How To Become An Effective Christian
“DO NOT BE ASHAMED!”
II Timothy 1:8-18
Introduction
It’s safe to say that we all have embarrassing moments that we’d like to forget…
A woman told of a time when she was in high school and musical car horns were popular. Her mother’s deluxe car horn model played the first line of 48 different songs. But when it was extremely cold, the horn sometimes developed a short and played on its own. She had urged her mother to take the horn out of the car, but her mother had refused to get rid of it. Then on a fateful cold winter afternoon the family was attending a graveside funeral service for an elderly aunt. As they were pulling out of the cemetery, the horn blared the first stanza of “We’re In The Money”. The horn was never heard again.
A lady was giving a dinner party and had prepared a pasta dish for the meal. In her haste, however, she forgot to refrigerate the spaghetti sauce, and it sat on the counter all day. She was worried about spoilage, but it was too late to cook up another batch. She called the local Poison Control Center and voiced her concern. They advised her to boil the spaghetti sauce again. Later that night, the phone rang during dinner and one of the guests volunteered to answer it. The guest’s face dropped as the called out, “It’s the Poison Control Center. They want to know how the spaghetti sauce turned out.”
A man and his wife met a new couple at church one Sunday, and they stopped and introduced themselves. They described the friendly neighborhood they lived in and listened sympathetically as the new couple described their neighborhood as just the opposite. The man and his wife said goodbye to the new couple and got in their car and drove home. As they approached their house, they were horrified to see that their new found friends they had met at church were pulling into the driveway next door.
Embarrassment, shame, guilt; we could all share different experiences when we felt these emotions. Sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s not. I find it very interesting that as we read through the New Testament that we are warned and encouraged not to the let the temptation of being ashamed of or being embarrassed about our Savior get the better of us. Oddly enough, an obstacle that often hinders our effectiveness as Christians is shame. We become embarrassed to be associated with Jesus Christ and other Christians, whether it be by peer pressure or by the unfortunate acts or situations of few people. We feel shame because of who we are and what we stand for.
As we continue our message series out of II Timothy tonight, Paul gives Timothy and us some sound advice on becoming effective Christians. He says, “Do not be ashamed!” Let’s read II Timothy 1:8-18:
“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life- not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. What you have heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you- guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.”
In order to become an effective Christian we must not be ashamed of:
I. TELLING OTHERS ABOUT GOD. (vs. 8,12)
There are times when we are made to feel shame and embarrassment about our God. When bad things happen, people question “Where was God? If God is so good, then why did this evil happen?”
I was on chaplain duty last week and was called out to a code blue. A code blue means that a patient has stopped breathing. I got to the hospital and was talking and praying with the family when the doctor came into the waiting room and said that they did all they could do, but he didn’t make it. He died. As you might expect, the family went into hysterics. I stayed with the family until all of the relatives made it to the hospital and then went into the room so that they could see the body. After a few minutes, I asked one of the family members if they would like me to say a prayer in the hospital room. She thought it would be a good idea and then asked the son of the man who died if he would like me to pray. He was very angry and upset. He said, “You want him to say a prayer to God! The same God that took my Father! No!” Then he got up and stormed out of the room.
Those are difficult situations to handle. But we must not be deterred to tell others about God. Paul tells Timothy in vs. 8, “So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord,”. We are called to be witnesses and testify about who God is, what He has done, what He is doing and what He wants to do in our lives.
Jesus gives us a very stern warning against being ashamed of God. “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:38
The reason that we are easily tempted to become ashamed about God and ashamed and fearful to tell others about him is because we don’t know God well enough. Our relationship with God is more of an acquaintance than of a dear friend and Father. Paul was not ashamed to testify and tell others about God as he writes in vs. 12, “Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed,”. Paul knew God intimately and trusted Him to be who He said He would be. With that knowledge, comes power to cast aside the temptation to feel shame about God.
When I think about being ashamed of God, I think about Peter and his moment of truth with Jesus. Peter had vowed to stand by Jesus’ side no matter what and now that Jesus has been arrested and is being tried, Peter keeps his distance as he tries to see what is going to happen. Peter is confronted by others outside around the fire about his relationship to Jesus. He disowns Jesus. He claims not to know him. He is afraid and feels some shame and embarrassment toward Jesus. He claims not to know Jesus for a third time and then he locks eyes with Jesus and Jesus’ words that even Peter would fall away are proven true and Peter feels the shame that Jesus has toward him at that moment.
We have to ask ourselves not, “Am I ashamed of God?” but rather “Is God ashamed of me?” Is God embarrassed by my actions and behavior? Would God want to be seen with me in public? The book of Hebrews has section commonly referred to as the “Hall of Faith”. In these verses, the writer of Hebrews talks about “by faith” Abraham, Moses, Noah, Enoch, and other Old Testament figures followed God. He sums up these verses with these words. “Instead, they were longing for a better country- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:16
It should be one of our greatest wishes that God would look at us not be ashamed to be called our God.
Secondly, in order to become an effective Christian we must not be ashamed of:
II. GUARDING THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. (vs. 8-14)
There is a simplicity in the gospel of Christ that makes it a lighting rod for attack and attempts to disprove its claim. The gospel is the incredibly good news that God sent His Son Jesus to this earth, that Jesus lived a perfect life as man and died a terrible death on the cross as a man. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave. It is through his death that our punishment for our sins was meted out and it is through his resurrection from the dead that we can have eternal life with God in heaven.
It’s a simple message. Though to some it seems like foolishness. “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe…For the foolishness of God is wiser than the man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” I Corinthians 1:21,25
But it is this gospel that holds the message of salvation for mankind. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God, for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:16
It is this gospel that Timothy and ourselves are called to guard. The word “guard” used here has the meaning of “protecting something so that it is not lost or damaged”. We must not be ashamed to guard the gospel that some think of as foolishness, but we must guard it and protect it, embracing it as the very words of eternal life and forgiveness of sin.
Remember that the one writing this letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul, is one who is facing his own death, to be carried out any day. He knows the power of the gospel that has “destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light” (vs. 10).
The gospel is seen as a “good deposit” (vs. 14) that must be guarded and protected from corruption so that it is passed on and not lost. In Paul’s time, a person trusted with a deposit of money to watch for someone was expected to multiply it. It is the same with the gospel as we share the message with others and others come to accept the gospel and place lives into Christ. This is reminiscent of the parable of the talents that Jesus tells the disciples. One is given 1 talent, another 2 talents and another 5 talents. The servant that is called wicked is the one that buries his talent and does not increase it. The other servants are called “good and faithful” because they multiplied the talents given them by their master.
Paul tells Timothy in his first letter to him, “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.” I Timothy 6:20 Paul is speaking of the gospel and his words to Timothy are the same to us today.
In order to become an effective Christian we must not be ashamed of telling others about God or guarding the gospel of Christ. Thirdly, we must not be ashamed of:
III. SUPPORTING TROUBLED CHRISTIANS (vs. 8, 15-18)
There are few things more depressing that seeing families disown other family members because they have fallen on hard times or done something wrong and now the family is embarrassed and ashamed of them.
One instance in which this happens is when a pregnancy out of marriage occurs. In an article in the Hutchinson News this past June, Theresa Salmans, the director of the Open Door Pregnancy Center here in Hutchinson, talked about what these women face. Salmans says, “Many women are scared and confused and don’t have anyone else to take care of them. Many of them suffer in silence. They don’t know where to turn. We try to give them some hope through Christ.”
Another group of people that is often neglected and shunned by their families are the homeless. Some homeless are on the streets due to their own doing, like drugs. Others are on the street because they lost their jobs unexpectedly, have gotten divorced and have no where to go or had an extreme financial crisis come up. Another article from the Hutchinson News detailed how a woman is trying to reach out to the homeless at New Beginnings Homeless Shelter, here in town, by using her talents as a hairdresser. She has started a program called Beauty Within in which she provides haircuts and beauty tips to those staying at the homeless shelter. It helps these people feel a little better about themselves and gives them a proper look for entering the workplace. Karen Hitchcock, who initiated this program, did so out of her convictions as a Christian and says, “They could have been you or me. Sometimes, we forget how blessed we are.”
What even becomes even sadder is when Christians disown other Christians because they feel ashamed or embarrassed of them. This is precisely what had happened to Paul. He had been re-arrested and was sitting in jail. Because of this, Paul writes, “You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermongenes.” (vs. 15) Paul was a troubled Christian and instead of receiving support, he was shunned and deserted.
“However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” I Peter 4:16
Paul was suffering for being a Christian and he was not ashamed, yet some other Christians were ashamed of him. What is our attitude toward Christians that are suffering? Do we just want to sweep them quietly under the rug and ignore their existence? Christians all over this world are in prison just like Paul was because of their faith. Christians all over this world are killed everyday because of their faith.
We all know of Christians that are troubled right now as well. Christians of this very church are suffering, not from being a Christian, but from illness, from broken relationships, from financial strain, from job crisis, from unplanned pregnancies and from mistakes their families have made. Are we going to support them? Are going to support each other? Are we going to be ashamed of them? Are we going to love and help them?
One man and his family are mentioned by Paul as ones that came to his defense and aid. Onesiphorus is given by Paul to Timothy of an example of one not ashamed. Paul says he was there to “refresh me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.” (vs. 16-17)
Let’s support each other and encourage one another. We all share the same mission: to tell the good of Jesus Christ to the world; to make disciples for Christ. One day, it may be you that is suffering for your faith. It may be you sitting in the jail cell. It may be you being forced out of your home because you’re a Christian. It may be you that is physically attacked because of Christ. It may be you…
John Stott writes, “No man can preach Christ crucified with faithfulness and escape opposition, even persecution.”
Conclusion
We live in a time when the shameful feel no shame for their deeds. Instead, the one who stands for truth is the one shamed. The one who stands for Christ as Savior and Lord of all is the one shamed. Just as Jesus said it would be. Don’t let shame get in the way of your growing faith and relationship with Christ. Don’t let it stunt your effectiveness. In order to become an effective Christian we must not be ashamed of:
1. Telling others about God.
2. Guarding the gospel of Christ.
3. Supporting troubled Christians.
This is a call for faithfulness. This is a call for you to stand strong and firm in your faith. Do not be ashamed!
