“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)
I do not believe the Scriptures state that those who are embarrassed of Christ will enter into His Kingdom, the word states that the Lord Jesus Christ will not profess their name in front of His Father and the holy angels, and so these have not been born-again.
That word embarrassed means words not spoken by those who claim to know Him, but only by their actions. They may attend a church, even sing the songs, they may even believe themselves to be saved because of a particular action performed by them, namely baptism. Some may have even repeated the words they were told to, but since that day they have never spoken openly to anyone about Him.
Not for fear of persecution, not out of the possibility of being ostracized and rejected by those they know, but because they would be embarrassed if they spoke of Him.
This short letter to you is not about their lack of openly professing our Lord though, it is akin to it, but not in its totality.
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (Gal. 6:2)
The average person is easily embarrassed, and that includes those who have indeed been born-again, and while they may speak of the Lord Jesus Christ in open conversation, as one would who has a close and personal relationship with Him, they will not speak to others about their burdens.
One of the best examples of this is the one who sits in the pews when there is a time for prayer requests, which is extremely rare in these days, and they ask for prayers for an unspoken reason. In this case my friends, either that person does not believe in the previous verse, they do not consider those present to be their brothers and sisters in Christ, or they are too embarrassed to openly profess the reason for their request for prayers.
I can think of no other reason at this time, and all three of these are nothing less than excuses.
We have indeed strayed far from the truths of the Scriptures in this regard from what those first century Christians lived and died for. Embarrassed because you do not want those you know are your fellow servants to hear of the temptation you have fallen into, of the sin that will not seem to leave you alone, of thoughts that are far from Christlike, and so, in disobedience to the Word of God, you do not inform those you love that one of the members of the body of Christ, namely you, needs help.
“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” (Prov. 27:17)
You are part of the family of God, yet you do not trust your family.
It is well known that the pastor of these assemblies spends much time listening to people who start their private, scheduled conversations with him with the words, “Just between you and me, I would be so embarrassed if anyone else found out about this.” And so, you shoulder the burden yourself, seeking the face of God for assistance, for an answer, but you refuse to listen and obey when He says, “There are members of my body for you to speak with.”
To stand up in the congregation and say, “I need help, I need prayers,” would be too embarrassing, wouldn’t it?
“What would people say, what would they think of me?”
And yet those assemblies still call themselves houses of worship, places where the people of God meet to praise His name. A room full of lost sheep who claim to be brothers and sisters in Christ, hiding amongst each other.
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16)
