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 in His Father's, and of the holy angels.--_Luke 9,
26._
It is an awful doom that our text bids us to look forward to, that
when Christ comes in His glory and in His Father's and of His holy
angels, then He shall be ashamed of us, refuse to acknowledge us,
and yet we are inclined to think, at first sight, that, so far as it
depends on our being ashamed of Christ, there is not so much fear.
There is much that is wrong among us. But being ashamed of Christ,
ashamed of being known as His disciples, ashamed of His name and
religion, does not seem one of our shortcomings and dangers. Were
not the words rather applicable to the early disciples than to us
and our days?
And true it is, as the Gospel to-day presents, that confessing
Christ was a very different thing then from what it is now. When
first the Gospel was preached among men, not to be ashamed of Christ
meant nothing more or less than that a man was ready to leave
everything in this world and to die for Christ. When all the powers
of earth, Jews and Gentiles, were arrayed against the new faith,
when men were brought before kings and rulers, and simply told that,
unless they would deny Christ, they would be thrown to the wild
beasts, or buried alive, or be sent to prison to labor like convicts
all the rest of their days; or when almost everybody took it for
granted that the Gospel was mere folly, and that every one who
followed it was the most stupid and obstinate of bigots; in other
words, when believing and confessing Christ meant to be laughed at,
jeered at, mockery, persecution, and martyrdom,--at such seasons we
can understand the suitableness and solemnity of Christ's warning to
them. But those times, thank God, have passed away; the Gospel is
no longer met with fagot and sword. The open profession of religion
does no one any hurt in life, exposes him to no special mockery or
insult, causes no unfavorable or unpleasant feelings towards him.
Yes, so far from its going against him, he will not infrequently
stand higher and have more credit. And yet, let us not be led
into mistakes. This easiness in being religious, which without
contradiction is greater nowadays than it ever was in the world
since Christ came into it, must not blind us to the spirit of our
Lord's words. They have a meaning still, and, while men are men,
will continue to have to the world's end. _I. In what way, or ways,
they apply to us_; _II. what is the one main lesson they would bring
home to us_,--that let us, under the guidance and blessing of the
Holy Spirit, consider.
There is, my beloved, extant among us these days a confession of
Christ that is general. By general we mean it does not like to go
into particulars. And it is in the general that we are so brave and
bold in professing not to be ashamed of Christ. Take, to make the
test, that upon which our religion rests, the Holy Bible. People
respect it as a sacred book; something is missing in a Christian
home if it is not there; they reverence it in the general. But when
it comes to the particular, how little is it really pondered; how
little do men feel bound by its particular statements; how easily
are its direct communications set aside when they conflict with
their notions or feelings or wishes.
Did God actually create man out of the dust of the ground, or is
he the creature of evolution? Is the account of the fall of man
into sin to be taken literally, or is it only an allegory, a poetic
interpretation, a childish and primitive way to account for sin and
its sad consequences? Is there a personal devil, or is the devil
only to stand for evil in the abstract? The narrative of Balaam, or
Jonah, of the men in the fiery oven,--are they to be received as
they read? And when it comes to the New Testament,--how are we to
understand the conception of the virgin birth of our Savior? how
His glorious ascension? how His descent into hell? how His words of
the Sacrament: "Take, eat; this is my body. Take, drink; this is my
blood," literally or figuratively, "is" meaning "represents"? Does
Baptism work forgiveness of sin? Is it the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul says to Titus, chapter
3? Go, and question among Christ's followers, consult the thousands
of books that are flooding the market,--what do they teach? They
are ashamed to admit that God created the world in six days of
twenty-four hours each; it's unscientific; they blush at the
accounts of Balaam's ass and of Jonah's whale. The blood doctrine
of the cross, that Christ has redeemed us by His holy, precious
blood and by His innocent suffering and death, is repugnant to many.
Christ's body and blood in the Sacrament, Baptism the means of a
new birth,--they are abashed to acknowledge such teachings. It is
the tendency of the age to acknowledge everything in general, and
in particular nothing, nothing distinct and definite. People are
ashamed of the words of Christ. Why tinker and twist in order not to
make the writings say but the one thing they do say? What is this
but being ashamed?
And as in the doctrine, so in matters of religious duty. To speak
first, in general. We come to church. Others around us do the
same. It's the fashion to do so. But let us ask ourselves, What if
everybody around us did not do so? There are places and associations
where it is not customary; some of us get among such also: no one
goes;--at the very utmost one service a Sunday is thought the full
limit. At such times are we shy of doing differently from other
people when we know and feel what is right? What is this but being,
in reality, ashamed of His words? Or take the Lord's Table,--how
many know that they ought to come to the Lord's Table, know and
acknowledge what the Lord's command is, and not only that, but in
their hearts would like to come, and yet they stay away because
they are ashamed to do what other people don't do, of being asked,
perchance, sneering questions, of its being said that they are
seeking to set themselves up and making more pretense of religion
than their neighbors. What is this but staying away because they are
ashamed to confess Christ and His words before men?
One instance would I emphasize this morning in particular, and
that is church-membership. People are ashamed of the church, not
in general,--they regard it as a charitable institution. They have
no objection to go there, nor do they mind, if the minister is a
fascinating speaker, to part with a little spare change. But there
is where the connection ends. With many--their number is tens of
thousands--the doctrine is, that one can be just as good and hopeful
outside of the Church as in it, that as long as they maintain a
general uprightness of behavior, do not defraud any one, live
on kindly terms with their neighbors, act as honorable citizens
and profess belief in a Higher Being, it does not matter whether
they just believe this or that doctrine or not, whether they are
confirmed or not, whether they attend public worship, or consult
their own ease and pleasure on that subject. Indeed, they can see
no difference between conformity to the moral teachings and rules
of some order, Odd Fellows' associations or Masonic fraternity,
and the Church of Christ. In a word, they confound mere outward
respectability and godliness with the teachings of Christianity,
and place man's organizations, secular societies, on a common par
and level with God's organization, Christ's Church, and they quite
forget that, in matters of religion and sound morality, it is not
for them, nor any man, to point out the way and set up the standard,
but humbly to bow to the requirements, and walk in the way which God
has ordained and appointed for us to walk in.
And now turn to Christ and His Word,--what does it say? The teaching
there is, that outside of His Church, and apart from those acts of
Baptism, Holy Communion, public worship, and public identification
with the Lord's people, there is no right Christianity and
confession of Him. The statement and impression throughout is to
this effect that a man's religion is spurious and sorely lacking if
it does not bring him into the common fellowship of believers, if it
does not lead him to live and move and have his being in observance
of the Christian ordinances, and maintaining Christian recognition
and membership in the communion of the saints. Can any one think
for a moment that in those early days of persecution, when it meant
either--or, life or death, people distinguished between being a
Christian or a church-member? To be one meant to be the other.
And now go and ask people to join the Church. Ask our young members,
when arriving at the age of twenty-one years, to come in and help,
to support with means and vote, give a little of their time, and see
whether they regard it a privilege and a delight, a God-enjoined
duty. In general there is churchliness; and in particular flimsy
excuses, pretexts, subterfuges are offered.
And why, to come to our next consideration, why is this? What
is the cause? Why this distinction between the early disciples
and our present-day confessors of Christ? There was one thing
they possessed, which is now so largely lacking,--what is it?
Christianity those days, we heard, meant personal sacrifice,
persecution, martyrdom. Thank God that form is now over. To-day we
see not the Church weeping in sackcloth and ashes at the graves of
her slaughtered children, nor hear the Coliseum ringing with the
wild shouts: "_Christianos ad leones_: Christians to the lions!"
And yet, while not so striking, something of the same vigorous
principle, of the same spirit, must characterize the conduct of
every Christian. "If any man will follow after me," says the Master,
be my disciple, "let him deny himself." There must be readiness,
now as of old, to suffer for righteousness' sake. I am glad to
note there still is. Young men go out into the ministry, from
their associations and their kin, into places the crudest and the
rudest to preach the Gospel of Christ, enduring poverty, calumny,
and finally are broken down in health, thrown upon the charity of
a cold, unfeeling world. We know some women who were lured by fair
appearance into marriage by young men who won their love, and who,
though now abused, lampooned, mocked, are holding fast to their
faith. We know of some who, in order to attend to their religious
worship and duty, have sacrificed positions of better income, and we
know of some who have forfeited money and social honor by giving up
their connection with beneficiary and fraternal societies. But for
these the Christian faith would perish from the earth. They are the
salt of the earth, the light of the world.
Yet, apart from these, what is the religious life of Christians?
Is it not simply a matter of convenience, custom, inheritance,
yes, sometimes of fashion or of business? Do we not find numbers
of Christians who cannot give for God's worship an hour out of
the 168 hours a week, who would not lift a finger or a foot to
help a sinking brother, to save a wandering boy, to speak a kind
word to restrain a wayward girl, who, like Cain, his brother's
murderer, insolently reply, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Yes, as
we survey the average Christian life to-day, it seems to have
lost all strenuousness. Tact, worldly wisdom, policy, not truth,
God's wisdom, principles, more of profession than deeds, more of
criticism than service. We see clergymen begging people if they
won't be Christians, urging them to accept the glorious blessing of
salvation, or, if professing Christians, humbly beseeching them to
fulfill their vows, asking oft with fear and trembling for a little
pittance to keep up the grand work, and when given, given as if an
act of favor and grace, not from the conviction that they owe it
to God and grace, whose it is, who demands it. Oh! it is pitiable,
a mock and farce upon the religion we profess. When we think of
the apostles and evangelists and martyrs for Jesus' sake, how they
parted with homes, occupations, possessions, and even life itself
for Christ and His Word, we have reason, every one of us, to hang
our heads in shame. What the Church needs to-day are those who are
not ashamed of Christ and His Word, _i. e._, men and women who will
do their duty without ceasing; men and women who, when they have
done their duty, will not be expecting the praise of men, but who
find their reward in their service; men and women who are ready to
sacrifice of their time, their labors, their money, themselves; men
and women who, when principle, divine truth, is at stake, will stand
by and rather go down, upholding what is right, than surrender to
that which may be popular and fashionable, but is wrong.
My beloved, the religion of the twentieth century is no other
than the religion of the first century. It calls for self-denial,
sacrifice. To what extent has it entered, and does it enter, into
your religious life? Examine yourself in the sight of Him who said:
"Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son
of Man be ashamed when He shall come in His own glory and in His
Father's and of the holy angels." Amen.