II Tim. 1:8 ... "Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord."
By the time a person has reached the age of forty or fifty he is usually able to look back far enough to see that the thinking of society does not remain static. The mood of the mass gradually shifts from one complexity to another. This is apparent by what is printed in newspapers, magazines, and books; by what is presented on the radio, television, and movie screen; by the way people talk and the language they use; and by the way people dress, groom, and behave themselves. Today's youth think the music their parents loved when they were young sounds rather ridiculous. The games that little children once played are being forgotten because now electronic games seem far more exciting. Cliches and speech idioms which were known to all a half-century ago have been replaced by new ones our grandparents wouldn't understand. To catalogue such changes in our culture would be an encyclopedic enterprise.
Some of the fashion of society remains consistent with Christian principles, mostly because it has been our cultural heritage from the past. More of the societal character is tolerant of Christian values, moving along with them in practice if not in spirit. This is probably due to the impetus of Christian emphasis which is not yet spent, but is nevertheless dying. Still more, indeed a growing area, of the complexion of society is contrary to Christian faith and behavior, having abandoned any connection with it. And in some cases our society is militantly opposed to any attempt by Christian advocates to act as its conscience.
It becomes an ever-increasing challenge to Christians to continue to practice and advocate the "testimony of our Lord" in the current of a world that merely tolerates it at best and openly rejects and opposes it at worst. If the life of a disciple of Jesus were allegorized as a ship at sea, then it could well be represented as navigating into the face of a storm that is raging with sin, contempt of God, profanity, and licentiousness. It is so easy to get tired of the effort, or be overcome by the shame of differing from the majority, and in desparation cease struggling any further. Many disciples turn the ship of their lives over to the force of the wind and waves of ungodliness and allow themselves to be "tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, (and) by craftiness in deceitful scheming," (Eph. 4:14). But we must be careful not to let this happen. As our text counsels, we must never let the pressure of a degenerating world force us to become "ashamed of the testimony of our Lord." We must continue to struggle against all odds for that holy faith, and it shall both sustain and deliver us in the course of time. We are encouraged in I Cor. 15:58 to "be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."
What we should be ashamed of is the sin in our lives, for that shame can lead to self-condemnation, repentance, confession, and finally to purification from the sin. But we should never be ashamed of "the testimony of our Lord," for its origin is not in the fallible, finite, contradictory wisdom of men but rather in the infallible, infinite, utterly consistent wisdom of God. Jesus declared in John 12:49 that "I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak." Rather than feel ashamed of God's word in the face of an antagonistic society, the Christian should feel great pride in it. There are two basic reasons for such pride, both of which are given in First Peter chapter one. First, it states that we are "born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable through the living and abiding word of God, (v. 23). And second, "the word of the Lord endures forever," (v. 25). This divine word is, therefore, both permanent and the source of eternal life for all who accept it. It is of far greater value than all that can ever be given to us by the world, which is destined to pass away, (I John 2:17).
