Loving God And Being Ashamed Of Christ?

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

  Luke 9:26

In our sports-driven culture, it’s difficult to go anywhere these days and not see people outwardly supporting their team by wearing hats, t-shirts, and hoodies bearing the team logo and colors. When people are fans of a specific franchise, college, or high school, many choose to let the world know that they are fully devoted by sporting the teams attire. And while it can be a lot of fun to cheer for our favorite team, we need to be asking the question, “Are we that excited and devoted to our Savior?” Not that we have to wear a t-shirt expressing devotion to Christ but do we outwardly tell the world that, when it comes to worshiping and serving Jesus, we are fully onboard?

This is the topic of Jesus’ statement in today’s verse. Jesus says that if we are ashamed of Him and His words then He will be ashamed of us when He comes in His glory. Wow! We need to let that sink in a bit. While it is common to hear unbelievers scoff at or mock the name of Jesus, it would be quite ridiculous for us to believe that we love God with our whole heart and yet fail to identify with the name of Jesus. When we are ashamed of someone or something, we tend to want to distance ourselves from that person or thing. When it comes to our behavior, when we do something for which we are ashamed, we tend not to talk about it. We don’t enjoy bringing it up because it is something for which we are ashamed. So how could we possibly think that we could be in right relationship with God yet be ashamed of Christ, the very One who gave His life for us, at the same time? Those two things simply cannot coexist.

This is not the only place in scripture in which we see Jesus connect our behavior to His own. Consider the following:

Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

      Matthew 10:32-33

For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

        Matthew 6:14-15

Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.

    Luke 6:37-38

In each case, Jesus is speaking to us regarding an important part of life and is connecting our behavior to His response. There should be some outward measure to the reality in our lives that demonstrates our commitment and devotion to, and love for Christ. And the same applies to our being ashamed of Him. But it’s not just being ashamed of Christ Himself rather it also includes His words. “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words…” We demonstrate that we are ashamed of Christ when we fail to speak His words. Yes, we should be reading and studying scripture in the privacy of our own homes (that’s a given for anyone wishing to follow Christ.) But beyond that, we should be speaking those same words into the lives of our children, our family, and our friends. When we fail to speak the words of Jesus (and by extension, the words of God), we are effectively surrendering our place as spiritual leaders to the very loud voices of the world. If we claim to be saved, if we claim to have the Spirit of God living within us, then we must not only be willing to identify with Christ outwardly, we must also be committed to speaking His words publicly, as the situation allows. That doesn’t mean that we throw our study Bible at people as they pass by but it does mean that we are willing to take the lies of the world and confront them with the truth of the gospel. 

We can usually tell when someone is proud of their children or grandchildren. We can usually tell if someone is affiliated with a sports team of some sort. And we can usually tell whether people have truly surrendered their lives to Christ. It is easily observable in their behavior and in their rhetoric!

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name…

  John 1:12