The Roots Of Being Ashamed Of Christ

Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Heb 13:6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

So far then of the revelation of this shame: now a word or two upon the roots of it. Whence does it spring? How is it born? What possible cause can there be for this so tragic feeling?

It will be best to keep close to Scripture in our answer. 

1. Fear
    
Sometimes we are ashamed of Christ through fear. We are ashamed as Nicodemus was. He came to Jesus by stealth and in the nighttime, and he came so because he feared the Jews.

In his heart of hearts he profoundly admired the Lord - we can do that, and yet be ashamed of Him.

But he was a public man, a master in Israel, living in the fierce light that beat upon a rabbi, and he was afraid and he crept to the LORD by night, and the root and basis of his shame was fear.

My impression is that fear is at the root of far more things than most of us ever dream of.

There are even virtues on which men pride themselves which a little more courage would instantly destroy.

The Bible never reiterates in vain, and do you know the command that occurs most often in Scripture?

The commonest command in Scripture is Fear not.

For in the intricate mechanism of modern society there is ample room for subtler and finer fear - fear lest one's business suffer, fear for one's prospects, fear for the welfare of one's wife and children; and who does not know how often tongues are tied and lips are silenced and confession stifled, through the haunting of a vague fear like that?

I know how hard it is sometimes to be true. There are inevitable and unavoidable accommodations which the wheels-within-wheels of modern life demand.

Still, there is such a thing as being ashamed of Christ - if there were not, the words would not be written - and at the root of it today as in Jerusalem, may be the promptings of unmanly fear.
    
2. Social Pressure
 
Again the cause of this shame may be social pressure. We may be ashamed of Christ as Simon Peter was.

And the amazing thing is that in such a zealous and loving heart there should not have been any room for shame at all.

But Peter sat by the fire in the courtyard, and they taunted him with his discipleship; and then the girl who kept the wicket recognized him, and everyone present was antagonistic; and Peter denied his LORD...Peter was ashamed of Him and the shame had its source in his society.

Had it not been for Peter's company that night, we should never have had the tale of Peter's fall.

Alone, in the dark streets, with what a burning loyalty he would have lifted up his heart to his great leader!

But Peter was impressionable, easily influenced, quick to receive the impact of environment, and his society made him ashamed of Christ.

Are there none today who are like Simon Peter? Are there none who deny Christ because of social pressure?

Are there none who are silent and afraid to speak because of the men and women who surround them?

In careless homes, in crowded shops or offices, in football clubs, in social gatherings, is not the old tragedy re-enacted sometimes, and does not their company make men ashamed of Christ? 

3. Intellectual Pride
    
One other reason only would I mention, and that is intellectual pride. There are not a few instances in the book of Acts of shame which sprang from a certain pride of intellect.

When a minister whom I know well was on the point of entering the ministry, the late Dr. Moody Stuart, a saint and a scholar, happened to walk up and down his garden with him.

And the talk fell on the ministry, and on its joys and sorrows, on the love that inspires it and on the hopes that cheer it; when the Doctor turned sharply on his young friend and said, "Mr. C., are you willing to be a fool for Christ's sake?"

It was an apposite and pertinent question. There must be something of that willingness in every Christian.

The Gospel is so simple, so free from subtle intricacy, so entirely, in the heart of it, a gift.

And men are ashamed of Christ because His message is so plain that the illiterate peasant can live by it and die by it.

There is nothing so alien in the world to pride of intellect as the life and the words and the sacrifice of Jesus.

Here is the great offense of Calvary in intellectual and cultured ages - it is that in Calvary there is a fact which the mind alone is powerless to explain.

~George H. Morrison~