If You're Not Ashamed... Post This As Your Status

You've seen them.  Kept scrolling.  Felt guilty.  Caved.  Reposted.  We've all seen them on our social media feeds and I'll be honest, sometimes it's hard to ignore them.  I mean, I'm a pastor and I still get that little twinge every once in awhile, "what if God DOES disown me because I don't repost this?"
So this morning in my Bible reading time I actually read this verse in it's context.  And guess what?  Reducing this verse to a post on your social media account is pretty far from what Jesus was actually talking about.
When Jesus told his newly commissioned disciples, "everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven" it comes in quite a different way than what you might expect.  Let me explain.   Jesus makes this statement towards the end of Matthew chapter 10 when he is talking to His disciples about what they will experience as they go out and preach the Gospel.  He tells them they should be prepared to endure:  being taken to court, whipped, beaten, dragged before governors and kings (but are not to prepare a speech before hand), families betraying each other to death because of the Gospel, being hated and persecuted.
Then Jesus says, "everyone who acknowledges will themselves be acknowledged and everyone who denys will also be denied.  And right after that he continues, "I have come to bring a sword to the earth... to set a man against his family, father against son, mother against daughter, a person's enemies will be the members of his own household... whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me... whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."
The disciples, very early in their ministry, were tasked with taking the Gospel to a people (the Israelites) who would not only reject the Gospel, but reject the men brining it.  I wonder how many would repost these verses if they knew for a fact that re-posting would bring the loss of their jobs, the rejection of their families, the loss of income or the destruction of their marriage?  These followers of Jesus were actually preaching on the street corners telling strangers about Jesus in a very hostile environment.  If someone didn't like it they could literally drag them out of town and murder them with no repercussions.  What happens to us if someone doesn't like our FB post?  They block us.  But, they were probably just FB friends anyway, you probably never see them and don't really care if they are your friend or not.  But you won't lose your life... or even any sleep for that matter.
Now, I'm not saying it's wrong to repost these spiritually shaming FB status images or verses... I'm saying, the context of sharing our faith should cost us something and I'm afraid that for most of us, reposting only helps us clean our FB friends list a little.
Here's the test:  If you aren't sure whether you should repost something like this in the future ask yourself this question, "when was the last time I stood in room of my unbelieving friends and boldly proclaimed the Gospel TO THEM expecting them to repent and turn to Jesus?"  If you've never tried to convert a friend or co-worker, if you've never acknowledged Jesus in a place that would cost you something, then posting to your FB status isn't going to get you in good with the Big Guy.  If you're only willing to acknowledge Jesus on a FB post or a t-shirt or a bumper sticker, but not in your speech or actions or at work or among your non-believing friends and family then I'm not sure a FB post counts as acknowledgment at all.
Just something to think about...