Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Every time before the sermon I kneel and pray- end of Psalm 19: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Then my opening words are from the Epistles: Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ- to which you may respond Amen! This is true and I believe it! The words of the apostles are the Word of God, my words are different of course, but as long as they proclaim to you the very same word that the Scriptures teach, then I am also giving you God’s true and perfect Word. Not that I am perfect, I am mere “flesh and blood” as we heard in today’s reading, but it’s the Word that is perfect. It’s why when I serve God’s gifts I put on a white vestment that reminds you that Christ’s perfection clothes you and God no longer looks upon your sin.

This is what you listen for when you hear a sermon proclaimed in a confessional Lutheran Church. God’s voice heard through me is doing three things:
1- Condemns you with His Law that correctly labels you a sinner, and you have no help except in one place, Jesus.
2- He offers the refreshing Word of life in the Gospel message, God loved you and sent Jesus Christ to suffer and die for you. He is also risen from the dead to assure you everlasting life.
3- The sermon is also intended to prepare you to pick up a particular theme from the selected readings out of God’s Word, and relate that theme to the gifts you receive, especially forgiveness which we can easily see in today’s readings, but also the Body and Blood of our Lord, that is, Holy Communion, and I will speak more of that momentarily.

The Gospel is our clearest statement of the Divine Service’s theme. The prayer normally at the beginning of the service called the Collect of the Day tends to repeat that theme so you can focus your mind on what particular gift it is that your Lord has in mind to give you today.

We’ll pray it later in the Matins service today, but here it is for you to hear now: Almighty God, whom to know is everlasting life, grant us to know Your Son, Jesus, to be the way, the truth, and the life that we may boldly confess Him to be the Christ and steadfastly walk in the way that leads to life eternal, through the same, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

How does this prayer relate to the Gospel? It’s the record of Peter confessing Jesus to be the Christ! Normally you hear “confess” and that means confess your sins. You agree with God’s commandments and what they say about you and admit you have broken those rules. That’s the usual understanding of “confess.”

To confess Jesus is to agree with what the Bible says about Him, that God the Father sent Him to live in our human flesh, to take our sins from us and suffer punishment in our place, to die on the cross to save us, and to rise from the dead on the third day to win the victory for us and all believers. I, a poor miserable sinner, need to believe that this is all true, but even more, that Jesus did all these things for me. Same for you, just as it was true for Peter.

We can’t believe this on our own. Flesh and blood did not reveal this wonderful truth of Jesus to any of His disciples, nor do we know this by ourselves. God the Father has given this great gift to you, that the Word you hear today is the Word of your forgiveness, the Word of your salvation. We’ll hear many different options in our world today, and many of our loved ones have fallen for these nonbiblical ideas, but God has called us to confess this one true faith in one and only Savior, Jesus.

When you say in public with your solemn promise that you believe what God’s Word says, that you believe what is taught here is in full and correct alignment with God’s Word, and that you desire to take part in the pastoral, spiritual care that is offered here in this church, then you are part of our communion fellowship where you declare publicly to one another, This is My faith!

That is what our new members joining our church will say today. We welcome you to Good Shepherd and to the confession of Jesus Christ that we all share with one another! If those of you visiting would like to know more about what we teach from God’s Word, feel free to pick up a catechism booklet—they’re free, and you may get in touch with me here at the church anytime. I would love to talk to you more!

Notice then in our Gospel reading, after Jesus notes that Peter gave the one, true and proper confession of You are the Christ, son of the living God, then our Lord declares that this confession is a rock, a foundation, an immovable base, on which He will build His Church. Buildings, budgets, and activities all have their place, but what really makes the Church is
the bold statement—Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.

We have come for the forgiveness of sins that He has promised. If forgiveness is given to you here, then it’s valid in heaven also, where it really counts. If someone says no to forgiveness, or I don’t believe God’s Word, then the Church has to warn them that they need to stop resisting, or else they will lose their faith permanently. Once they repent, then the Church is right there to give the forgiveness Jesus has already earned.

That’s really why we are a Church, and why we do what we do; we are His Church, even if all the other stuff goes away. We are not only a Lutheran Church, since lots of churches go by that name, but we are a confessional Lutheran Church, which means we confess the truth about Jesus, and we have not changed what the Bible says about the Christian faith. We made a promise as a Church to stay true to our confession of faith– it’s even in our congregation’s constitution– and you can read what we believe in a book called the Lutheran Confessions.

Jesus promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. Gates are meant for protection, so that means Jesus and His Church are on the attack against hell, Satan and evil. How do we attack? When we proclaim forgiveness, when we stand by God’s Word and confess who Jesus is to our sinful and evil world. When we say there is no room in the Christian faith for bigotry or racism, like the world loves to point out even in places where really, it’s not, just so they can keep the truth subdued and quiet.

And what an effective attack we have! Those spiritual enemies of ours don’t have a chance against the Church. Sure, they may sue churches and win some cheap-shot attacks, but Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God– He will win the final battle for us His Church, and hell will not prevail against it. You’re on the winning team!

You are part of that winning team when you confess Jesus is your Lord, that He has gone to the cross for you, and when you are confident that it’s not because of what you have done, but always and only because of what Jesus has done for you, that you have the certainty of forgiveness and everlasting life. You will also have the ability to share that faith with others, and they will receive the benefit of your good works that you do for them. That’s what the prayer is talking about when we ask our Almighty God to grant that we “steadfastly walk in the way that leads to life eternal.”

We will constantly need God’s help in this, for the confession that Peter spoke of Jesus was not his, but a gift from God. Peter had times of wavering faith, as we will see in the very next reading that comes up next Sunday. You will have the same problems in your Christian walk.

When you make your public confession of faith and full agreement with what the confessional Lutheran Church teaches, then you come forward with your fellow confessors of the faith to eat and drink Christ’s Body and Blood. Once again, as you do in so many and various ways, you receive forgiveness, as well as the strength and power of the Holy Spirit.

When you’ve been to church, then you know you’ve been forgiven, and you’re ready for heaven whenever God calls you home, but until that day comes, you’re ready also for what the coming week will bring!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.