“Confessing the Faith” (Matthew 10:26-33)

Matthew 10:26-33

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Pastor Tom Johnson,
Augsburg Confession
June 25, 2017

This year we mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Today, June 25th, is the date when the Augsburg Confession was read before the Emperor Charles V. The 500th anniversary of that event will not be for another 13 years. One of my preaching professors from Dallas said, “Imagine everyone in your congregation wearing a sign around their necks. On that sign, in bold letters, is the question ‘So what?’”

Martin Luther, the reformer was growing in popularity with the German people. More and more churches were becoming more Christ-centered in their teaching and preaching. People were gaining the assurance that their salvation—their forgiveness and eternal life—is a gift. It is received by faith alone. This made a lot of people happy. Young girls were being educated for the first time in many places. People were learning to read in large numbers. They were reading the Bible and pamphlets about the Christian faith. The Reformation was becoming an international movement and spreading all over Europe. But the leadership of the church in Rome was not happy. Nine years earlier, The church excommunicated Martin Luther sentenced him to death. And he did not just receive just one such death-threat but many. And now the Emperor, along with leaders from the church in Rome, called the regional princes of Germany together in the town of Augsburg on June 25th to tell them to stop these Lutherans once and for all.

Isn’t that awesome? Lutherans were once known as troublemakers, rebels, and a growing movement that needed to be stopped! The princes needed to come prepared, unified, and speak the truth together in love. That’s where the Augsburg Confession comes in. They wanted to clearly communicate what they believed, taught, and what they were willing to die for. One prince said, “Before I would deny my God and his Gospel, I would here kneel before your imperial majesty and allow my head to be cut off!” This is what it means to confess the faith—to put one’s life on the line. Confess is rooted in the New Testament word homologeo which means “to say the same thing.” When we confess, we express solidarity to the truth and to each other.

God speaks. We speak. God says, “You are a sinner.” We say, “I am a sinner.” God says, “You are forgiven because of Christ’s death and resurrection.” We say, “For Christ’s sake, I am forgiven.” When we confess our faith, we take it to heart for ourselves and at the same time share it with others. Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). If we remain silent, the lies, falsehood, and heresies will remain unchallenged. If we do not speak the same things, we are not being faithful to God and his Word. We are not united. And the Christian faith along with all the comfort and assurance it brings will die. That is why Jesus’ words in our Gospel have such a strong sense of urgency. It’s why the princes of Germany nearly 500 years ago were willing to put their necks on the line. To be a Christian is to confess our faith in Jesus Christ. We speak the same thing God speaks. We humbly confess that we have sinned in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We confess that we have failed to do what God has commanded us to do—to love him with our whole being and love one another as Christ has loved us. We speak the same thing as God—the Word made flesh—speaks. We joyfully confess that he came—not for the righteous—but for the unrighteous. He died for sinners. He rose again from the dead to declare his victory over sin, death, and the devil. He died and rose so that he can declare us righteous.

Philip Melanchthon circa 1535

The Augsburg Confession was a document written by Philip Melanchthon that helped these princes come together and peacefully and lovingly say to their emperor “No.” “No, we will not stop believing and teaching the truth. And, not only that, this is what we believe.” And so, they read the document to King Charles V. The entire court and even people outside the windows heard for themselves why they were so passionate and committed to the truth of God’s Word. They heard how Jesus Christ is the center of their devotion and faith. They listened to the truth of all our sinfulness and brokenness of our human condition. And they understood how salvation is a gift—not earned or deserved—and how God even graces us with faith by his Word and Holy Spirit. As the words of the Augsburg Confession itself says,

“People cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works but are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven on account of Christ who by his death made satisfaction for sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in his sight” (AC, IV).

And since the Emperor did not—or could not—do anything to stop Christians from boldly confessing their faith, we now enjoy many of the same freedoms that they were willing to give their lives for.

And what about you and me? Are you and I ready to participate in what God is doing in history and in the world? Are we joyfully speaking the truth in love? Do we have the privilege of passing the faith from one generation to another? God speaks. We speak the same thing. We are not paralyzed by our fears. “For greater is he who is within us than he who is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4). What God has spoken to disperse the darkness of our lives, we speak to bring light to the nations. What Christ says to us in the privacy of our homes, we proclaim on the housetops! God knows the number of hairs on our heads. He knows us intimately. He treasures us individually. He says we are accepted. We are forgiven. Our future is secure in heaven for all eternity. That is just too good to keep for ourselves or to not speak the same thing to the world around us! God says, “I love you.” We say, “I love you.”

“The Great Commission” (Matthew 28:16-20)

Matthew 28:16-20

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Pastor Tom Johnson, June 11, 2017

Most commonly known as the Great Commission, Jesus gives the eleven disciples a vision of his universal authority, a charge to make disciples, and the gifts he gives to make it happen: the Word of God and Baptism. If you look on the back of your bulletins, you will find First Saint Paul’s Mission Statement. It has three headings: Proclaiming Christ, Nurturing Faith, and Serving Others. It is how we believe we are fulfilling the Great Commission as a particular community of faith. But it is good to revisit Jesus’ simple yet profound words.

“All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” This is the foundation of the Great Commission—the universal reign of Christ. He is Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He has conquered our sin, all evil, and death itself. We confess in the Creed “He is seated at the right hand of the Father”—that is our way of saying that Jesus rules all creation from the strength and unity of the Father and Holy Spirit.  “He’s got the whole world in his hands!” I remember singing as a child. “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me…”

“…therefore…” My seminary professors use to say, “Wherefore the therefore?” Or “what is the ‘therefore’ there for?” The cornerstone is Christ. He has brought everything together and holds it together. And so, therefore, our mission flows from the King of kings and Lord of lords. He has acted. Now we act. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations.” Oddly, the word “go” is the word “going.” The main verb is “make disciples.” You could translate this as, “As you are going make disciples.” Or “As you go, make disciples.” Jesus assumes that his people will be on the move. They will leave the city of Jerusalem into the region of Judea. They will go into their neighboring country of Samaria. They will then go to the ends of the earth. And as they go, as apostles…but also as traveling business people, craftsmen, soldiers, and politicians. And as they go around the world, they will proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. And so to this day, Christ’s commission extends to us. To go means that we are to be flexible. It means we take the initiative. We make the first move. And like the early Church, we are willing servants as we travel, move, or come across people who are very different from us. Sometimes the going part is easy. We buy a plane ticket and we go. What takes courage and openness is talking to the person sitting next to you. It takes a prayerful attitude not to let an opportunity pass us by.

“As you go, make disciples,” Jesus says. The word disciple means “pupil” or “learner.” It does not say, “Go and make scholars” or “Go and make experts.” “As you go, make people curious, teachable, and eager to learn and grow. A disciple is excited to learn more about the Bible. A disciple is open to new ideas. A disciple loves to discover something—even if it has always been there in the Scriptures. A disciple is teachable. A disciple learns from others even from—or especially from a child. “Out of the mouth of babes, God ordains strength” (Ps 8).

The word for nations is where we get word “ethnic.” In other words, this is not making disciples of politically organized regions. This is making disciples of every ethnic group. Or as Scripture says, “every nation—from all tribes and peoples and languages.” That means that Jesus does not favor one skin tone over another, or one dialect or one culture, or one social class more than another. What Jesus gives us a vision of in this commission is a global movement.

And the two means of doing this will be through Baptism and teaching. Even the way God chooses to do this challenges our human understanding. How can Baptism change lives so powerfully? How can water do such great things? God chooses to use water and the Spirit along with his powerful name—the triune Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. He washes away sin, guilt, shame, division, and ethnic and personal pride. He molds us into the teachables—disciples who are eager to grow and learn. And so we as sisters and brothers get to share this journey of discovery, learning, and growing into the people of God that we wants us to be. “…teaching team to observe everything that I have commanded you,” Jesus says. It does not say, “teaching them to memorize and systematize all that I commanded you” but “to observe.” One person wisely said, “Christianity is not about making us smarter sinners but more godly and faithful followers of Jesus Christ” (Howard Hendrix).

Isn’t the Great Commission wonderful? And by wonderful I mean fill us with wonder. Even who he is should fill us with wonder—one God in three Persons who transforms this world.  God’s ways are not our ways. It would also fill us with wonder that he would choose the likes of you and me and simple things like water, bread, wine, and the spoken Word. It is wonderful in the truest sense of the word. What a privilege! What an opportunity! How wonderful it is to be invited to take part of this global movement of God in our world!

“He breathed on them” (John 20:22,23)

John 20:19-23

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Pastor Tom Johnson, June 4, 2017

In the beginning, the ruach, the breath, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. God created the heavens and the earth through the Word and breath of his power. And he saw what he had made and it was good. God said, “Let us make humankind in our image.” And so, out of the dust of the earth God formed Adam. He lay lifeless on the ground. Then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living being. The word breath in creation and all the Hebrew Scriptures is the same word spirit and wind. And so the New Testament word pneuma is also the same for spirit and breath. God is re-creating and making all things new by the same spirit and breath on this day of Pentecost

I think about the day my firstborn came into the world. She looked lifeless, discolored, and still. The skilled doctor cleared out her mouth, throat, and lungs. She took her first breath. And then she startled me with her loud cry. “Is she OK,” I asked. The doctor said, “That is a great sound. That is what we want to hear.” And so it is with the birth of Christ's Church. It was a great sound. The breath of God filled the lungs of his people. They immediately begin to share the mighty acts of God in different languages.

Our gospel reading includes a kind of a mini-Pentecost and a pre-Pentecost. Here Jesus breathes on his disciples and tells them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is also their commissioning to be messengers to the world. God creates, re-creates, and gives life to humanity. God also equips his church for mission by that same breath and spirit of power. Notice the disciples were gathered together in the upper room for this foretaste of Pentecost. The disciples are gathered together in the temple for the day of Pentecost. That is what the word for church ecclesia means, gathering or assembly. If they had not gathered and expectation they would have missed this filling of the Spirit and breath of God. At the end of acts chapter 2, the disciples gather together daily to break bread and to devote themselves to the apostolic teaching. Daily, they are breathing in the breath of God’s Spirit and then going out to tell the good news. The Lord adds to their number daily those who are being saved.

I bet you know where I'm going with this! When we neglect the gathering together to receive God’s gifts, we are not breathing in the Spirit that we need to live the life that he has called us to. “Remember the Sabbath day, by keeping it holy,” one of the Ten Commandments tells us. Scripture also warns us in Hebrews chapter 10 (v. 25), “Do not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

We breathe in when we began in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We breathe out when we confess our sins in thought, word, and deed. We breathe in when we hear the Word of God read to us. We breathe out when we sing our hymns, psalms, and alleluias. We breathe in when we hear the Word of God preached rightly and faithfully. We breathe out when we confess our faith in the Creed. We breathe in when we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus at the Lord’s Table. We breathe out when we receive his gifts with thanksgiving, prayer, and praise. We breathe in when we receive the blessing in the Name of the Triune God. We breathe out as we are sent forth into the world to proclaim the good news. We all know what happens to the human body when we do not breathe in the oxygen we need and breathe out the toxins will quickly poison our lives.

So it is with the body of Christ. We need to breathe out the toxins of sin death and evil. We need to breathe in the life and Spirit of God. Our worship and fellowship together are the lungs of the Church for our survival and life in the Spirit. The day Jesus breathed on his disciples to receive the Holy Spirit and commissioning to be sent into the world was a kind of pre-Pentecost. Today is a kind of post-Pentecost. He still breathes on us and fills us with the Spirit. He still sends us out into the world to be his messengers.

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” “What does this mean?” The catechism asks.

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true. 

And so the wind fills our sails for our journey ahead. We breathe in the Spirit of God deep into our lungs. We are carried out by the Spirit’s current into the world. We breathe out the good news.