A Religion of Shame

I've had this blog in mind for quite a while now, and though I have other blogs I have been working on before this one, I think it's most beneficial to share towards the beginning of the new year.

Let's start with a question: what are you willing to endure for the cause of Christ?

Many would say something to the extreme of, "I would die for my faith." Perhaps you legitimately would, though I would encourage you to think about that claim a little more. It's easy to say that in present day America when we know we won't have to choose between renouncing our faith or dying. Those words come out proudly and easily when you live in a country with the freedom of religion. The Apostle Peter made the same claim, saying he would go with Jesus to prison and to death (Luke 22:33). Jesus warns him of his soon denial of even knowing Him, which is fulfilled only a short time after.

Because we have the freedom to practice our religion in the United States, free from martyrdom and fatal persecution, this has led a lot of people to say that Christians aren't persecuted at all in the United States. A statement that, Biblically, is not true.

Prior to 2020, we might could say we had the freedom to worship without government overreach or involvement, but we clearly saw an attempt by the government to flex authority over the church and its meeting together. An authority which they do not possess. And some submitted very willingly, having not returned to church even now. Others, who after about the 12th week of being absent from church were so grieved in their souls that they chose to go back despite government regulations. Many churches in California had to fight the system in legal terms just to keep their freedom to worship.

But this isn't a blog about Covid. I give that as just an example of ways in which persecution can happen, and to make the point that those who earlier made the claim that they would die for their faith ceased their church attendance for fear of a virus that could potentially kill them. Persecution happens in other ways that are not in regards to dying at the blade of a terrorist organization.

Jesus says in His Sermon on the Mount,

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12 ESV).

Jesus gives us a definition here of what it means to be persecuted. It involves being reviled, that is, to be talked to scornfully or abusively, and having horrible words said towards you and about you that are false. Christians who are being martyred for their faith are absolutely suffering persecution, but Jesus describes persecution in less extreme terms. To be slandered, to be despised, that is persecution. Persecution that is worthy of a reward.

Paul teaches that persecution is a given for anyone who is faithful to Christ. Faithfulness implies persecution.

In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (II Timothy 3:12 CSB)

A lot of people, when they start learning church history and seeing some of the stress, anxiety, and depression that many preachers in history suffered from, are shocked. They say things like, "how could someone who walks so closely with the Lord have such problems? You would think they would be more joyful than most anyone else." But the reality is that they suffer in such ways because of their obedience to Christ.

The great Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, lived with depression. At times, he showed evidence of anxiety, throwing up before he preached even later in his ministry. He would often go on vacation alone where the sun would shine to help with his depression (not much sunlight crept through in London). He lived with depression, and died with depression. He never overcame it.

You may be puzzled and believe this to be some sort of hypocrisy. No doubt he told his congregants to trust in the Lord, and yet it seemed that he himself didn't. But heartache comes with obedience. For example, consider that Spurgeon never did a preaching crusade throughout the United States because he was so hated by Baptists in the south for his views on abolition.

Christian George writes in an article titled "Why the American South would have Killed Charles Spurgeon",

“Anti-Spurgeon bonfires illuminated jail yards, plantations, bookstores, and courthouses throughout the Southern states. In Virginia, Mr. Humphrey H. Kuber, a Baptist preacher and “highly respectable citizen” of Matthews County, burned seven calf-skinned volumes of Spurgeon’s sermons “on the head of a flour barrel.” The arson was assisted by “many citizens of the highest standing.” In North Carolina, Spurgeon’s famous sermon “Turn or Burn” found a similar fate when a Mr. Punch “turned the second page and burned the whole.” By 1860, slave-owning pastors were “foaming with rage because they [could not] lay hands on the youthful Spurgeon.” His life was threatened, his books burned, his sermons censured, and below the Mason-Dixon Line, the media catalyzed character assassinations. In Florida, Spurgeon was a “beef-eating, puffed-up, vain, over-righteous pharisaical, English blab-mouth.” In Virginia, he was a “fat, overgrown boy”; in Louisiana, a “hell-deserving Englishman”; and in South Carolina, a “vulgar young man” with “(soiled) sleek hair, prominent teeth, and a self-satisfied air.” Georgians were encouraged to “pay no attention to him.” North Carolinians “would like a good opportunity at this hypocritical preacher” and resented his “endish sentiments, against our Constitution and citizens.” The Weekly Raleigh Register reported that anyone selling Spurgeon’s sermons should be arrested and charged with “circulating incendiary publications.”

(https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-american-south-would-have-killed-charles-spurgeon/)

People hated Charles Spurgeon. And even with a packed church every week, the hatred wasn't ignorable. Offensive caricatures being drawn of him, having to leave his Baptist organization due to their progressive liberalness, all of it led to the successful preacher's heartache. Despite his success, he was heavily persecuted. Or should I say, rather, because of his success, he was heavily persecuted. And consider this: it was the church people doing the persecuting. And that persecution came in the form of shame.

A Good Reputation

Growing up, I heard a lot about the importance of keeping a good testimony. Don't do this, don't do that, don't even express your Christian liberty in any way lest someone see it and ruin your testimony. It takes a lifetime to build a good testimony, and only a second to ruin it. And once it's ruined, it can never be repaired. Such advice can be good and Godly, but to a certain point, it is anti-gospel. And an obsession with preserving a certain image is how people are kept quiet.

We want to be good representatives of Christ. We call ourselves "Christian," a title originally created to label those who followed Jesus by unbelievers to mean "little Christ." And since the label includes the name of Christ, we want to represent Him well. We want to reflect new creations in Christ, which we are. We don't want to be known as the person who attends a church but is known for shady business deals or someone who frequently makes inappropriate comments. As Christians, we want to preserve an image of Christ. But the reality is, the One who's image we want to reflect was likewise hated and reviled.

Let's consider an example of shame for faithfulness: Jesus's mother, Mary.

We know the reality of the virgin birth. Our faith is dependent on it. Christ being born of a virgin is evidence of His conception by the Holy Spirit. If someone denies the virgin birth, they likewise deny Christ's deity and incarnation. What a blessing, we would think, to carry the creator of the world in your womb, to nurse and raise up the Lord Jesus, the one who created you. But this glittering image is not the reality of what happened.

A young teenage girl gets pregnant prior to knowing her husband in marriage. What are people going to think? There are only two things they can think, and people are less likely to believe in a virgin birth. Even Joseph struggled with it, And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly (Matthew 1:19).

The shame of the virgin birth was something Mary never outlived. Even in Jesus's ministry some 30 years after the virgin birth, people were still whispering that Mary's pregnancy was a product of fornication, saying to Jesus we weren't born of sexual immorality (John 8:41). We recognize today statements made against our mother as the highest form of insult, yet Jesus endured such attacks. Even more, His mother lived with the false reputation as a fornicator. I remember one of my Bible professors preaching on Mary, stating, "her reputation was ruined the moment she submitted to the will of God. And she knew it would be. And she submitted anyway."

The best way for you to maintain a good image, for others to not say hurtful things about you, to not have your reputation attacked and to not be persecuted, is for you to be quiet.

No Holds Barred

Going back to the question I asked at the beginning, what are you willing to endure for the cause of Christ? Sure, you say you'd die for your faith. But would you put your reputation on the line? Are you willing to endure slander? Are you willing to allow your family to be attacked or slandered? Are you willing to endure shame?

Many know that church history teaches that the Apostle Peter was martyred by being crucified. He believed that he was not worthy to die in the same manner in which Christ died, so he requested that he be crucified upside down. But what many don't know is that he was crucified second. Before him, his wife was crucified in front of him. As he waited his turn to be nailed to a cross, he encouraged his wife to remember the Lord as she herself was nailed to a cross.

Satan, demons, lost people, and might I add, church people, have no limit to how they will persecute you. There are no rules of persecution. If personal attacks don't phase you, they'll attack your spouse. Wherever it hurts, there you will be attacked.

If I can be rather candid with you...

My blog, The Heinous, God-Hating Sin of Gossip, got a lot of positive feedback. People seemed to be really encouraged and edified by it. But in all reality, I wrote that blog for myself. I listen to it frequently. One, because it reminds me to watch what I say. But two, it reminds me of who I am in Christ. I need to hear the gospel over and over and over again. I don't brush off persecution the way Jesus tells me to, telling me to rejoice and be glad (Matthew 5:12). I say this humbly, but even as I pursue my third religious degree, I have to be reminded of my justification repeatedly because I forget. When someone attacks me, I don't react with acknowledging my justification and status before Christ. It hurts. And most times, if I endure an attack, it's not said to me. It's said to my wife, or she's attacked on my account. Those who have endured that know that it hurts worse than personal attacks.

Persecution requires faithful church attendance. It requires pastoral counseling. It requires thick skin. It requires forgiveness. It requires humility. It requires love. It requires a willingness to persevere. A faithful Christian life brings with it shame. Consider the crucifixion of Jesus. Not only was crucifixion extremely painful, but it was a method of shameful execution. Imagine a criminal being nailed to a wall in your town, beaten and naked, left to hang there for everyone to see. Sure, it's inhumane. But the point in hanging them there for everyone to see is to shame them. People would drive by turning their heads, covering the eyes of their children, and avoid going through that part of town because shame was exposed in plain sight. The same was done of Jesus, being beaten, stripped, and raised in the air for all to see. Blushing would be a dramatic understatement.

"Oh, to be persecuted and die for the cause of Christ. What a glorious way to go." The problem is that people aren't persecuted and martyred under the charge of being upstanding citizens who love God with all their heart, soul, and mind. They are charged falsely. When Jesus was arrested, His charges weren't that He loved the Father too much. He was charged as a blasphemer and attempting to overthrow the government.

In Acts 17, the Jews form a mob and set the city in an uproar, dragging Jason and some of the brothers to the authorities, not under the charge of preaching the good news of Christ, but under the accusation that they were turning the world upside down. Ironic given that the Jews were setting the city in an uproar.

William Tyndale, the translator of the first English Bible from its original languages, was sentenced to death by the Roman Catholic Church by being tied to a stake, his body wrapped in gun powder and set on fire, literally blowing him up. His charge was not being too submissive to the cause of Christ. He was charged as a heretic.

Even in death, martyrs suffer under shameful charges. Untrue charges, but shameful nonetheless.

What about you? Are you willing to bear the cross of shame for the cause of Christ? People will say terrible things about you. Some of what they say will be true. Some of it will be heinous. Some of it will be directed towards your family. All of it will hurt. If you're going to grow in your faith, if you're going to go to the unpopular Bible teaching church, if you're going to be Sola Scriptura, you're going to be shamed. I can't give an encouragement more than Jesus does, telling us to rejoice and be glad, and recognizing peace as a fruit of the Spirit. All I can add to that is warn you and ask if you're willing to endure it. Can you endure persecution? Can you endure it from people who are church goers? Can you endure it when it comes from family?

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:34-39 ESV).

In the Bible-belt, we have the disadvantage of everyone claiming to be a Christian. Sure, we don't get funny looks when we say we're Christian, but we do get scorned if we are sincere about it. The disadvantage comes when lost people who likewise call themselves Christian feel that they, as a lost professing Christian, know what being a Christian consists of, and therefore hate true Christianity. They dismiss your Christianity and high regard for Scripture, as deep down, they really want nothing to do with such a Book. Their idea of Christianity is indefensible, so their only defense is to shame you.

Decide for yourself and make up your mind as to where you draw the line.

The Flip Side of the Coin

Perhaps you decide to be a quiet Christian, hiding in the background, maintaining a good reputation and an agreeable personality as to not damage what you have worked so hard to preserve. "I'm not called to ministry," you tell yourself, leaving the fighting up to those who know more and are paid to do it.

Neutrality is not an option...

The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:42-48 NIV)

Jesus is referring to those who have been given much and wasted it. Those who do not treat the coming of the Lord as legitimate and busy themselves as though He were not coming.

A Little Meddling...

As a short add in, I can't mention this passage without addressing a common issue in our area of the Bible belt. There is an infatuation with one system of eschatology, that is, one particular view of the Lord's return. A sudden and unexpected rapture where the church is taken away, followed by 7 years of tribulation, then the second coming of the Lord with a literal 1000 year reign of Christ on earth. Most people here don't know that there are other legitimate opposing views to that, and this specific system has only been popular for about the last 120 years with the publishing of the Scofield Bible and teachings of John Darby, made even more popular by the Left Behind series.

I don't care in the slightest if you believe that. If you see that system in Scripture, can walk through it verse by verse and cognitively give a defense of it, I'll gladly smile with a thumbs up and affirm "maybe so!" But there is a problem that stems from this view that leads to evacuation Christianity without a backbone. The objective is not to be busy with the Lord's work while we prepare for His return, but to tuck our heads between our legs assuming everything on the news is a sign of the times and that there's no time to be busy with the Lord's work. Some of these people even condemn strenuous ministry to Christianize the immoral, arguing that it won't do any good since everything bad is supposed to happen anyway. Jesus is not so much referring to the person that denies the second coming as much as the behavior that person has living as though there were no second coming. Repeating over and over again "it could be today, it could be tomorrow," does not mean that you take the return of Christ seriously. Purchasing non-perishable food items from a TV apocalyptic heretic to prepare for an end-times power-grid shutdown does not mean that you take the return of Christ seriously. You can be just as neglectful as the person who doesn't believe in the return of Christ at all. Just as Jesus says, He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

Back to the topic

I give this passage as an example that neutrality is not an option. Perhaps you've decided it's safest to not ruffle feathers and to stay in ignorance of Scripture. After all, after reading that passage, it seems like the more knowledge you possess, the more you're held accountable, right?

But consider what you have been given. Have you been given much? Not just in material blessings, but in opportunities to advance in your knowledge and service of Him?

Do you have a Bible(s) in your own language? Most Christians in history have not.

Do you have an opportunity to go to church every single Sunday without hiding?

Do you have access to the internet to listen to free recordings of Scripture? To look up Bible classes? To use free Bible study programs?

Friend, you have been given much. You have been given too much to stay neutral. And your punishment will be more severe than the one who was ignorant.

Conclusion

Shame is not something to glory in, as Paul makes clear that enemies within the church glory in their shame (Philippians 3:19). We don't flex our Christian liberty to others, bringing glory to ourselves while in reality shaming ourselves, nor do we live in sin or sin openly while daring others to correct us. Shame, to the believer, is painful. It keeps them up at night. They need comfort, which is why Jesus tells them to rejoice and be glad for their reward in heaven.

We talk a lot about the goal of Christianity being to become more like Christ. That is certainly what we strive for since we bear His name as a label. But consider what that entails. Being Christlike means you don't win popularity contests. Being Christlike doesn't mean you're greatly admired. Being Christlike doesn't mean no one has anything bad to say about you. When Christ came to earth, people hated Him. The religious people hated Him. When Christ came to earth, the people killed Him. Why do we think now that being a true Christian means harboring a spotless reputation? Why do we think being a Christian means maintaining a good testimony without accusation? When the One who is perfect came to earth, He was beaten, slandered, and executed as a blasphemer.

"I just want to be more like Christ," you say. And I ask you, which part? Christ was hated, so which part of His character do you want to reflect? Do you want to reflect what the world tells you being Christlike is? Or do you want to be like the Christ of Scripture? How far are you willing to serve? What are you willing to say? What are you willing to fight for? Don't tuck your head between your legs shouting "signs of the times!" Get up. Put your armor on. There is work to be done before His return, and we don't want to be caught waiting in fear on the sideline when He comes. And prepare yourself for whatever people will say about you, your spouse, your children, or your church. Christianity is not about repeating a prayer and now you're in. It's about confessing your sin and repentance, professing Christ as God, and taking up your cross to follow Him.

What are you willing to endure for the cause of Christ?