Stand Up for Jesus

 We used to sing a song, "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus." It was a call to be faithful in the spiritual battle going on around us all of the time. However, I don't think I truly understood the implications of the song or the verse upon which it was based for a long time. It is easy to sing songs in church, but what about standing up for Jesus against the world opinion of Him at work, school, and in our family and the community? Jesus takes it very seriously. (Matthew 10:32,33) He made it plain that if we stand up for Him against world opinion, He would stand up for us before His Father in heaven. The opposite is also true. If we fail to stand up for Him, He will not stand up for us with His Father. This statement by our Lord is very sobering, and it really causes us to think about the nature of faith.

Jesus is not teaching salvation by works in these verses. Clearly we are saved by grace through faith. The key is that God must see that we have genuine faith before He gives us the gift of salvation from our sins and adopts us into His family forever. James 2 tells us that "faith without works is dead." His point is obvious. If we do not have works that stem from our faith, and we do not have real, living faith that leads us to act and speak differently, then our faith is dead, and it will not save us. That is what Jesus is saying here. If we will not stand up for Him against world opinion, then we do not really trust Him as Lord and Savior? The reality is that what is in our heart comes out of our mouth. If we are silent or compromising when it comes to confessing our faith to others, He will not confess us to the Father, because we have no faith. If we do believe, we will be compelled to stand up for Jesus and show everyone our steadfast dependence on Him and His Word.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Matthew 11-13.