Rest for the Weary - July 5, 2026 - Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 09) - Text: Matthew 11:25-30

Rest, that thing we all desire, yet that thing that seems to allude us the most. As children we do not want to take a nap, as adults we wish we could take a nap. You know how it is, we work all week and we look forward to the weekend when we can sleep in. For too many people it seems that all there is to this world is “working for the weekend.” And then, on the weekend we do not rest (voice inflection). No, we play hard, we garden hard, we do everything except rest and we are glad to get back to work on Monday so we can rest. And then we look forward to the next weekend when we can get some rest, or so we say.
 

One of the difficult issues Jesus faced while on this earth, and still today, was and is His identity crisis. Who is this Jesus? In His day, and still today, suggestions as to His identity range from His being a good man, a good person, a good teacher, a good prophet, and the like to Peter’s confession and our confession, that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Savior of the world. Jesus is true God and true man, that is one hundred percent God and one hundred percent human, not fifty-fifty. He is the Messiah, the Christ, the One promised in Genesis three. Still today there are those who would deny Jesus identity, usually because it is not logical or reasonable. I would suggest and I like the fact that God is beyond my comprehension. Think about it this way, how puny God would be if He were so small and so simple and so logical that I, with my little brain, of which scientists tell us that we only use about 10% of anyway, how puny He would be if I could completely understand Him. Thanks be to God that we worship a God who is so much bigger than we are and a God who is beyond our own comprehension. However, we also worship a God who has revealed to us everything we need to know for our salvation. We worship a God who has done everything for us and given everything to us. We worship a God who is so much greater and beyond us, but who has made Himself very personal to us. But let us get to our text.
 

Earlier Jesus had sent His disciples out in order to get some “on the job training.” He “gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” Now, they had returned and Jesus turns to His Father in prayer for their experiences. Jesus praises the Father for concealing hidden things from the wise and the learned, that is, the self wise and the self learned. Jesus’ prayer speaks through the ages as we see the same self wise and self learned today who think they are so much bigger and smarter than God and announce certain things, certain characteristics about God, such as His inability to do miracles, to be in more than one place at a time, to work through simple earthly things like water, bread and wine, and the like. The god about which they speak is a god of their own creation, in other words, an idol. That is why they do not know Jesus, the one true God and that is why He is hidden from them. Of course, we know that, in our text, Jesus is referring to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and they know it too. In His prayer we come to understand even more about Jesus, our Savior.
 

In His prayer, and in many other places in Scripture, Jesus establishes Himself as God. He is not explicit in His words and in His prayer and that may be why so many miss it, why it is hidden. Jesus’ prayer reminds us that He is God with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In other places in Scripture He is more explicit reminding us that He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, God who died and was raised to life.
 

Very often, in the Gospels, we hear Jesus speak the “I Am” words, that is, Jesus says, “I am . . ., “I am the way, the truth and the life.” These words go all the way back to the Old Testament and the call of Moses in the wilderness. When God called Moses from the burning bush to bring the children of Israel out of bondage of slavery in Egypt Moses asked, “who shall I say sent me?” and God said, “tell them ‘I Am’ has sent you.” “I Am,” that is God’s name, Yahweh. When Jesus says, “I Am” He is claiming to be Yahweh, God, and that really grates on the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.
 

In our text, in His prayer Jesus says, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Jesus, the Son, and the Father are known by each other and through each other because they are one. Here again, we see Jesus establishing Himself as God, with the Father.
 

Jesus, true God, comes to bring rest, true rest. Here, again, Jesus is aiming His words at the Pharisees and teachers of the Law and at the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in our world today. These Pharisees and teachers of the Law were bringing a burden, a yoke on the children of Israel. And for those of you who do not know what a yoke is, a yoke is that thing which goes around the neck of an ox or a mule or a horse in order to attach a plow or trailer or other object and the reins to drive the animal. The yoke with which the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were burdening the people was the yoke of ceremonial laws. Today it is the yoke of obedience. So many laws they put on the people, in order to keep the ten commandments, it was unbearable, it was unrealistic for the people to be able to carry such a load.
 

The third commandments says the we are to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Simply stated, in good Lutheran terms we ask, “What does this mean?” and answer, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” Simple enough we might suggest. This commandment reminds us of the importance of not despising the Word of God and the preaching of such Word, because of our love for God and it reminds us of the importance of gladly reading our Bibles, having family and personal devotion, and attending Divine Service and Bible class, again, because of God’s love for us and because of our love for God. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law, however, made up many tedious rules and regulations in order to “help” the children of Israel to keep this commandment. Rules such as, a person can walk only so many feet on the Sabbath day. A person could lift only so much weight on the Sabbath day, a person was not able to cook a meal on the Sabbath day and so on. It was these rules, to which Jesus was referring, which were a yoke and a burden to the children of Israel.
 

Instead of giving the people a difficult yoke to bear, Jesus simply gives gifts. He tells us that His yoke is a yoke of peace and rest. And when I say peace and rest, I am not speaking about the type of peace and rest we think of in our world today, an hour or so, maybe a day of peace and calm. No, His is true peace, a peace which surpasses all understanding. His yoke brings true rest, not just a nap or a time to sleep in, His is a true rest, a rest of mind and spirit, a rest of forgiveness of sins which brings a rest of body.
 

And even more than just giving us an easy yoke, Jesus takes our yoke, our burden of sin and guilt. He who was without sin became sin for us. Our Old Testament lesson for this morning is the promise of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem where He came to give His life on the cross for us, in our place. Paul reminds us in our epistle lesson, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Christ comes to rescue us. He comes to take our heavy yoke of sin and to give us His easy yoke of forgiveness.
 

The trials and tribulations of this world are indeed heavy. The struggles of this world weigh heavy on us. Day in and day out we struggle against sin and temptation and we lose. Our fight is not against powers and principalities but is against the spiritual forces which fight against us. Every day there is the temptation to sin, not against just one of the commandments, but against all of the commandments. And have you ever noticed, when we do sin against one of the commandments, we have probably sinned against two or three others as well. I would suggest that our temptation and sin today is not that we have so many rules and regulations to help us to keep the Ten Commandments, but that we have so much freedom to not keep the commandments. The question is not how much we should not do in order to keep the Sabbath day, but the fact that we have the freedom to do whatever we want, even, not the freedom of religion, but the freedom from religion.
 

Thanks be to God that He is a God who gives and we are His people to whom He gives. He has given us Jesus who is God. Jesus is God who comes with power, might and authority. And if we question if Jesus is God all we need to do is to go to His Word and in His Word Jesus shows Himself to be God. He shows Himself to be God through His signs, wonders and miracles which He performed while on this earth.
 

It is important that Jesus is both God and man. It is important that Jesus was a man that He is truly human, so that He might be our substitute, that is so that He might give His life for ours. It is important that Jesus is God so that He might be holy, and so that He might be able to live for us, the perfect life demanded of us, for us, in our place. So that He might take our sins, all of our sins, our sins of commission, those sins we actually commit and our sins of omission, those sins of failing to be the people God would have us to be, helping and serving our neighbor. He took all our sins and suffered the eternal penalty of eternal death in hell for us, in our place. And He died. Yes, our God, in Jesus died, but He did not stay dead, but on the third day He rose from the dead. Indeed, He lived, suffered, died and rose for us, in our place. Thus, the ultimate showing of Jesus to be our God and Savior is the fact that He gives His life for ours on the cross. He takes our burdens, He took our yoke, He took our sins  upon Himself. He suffered and died the eternal death penalty for us in our place.
 

Jesus gives all things, faith, forgiveness and life and we are given to. He takes our yoke and gives us His which is a light yoke, a light burden. And what is more, He also gives to us so that we respond according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
 

Yes, a nap would be a good thing. Physical rest is important. Unfortunately, the reason many people are unable to get enough physical rest is because they are needing spiritual and emotional rest. Sin, temptation and guilt are overpowering. The world imposes a heavy burden, very much like the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. Jesus comes to take that burden and to give us His yoke, a yoke of forgiveness, a yoke of love, a yoke of gifts, a yoke of eternal life. And with His yoke comes rest, a rest the world cannot give, a rest of spirit and soul. Yes, Jesus prayer is for us, for you and for me, His offer is to us, to you and to me, “come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Thanks be to God for His gifts of forgiveness and rest and to Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

We Confess Because of Our Value - Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 07)/Father’s Day - Text: Matthew 10:5a, 21-33

Today we again celebrate a social holiday, that of Father’s Day. Indeed, it is well that we celebrate Father’s Day as we celebrated Mother’s Day because it is specifically through the vocation and gift of fatherhood and motherhood that God gives us the core of our families and as He instructs parents to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So, we welcome especially our Father’s and wish you a blessed and happy Father’s Day. Now, let us get to our text.
 

There once was a young man, college age, who decided to take a summer job as a lumber jack in order to earn some money for the next school year. While visiting his home congregation, before heading up to the camp, he was approached by several of the members and ask how he thought he would fare at this camp. He was reminded by some that this was a very rough and rugged lumber camp that was known for its lack of Christians. He was also told stories of how years ago a man went there proclaiming to be a Christian and how he was mistreated and abused. The young man, self confident in his faith, answered that he thought he would be alright. After the summer months were over the young man returned to his home congregation before returning to college. When asked how he had fared at the lumber camp and if he was mistreated or abused for being a Christian he answered that he had no trouble, as he said, “no one found out that I was a Christian.” I do not know if this is a true story or not, but it does serve to some degree to illustrate our text for this morning. The theme of our text might be stated as, “confession is good for the soul,” whereas this story illustrates Jesus warning in the text that we be not afraid of men lest we fail to confess faith in Him, which would be devastating for the soul.
 

Our text is a part of Jesus commissioning His disciples before He sent them out to bear witness to Himself. By this time the disciples have seen Jesus perform miracles. They have listened to Him as He has told them a lot about Himself. And yet they do not know everything about Him. He has even asked them to keep some of the things He has told them secret, at least until they fully understood what He told them, and as was the case many times, until the time for Jesus arrest and crucifixion was near. Something similar is true for us today. Jesus has told us a lot about Himself. We read about His life, the signs, wonders and miracles He performed, and the parables He spoke in His Word, the Bible. We are the students with His disciples that He is referring to in verse twenty-four of our text. There are some things in the Bible which we may not fully understand, but as we grow in our faith we will understand more fully, and then can even more fully and confidently bear witness of our faith in and relationship to Christ.
 

Jesus goes on to tell His disciple and us that we should not expect to be treated any better than He was treated while we are here on earth. We remember how He was beaten, mocked, and spat upon. He was even called Beelzebub, which is another name for Satan. As His students, His followers we can expect no better treatment. Of course, we can be and we must admit that we are often like the young man in our story who went to the lumber camp. How often do we find ourselves hiding the fact that we are a Christian so that others will not make fun of us? How often do we find ourselves sounding and acting like those around us so that we “fit in?” How often do we find ourselves keeping our mouths closed and not letting anyone know we are Christians? But that is not what our Lord wants from us? Perhaps you have heard the saying, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” When it comes to professing and confessing our faith, too often we do not do a good job, instead we fail miserably.
 

However, Jesus goes on to tell us that this cannot be so, because we are Christians, we cannot hide that fact. All those things He told His disciples to keep secret, when they finally understood what it all meant, they could not keep it to themselves, but proclaimed it to the ends of the world. The same is true for us. Have you ever seen a new Christian? How bubbly they are. They want to tell everyone about their new found faith. We remember at Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when the Pharisees told Jesus to ask His disciples to be quiet, Jesus said that even if they were quiet the stones would sing praises. We are so excited about the good news of Jesus and eternal life that we can not keep quiet, but sing and shout His praise.
 

Now here at verse twenty-eight the stage is set. We have been given God’s Word, the Bible. We have been told how we can expect to be treated, and we have been told how we will not be able to keep quiet about our faith. Now Jesus puts our call to bear witness into perspective. Verse twenty-eight reads, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” He is not necessarily asking us to be martyrs, at least not for martyrdoms sake. As another saying goes, “Martyrdom is the gift you can only give once.” If it is possible to retreat from a situation without denying the truth of the Gospel, then it is better to leave and begin anew elsewhere than to be martyred. God is only calling us to not fear humans in our witnessing.
 

I agree with the commentator (Dr. Lenski) who put it this way, “What Jesus says is this: ‘If the disciple is going to yield to the low motive of fear, then let him be scared, not of the minor danger, but of the supreme danger.’” If we are going to be afraid of someone, it should be God who can do much more damage than any human being. The main point is that we should act with boldness. Why should we not be afraid? The reason is that Jesus will be there to protect us. He is the one who has given us life. Each one of us is a precious person to Him. He planned for our conception, birth, and life. He brought us to faith, some of us through Holy Baptism as we were brought in by our parents, some through His Word, either way, it is He who brought us to faith and He keeps us in that faith.
 

He has blessed us abundantly. My favorite example to show how much He has blessed us is this thought: Think about what we had when we came into this world. I will give you a hint, nothing. Now think about what we will take with us when we die. I will give you another hint, nothing. Now put these two together and you will have the answer to what is actually ours. Your last hint is nothing. Everything we have is God’s, He has created everything we have to use while we are here on His earth, and He would have us use it to His glory. Obviously, if He has given us all that we need we must be of some value to Him. In our text He says that we are worth more than many sparrows. There are other Bible passages which say the same thing, as in Matt. 6:26 when He says that the birds neither sow nor reap yet He takes care of them. We are of so much value to Him that He even knows how many hairs, or lack of hairs, we have on our head. With all this in mind it should be easy for us to not fear him who only can destroy the body. However, our young man in the lumber jack story is a good example of how easy it is for us to deny our faith in Jesus.
 

The ultimate value Jesus has given us is shown by the fact that He gave His life for us. Paul says that for a “very good reason” one person might die for another good person, but Jesus loved us so much and valued us so much that while we were His enemies, that is, while we were actively fighting against Him, which is our nature, He died for us. He lived the perfect life for us, in our place. He suffered the pangs of hell for all of our sins for your sins and for my sins, in our place. He rose on the third day declaring victory over sin, Satan, and death. He did all of this because of His great love for us, for you and for me, love which shows we are of such value to Him.
 

Our text ends with Jesus’ promise that if we will confess Him before men, He will confess us before His Father in heaven. As another commentator (Dr. Kretzmann) expressed it, “A confession of Christ in word and deed, an open proclamation of the truth and a steadfast defense of the truth, is demanded for every follower of Christ.” “There is no neutral ground: for every one the choice is only between confession and denial.” How do we confess Jesus? We confess our faith in Him by our deeds, what we do. We are all witnesses of Him. When it is known that we are Christians, others will look at us and judge what a Christian is by how we act. So, we definitely confess our faith in Jesus by our actions. If you are like me, however, sometimes we do not make a good or positive confession. Sometimes we make a rather bad or negative confession. And for these Jesus also offers us His forgiveness.
 

We also confess Him by our words. I have found it interesting or should I say thrilling that no matter how confusing our verbal confession, and our confession by action, of Him might be, Jesus uses it in great ways. Confessing our faith in Jesus does not mean giving an hour lecture or a testimonial of our faith. Confession of faith in Jesus may be as simple as being there for someone in their time of need. It may be as simple as a few words of comfort or encouragement. It may be answering a question a friend has about our church or our faith. We confess our faith in Jesus in many ways. Almost  every Sunday morning we confess our faith through either the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed which are both confessions of our faith. It does not matter how we confess our faith, but rather that we do confess, because Jesus last words in our text are that if we deny Him, so He will deny us. He makes no bones about it. That means eternal death!
 

I believe that the young man in our story did confess his faith. He confessed that he had no faith, at least no faith in Jesus. Today we might say he simply “identified” as a Christian. You see, there is a distinct difference between identifying and confessing. Too many people attempt to identify as something they are not. As Christians we confess because God gives us that confession. Remember Peter? When Jesus asked His disciples who people said He was, they offered Moses, or Elijah and Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Remember Jesus’ words to Peter? This confession was not from flesh and blood but from my Father in heaven. Indeed, our confession of faith is never ours alone, but is always a confession given to us by the Holy Spirit through His Word. And that confession is not simply a verbal confession, but wells up in us as a living confession
 

Our whole text for this morning is a section of great encouragement. Jesus is speaking to us as He speaks to His disciples. He has come, and continues to come to us in His Word, bringing us to faith, strengthening us in faith and keeping us in faith in Him, and forgiving us when we fail. He reminds us that we should expect to be treated as He was, that we will not be able to keep our faith to ourselves, that we are to not be afraid of how we may be treated as others can harm us only in our body. He goes on to encourage us by telling us how valuable we are to Him and He ends by promising that when we do confess our faith in Him He also will confess knowing us to His Father in heaven, which means eternal life. This morning it is especially great to see our father’s confess their faith and bring their families to Divine Service. Finally, I pray that you will go boldly out into the world, into your various vocations and confess your faith by word and deed. And ultimately your confession will be a confession that rejoices and says, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Go with Authority - the Kingdom Is near - Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 06) - Text: Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-20)

You may have noticed or maybe not, last week our liturgical color has changed to green the color of growth. We are now in the Pentecost season and the non-festival portion of our church year calendar. We began our current church year back in December of last year and we moved to series A of our Lectionary or our Bible reading series. Let me remind you that in series A of our Bible readings we are for the most part hearing Gospel readings from the Gospel of Matthew meaning that we will be growing in our Christian faith and life through the writings of the Gospel writer Matthew, as he was inspired to write by God Himself. This Matthew is the one who was a tax collector called by Jesus. He is Jewish and he is writing in particular to a Jewish audience. And with his accounting background you may notice his writing often include numeric references. So, let us get to today’s text.
 

The idolatry of our society has reached epoch proportions. That sounds like it would make a great newspaper headline, but what in the world do I mean? We are now, and have been, living in what sociologist call a pluralistic society. The ideologies, the philosophies, the theologies, the ideas and concepts of our world suggest that “broad is the way to heaven,” that there are many ways to the same god and the same heaven. How narrow minded are we Christians who believe, what the Bible says, that there is one and only one way to heaven and that way is through faith in Jesus and in Jesus alone. And unfortunately, many, too many, people, even some, which is too many, Christians, and I would suggest that even some among us here in this congregation who have bought into this idolatry. This idolatry makes it easy for us to sit on our grace and do nothing, because if everyone is saved, why bother confronting others and showing them they are doomed. This morning I want to tell you some history. I want to tell you His story, that is, Jesus history.
 

Jesus is unlike anyone else who ever was or will be. Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that He is truly God. He was born of a woman, Mary, so that He is truly human. Throughout His time on this earth, Jesus showed Himself time and time again to be God. The gospel writer John talks a lot about Jesus performing signs, wonders and miracles and that it is through these signs, wonders and miracles that Jesus shows Himself to be who He says He is, God in flesh, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. This fact, that Jesus is God in flesh, flies right in the face of many religious groups, non-Christian cults and sects today, especially those such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons, the Muslims, and many others. And yet time and again, historical account after historical account shows Jesus demonstrating His divinity. Only God can walk on water, heal the sick, raise the dead, multiply food to feed thousands, change water into wine and so forth, miracles Jesus, as true God did.
 

As true God, Jesus was able to see the real need of humanity. I say the real need because today we hear a lot of talk about meeting what are called the “felt” needs of people. You know how it is, a child comes and asks for candy because he is hungry. His “felt” need is candy. His real need is not candy, but real food to fill his hunger. Likewise, we often think we know what we need, after all, we can “feel” what we need, but that may not always be what we really need. Thanks be to God that Jesus can see into our hearts and lives and He knows what we really need.
 

We have a felt need. We are sinful human beings. We are born with a void. We are born in sin and we are in need. On our own we could and would search to have that need filled, but our filling that need would be to fill it with any of the philosophies or false theologies of the world. Again, we would fill the void in our lives with something comparable to a child who is hungry filling themselves with candy that is the type of “religion” we would find to fill the void of our lives. Jesus gives what we really need. He gives us His law which shows us our sins. One quick trip through the Ten Commandments reminds us of just how sinful we really are. But Jesus does not stop there, He also gives us His Gospel which tells us of our forgiveness. Jesus gives Himself. He has given His life for ours. He suffered the eternal death penalty for us in our place. He gives us forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness He gives eternal life. He also gives authority as we heard in the Gospel last week and as we hear again this week. He does not give authority for lording it over others. He does not give authority for being bossy. He gives authority for sharing the good news of salvation with others. He gives authority for doing good, being kind, loving others and the like.
 

What is more, Jesus also gives special instructions. He gives instructions to His disciples and to us. We are not to stay safely in our homes, but we are to venture out into the hard, cold, cruel world and share our faith with others. And we do not do that alone, because we have His authority and His added promise that He will be with us always, even to the end of the world.
 

And Jesus gives us the message which we are to share. The message is that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. In Jesus’ day the Kingdom of heaven was right there, it was Jesus Himself. In our day, the Kingdom of Heaven is here, Jesus is with us and, at the same time He is seated at the right hand of the Father where He is watching over us, ruling over us, and interceding for us. This is Jesus’ history.
 

There is another history which goes along with this history and that is our history. Our history is that, although we are born in sin and daily sin much, adding to our sinfulness, yet, at our Baptism Jesus makes us a part of His Kingdom. He gives us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. Today He continually gives us His means of grace, confession and absolution, His Holy Word and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He gives us these means through which He comes to give us all His good gifts and blessings.
 

It is His Word which shows us that Jesus is who He says He is, that is that He is Yahweh, God. It is His Word which tells us what we are to do and not to do, what is sin and what is not sin. It is His Word which tells us what He has done for us. How He entered this world in order to live for us, that is to live the perfect life demanded of us, for us, in our place because we cannot. How He has taken our sins, all our sins and the sins of all people, of all places, of all times on Himself. How He has suffered, died, and given His life for ours. How He has created all things and still takes care of them. How He has purchased and won us, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. How He sends His Holy Spirit to bring us to faith, strengthen us in faith and keep us in faith until He comes again to take us to be with Himself in heaven.
 

Jesus sees the real need of humanity today and our real need is the forgiveness of sins. We confess that we are by nature, that is we are born, sinful and unclean. We confess that we have sinned against God by thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, what we call our sins of commission and by what we have left undone, what we call our sins of omission. Again, one quick trip through the Ten Commandments would be enough to shame us into knowing how sinful we really are. Without Jesus there is no forgiveness. With no forgiveness there is no hope. No hope for the world to come and, really, no hope for this world. Jesus meets our real need. He has given His life for us. He lived, suffered, died, rose for us, for you and for me. Jesus gives us forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness we have life, life in this world and life in the world to come, even eternal life in heaven.
 

And now Jesus gives us authority and a mission. The authority He gives is His authority. The authority He gives is to forgive sins and to proclaim the gospel. The mission He gives is to be loved by Him so that we can live our lives to His glory. And even more, Jesus gives us gifts, talents and abilities to carry out the mission He gives us. And He promises that He will be with us every step of the way, even to the ends of the earth.
 

The message He gives us to proclaim is the same message He gave His disciples to proclaim, that the Kingdom of Heaven is near, that Christ will come again, sooner than we know, sooner than we expect. He may wait another two thousand years. He may come next year. He may come next month. He may come tomorrow. We do not know when He will come, we simply know that we need to be ready. And understand this, we will see Him, either when He comes, or when we die, which also may come at any time. Again, the key is this, we need to be ready at all times to meet our Lord. Perhaps each morning as we get up we might look in the mirror and ask ourselves, are we ready if we are to meet Jesus today?
 

Jesus’ history and our history, are really only one history, at least for us Christians. Today we continue to celebrate Pentecost and God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate that the Holy Spirit gives us faith, strengthens our faith, and keeps us in faith until Christ comes again.
 

We continue to make regular and diligent use of the Means of Grace, confession and absolution, the Word and the Sacraments, remembering that it is through these means that the Holy Spirit works in and through us. We also remember that, even though the Lord works through these means that does not mean that He is bound by these means, because He can and sometimes does work directly with us and through various other means when and where He chooses.
 

God gives and with His help, we respond to His glory. And our response is Gospel, because without His help we would not be able to respond. God gives. He gives life at conception, new life at Holy Baptism, faith, forgiveness of sins, life in this world, eternal life in heaven, gifts of talents and abilities, physical, social, emotional and spiritual blessings even beyond our counting, the sun and the rain, the moon and the stars, the seasons for planting and sowing, indeed, God gives us all things. Our only action, the only thing we do is respond and the only way we respond is through His giving us to respond. What a great God we do have.
 

Again, our liturgical color will remain green. Green is the color of growth. The idea is that during these Sundays we are to grow in our Christian faith and life. We do that through regular, diligent, daily reading of God’s Word. We do that through reading and rereading Jesus’ history. We do that through joining and combining His history with our history so that we have one history. My prayer for each one of you is that you will continue to make use of the means that God has given and that He will continue to work through those means in order to shape and mold you; in order to give you and strengthen you; in order that you might “freely give,” as you have freely been given to. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Thoughts on a Lutheran Identity Vs. A Lutheran Confession

Unfortunately the overuse of the word “identity” has almost emptied it of its meaning. With that said, there is a distinct and great difference between one’s “identity” and one’s “confession.” Today anyone may identify as just about anything. A woman may identify as a man (however that does not change her XX chromosome to XY), and a man may identify as a woman (again that does not change his XY chromosome to XX), and yet neither identity is true or real.

An online definition of “identity” states: “In psychology, the term ‘identity’ is most commonly used to describe personal identity, or the distinctive qualities or traits that make an individual unique. Identities are strongly associated with self-concept, self-image (one’s mental model of oneself), self-esteem, and individuality” (emphasis added). Notice the continual use of the word “self.” One might surmise that “identity” comes from within. Of course, Jesus reminds us, “From within, out of the heart of man come evil thought . . . ” (Mark 7:21).

To speak of a Lutheran, Biblical definition of “confessional” means to say the same thing, but not simply to say the same thing, but to live and act the same. One’s confession of faith, one’s beliefs, doctrine, is lived out and seen in one’s life and worship (Divine Service). Doctrine, faith, belief, confession, cannot be separated from one’s practice, life, or actions. As we will see reading through the Bible, one’s confession does not come from within, but comes from outside, through the Holy Spirit working through the Means of Grace.

In the Lutheran Church and in our Confessions we do not use the term “identity,” but we use the word “confession” because to have a confession means so much more than simply to have an identity. To have a confession means that one not only confesses with their lips but believes in their heart, and that belief is then acted out and seen in their life. Thus, a true confession is a combination of faith and life or better said, doctrine and practice. For one to practice something different than their doctrine or to simply say they identify as something means that they are truly not confessing. As Mama always said, “Practice what you preach.” Or as we hear today, “If you’re gonna talk the talk, then you better walk the walk.”

So, what does the Bible say? The Bible speaks of a person making an acknowledgment or confession of faith in Jesus as we read in Matthew’s Gospel, “32So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:31–33). Notice that the word translated as “acknowledge” is the same word that is translated as “confess.”

The Bible speaks of making a confession of faith. Take for example Peter’s confession: “16Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:16–17). Notice that Jesus tells Peter that this confession is not his but is God the Father’s. Notice, it was not Peter but God through Peter giving the confession. The same is true for us today. When we confess faith in Christ, it is not our confession, but it is the Holy Spirit speaking our confession through our mouths. The Holy Spirit puts faith in our hearts (through the Means of Grace) and stirs in us to speak that confession with our lips and finally brings that confession to fulfillment through our lives, that is, we live our confession.

In Romans Paul tells us, “9because, 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. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” Rom. 10:9-10). The word for confess is ὁμολογήσῃ, homolegeo, confess. In verse nine the word is an active word, to speak the same, to agree. In verse ten the word is passive meaning that it is something that is given to speak, as in the Holy Spirit giving us the word to speak. Thus, we see that we confess or acknowledge. We do not simply identify.

Even John tells us, ”Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15).

So, what does the Bible say about identifying as something. Fortunately or unfortunately there are no Scripture passages that speak of one’s identity, none, zilch, nada. Also, the Book of Concord, while it speaks of our confession of faith never speaks of our identity.

Unfortunately, this denominational identity seems to be as divisive as identity politics. Also, as memory serves, it was during the Seminary Walkout that the one group wanted to have a Lutheran “identity” very much like we heard in recent times from Concordia University Texas. Yet, simply to have a Lutheran “identity” does not mean one is a confessional Lutheran. One example of how this is happening and is so divisive in our synod today is what happens on Sunday mornings. Back in the early 1980s this Texas District was involved in the Chuck and Win Arn Church Growth movement. That movement defined what was done on Sunday morning as worship (noun) and suggested that in worship God was the audience, the congregation were the actors, and the pastor and choir were the prompters. Thus, it was implied if not outright stating, that people were to attend worship in order to do something for God and therefore needed to have a part in the worship service, such as reading the lessons, be in the praise band or the drama team, etc. As confessional Lutherans we understand that what we do on Sunday morning is Divine Service wherein God is the actor and the congregation are the ones being acted on and given to, such that the called and ordained pastor is the one through which God works to deliver the gifts He has to give and the laity are there to be given to. The response (worship as a verb) of the laity is simply to offer hymns (good sound theological hymns), offer prayers, and offer their firstfruits and tithes (which are hopefully the same). So, we see in this example the difference between an identity and a true confession which is acted out.

“The Lutheran Church is not defined by cultural or national identity but by its confession of Christ and the pure teaching of His Gospel. To be Lutheran is to confess what the Scriptures teach and what the Church has always believed” (Herman Sasse, Here We Stand: Nature and Character of the Lutheran Faith). Notice the difference in the words, identity and confession. So, to simply identify as a Lutheran does not make one a Lutheran. Only to confess with the lips and live that confession makes one a true Lutheran.