The 4th Sunday after Trinity

SERMON - Christ Calls upon Us to Confess His Name with Boldness!

INI

Text: Matthew 10:24-33

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

In Christ Jesus, whom we confess to be both our Savior and Lord, dear fellow redeemed:

How easy is it to talk about the Minnesota Twins these days? Our pride in Joe Mauer and our praise for Justin Mourneau or Jason Kubel just flows out of our lips! They are winning, and it is so exciting! How easy is it to talk about the Minnesota Vikings? Once again that is so easy! It is fun to speculate about the season Brett Farve may have after fitting in so well last year and having a near MVP season, and who doesn’t like to hear about Adrian Peterson’s latest 100 yard game?

It is easy to talk about a favorite sports team, or the latest hit movie, or even some important current event, but how easy is it for you to talk about Jesus? The love of our Savior for each of us should certainly fill our hearts with more joy than a successful pennant race for the Twins or the prospect of the Vikings. The fact that our Lord Jesus commands us to confess His name before others certainly ought to move us to talk about Jesus more than we would talk about sports or movies. Yet, in spite of our Savior’s love and our Lord’s command, I fear that all too often we fail to speak about Jesus when we are given opportunities to do so. My dear friends—this ought not to be so, for CHRIST CALLS UPON US TO CONFESS HIS NAME WITH BOLDNESS!

I.

I would encourage you to do so! One of the major reasons that confessing Jesus is not always easy is because many in our world oppose Jesus and so will oppose us when we do confess His saving name. Consequently, Jesus tells us in our text—be prepared for but do not fear the world’s limited ability to oppose us! Jesus says: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

If the Bible is anything, it is practical and realistic with regard to both the extent and limitations of the opposition we will face in the world! Jesus does not issue each of us a pair of rose-colored glasses, promising us that all will be well with us if only we will confess His name. No, Jesus realistically points out that “a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” Jesus is our Teacher and our Master. We cannot expect to be treated better than was He! Think about how He was treated. Oh, yes, He was well-received by the poor and needy—those whom the world rejected and viewed as inferior, but He was falsely accused and mistreated by the leaders of His day. The religious leaders claimed He was in league with Beelzebub, the devil—an absolutely false and ridiculous charge. The political leaders ignored Him for the most part until forced into confronting Him, after which they summarily executed Him. Can we truly expect better treatment in this sin-filled world than received by our Savior and Lord?

But Jesus says, “Do not fear them!” Why should we not fear them? Everyone knows how destructive false accusations can be to one’s reputation and being executed certainly ends all opportunities in this world! The reason is because while we are not “above” our Teacher and Master and so cannot expect better treatment than He received, Jesus promises that we will be “like” our Teacher and Master. What happened to Jesus three days after His execution? He was raised from the dead! Where is Jesus right now? He is sitting in glory at the right hand of God exercising His power on our behalf. The Bible assures us that we share in that power and glory as we faithfully follow Him, and that one day that power and glory will become evident to all!

My dear friends, let us not forget that God is aware of our every situation—“nothing is covered that will not be revealed,” Jesus says, “and (nothing is) hidden that will not be known.” The unbelievers in this world may persecute us Christians and assume that nothing will happen to them—their sins will remain hidden, but that is not true! Jesus Christ is the Judge of all human beings and on the last day everything will be revealed. Therefore, Jesus says, that we should be unafraid to speak openly of those things we have learned through our study of the Bible. We should be unafraid to proclaim those truths from the housetops. The world will not like what we have to say about God’s moral judgments, nor does it like what we say about the exclusivity of our Christian faith—it is the only way of salvation, but do not be afraid to speak! All that the unbelieving world can do is tell lies and take away our physical lives. But we know that the message of Easter will prove true for us, because the Bible says Jesus was merely “the firstfruits of…those who are Christ’s at His coming” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20, 23). The One whom we truly want to “fear”—the One before whom we should always stand in awe is God Himself, for He alone controls our eternal destiny. He alone, Jesus says, “is able to destroy soul and body in hell.”

One of the most compelling books I have ever read is entitled Tortured for Christ by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand. We have a copy in our church library. Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian Jew—an atheist, who converted to Christianity and was led by the Spirit to become a Lutheran pastor. He was imprisoned and tortured for fourteen years under the communists after World War II. The stories he tells moves one to tears, but also causes one to recognize the power contained in the gospel message of God’s love for sinners as believers are moved to confess Jesus. He speaks of individuals—modern day Sauls, communists who tortured Christians relentlessly, but who by the loving confessions of those being tortured were led by the Spirit to become modern day Pauls! Can we who have suffered so little, do anything less than those who have suffered so much? Do we fear being called a few names so much that we will remain silent, when we ought to speak up? I hope and pray not! No, CHRIST CALLS UPON US TO CONFESS HIS NAME WITH BOLDNESS! Be prepared for but do not fear the world’s limited ability to oppose us!

II.

Rather, always put your trust in God who cares about us and controls our ultimate destiny! Jesus assures us: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

My dear friends, God is in control of every aspect of our lives, even as He is of all aspects of this universe. Not a sparrow falls from heaven of which God is unaware. God cares about you and me and all people. The Bible tells us that “God our Savior…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3b-4). Jesus says He knows the number of hairs on our heads. Even if we are very self-conscious about losing our hair, we do not sit and count the hairs of our head that we pull out of a hairbrush, or that we wipe up with a tissue after blow-drying our hair, but God is that aware and cares about us that much!

Let us, therefore, confess Him, and He promises that He will confess us before His heavenly Father as we are called forward and ushered into heaven on the last day. Jesus does say that if we “deny” Him, He will deny us. That sounds so foreboding—almost a threat, but it is not intended to be so. Jesus is not saying that we must confess Him in order to earn or merit our salvation. No, our salvation flows from the grace and mercy of our God—His undeserved love for us. It is His gift to us—the result of our Savior’s redemptive work. Therefore, our confession of His name is to flow from our love for the One who cares about us and controls our ultimate destiny—we are safely held within His hands and no one, He tells us, can take us away from Him (cf. Jn. 10:27-28).

There is something important, however, that we must understand. While we are obliged to confess Jesus’ name, we ought not do it simply out of a sense of obligation. When I was younger, that is what I did. I knew I was supposed to confess my faith, and I was determined to do it. Once as a high school student, I was sitting in the bus station with a stranger sitting next to me. I was trying to think of some way to begin a conversation and confess my faith to him. I could not think of anything, however, and eventually his bus number was called and he left. I felt like a failure. Since that time I have come to recognize that it is not we who open the door to confession, but the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that He has “prepared beforehand” the good works He would have us do, which includes every opportunity to confess His name. Consequently, I now live my life not with a pressing sense of confessional obligation, but rather a life of confessional expectancy—wondering when and where the Lord will open the next door for me to talk about my Savior’s love.

Let me give you one example. Our synodical convention ended on Thursday evening. Friday after helping my sister and her family move some furniture, I took them out to lunch before leaving for Mankato. When I paid the bill, it was a bit more than I expected. After paying the bill I had a total of eleven cents left in my pocket! As I was driving home, I decided to stop by the Stillwater State Penitentiary to visit an inmate, but I realized I needed a quarter to store my personal items in a locker. I didn’t have a quarter. I stopped in Menomonie but there was no Wells-Fargo Bank. I then stopped in Hudson and after driving around found a bank and withdrew $10.00 so that I could have a quarter. Those stops delayed my arrival at the prison by an hour, which meant that I had to wait an additional hour because prisoners cannot be visited between 3:00-4:00 p.m. The Lord had a reason for my delay. A young lady named Esther arrived shortly after me and chose to sit across from me in a waiting room that was virtually empty. I noticed that she had a cross necklace on and when I commented on her necklace we began a conversation that lasted over 45 minutes. It turned out that Esther did not attend any church and really knew very little about Christianity. We talked about the difference between the holy, Christian Church and visible churches, the way of salvation, the proper view of sanctification, the providence of God, and how all of this applied to many of the issues she was facing in her life. As she was called up to visit her fiancé I extended an invitation to her to come down to Mankato in order to meet our family and attend services here at Immanuel. I had stopped by the prison to make one visit, but the Lord arranged for me to have two!

My dear friends, CHRIST CALLS UPON US TO CONFESS HIS NAME WITH BOLDNESS! I would encourage you always put your trust in God who cares about us and controls our ultimate destiny! He will give each of us opportunities to share His message of love with others. Our confession of Jesus’ saving name is so very important, for God may well use our words about His love to alter the ultimate destiny of a fellow human being, or perhaps even many of our fellow human beings. May that indeed be the case for each of us! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting
Soli Gloria Deo!