Who Am I Really? Living Out the Gospel Unashamed
Navigating a culture where believing in Jesus isn't popular, we grapple with our Christian identity. Despite claims of a Christian U.S., a closer look reveals a gap. Tempted to hide due to counter-cultural convictions, we're challenged to be unashamed, defying fear and doubts. But how?
When I think of the culture that we live in, it's one where belief in Jesus is not the most popular thing. While there is a notion in some places that the U.S is a Christian nation, a deep look (even sometimes a superficial one) at the United States shows we, at best, are only one in name. Of course some people would say "you can choose to believe whatever you want" but in practice we can be tempted to hide our christian identity because our beliefs and convictions tend to be counter-cultural.
This puts us in a tough place because as Christians, we are called to not hide, but even more so, we are called to be unashamed. This means that the thoughts of "what will people think of me?", "will I be called a bigot?", or "does the bible really say that?" cannot be the motivating factor or have the final say in how we live our lives. With that being said, I understand how we get there, because I have been there myself more times than I can count. However, God in His Word commands us to not fear and be unashamed.
How do we bridge the gap between the two? Fear and boldness, shame and unashamed, hiding our identity and living it out in plain sight. This sermon attempts to answer this very question from Scripture in 2 Timothy 1 and Romans 1. This was preached in February of 2021 as we had our College Sunday at our church for the student in the campus ministry. I hope it encourages you to live according to the high calling we have!