Paul had an odd way of motivating people, especially his young protégé, Timothy. Only a handful of verses into his second letter to Timothy, the apostle urged his student not to be "ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner" (2 Tim. 1:8). Although begging his followers not to cringe at his apparent weakness is hardly an inspiring method for a leader to "turn the world upside-down," yet this was but an echo of Jesus' own words, which so often focused on dissuading His disciples from denying that they knew Him (Matt. 10:32-33; 26:34; Mark 8:38). Apparently, there was something so embarrassing about being a Christian in those days that such explicit and pointed warnings were warranted.

The fact that many professing Christians in our day lack this timidity may not be due to their simply being bolder in their witness and devotion to Christ than His original followers were. Instead, our contemporary unfamiliarity with the temptation to deny Christ may stem from our unfamiliarity with the cross that He carried. If the church's stated aim is to present herself as being so attractive and beneficial to the City of Man that unbelievers simply cannot help but jump on the holy bandwagon, not only should we remove the "I" (irresistible grace) from Calvinism's well-known acrostic (and the "T" [total depravity] for that matter), but we should be tempted to be ashamed of the meager ministry and methods of the church. After all, what good are Word, water, bread, and wine for attaining such lofty goals as cultural transformation or the wooing of the young and attractive?

But the apostle's own antidote to the temptation to be ashamed of his ministry was no this-worldly promise of glory or earthly influence. Rather, he writes in verse 12, "I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me." In other words, the church and its members must not seek the world's approval by providing programs that pander to people's need to feel popular and appreciated. The "more relevant than thou" approach to ministry may fill churches, but often at the expense of the cross and all its glorious foolishness and shame.