Introduction
Each of us here have heard the Garth Brooks song “Shameless” I am certain.
In this song he sings lyrics like, “Well, I’m shameless, when it comes to lovin’ you I’ll do anything you want me to, I’ll do anything at all, And I’m standin’, here for all the world to see.”
Shameless means that you “have no sense of shame, incapable of disgrace.”
Simply it means that it does not matter what anyone or anything says or does, you will not be deterred by them. You are committed and sold out for what you are doing and that is final.
People can mock and scorn and try and dissuade you, but they cannot because you are beyond their insults and assaults.
You are shameless and ready and willing to do anything needed or wanted and you are ready for the world to see because you are that committed.
That is what Jesus is teaching His disciples, and us through them, in this section.
We see that a shameless life bears rejection, it follows Jesus daily, it is a surrendered life, and it is a life well worth all that happens.
Many of us live this way with a sports team, a friend, a family member, a loved one, political affiliation and many other things. We will become shameless for many worldly commitments and people, but we fail to do so for the Lord.
We want to call our life our own, we want to live how we feel is right, we do not want anyone telling us differently.
Think about it, we tend to disobey traffic laws regularly, we become angry if someone speaks to us in a tone we feel is inappropriate for us, we become angry if we have to do something that we did not plan on doing, we get offended when something or someone encroaches on our life and disrupts it.
This all points to we want our life to be our own and no one else mess with it.
Well Jesus has a different idea for us. He says we must take up the cross-an emblem of shame and torture, for Him. We must do this daily and follow Him into whatever He says. We give our all for Him to gain everything. We bear shame here so we can stand in glory later with Him.
This life is nothing compared to what eternity is with Him. We are with Him and will never struggle again there. Here though we must struggle because not everyone is Christ’s. Many are not and that is why we must live the Shameless Life for Christ.
Christ tells us in Luke 9:23-27
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:23–27 ESV
In this section Christ tells us many things. We bear rejection and shame, we follow Him regardless, we surrender to Him, and when we do it will be worth it.
First we see…
The Shameless Life Bears Rejection
Take up your cross daily.
The cross was a symbol of shame and death. It was an embarrassment for one to carry.
When we take up the cross and deny ourselves something, that something is selfish desires and ambitions. We take up this symbol of shame and death and willingly submit ourselves to the scorn and mockery that comes with it.
We take the pay cuts. The abuse. The insults, The hate that will come.
We do this because Jesus did more for us that just bear that. He took the beatings and death for us. We can bear a little shame and scorn daily can we not?
To live this way is to live a life sold out for the Lord.
This life “for believers today, means understanding that [we] belong to him and that [we] live to serve his purposes. Consider this: Do you think of your relationship with God primarily in terms of what’s in it for you (which is considerable) or in terms of what you can do for him?” (Bruce B. Barton et al., Luke, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1997), 243.)
We should seek to follow Him completely. This means Christ’s followers must deny selfish ambitions and selfish desires to use their time and money their own way. Following Christ is costly now, but in the long run, it is well worth the pain and effort. (Barton, 244.)
We bear rejection and reject the world. We deny ourselves and accept shame and scorn for the Lord if necessary. We give everything for Him if necessary. We do anything He wants us to and we do it with joy knowing that it is for Him we do it.
Let me ask you this, when you do something fun and exciting here and have a fun time and celebrate it well. Like good vacations, big parties where everything flows freely, you win a big rodeo, or anything, How long does the joy from those last?
A day or two, a week, maybe if lucky a month. But think when you deny yourself some pleasure and put that money, time, or whatever into service and you see kids growing in ability, growing in wisdom, growing in talent, or another person you helped grow in some way, doesn’t that feel good for a long time?
Yes, it does. When we commit to doing more than something for ourselves we experience more joy than not. Even if that comes with shame and struggle we find more joy in it than a one night or one week party.
So in denying ourselves we bear some rejection and shame but for the joy that awaits. But to do this…
The Shameless Life Follows Jesus
We not only deny ourselves and follow Jesus into anything without shame, we do it every day.
This aspect of following Jesus is not a once a week deal.
No, it is every day.
We daily get up, grab that cross and go to the world. We go into it with the desire to see more doing the same.
We willingly forsake other events or plans to daily follow Jesus.
Think about the disciples.
Matthew was asked to follow, he Immediately left his tax booth and followed (Matt. 9:9-13).
Peter and Andrew were called and immediately left the boats and followed Jesus (Matt. 4:18-20).
James and John were called from their fishing boats and immediately followed (Matt. 4:21-22).
Then the apostle Paul was riding to kill and imprison more Christians and was called and he immediately followed what Jesus told him to do and immediately began sharing Christ (Acts 9).
Each of these men left what they were doing and immediately followed Jesus. They did not look back or question, they went.
They gave up a life and followed Jesus. It is that important. It is worth that much.
Jim Elliot was a missionary to Ecuador and to an unreached tribe there. He was a star athlete and a highly gifted man. He was a Christian and felt the draw to missions.
He went to this tribe because they were killing many from another tribe he had helped evangelize. He knew the only way to stop them from killing was for them to hear Christ and believe.
He went knowing the danger, but knew this was a must. He carried that cross there and was killed by the tribe he was evangelizing. He said before this “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
This means he gave up his personal desires to follow Jesus because Jesus is worth everything and everything here in this world is worth nothing.
Jim Elliot died in service to the Lord but in his work many from that tribe in Ecuador have become believers.
He did an eternal work because he was willing to follow Jesus daily wherever Jesus led him.
Are you that willing or are you still hung in this world and what it offers?
If you are willing then you know that…
The Shameless Life Surrenders
Once we have seen that our life is to follow Christ daily bearing any and all shame that comes, we can surrender.
It is not a surrender before being saved but a surrender after you have been saved.
When we do this we will follow and submit to Christ for the right reason, because we love Him and desire to glorify Him in everything.
Giving up what the world offers for the Lord is surrendering to Him.
This may be giving up money because you are serving Him.
It may mean giving up a job so you can better raise your kids to glorify Him.
It may be that you don’t go on that dream trip because you need to give more to ministry so it can reach more people.
It may mean you drive that car longer and wear the same clothes or give up eating out so often so you can better use your money to glorify God.
A surrendered life is a life that desires to give all it can to the Lord and never look back.
This is what a shameless life for Christ is. It is a life that gives all because Jesus gave His all.
It is a life that gives up worldly passions and pursuits for the glory of the heavenly.
It is not like this church Soren Kierkegaard tells about, “I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, “If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me.”
This is a place that is about looks and vanity. They want glory over the Lord. They want to have comfort and beauty around but sacrifice nothing.
No this surrendered life is a life that says, “I am yours Lord. I will not back down from the world. I will not shut up. I will not back away from the truth. I will not give in. I will continue to tell about you. I will fight the good fight. I will run the race. I will stand in the gap. I will tell this wicked world about you daily. I will never stop. I will go where you say. i will sacrifice all I have if needed. I will never let the world take me from you.”
That life is the life that knows the Lord is worth more than anything else. That is the life that is sold out for the Lord.
That is the life that charges the gates of hell and makes them shudder.
That is the life that leaves a mark everywhere it goes.
That is a life that honors God.
That is a life that makes the world stand up and take heed.
That is a life that knows the sacrifices and submission is worth it. This life knows that…
The Shameless Life is Worth It
It is worth it to follow Jesus. This world is dead and dying.
It is evil and full of sin.
Too many are following the worldly way and not Jesus. This is many in the church.
Many think they know Jesus. Many think they are His when they are of their father the devil.
They will say they are His when they are of the world.
They live a life that is nothing but my glory, my pleasure, my fun, me, me, me, me, and never Jesus.
Yet they come through the church doors and drop a few dollars in the plate, sit in the middle because the front is too pious and the back is too worldly, and they tell people they attend church.
But this is all they do. They never serve, share Christ, go and do for the Lord’s glory. All they do is for themselves and they come here once a week and think that is what gets them a place with Christ.
No, it is the grace of God alone through Faith in Christ alone that gets you a place at the table. But the blessings of a life in Christ comes through a surrendered life to Him.
When we live for Him in all we do, we will have blessings and honor before Him when we stand before Him.
We will know we served and suffered for all the right reasons.
We will be able to be like the apostle Paul and say the sufferings of this present world are nothing compared to the glory to be revealed to us (Rom. 8:18).
We will also be able to say that we have run the race and fought the fight and fulfilled the Lord’s commands and now there is a crown laid up for me (2 Tim. 4:7-8).
We can stand boldly before Him and not cower in shame (1 John 2:28).
We live this life and serve and glorify the Lord in all we do because this world is trash. It is filth and utterly worthless.
Laying up treasures here is about as useful as trying to drain the oceans with a teaspoon. It is foolish, yet almost everyone desire to do just that.
We love this world. We want this world. We want to have all we can have in this world and reject what Christ has for us.
This world is passing away and everything in it will be melted away (1 John 2:17; 2 Peter 3:10-12).
Everything we have laid up here will be given to someone else behind us. We cannot take any of it with us.
Just like the man who wanted to take something with him when he died. God said fine and he took gold bricks. And when in heaven he was asked why he brought pavement.
Even our best and greatest here is but pavement in eternity.
We know that a shameless life for Christ is worth it because Christ promises treasures, rewards, and mansions that He prepares for us.
As Jim Elliot said “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
We try and try to hold onto the things that we will lose to the detriment of what we cannot lose.
Let us always show Christ above everything and let Him carry the burdens of this world. It will be tough but we have Jesus on our side.
If this present life is most important to you, you will do everything you can to protect it. You will not want to do anything that might endanger your safety, health, or comfort. By contrast, if following Jesus is most important, you may find yourself in unsafe, unhealthy, and uncomfortable places. You will risk death, but you will not fear it because you know that Jesus will raise you to eternal life. Nothing material can compensate for the loss of eternal life. Jesus’ disciples are not to use their lives on earth for their own pleasure—they should spend their lives serving God and people. Have you discovered the most fulfilling use of your life? (Barton, 245).
Conclusion
I want to leave us with this great charge,
Jesus told his disciples to speak up for him without shame. You can tell a lot about a society by what it glorifies and what it considers shameful. Today some behaviors that once would have been considered scandalous are openly admired, and others that once were accepted as virtuous are criticized and condemned. Even Christians are often made to feel guilty or somehow inferior for holding to the belief that Jesus is the only true “way.” And anyone with the audacity to state that belief in a public forum is considered ignorant and closed-minded. Believers must stand boldly for the Lord in a world that increasingly stands for nothing. When nonbelievers heap pressure, rejection, and humiliation on us, we must remain faithful to Christ. (Barton, 247)
Because
the meaning of life is [not] to be found in the things acquired, the trophies accumulated, and the amount of money made [this all] loses its credibility in the emergency room and the funeral parlor. As one wise older person once put it, “I’ve never heard anyone on his deathbed say, ‘I sure wish I’d spent more time in the office.’ ”
It is Christ alone that is worth it. It is Christ alone who will make this ragged world livable. It is Christ alone that can give you strength to go on day by day.
Nothing else will, but Him alone. He went before you and died for you so you can live.
Let us live every day for Him as if we are about to see Him face-to-face. Because you never know when that day will be.
I started with a song and I will end with a song. This one is from Hank Williams Sr. Called house of Gold.
In it he sings,
People steal, they cheat and lie For wealth and what it will buy Don’t they know on the judgement day That their gold and silver will melt away.
I’d rather be in a deep, dark grave And know that my poor soul was saved Than to live in this world in a house of gold And deny my God and doom my soul.
Jesus said, come on to me I’ll break sin’s chains and set you free I´ll carry you to a home on high Where you´ll never, never die.
Jesus died there on the cross So this world would not be lost Sinner hear now what I say For someday you ´ll have to pay.
What good is gold and silver too If your heart’s not good and true Sinner, hear me when I say Fall down on your knees and pray…
