There is an old saying which means ‘to defiantly display one's opinions and beliefs, or to show one's intention to hold on to those beliefs until the end’. You may have already guessed. It is “Nailing your colours to the mast”.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” Romans 1: 16
In 17th century nautical battles colours or flags were lowered as a sign of submission. It was also the custom in naval warfare to direct one's cannon fire at the mast of the opponent's ship, thus disabling it. If all of a ship's masts were broken, then the captain usually had no alternative but to surrender. If the captain decided to fight on, this was marked by hoisting the colours on the remnants of the ship's rigging, by 'nailing his colours to the mast'.
Whilst considering the well known verse in Romans which speaks about not being ashamed of the gospel, I remembered two people I knew who had worked at a company for quite a time, holding positions of influence, but none of their colleagues were aware that they were Christians. One of these people was a leader in a church and told me that he had never spoken to anyone about the church or Jesus.
Were those people ashamed of Christ? Well, my answer would be that they were not. They loved the Lord and it was evident in many ways. However, if they were not ashamed of Christ, what was stopping them speak of Him? In both cases it was clear to me that fear prevented them from witnessing. They were afraid of rejection and persecution by their work colleagues. Such things do happen, but most cases I am aware of have been very mild compared to what goes on in some countries, where people are tortured or murdered for their faith in Jesus Christ.
If people make their anti Christian feelings known because we share the Gospel, we need to remember what Jesus said in Luke 6: 22: “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!”
That means that we are blessed by God in those situations. What a truly wonderful promise! This clearly states that as believers in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we should always nail our colours to the mast. It is a must when you consider what Jesus did for us at Calvary. One day we will each have to give an account of what we did as Christians on the earth, just as in the parable of the talents, the Lord is going to want to know what we did with what He gave us. There is going to be a reckoning and we will have to give an account.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” 2 Corinthians 5: 10
Key Point: We have responsibility to witness about Jesus. We can’t hide our lamp under a bushel. We have got to start talking about Him. We have a responsibility to witness about Jesus.
We can’t hide our lamp under a bushel. We must witness, we must share Jesus because we don’t much time. He is coming back soon. The Message says plainly in 1 John 2: 28: “Live deeply in Christ. Then we’ll be ready for him when he appears, ready to receive him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when he arrives.”
I asked this church leader why he hadn’t let people know that he had put his faith in Jesus. He explained that he wanted his life to show that he was a Christian. I replied that witnessing through your lifestyle is a good thing to do. I then asked about all the people who had come and gone from the company. Had an opportunity been missed? Would those people have another chance to hear the Gospel? I say this to many people when I train them to witness and share the Gospel. Living a good life is a great example, but if you really want your colleagues, friends, neighbours or anyone else you come into contact with to know about Jesus, it will involve speaking about Him. There is really no way around it.
Are you playing it safe with your faith because you fear rejection of even a little persecution? I make a point of letting people know I am a Christian very early on. I make it clear so that they know there is no doubt. I could give numerous examples, but here are just two occasions that come to mind.
The first was when we moved into our current property. I was moving some furniture into my house with my Pastor and an elder from our church. My new neighbour was in her garden so I introduced myself and chatted about where I was moving from and so on. After a few minutes I had the opportunity to introduce my helpers. I said, “This is Colin, the Pastor of my Church and Joel who is one of our elders”. There was no awkwardness or anything like that. In fact over the next couple of years I had many opportunities to witness for Christ. They have moved to another house in the village, we are still friends… and oh, I still witness to them.
The second was at a meeting with a managing Director of Multi-national Corporation. This very successful man had just been made my immediate boss. He had a reputation for being tough on his people. I took the bull by the horns and at the right moment explained that I was a Christian who had a very strong faith in Christ. As I told him his expression was one of “Oh no not one of those!”. He said “ I don’t believe in God or anything like that, I think it’s all rubbish” I answered, “with respect, I don’t care what you think, I know what I believe”. The conversation ended there, but once again over time I had opportunities to share Jesus with him and the CEO. God is good!
Jesus was nailed to a cross for our sin. The question is where are your colours? Are they nailed to the mast?
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