Stand Up For Jesus!

(References of sermons by Pastor Jolly Raj of Bethel Church Noida, India and Pastor Rajiv)

Christians all over the world are a mixed lot. Some are fiery, some lukewarm, some extremely committed and some very regular church goers. But we all love our Hymns for sure.

We all sing our Hymns and pray every Sunday and wonder and discuss what's it's like up there. Once such Hymn is "Stand Up for Jesus". How do you do that? How do you stand up for Jesus? Or are they just empty words?

To understand this question, we need to delve into what is "not standing up for Jesus."

Pastor Jolly Raj, in his sermon of the 22nd of June, 2025, talked about how the environment we live in, can slowly and innocuously creep into us and slide us into a situation where we compromise basic principles of Christianity. Such a compromise can end up even in us breaking core commandments and tenets of our faith and justifying it to ourselves in the name of humanity or integration or, as the modern folk call it, diversity. We can even justify it by the love commands Jesus gave. Such actions slowly help us to turn a blind eye to actions which corrode our faith and our loyalty. It could be the economic environment, cultural environment as well as the social environment we frequent. It could also be sheer desperation, when our individual faith is not strong enough.

To be sure, there is nothing wrong with diversity and respect for one another, but the danger is we could be integrating with alien customs and beliefs which actually contradict what God wants from us.

But we question: is God happy? Is that standing up for Jesus? No. Such actions shut the gate to God.

Pastor Rajiv in his sermons on the 7 Churches in Revelations pointed out Churches which had the same issues we face today as individuals.

Pergamum – This church was located in a city known for emperor worship and pagan practices and worship. Revelation accuses it of holding to the “teaching of Balaam,” References to Balaam's sins and malpractices can be found in 2 Peter 2:15, Revelation 2:14 and Jude 1:11 in the New Testament.

Thyatira – The church tolerated a figure called “Jezebel,” (maybe symbolic) who led believers into immoral practices and other pagan practices. This likely reflects the influence of trade and business in the Thytira, involving feasts and rituals dedicated to pagan deities (Sounds familiar isn't it?) For a detailed understanding of these seven churches please refer to posts by Pastor Rajiv on “The Church That Should Be” in this blog.

Coming back to the question – How can we stand up for Jesus:

Standing up for Jesus today means living boldly and authentically in a world that often pulls in all different directions. It’s not always about grand gestures, or sermons or bold statements—it’s about daily choices that reflect His love, truth, and grace and above all, obedience and following His commands, in the face of adversity, public opinion and public advice. Let us not be ashamed to be who we are but acknowledge our identity and our loyalty to Him, overtly as well as in practice. By bending over and compromising we are actually denying Him.

Remember….

Jesus said, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). "Acknowledges" means not denying and not compromising Him.

That’s not just a promise—it’s a call to action.