In a previous sermon, the speaker spoke on the emotion of anger. We know getting angry is alright because Jesus also got angry on earth. And He being the righteous and perfect example for us shows that it’s alright to be angry. But when we try to manage our anger, there’re a few things we need to take note of. We need to be aware that there’s not only an emotion, but it also leads us to do something.

These actions that stem from our emotions can be problematic. So when we’re angry, we need to be aware at that time because it’s easy for us to sin. An example would be that of Moses.

Another things about anger, if we’re angry without a cause, not for the right reasons, that’s a sin too.

This sermon will explore another emotion: shame.

What is this emotion - shame? And what does shame cause us to do; what action is a result of shame?

Let’s look at the first example of shame being exhibited:
Gen 3:6-8
Although the shame is not mentioned in these 3 verses, but the actions of Adam and Eve are tell tale signs of someone who’s ashamed. These verses talk about the sin of mankind. Because of this sin, Adam and Eve had the emotion of shame. Shame is linked with sin; with having done something wrong. So when one sins and feels guilty, your face may blush. Children exhibit this. When they do something wrong, they turn their face away from their parents; they hope to bury themselves and not be seen.

That’s what Adam and Eve did too. When they heard the presence of God, they hid.

So shame comes about because we’ve done something wrong and the action that comes out of it is to hide. Does God ever display shame? Can God feel shame?

Jesus Himself has never sinned in the world. Therefore because shame is a result sin, so we don’t read about Jesus displaying this emotion at this juncture. We have read about Jesus rejoicing; we see Jesus weeping in sadness; we’ve read of Jesus displaying anger. It would seem like there’s no chance for Him to display shame.

But let’s think a bit deeper and read Heb 11:16
Here God is described to be UNASHAMED of these people - people who longed for the inheritance God would give them, the unshakable kingdom. Again, it shows God can be unashamed, but can He be ashamed?

Luke 9:26
On the day of judgement, if anyone in the world is ashamed of His words and Jesus (obviously a wrong thing), then Jesus the Son of Man will be ashamed of him on that day. In a certain sense, God can feel shame. But not because of His sin, but because His creation/people have sinned. As a result of the sin of these people, God is ashamed to call Himself the God of these people. Perhaps this is similar to how parents may feel about their children sometimes. The child misbehaves and you feel shame, and not because the parent didn’t raise the child properly.

We can cause someone to feel ashamed of us because of the wrong that WE have done.

In summary: Shame may be felt because of the wrong that we ourselves have done. Sometimes, shame is also brought upon us because of what others related to us have done. But it’s always things related to doing something wrong.

We’re going to focus on shame that comes about due to our own actions. While this emotion is natural, it also leads to certain dangers. A couple of dangers of the feeling of shame will be looked at.

1. Shame causes us to try to hide ourselves or our sin
   Gen 3:11-13
   As a result of shame, a very natural action as a result is to hide ourselves or try to deny that its wrong or that its purely our fault. One will try to push the blame on someone else if possible. Which is why we see Adam blaming it on the woman and also God, for giving him the woman. Because of her shame, the woman also tried to cover up and push the blame on the serpent.

When one starts to feel guilt and shame, one wants to cover up. It’s a crucial moment at this juncture. At the moment in time you feel shame, and the first thing you want to do is come up with an excuse, pause for a while. We should at this juncture try to turn back to God. Don’t try to hide your guilt from God, you can’t. Shame naturally causes us to try to come up with excuses. Pause. Think. If possible, admit we’ve done something wrong. Because if we do not do it at that time, then the feeling of shame can lead to a second danger.

1. When we start to feel shame and give excuses to shirk the responsibility for the wrong we have committed, we can actually reach the stage of being blatant and shameless.

A few examples of how this might be possible:
We try to cover up our shame till we reach a point we think: “I’m not a sinner!” And actually become emboldened and boast of our sin.

We see how shame becomes shamelessness in Gen 4:13-15. Cain killed Abel; it was a sin. God already accused him of the sin. At this juncture, Cain felt remorse. He was actually worried about the punishment. Perhaps a bit of shame of what he had done. But as we read further, v19, 23-24. A few generations after Cain, there’s a man called Lamech. He didn’t just murder once but a couple of times, boastfully boasting to his wife. “I killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
Lamech didn’t hide his sin or feel shame or worry for the punishment. He boasted about what he had done as if it was right. As if evil deeds was the right thing. This is becoming shameless.

It’s the same in the New Testament.
Rom 1:24-32
Homosexuality is used as a symptom of the world of the world rejecting God. They do what is shameful but are shameless about it. v32 shows they approve of others doing it. They don’t just do it, they tell others who do evil that they’re doing a good job. They have the audacity to approve the evil deeds of others because they themselves do it, and so encourage others to do it. This is a very frightening stage to be in. To no longer sense shame but to be completely shameless; to be proud of the evil you’ve done. It’s not just happening to the people of the world but also people in the church - Paul gave an example of people in the church who boasted of their evil (1 Cor).

There is often this kind of trajectory that’ll occur when we do something wrong. Firstly, we’ll feel a sense of shame. At that juncture, what do we do, if we continue to react in accordance to our shame - cover up what we have done - there may come a time we feel what we have done is no longer wrong. We may start to boast what we have done is good and right. We may start to encourage others to do it because there’s nothing wrong with it. Because we have been ‘liberated’ and want others to be ‘liberated’ too.

If we look at the example of David, when he sinned with Bathsheba, his immediate reaction was also because of shame; he wanted to cover up the sin he committed. Which is why he started to plot how he may kill Uriah. And this continued on, and he wasn’t aware, until prophet Nathan pointed out the sin he had committed. The good thing about David was that at that juncture, he stopped and openly admitted his sin. He didn’t try to hide this anymore or cover up his sins by perhaps ordering Nathan to be killed. No. He admitted his sin.

So let’s think about which stage we’re currently at when we have felt shame. Have we reached the stage where we are shameless?

1. The third danger related to shame is this: we begin to feel shame for things that’s not wrong.
   Danger 2 is about not feeling shame about sin. But danger 3 is that we feel ashamed when we’re supposed to do the right thing, which is a good thing.

Luke 9:26
Acknowledging and testifying for the sake of Jesus and the words of the gospel is a good and right thing. But some people at this juncture are ashamed at this right thing. That’s why Paul had to write something else, because unlike these people, Paul did the right thing.

Rom 1:16
Here Paul declared he’s not ashamed of the gospel because it’s the power of God unto salvation. He openly admitted and wanted to preach the gospel; declared and proclaimed the good news to people. What about us today? Are we ashamed of the gospel? Are we ashamed to tell others of our belief? Are we ashamed to tell others we’re Christians of the True Jesus Church? It’s easier to say we’re all Christians and worship God, because there’re many other Christians also so it’s easier to admit we’re a Christian. But to admit we’re a True Jesus Church Christian is a little more difficult. Sometimes we want to hide some of these aspects. Maybe we think we’d be inconvenienced if we say this because our friends may ask, “TRUE Jesus church? Means the other churches are false?” Is that one of the reasons we’d start to feel ashamed to declare we’re True Jesus Church Christians?

Let’s think about a positive example from the Bible - Daniel and his 3 friends. If we’re ashamed and don’t declare we’re True Jesus Church Christians outside, Daniel and his 3 friends are a wonderful example for us. If we think about their situation, they were just taken into captivity by another nation. In the eyes of the Babylonians and every other nation who were taken into captivity, they’d be looked at with a certain eyes. Since they were taken into captivity, it’ll imply that their God was weaker than the Babylonian god. If not, how could they have been captured. As if declaring you were a Jew who worshipped God would bring shame upon God. But that’s not the way Daniel and his 3 friends acted, they didn’t hide they were Jews. They continued to be open about their beliefs in the true God. It started off with their declaration not to partake of the king’s delicacies. Even when Daniel was brought before King Nebuchadnezzar, he declared the king of the Jews, of heaven and earth, was the one who would reveal the dream and its meaning. He openly declared his belief in God and declared this God even though the Babylonians may think: “This God is likely weaker. If not how could we have taken His people captive?”

Belshazzar served after Nebuchadnezzar. Before Belshazzar, Daniel also declared it was God who ruled. Even in Dan 6, when King Darius was now ruling, Daniel still openly declared his faith before him and the people. To the extent that even when it was difficult for him to openly display his faith; when it would lead him to be cast into the lion’s den; even in danger of such a threat, Daniel continued to do as per normal - opened his windows toward Jerusalem and keenly down thrice a day to pray and give thanks (Dan 6:10). Daniel could’ve done many things to try to tide over this period of time. He could’ve said to God that since he would be thrown into the lion’s den if he supplicated at this juncture of time, that he’d just pray in his heart. He’d easily and safely passed this period of time. Or he could have: he should have practised and bow before God but close the windows of his room so no one could look in. But Daniel openly practised his faith. Even in the danger, even if people may report him, he still prayed to God. Later on, he was protected from the mouths of the lions.

When Daniel’s 3 friends were threatened to be thrown into the fiery furnace, they said that even if they were to die and not be rescued by God, they wouldn’t bow to the statue.

They openly declared their faith and openly declared they were worshippers of the God Most High. What about us today? Are we ashamed of the gospel? Even His church?

Has our shame become so wrong that we’re ashamed of doing what is right? Let’s think back about ourselves and really reflect on our own lives.

In summary:
We have learnt that shame comes about because of sin. Shame has two parts: (1) feelings of guilt because we have done something wrong, (2) wanting to hide ourselves or the sin.

As a result, the actions we take as a result of our shame can lead to certain dangers. Hiding our sins and pushing the blame can lead us to think what we have done is not sin. At first we do know we have sinned and are ashamed and so try to push it away, but it we continue to act on this shame and try to hide, this sense of shame can be warped. To the extent we feel shameless and don’t try we have done something wrong; we encourage others to do the same thing and are proud to have done that thing.

Another warped sense of shame is not doing something right - we think it’s wrong. Particularly, the example of preaching the gospel and being open about our faith to the world. Let’s not be ashamed of preaching the gospel. Instead, if we do commit sin, admit it to God and He is fully willing to forgive us.