Are you Ashamed of Jesus?
Pray.
I'm going to start a small sermon series this morning on being Unashamed.
This week we are going to address the question," Are You ashamed of Jesus?" WE will learn, what that means and what that does to the Christian life. And next Week, we will learn and discuss, HOW NOT to let this happen.
So to get started, I'm going to ask you a question this morning, " Normally, I say, don't answer out loud, but you can answer out loud now if you want to, "Are YOU Ashamed of Jesus Christ?"
Everybody immediately said no. And that's wonderful and I hope that is true in your life. '
IN 2 Timothy 1 :6-18 Paul is writing a letter to Timothy. Paul nearing the end of his life wrote a letter of encouragement to Timothy. Paul had trainned Timothy to carry out his work in the ministry during his absence.
Now, Paul was a born again believer and Timothy was a born again believer. Two true Christian people with two very different personalities.
Paul was very bold, strong and dynamic for The Lord, where Timothy was a very good and faithful man , but was timid and scared at times.
Therefore Paul encourages Timothy in this epistle to stand strong, be bold, do not be timid when working for The Lord.
Paul actually tells Timothy in vs. 8 Do Not Be Ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.
Your question was posed to you already this morning , Are you ashamed of the testimony of your Lord, Jesus Christ?
But before you answer that question again, let's examine , first the definition of NOT Being Ashamed of Christ
Not being ashamed of Christ is having the courage and boldness to speak for Christ at every opportunity, no matter what the cost might be.
Is that you?
So, here's the sad fact about most Christians, When I posed the question in the beginning of this message, everyone answered NO, Of course I'm not ashamed of My Savior.
But many of us do not truly fit the definition above, of having the courage to speak His name anywhere with courage and boldness. So which is it, are you ashamed of Jesus or Not?
The reason many Christians , Sometimes are ashamed of Christ is this,
And I believe all of us have occassions when we are afraid to speak of Christ or be identified with Him. In some cases it's the result of severe persecution, such as Timothy was facing. But most often it is simply because, " the fear of man brings a snare, Accoriding to Proverbes. 29:25.
Often times, we fear what others might say about us or how they will react to us if we're outspoken for Christ.
Sometimes we are afraid or embarassed we won't have the right words to say. At other times the sin in our lives leads us to be silent out of fear that someone will confront our hypocrisy. In some cases our job or reputation will be jeopardized if we identify with Christ. But if we are going to be successful in serving the Lord, we have to conquer our fear and our shame.
Now so far, I'm receiving two reactions. One group is being honest with themselves, saying, maybe I am ashamed to associate or identify myself with Christ at times.
And there is another group here saying, I am never ashamed of Christ, nor would I ever be ashamed to identify myself with Christ.
To the first group, I say, thank you for being honest and I pray, by the end of this service, you will commit to being more bold and courageous for The Lord.
And to the Second Group, I say, Prov. 16:18 that says Pride cometh before destruction. I say, remember the great Apostle Peter. Flip your Bibles over to Matthew 26:69-75 and read.
Peter was clearly ashamed of Christ, and most of us would agree that he acted in a deceitful, weak, unthankful, and unloving manner towards Jesus.
Yet, I believe there are times when ALL of us fail to speak boldly for Christ. We may not do it the same way Peter did, but we are ashamed nonetheless.
Quickly, I've compiled three things, being ashamed of Jesus will do in the Christians' life.
1. it will stifle your service for Him.
How can you be of any use for The Lord if you won't open your mouth and mention His Name to anybody?
Think about Peter, what shut his mouth? Fear of other men. What shuts our mouths today? Fear of men.
How many people have died and gone to hell because Christians were too afraid, too ashamed of Jesus to open their mouth?
And you can sit there and say, Just because I don't tell other people about Jesus, that doesn't mean that I'm ashamed of Him. OK then tell me why you don't do it then?
And it always comes back to being afraid to identify yourself with Him, which means that you are ashamed of Him.
So the first thing, Being ashamed of Jesus Christ will do in a Christian's life is stifle your service for Him.
the Second thing it will do is Betray YOUR Beliefs
Think about it, being Ashamed of Jesus Christ is a characteristic of an UNBELIEVER.
IN Matthew 10:32-39 Jesus said, Everyone who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
Simply put, if you won't acknowledge Christ as your Lord, HE won't acknowledge you as His child.
Jesus knew there was a high price to pay in Jewish culture for identifying with HIm. Such a choice led to alienation from one's family and friends.
That's why Jesus said Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth, For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother in law and a man's enemies will be members of his household, in Matthew 10:34-36. And how true are those Words of Jesus.
Today, if you are willing to profess your faith in Christ, it may result in family rejection, BUT Jesus will claim you as His own before the Father.
Luke 9:26 , Jesus said, For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and of His Father's and of the holy angels.
These passages tell us that being ashamed of Christ is a characteristic of unbelievers. Those who ultimately deny Christ will be denied by HIm and will be consigned to eternal hell. He will not allow anyone into His presence who doesn't confess Him. Denying Jesus is not to accept Him as Savior. These verses are talking about unbelievers.
If you have truly accepted Jesus as your personal Saivor and you consistently deny Him, you cannot lose your salvation, but you are betraying your belief, you are literally impersonating an unbeliever. Why would any Christian want to take on the identity of an unbeliever. That is what we once were, We've been given a NEW LIFE in CHRIST, Why WOULD WE EVER WANT TO RETURN TO THE LIFE WE HAD BEFORE CHIRST?
To do So, You're no more than a Christian hiding in an unbelievers body. Why?
The very title Christian means we are to be Christ like. That is the Christians Identity. To Be Like Jesus Christ.
We live to Exalt His Name, Not Deny It. But sadly we deny Him from time to time. But such behavior is inconsistent with who we are in Christ.
And if you are truly saved, and you consistently act ashamed of Jesus' name, The Holy Spirit will convict you and you will repent of it and God will restore you, just as He did Peter.
And lastly being Ashamed of Jesus Perverts our Perspective, say that 5 times real fast.
Hebrews 2:10-12 says this. It was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both Christ, who sanctifies and those who are sanctified (believers) are all from one Father, for which reason He is NOT ASHAMED to call them brethern, saying, I will proclaim thy name to MY Brethern.
Jesus has every reason to be ashamed of us, because we fail him so often and too many times we bring dishonor to His Holy Name, YET those verses I just read, Jesus says, In spite of all that , I'll still call you Brother.
How can we, who are so sinful, Ever be ashamed of the One who is sinless?
Hebrews 11:16 tells us that God is NOT Ashamed to be called the God of anyone who belongs to Him and lives for His Glory.
In Closing,
Being ashamed of Jesus is dangerous to the believer and to the unbeliever.
To the Believer, to be ashamed of Jesus is a serious thing. IT stifles your service, IT betrays your beliefs and it perverts your perspective.
Philipians 2:9-11 says, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name
That at the name of JESUS every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under theearth
And That EVERY TONGUE should confess that JESUS Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
So, whether you confess HIM now or not, You will do it later. But God wants you to do it now, because You want to, not later, when He forces you to.
To the unbeliever, You have never accepted Jesus as Savior and you're on a road to hell, unless you do so.
But Jesus died for You, and all He asks you to do is receive HIM in faith, if you never have, do it as we close in prayer,
Let's Pray.
