Cantate Monday - Devotion in Exile

Lection for Cantate Monday
Leviticus 21:1-24     Luke 12:1-12

How would you feel if your pastor did a baptism, "I baptize you in the name of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier, one God, Mother of us all."? Yes, this is actually wording being us for baptisms. When those who do are asked how they can say this, when it is in direct contradiction to what Scripture says, they claim, “the Bible is not the sole source of religious truth.”

What would you say if I told you that we cannot be sure that Jesus is really who the Bible tells us He is, that Paul and the other Apostles fabricated the stories about Jesus? He was just a man! What if I told you that we cannot be sure that all the things the Bible says Jesus did are true? Sadly there are Christians who “confess” just such things.

By God’s grace we confess something different, “Jesus Christ is God who truly did ALL the Bible claims He did.

How many believe you can confess that you believe in Buddha, or Shiva, or Allah as God – and still get to heaven? Many Christians believe that faith in the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is just one of many religions which all lead to the same place and same god. They claim there are other ways to heaven besides faith in Christ as your Savior, the one who died for your sins. This contradicts God’s Word which tells us very clearly, “you shall have no other gods.” (Ex. 20:3)

If these lies are true, then we may as well throw away the Bible, it does not matter what church we attend. In fact, as some people contend, then it does not matter if we attend church at all. If the truth about God is subjective our own whims and ideas, then we can believe what we want to believe. That is exactly what some Christians want you to believe.

I am constrained to confess and speak a different word to you, these teachings are lies. They are falsehoods, which, if believed, have eternal consequences. “And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” (vs. 11-12) These are Christ's words.

Christ said, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”(John 3:16) This one sentence shoots down the other ideas you read. God is – our Father – His Son, and the Holy Spirit, and not one god our mother.

God the Son is true God, of whom Peter proclaims, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name, under heaven, given among men, by which you must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Peter could have been lying when he spoke these words to the Sanhedrin, or Luke made them up, and was not inspired by the Holy Spirit to write. I believe they are true, but you must acknowledge this for yourself, you must confess for yourself. Know this, confessing anything less will guarantee no salvation, for there is salvation in no one else except in and by Christ.

All the apostles confessed boldly what is contained in our New Testament about Christ, the only true salvation. They warned false teachers would invade the church and you must be on guard for them and avoid them.

The entire life of the apostles was one of confession, and their boldest and loudest confession was their martyrdom. All but John died at the hands of those who persecuted them, because they would not deny their God, they gave their life for the name above all names, the name of Jesus, the Christ.

We are to live our entire life as a confession. Where you attend church is a confession of faith. Your presence there speaks a confession to those people who attend with you, it says, "Jimmy-Bob is a Lutheran, a Missouri Synod Lutheran, he believes what that church teaches."

The fact that you are taking the time to read this devotion is a confession of faith in Christ.

Martin Luther stood before the Diet of Worms and was asked to recant his teachings asking for reform of the church of Rome. When finally asked for a simple response, "I ask you Martin - answer candidly and without horns - do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors which they contain?"

He replied, "Since then Your Majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by the Scripture and plain reason, I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, often they have contradicted each other, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. Amen."

Knowing he would be branded an outcast and a heretic by the church of Rome, this is how brother Martin confessed. His was a confession of Christ, for his writing stood out against the teaching of salvation by good works. He stood firmly on Justification by faith in Christ Jesus alone, as the only source of salvation.

This truth has been proclaimed and confessed on the mountaintops, in the light, and from housetops, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. There is salvation in no one but Him.” It has been confessed boldly as such for many years and by many people.

How else is it confessed? 

I confess to you, Jesus came to earth because of me. I am a poor miserable sinner. I am, on my own, eternally lost and without hope. Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, the very Word of God, took on human flesh. That flesh He sacrificed for me. He gave up His life unto death that I might have life. He took my sins upon Himself, that I might be given His righteousness.

A Roman Centurion confessed that he was not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof, that all Jesus had to do was say the word and his servant would be healed. He knew what it meant to have authority. And Jesus said, "Go your way; let it be done as you have believed."

As this Centurion confessed, so you confess. You are not worthy to have Jesus come under your roof. Yet, your Lord invites you to His house! When you sit under His roof, you are healed. There, your lives, broken and wracked with the pain of your sinfulness are healed – as you confess your sins and Jesus speaks to you, "Your sins are forgiven." Christ invites you to come to Him, in His own house. He comes to you. The man of sorrows – the one who is intimately acquainted with your pain, sorrow and grief, the one who endured the cross –comes to you and says, "Your sins are forgiven."

By His Word, the Spirit comes to strengthen your faith that you may confess Christ with all boldness. By His Word, Christ sets before you a meal of His own body and blood, as your sins are forgiven in that eating and drinking, this meal nourishes you and strengthens you to confess Christ.

This is the Christ I confess. This is the Christ who died for me – who died for you! This is the Christ who even now stands before His Father in heaven and pleads with Him to forgive you and me. He stands confessing before the Father, “Father, you called Todd Randal Jerabek by name through the waters of Baptism. My blood covers Him. He hears my Word, He eats My body and drinks My blood. My Spirit fills him with faith, and he clings to these gifts which you ordained to be his from the foundation of the world. I am in him and so, Father, Todd is in Me.” So, Christ confesses me before His Father.

So also does Christ confess each of you who confess Him, before His Father.

Let us pray:           Lord God heavenly Father, bless with your Spirit all baptized believers, that they would be given ears to hear and an eagerness to learn all that the Holy Spirit teaches them about their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the salvation they have through Him, that they might confess Christ boldly before others and be boldly confessed by Him before you until eternal salvation. Amen.