“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God” – 2 Timothy 1:8 NASB
If we know the book of Acts, we know Paul went through quite a bit of persecution for his faith in Christ. He was beaten and jailed more times than we might know about. We only know of a few times, and Paul references those times in his letters to the churches (Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, etc.) I’m not sure which ones off the top of my head, but some of his letters to the churches were written from a jail where they placed him because he was preaching Christ.
The reputation that Paul left was unparalleled by anyone. Knowing what he was before Christ changed him, a persecutor and killer of Christians, it’s amazing to see what Paul became. Now he’s on the other side of that whip. He’s no longer persecuting Christians, now he’s being persecuted because he’s a Christian. He flipped from one side of the spectrum to the other.
It could leave a man to wonder how that could happen, and many probably thought Paul was foolish for changing his mind so drastically. We know the story of what happened from Acts 9, but place yourself in the shoes of the people of the day. Paul’s face is known and everyone fears him, especially the Christians. Now he’s coming around and telling people how to become Christians? That seems like too much of a flip to be true. Only God can do a flip like that, and we know that He did with Paul and He’s done it with others since then.
And then Paul is working to bring up Timothy behind him to take over where Paul will leave off when he dies. I can only imagine what people would think of Timothy. “You’re following in the footsteps of that idiot? He’s a fool and you’re an even bigger one for believing him.” Paul took a lot of guff for his stance on the gospel of Christ, and he knew that Timothy would likely receive a lot of the same ridicule and scorn because he holds the same stance on the gospel.
Christ also had a reputation in His days as a fool. He spoke out against the church leaders of the day, the Pharisees and Sadducees. He spoke with a knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures (that’s all they had at the time) that no one else had yet seen or heard. His words differed so greatly with what was being taught that many people ridiculed Him. Some, like Nicodemus in John 3, came to realize the truth in Christs’s words.
In our verse in 2 Timothy, very early on in the letter, Paul tells Timothy, “Don’t be ashamed of the reputation we’ve left behind. People will think what they want to think. Some will believe you, some will reject you. Instead of hiding in fear, join us. The gospel is true and pure and effective, thanks to the power of God behind it. In taking this gospel to the world, you take the power of God behind you and your words.”
So I ask you. Are you ashamed to let people know you’re a Christian? In taking the title of a Christian, you take the reputation of Jesus Christ on your own life. Do people know you’re a Christian? Are you ready to share with them the gospel of Christ? Have you decided to join with Christ and with Paul in standing up and proclaiming the gospel of Christ?
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