From a moral standpoint, the standard of Christ and His gospel is much higher than the world’s.   Furthermore, the doctrine of Christ is much different than the doctrine we find espoused by denominational churches.  The same can be said of the work and worship of the church that Christ built.  Because of these differences, some members of the Lord’s church are ashamed to stand for Christ and His church.  Paul never felt shame for his stand with Christ or anything associated with Him.

Philippians 1:20 (NKJV)
²⁰ According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

One can see why this kind of attitude would be pleasing to God.  The Christian who is unashamed of God and His Word will not hesitate to magnify Christ.  To magnify means “to make great or enlarge” (Strong’s Greek Dictionary).  This is what Paul strove to do with Christ.  This is not to say that Paul thought he could make Christ great.  Christ is inherently great since He is divine.  What Paul wanted to do, however, was make Christ great in the mind of man.

Man has always viewed Christ as something less than He is.  Even those who positively viewed Him did not realize that He was more than they thought He was.  For example, many people thought that He was just another prophet sent by God.  When Jesus asked His disciples who people were saying that He was, they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:14).  Some might take being mistaken for a prophet as a compliment, but not Jesus, for He was so much more than a prophet.  When He asked His followers who they thought He was, Peter gave the right answer.

Matthew 16:16 (ESV)
¹⁶  Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

To magnify Christ is to do our best to let as many people as we can know that Jesus is the Son of God.  However, the only ones who will consistently do this are those who are not ashamed of Jesus.  We should never be ashamed of who Jesus is or the fact that He suffered and died on the cross.  We should not be ashamed of His doctrines, His church, or the moral principles by which He demands that we live.  Can you think of anything associated with Christ of which you are ashamed?  Remember, if we are in any way ashamed of Him before men, He will be ashamed of us before His Father (Mark 8:38).

What is true of the Son is also true of the Father.  In this atheistic leaning society, we should never be ashamed to assert our belief in God.  We know that God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1).  All the evolutionary ideas and theories put out by those who are supposed to know these things should not cause us to be ashamed to proclaim the truth on this matter.  The same is true about our origin.  The prevailing position of the world is that we evolved from monkeys, but we know the truth.  We are the handiwork of God, and we must never be ashamed of it.

Let us not be ashamed to proclaim God’s name.  Instead, let us magnify our Creator in words and deeds, and let us do it without hesitation.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.