I think sometimes we get this a little bit confused. We all know what shame feels like. We know what it is like to be embarrassed and to feel like everyone else knows something we don’t. We get accustomed to this feeling very well during that period of our life we call middle school. But embarrassing and shameful situations teach us. We learn not to say the wrong thing, or show up in the wrong kind of clothes, or to do something that will make us look ridiculous (well, most of us learn that). We learn to make great efforts to keep ourselves in the best light possible so that there is no reason to be ashamed.

Paul is not saying that at all. He is not saying that he has learned to follow Christ while simultaneously avoiding shame and embarrassment. Take a look at Paul’s personal track record he lists in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28. Paul lived a life of shame. Just about everybody thought he was crazy, and most of them were out to get him. He constantly endured shame.

Speaking of enduring shame, Paul had a pretty good example for that. The writer of Hebrews says this about Jesus:

“looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” –Hebrews 12:2

Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame. He didn’t avoid shame. In fact, he experienced as much or more shame than anyone. He was mocked, ridiculed, spit on, beaten, whipped, punched, falsely accused, lied about, and finally put to death hanging on a wooden cross for all to see. Shame. But Jesus despised the shame. He didn’t let it dominate Him. He went to the cross in spite of the shame that would come with it. And He did that b/c He knew that on the other side was glory. He would be glorified and raised and in that glorification would rescue, restore, and redeem the world. So he endured the shame of the cross.

And you might have to endure some shame too. Taking a stand and living on mission on your campus may be greeted with shame. Your professor may think you are crazy. Some of those you called friends will be so no longer. And this is probably only the beginning. More and more you will experience shame as a Christ follower in our culture. You will get the Chick Fil-A treatment. You will be shamed not just for believing in Jesus, but you will experience shame for believing there is a right and a wrong. You will be marginalized, ridiculed, discredited, laughed at, called names, and accused of being intolerant and hateful.

And the challenge in all that is to be unashamed. Just like Paul. He was shamed at every single turn, but he lived unashamed. He didn’t care about the shame he experienced. He refused to give in and back down because of the power of the gospel. He knew the other side and he knew the gospel was the only message that could save the world. So he was unashamed.

So in light of the gospel, because of Jesus, and with the challenge from Paul, be unashamed this school year. Go deeper in your understanding of the gospel and allow the Spirit to produce boldness in you to make you unashamed of this message. Make. Him. Famous. Even if it brings you shame.

And just in case you need a little extra motivation , we’ll send you out with motivation from the greatness that is Trip Lee.

“Look, all I need is 1:16
To brag on my King, Romans 1:16
We brag about Him daily ’cause He runs this thing
Can I do it? (yessir yessir) can I do it? (yessir yessir)”

Through the power of the gospel and because of the power of the gospel…be unashamed.


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