25 Trinity – Tuesday

Whosoever …shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. — Matthew 10:32

It is our solemn duty and privilege as His disciples to confess Christ before men as long as we live in this world, to “be ready always to given an answer to every man that asketh [us] a reason of the hope that is in [us] with meekness and fear” (I Peter 3:15).  To confess Christ means to express plainly and unmistakably by word and deed what we believe concerning Christ (II Corinthians 4:13) and why we have the “hope” or anticipation of “life through His name” (John 10:31).  Jesus was true man. This is undisputed even by most worldlings.  But that “[the] same Jesus…[is] both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36), the Lord of glory, the true and everlasting God from all eternity is what the world will not believe.  That the despised man (Isaiah 53:3), Jesus, who as a newborn infant was laid in a manger (Luke 2:7, 12), who was homeless here in this world (Matthew 8:20), who in shame died on the accursed tree of the cross (Galatians 3:13),  who suffered all of that in the place of all mankind to satisfy God’s justice for the sins of the world (I John 2:2) and thereby earned His forgiveness for all (II Corinthians 5:19 and 21), — this is what the children of this world will not believe about Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 1:21-23).  This is the principal part of our Christian confession before the world, that we assert and defend Christ’s divinity (John 10:30), His vicarious atonement (Isaiah 53; II Corinthians 5:15a), and God’s forgiveness of the world for His sake (II Corinthians 5:19).

To confess Christ also means that we should let the world know where we stand with reference to every doctrine of Holy Writ; for there is not a single doctrine of God’s Word that is not intimately connected with Christ Himself (Mark 8:38).  God-revealed religion in all its parts treats of Christ, of His person, His office, His work of redemption, His merit and its imputation to sinful man, and the application of His benefits to penitent sinners by faith.  The whole Bible, therefore, is the Book of Christ (Acts 10:42-43).  Hence, to confess Christ implies the confession of every doctrine in the Bible, and to deny Christ means to conceal or to reject any truth contained in the Holy Scriptures of our God.  It is this conviction that determines our attitude as Lutheran Christians toward all other nominally Christian denominations.  By God’s grace we are firmly convinced that we are bound to show by word and deed that, as Christ’s genuine disciples, we believe, teach, profess and practice every doctrine of Scripture (John 8:31-32; I Corinthians 1:10), and that, as the fruit of our faith, we earnestly desire to “walk in the spirit” (Galatians 5:15, 25) as evidence that Christ Himself lives within us by faith (Galatians 2:20).

Prayer — Dearest Lord Jesus, God  blessed forever, to Thee I render heartfelt thanks especially for Thy great love in humbling Thyself under the Law, keeping its precepts perfectly in my stead, and suffering the penalty of my guilt in order to purchase my redemption and to save me, a lost and condemned sinner.  May I, out of love to Thee, always boldly confess Thee before men and staunchly proclaim and defend Thy saving Word in its purity even unto the end for Thy great love’s sake.   Amen.

 

 

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 10:16-40

16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against theirparents, and cause them to be put to death.

22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

37He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.