“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.”