Unashamed!

What makes you embarrassed or ashamed? No matter what our personality, there is usually someone or something that causes us to be silent when we should be vocal, idle when we should be active, and as a result, we turn and walk away with nothing accomplished for the Kingdom of God. Consider this statement by Matt Stave of Liberty University School of Law : In a world of political correctness devoid of the rule of law, tolerance has come to mean total rejection of Christianity and moral standards. Modern tolerance redefines words like 'marriage,' 'discrimination,' 'equality,' 'morality,' and even 'absolutes.' The word 'tolerance' as it is used today never includes opposing arguments or competing worldviews. Tolerance has become Orwellian and decidedly intolerant." In our peer pressure driven world, the spirit man of the believer has been squashed into intimidation. We want to be ‘politically correct’ and not offend, yet when I look at the life of Christ, I see a man who took on His peers and the religious leaders of His day with a persistent drive to return them to the truth. He healed on the Sabbath despite their objections. He chased the vendors and money changes from the temple courtyard, not once, but twice. He ate and fellowshipped with sinners. He touched lepers, and He ministered to women. He chose as His closest associates crude fishermen, and a hated tax collector. While his disciples were politically motivated, He was driven to please the Father—a purely spiritual agenda. He never once backed down in fear, even when facing Satan following the forty days of fasting in the wilderness. He knew who He was and what His mission entailed. He let nothing come between Him and his mission. He was unashamed!


Adolph Hitler wrote, "Mental confusion, contradiction of feeling, indecisiveness, panic; these are our weapons." These were not just the tools of Hitler. They have been the tools of Satan for centuries. When people refuse to make decisions based on the truths found in the Word of God, they are easily taken advantage of by those willing to choose for them. The price in Europe was the death of millions of God fearing people. If we want to be spiritually bold, we must be imitators of Jesus Christ. What things did Jesus do that made Him unashamedly different than the spiritual leaders around Him?

He knew His Mission

Jesus came on a mission. He knew the purpose of that mission from day one. His mission was to do the will of the Father who had sent Him from Heaven’s glories to the chaos of a sin sick world. His mission included confronting Satan and taking a stand against Him. It also included taking on the task of dying. It was through His death and resurrection that sin, sickness, and death would be forever conquered. His mission was never to conquer the Roman empire, to make Himself the High Priest of the synagogue, or to just lead 12 followers until He died. The mission was much bigger and more eternal in its scope. He saw you and me in the future. His mission was to bring hope to the hopeless, joy to the depressed, and healing to the sick. When He stood up in the synagogue and read from Isaiah 61:1, he was stating his mission publicly. “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD...” He knew He was anointed for a purpose...to preach...to heal...to proclaim liberty...to bring freedom and hope at the right time to a people bound by sin and Satan. His time had come. It was the acceptable year of the Lord. Nothing side tracked Him. He was unashamed!

He knew His God

He clearly stated that He came, not to do His own will, but whatever His Father wanted Him to do. Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me (John 17:25) He took time from His disciples to go alone to pray and talk to the Father and get direction. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. (Matthew 14:23) This seems to be a hard one for many Christians, to get alone with God and spend time in prayer. We often arise in the morning at the last possible second, and rush off into our day of work and activities, rarely taking time to think about God, let alone get direction from Him. Yet we, like Jesus, are here on a mission, and we need to know the Father and what He wants to speak into our lives each day. We listen to the preacher sermonize each Sunday and think that is enough—after all, the preacher does hear from God doesn’t he? It is not enough. We need to know God for ourselves, and hear Him speak into our hearts. If we don’t know Him, how can we hope to speak for Him or even represent Him to our hurting world? Jesus made no apologies for knowing God...and he was unashamed!

He Knew the Word

It was very apparent that Jesus knew the Word. He, like most Jewish boys, learned first from His mother, all the basic principles of Jewish theology. They were obligated to memorize long passages of the Torah. When it came time for Jesus to come face to face with Satan in the wilderness, before His ministry really began, Jesus quoted at Satan, “ It is written”. Throughout His ministry Jesus is found quoting scripture. Some were prophecies from the Old Testament. Others were from the writings. He actually quoted from 24 different books of the Bible. He knew the Word. He was the Word. It flowed from Him freely to bring liberty to the captives. He was never ashamed to speak the Word to others to challenge, teach, or preach. He spoke it to Satan, to the Pharisees, to the disciples and to all who would listen. He was unashamed!

He Walked in the Spirit

Jesus knew that His boldness was not in his own human flesh, but that He required the supernatural boldness of the Holy Spirit flowing in and through Him. From the day He was baptized by John at the River Jordon, and the Holy Spirit came down upon Him in the form of a dove, He went forward in a holy boldness that amazed both the disciples, and the religious people of the day. They wondered how the son of a mere carpenter could speak and act with such authority. He knew the source of His authority...“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Matthew 28:17 It was heavenly endowed. He passed this authority on to those willing to serve him. He told the seventy he had sent out, 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19

Yes, we do not need to be ashamed. In fact, we need to adopt an attitude of boldness, given by the Holy Spirit, used with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, to challenge our culture today. There will be a price to pay. There will be persecution. But I am weary of watching our culture bow to the Muslims for fear of offending them and their religion while Christianity and the Bible are dashed to the ground as if Christians had no rights. I am weary of ‘offending’ gay rights. If I am ashamed of anything, it is the lack of responsiveness of those who call themselves Christians, to the attacks in our schools, our courts, our malls, and even in our stores. Christmas is more than Santa Claus and Easter is more than bunnies and eggs. It’s about Jesus, our resurrected Lord and I refuse to be ashamed of Him. He was not ashamed to die for you and me! How about you? Are you in the company of unashamed believers willing to speak what you believe? Let the Spirit guide you and walk tall and unashamed!

J. Johnson

Carnal Christianity? Just Give Me Jesus!!

In today’s perverse society, Christians are softening their stance more and more, accepting a little compromise here and some more complacency there until the fences we once held as Biblical standards have washed away with the flood of carnality that is sweeping through our culture. The term carnal Christian seems to describe more and more of today’s ‘church’.
I was raised in a strict Christian home. We were not allowed to go to movie theaters, to go to dances, to participate in ‘worldly’ forms of entertainment just in case we might cause someone else to stumble and fall in sin. Sunday was a day of rest and relaxation except for church. We were faithful Sunday morning and evening. Some may have thought we had no fun at all. Yet we had the greatest times. We enjoyed the pure clean kind of fun that today’s culture has forgotten about. But today, if the Christian wants to have fun, they have learned to adopt the ways of the world around them, dabbling in everything our grandparents and their pastors would have cringed at. Today, church goers think nothing of getting body piercings, tattoos, and even brands. They go to ‘events’ that make the hippie culture of the ‘70’s look tame by comparison. All across the country, it is time for the summer Christian ‘rock-fests’ where our youth can spend the weekend listening to ear blasting rhythms, dress in garb that leaves nothing to the imagination, and proudly come home with the latest CD’s. You can keep it all! Just give me Jesus!
Whatever happened to our altars? Where did the weeping go? What has happened to repentance? Does anybody blush anymore? Why do we accept carnality as the norm? Does anyone know what sin is? What are we, who know better, doing about it all? Just give me more of Jesus!
The Church
The church has changed drastically in the last 20 years. It has become a carnal, market driven mega mall. Its pastors have been trained by the culture around them as they have learned to tap into the lucrative business principles that taught them ‘bigger is better.’ Too many have sacrificed quality for quantity. Success is having the biggest church in town with a name everyone knows. Somehow I think if the apostles were to stop in for a Sunday service, they would not recognize it as a ‘Christian’ church. We have strayed from the model Paul worked so hard to establish. He would definitely label it ‘carnal.’ What is a carnal church? To be carnal means to be like the world, leaning in its direction, spiritually immature, readily accepting the values of the culture rather than the standards of God. Galatians 5 give us a list of the ‘works of the flesh’...carnality…“adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21) and this list sounds like the normal life of a ‘normal’ Christian today. Today, sad to say, too many teens and 20’s find themselves living together before marriage, thinking it is alright, acceptable to the church and therefore to God. Yet the Word of God clearly teaches otherwise. They excuse themselves by saying, “I’m only human…” as if it would change God’s mind.
I have seen and heard ‘Christians’ today whose temper tantrums, envy, abuse and jealousy have destroyed homes and marriages, but yet they fail to deal with it Biblically in repentance and humility. It’s always someone else’s fault. What do we need? We need Jesus!
Spiritual Immaturity
Perhaps I am stepping on some toes here, and you are feeling the pain. Perhaps your problem is your contentment to remain immature. The Corinthian church had the same problem. "I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:1). They were spiritually immature and content to stay that way. These were Christian ‘brethren’ he was writing to. When we notice that our children are failing to grow, failing to mature, we become alarmed, take them to the doctor or a specialist to see what is the problem. Spiritually, we sometimes do not tend to recognize our own spiritual immaturity. There are symptoms we must recognize. Spiritual immaturity demands its own way, is self-absorbed, comfort seeking, and often demanding a diet that is unhealthy. When our churches become market driven, and seeker sensitive, rather than God centered and divinely motivated, they become breeding grounds for spiritual immaturity. If you find yourself immature and in need of growth, begin feeding on the meat of the Word of God. Let the Spirit teach you where to change. He will take you into the intimate place of prayer where He will show you in a mirror how you look to God. Though the price may be high, we must face reality. Just give me Jesus!
The Next Step
If we refuse to submit our lives to the authority of God, turn a deaf ear to the Holy Spirit, refuse correction, remain unteachable, and we continually find ourselves sliding back into the grime and filth we came from, then we must realize that we have slipped into spiritual rebellion. We’ve slowly allowed our hearts to become calloused to the tug of the Spirit. What began as perpetual immaturity develops into full blown disobedience. It is the kind of thing that brings spiritual death. It is man leaning on the natural man rather than the Spirit of God. When we do so, our world is bound to crumble. How many ‘Christians’ have been caught up in sin’s materialistic traps only to discover they are in a financial tar pit that is sucking them down into its mess. The “I-just-gotta-have-it” mentality has got to go! If we longed for Jesus the way we long for stuff, we’d have had revival in America long, long ago. Its time for believers to live within their means, to pay their tithes and offerings, to teach their children fiscal responsibility and to clean up their financial histories.
How many have dabbled in sin’s sexual seductions only to find emptiness. I heard a story recently that came from Josh McDowell, when he was approached after a youth meeting by a young woman who told him she had sex with five different men the last five nights. She asked him, “Is there anything more?” She was empty and unfulfilled. Why? Because her relationships lacked intimacy. There was no friendship… no real love…no real relationship...just animal urges being acted out. God’s plan is for one man to be committed to one woman for a lifetime relationship. Both need to work at it and keep it Christ centered. As both draw closer to God, they will also grow closer to each other. You can try doing it the world’s way and play the field, destroy the home, and wound the children, or— you can just give me Jesus!
Just Give Me Jesus!
I have lived life to the fullest. I have traveled the globe. I have had a wonderful marriage and beautiful children. I have enjoyed ministry. I have lived in beautiful homes. I have had successes. I have had disappointments. But when I look back over all the high or low points of my life, I still long for those moments when Jesus seemed the closest to me. It was not at the times of material success. Nor was it at the times of pleasure. It was not even at the peak of ministry. It was often in the darkest of days. It was in the moments when I discovered I could not handle it all by myself. Jesus seemed closest when I was lonely , when I was grieving, when I was helpless to know where to turn. He was there when money was scarce. He was there when the sun did not shine. He was there when I least expected Him. So don’t tell me I need a big salary, good looks, a fancy house, a successful ministry….just give me Jesus!
Has someone offended you? Take your eyes of your hurt and put them on Jesus. They hurt Him too and He forgave them all. Maturity chooses to love in spite of the pain. It sees the greater good. It looks to the future with eyes of faith. Carnality crumbles the human heart, but love builds it back again. Love is not an emotion...not just how you feel. It is so much more. It is a choice, a decision you make as to how you respond to others. I Corinthians 13 in the Message Bible paraphrase puts it in a way I can understand…
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. It tells me ‘love’ must act and do… choosing God’s way when nothing makes sense. It leaves the results with God. It keeps our priorities straight. It keeps us humble and keeps us leaning on God. It’s results are eternal.
You can choose to live a carnal life if you want to. You can enjoy your sin for a season. You can do just what everyone else seems to be doing—or—you can make a difference! You can be the man or woman God wants you to be. You can choose His pathway. You can please Him instead of yourself. I’ve made up my mind. How about you? Just give me Jesus! J. Johnson

A Wondrous Gift

She was just a child herself, yet a woman, but to all appearances, just a young girl. She was pregnant with her first child, not even married. It was an unforgivable condition to be in… engaged but pregnant. Mary must have been an unusual teenager. In her culture, she could have been stoned to death for what appeared to all to be sin. Yet, she willingly told the visiting angel sent from God “"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:38) She made a choice...and the rest is history! One young girls choice has changed the destiny of the world.
The result of her choice was the provision of a wondrous gift, a new covenant….a new intimacy with God…a new relationship with the Almighty. It brought heaven down into this miserable and sinful world. A ray of light shined into the darkness that has beamed across continents into time changing lives for eternity. Mary’s choice allowed the Son of God to be born in the flesh, to be a tiny infant in a fragile world. Wrapped in swaddling grave clothes, He lay in a manger, a stone trough filled with hay, vulnerable to whatever life brought. Mary had no idea what the future would hold for her or for her newborn Son. The brief years of childhood would long be cherished in her heart as every mother does. But soon, the joys of childhood would turn to wonder as she watched her child become independent of her care as He remained at the temple astounding the religious minds of the day. We know very little of his childhood years, or his teenage life. We do know that very early He became focused on His purpose and destiny.
What if….
A tiny baby born to a mere girl, changed our world for eternity. When I think of the impact His life has had on this world, I wonder what our world would have been like if He had never come. What if life had just continued… the temple and the holy city in Roman hands… laws and rules… circumcision… sacrifices… old covenant ways complicated by religious laws added by the religious leaders, Sadducees and Pharisees. In just a few short years, the temple would have been destroyed by the Roman government. The impact of the Jewish world was in decline. Secular philosophies influenced by the Greek and Roman world were on the rise. We never would have known the freedom of a democracy based on the Christian teachings found in 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Women’s rights and freedoms would have not developed but for the teachings of Jesus Christ. The new moral standards set by Jesus who taught his followers to love each other and love their enemies, turned mankind from a vicious destructive way of life to one of tolerance, patience and peace.
Without Jesus, there never would have been a renaissance or reformation. Pilgrims would have never ventured to America for spiritual freedom. There would be no celebrations such as Valentines Day, Easter, Christmas, or even Halloween (originally Hallowed Evening). We would not know the meaning of the term “salvation.” Forgiveness of sin would not be possible for Non-Jewish people. Our cultures would have become a mix of Judaism, Greek mythology, Roman law, and who knows what culture would have developed in time. Islam would not exist as it is based on a mixture of Judaism and Christianity. Four billion Christians and Muslims would have a different religion. “Foxes’ Book of Martyrs” would have empty pages. There would be no “Pilgrims Progress.” Great works of art would not have been sculpted or painted. Science would not have developed as many of its greatest minds were Christians who prayed and asked God for wisdom (Pascal, Pasteur, Newton) Nations such as the United States would not have been founded on Christian ideals and principles. Cathedrals and churches would not dot the landscapes of every major city in the world. There would be no such thing as a pope, a pastor, a deacon, a bishop, or an apostle. We would not understand the meaning of such words as apocalypse, rapture, evangelical, or even justification. Denominations such as Roman Catholic, Anglican, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist and Pentecostal would not exist. Their influence on the world would never have happened.
I can hardly imagine what the United States and Canada would be like without Christ and Christianity. Sometimes we as believers wonder if we are making a difference in our world. Just as Jesus made a difference, so does every believer who stands for what he believes.
What now…
He did come.. He did change this world. He did make a difference, and because He did, we have an awesome responsibility to carry forward what He began. We have good news to tell those who have not heard. We have a message of hope for a world lost in hopelessness and despair. Because of Him, we can say with confidence, like Paul, “ for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” (1 Timothy 2:12). While millions around the world reach out to idols of wood and stone, spin cylinders of prayer, wave flags, burn incense and pray to icons and dead men and women, we have a certainty, a knowing, a confidence that our Savior who came as a baby, grew to be a man, and died, only to live again, that He hears today and answers our prayers, heals our bodies, prepares us for eternity and loves us all even if we sin.
Can we do anything less than share His love with others this Christmas? Can we for a moment lay aside our selfishness and greed, our materialism and humanism and choose intentionally to reach out to someone else who has no hope? Is Christ truly the center of your Christmas celebration? Do you see the needs of others around you? Have you gone out of your way to help someone as Christ would have done? This Christmas, determine to give to the ministry of your choice, as if you were giving it to Jesus Himself. He gave up the glory of heaven for us. Can we give up the glitz and grandeur of this world for Him? Somehow, I don’t think the two realms are comparable.
What a gift…!
We take our precious finances and select a gift for our loved ones, wrap it in tissue paper, decorated with pretty ribbons and foil, and then put it under the tree for Christmas morning. We think we have done something grand! Yet if the truth was known, too often we gripe and complain and recycle unwanted gifts and do just enough to get by the season, hoping no one will notice our stingy hearts. Meanwhile, God sent us the perfect gift, one size fits all, the kind that heals every broken heart, and fills every empty life to overflowing. He gives us Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, Hope….. And we leave His gift under the tree, still wrapped, still waiting to be received. We are not sure what to do with Him. If we open it, we might feel obligated… to change our habits, go to church, guard our tongues, to give our tithes, and go out of our way. If we pretend we did not get His gift… then perhaps we can go on doing things the same old way.
Christmas is about change. God sent His wondrous gift to change us, to give to us, to heal us, to love us...even though we feel unlovable. The gift never changes yet the gift changes us forever if we will just open the gift and receive Him. He is the perfect gift—the one that heals sick bodies, frees those in bondages of addiction, fills those who are lonely, lifts those who are depressed. “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come (Luke 4:18,19 NLT) Let’s take the wondrous gift, open it, and give it again to someone in need! His wondrous gift never stops giving!
J. Johnson