1-24-2019

Good Morning All,

          Philippians 2:11; “and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

    We spend a fair amount of time discussing what it means to “confess” especially with respects to our faith.  Most of us are familiar with the confession of Peter when he answers the question that Jesus asked, “who do you say that I am?”  Peter responds, “you are the Christ, the son of the living God.” This type of confession is a confession of faith.  It is a pronouncement of what one believes.  It really should have two components.

    The first is the verbal and mental portion.  I speak what I think.  This is what this means.  We think about the right way to express our faith.  “What do you believe about…?”  We should have an answer.  This is part about being ready to defend (explain) your faith as the Apostle Peter admonishes us.  It also helps to be ready when you hear something that just isn’t quite right.  There are many false teachings in the world and it can be hard to keep up with them.  It is far easier to keep studying the truth.  If we know what is true, we will know when something isn’t true.  We might not be able to clearly explain why it is wrong but we can know when something is wrong.

    The second part about confession is that it is life changing.  When we confess our faith, we are proclaiming what it is that shapes our decisions, desires and actions.  When we say, “I believe” we are saying “this is what determines and shapes who I am.  A confession carries a sense of action.  A confession is a call to action.  “Since my faith proclaims this then I will live like this.”  As Christians, we proclaim Jesus, his life, death and resurrection.  We proclaim to live as he has called us to live.  He has called us to love one another so our confession is that we will live a life as one who loves his neighbor.  That is our confession.  Because of Jesus, we are to be different.  Our desires are to be his desires.  Our future is tied directly to his future, a future of life eternal. 

    The confession depends entirely upon Jesus.  Our confession is not true because we say it is.  Our confession is true because it depends upon Jesus.  This confession is true whether someone else believes it or not.  Our faith is not something we decide; it is something that is outside of us.  It is dependent upon God and His eternal truth.  Truth is an objective element that is not dependent upon whether you believe it or not.  The truth is truth regardless of human opinion.  So our confession is not “This is true because I believe it.”  Our confession is “I believe this because it is true.”  It is true because of Jesus.  It is true because God has ordained it to be true.  We simply accept, acknowledge and confess what God tells us is truth.

Gracious Father, in you all truth resides.  Guide us by your Spirit to see you as truth.  Guide us to live as you would have us live.  Make our confession of faith true in your eyes.  Send us your healing and forgive us when we fail.  This we ask in the precious name of Jesus, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret