Sermon – Presentation of the Augsburg Confession – Matthew 16:13-18 – 6/25/06
June 25th, 2006Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
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In good Jeff Foxworthy style, let me begin by saying, “You must be a Lutheran if…”
· You believe in prayer but would practically die if asked to pray out loud.
· You believe your pastor will visit you in the hospital even if you don't notify him that you are there.
· You believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially during a stewardship visitation or when passing the plate.
· You believe that Garrison Keeler stories are totally factual.
· You serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color for the season.
· You watch a "Star Wars" movie and when they say, "May the Force be with you," you respond, "and also with you."
Well, how do you know if you’re a Lutheran? That was the question that was answered on this day, 476 years ago in the city of Augsburg, Germany in what is called, “the Augsburg Confession.” We can easily understand why it goes by the name “Augsburg.” That was where it was read publicly before the Emperor King Charles V. We just spoke together the “Nicene Creed.” The name of the creed comes from the fact that it was adopted as the official statement of the Christian faith in the city of Nicea. So the name, “Augsburg” roots this official statement of faith in real-life, this world, time and space, history
I. Confession A. Confession of Sins But what about that word “Confession.” Isn’t a “confession” when we admit that we have done something wrong? A criminal “confesses” to doing the crime.
As we begin worship every Sunday, we confess to God and one another that we’re guilty of doing the crime to God. We say, “we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean…”
Now, why do we say such a thing about ourselves? It’s not because that’s how I really feel about myself or what I actually think of myself before God. Frankly, if you want my opinion on the matter, I don’t think I’m really so bad before God. I feel that I have a lot to offer God, I could be a lot worse than I am. But if I hear what the Scriptures say about me before God, and what the scriptures say I should be like before God, then I see a much different picture of myself.
And so, we come to a fork in the road of life. We can deny God’s Word about ourselves and say it’s not true, or we can believe God’s Word about ourselves, turn ourselves in and confess the crime. Our first and most natural response is always to deny God’s Word about ourselves and trust in our goodness. Faith’s answer is always to deny ourselves and believe God Word. Can you see now why faith must be a gift from God and not something we do ourselves? Who in their right mind condemns himself before God?
But here’s the great news! “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God hears our confession, and says, “Yes, I know. Always have known. And here’s how I deal with sinful men and women like you. I send My Son, Jesus into the world and punish Him in your place. And by His death on the cross all of your sins are atoned for His sake, I forgive you all of your sins. So when you confess your sins, it means that you believe My Word and you have what it promises.”
We confess our sins because we want to say the same thing about ourselves as God’s Word says about us. We are forgiven sinners. B. Confession of Faith. The Augsburg Confession is not a confession of sins but a confession of faith. It’s a confession of faith about God that leads us to a confession of sin and trust in God.
Who is God and what is God like and how does God deal with sinful men and women? How will we answer those questions? Well, there’s lots of ways to answer those questions. We may base our answer on our feelings, or our opinions or on the scientific data available from the observation of the universe. Some base their answers to those questions on what others have said before. Some base their answer on what the Scriptures say about God. us to say. And to be sure, there are multiple combinations of all of the above. We can answer with a mixture of Scripture and feelings, Scripture and scientific data, Scripture and what others have said.
When Jesus asked His disciples this question, Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus responded by saying, “Blessed are you.” This answer didn’t come from your feelings, ideas, scientific data or who the people say that I am. “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:16-17).
The only true and dependable confession of faith is one that is based solely on the Scriptures. God speaks through His prophet Isaiah telling us that our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways not His ways, and therefore we shouldn’t mix the two. Let it be His pure word alone – because that is what does not return empty but shall accomplish that which He purposes and succeed in the thing for which He sent it – which is to bring us to trust in Him, confess our sins and receive His forgiveness.
Throughout history, men and women are always trying to add some of their own thoughts and their own ways to the Word of God. And whenever that happens, people become confused about who God is and how He deals with sinful men and women through Jesus Christ. And the true faith gets lost in the confusion. Confessions of faith are necessary to set the record straight.
C. The Augsburg Confession On October 31, 1517, a man named Martin Luther posted a series of 95 disagreements he had with what his church was teaching – in particular about how God deals with sinful men and women. In retrospect we can see where the disagreements came from. Luther was basing his understanding of God and how God deals with sinful men and women on the scriptures alone while his church was basing its teaching about God and God’s dealings with sinful men and women on the Scriptures plus what the pope and church councils had said.
Four years later, in 1521, Luther is summoned to appear before King Charles V and a delegation of Church authorities in the city of Worms. There he is told to recant everything that he had written that disagreed with the church. To this Luther replied, “Unless convinced by the Scriptures, I cannot and will not recant. My conscience is bound by the Word of God. Here I stand. I can do none other. God help me.” Luther confessed his faith. This was Luther’s personal, individual confession of faith.
Among the most significant things that Luther did in his career was to translate the Scriptures into a language that common people could read and understand so that they too could read the Scriptures to see what they say about God. Over time, many others agreed with what Luther taught and wrote about what the Scriptures say about God and how God deals with sinful men and women. Several of these were princes and governors of several of the states in the Holy Roman Empire. Luther’s personal, individual confession of faith was becoming the basis for other personal, individual confessions of faith.
In the year 1530, these princes and governors were summoned to appear before King Charles V at the city of Augsburg to confess the faith that was being taught in their churches. They were ordered by the King to read their statement in Latin – a language that the masses common people who had gathered outside couldn’t understand. In defiance to the King, they read their confession of faith in German and with such a loud and clear voice that everyone outside could hear. Once again, King Charles ordered them to renounce all that they had just said and submit to the teachings of the Catholic Church. In response to this, the princes and governors who were there each dropped to their knees and bowed their heads and offered to have their king cut off their heads – but they would not recant. And to this the King replied, “Not cut off your head.” “Not cut off your head.”
From that point on, the Augsburg Confession has been the standard answer to all who ask, what does it mean to be a Lutheran? It is our corporate confession of faith.
And so if someone were to ask you, “why are you a Lutheran?” The best way to answer them is to say, because I believe that the Lutheran Confessions are a correct interpretation of the Scriptures. This is what makes a Lutheran a Lutheran. Its not the way we worship that makes us Lutheran. It’s our confession of faith that determines why we worship as we do. Its not the stand we take on the social issues of the day that make us Lutheran. It’s our confession of faith that determines why we take the stand we do. Its not our zeal for sharing the truth of the scriptures with the unbeliever that makes us Lutheran. It our confession of faith that makes us zealous to share the Word of God with the unbeliever because it’s only by this Word that God’s purpose is accomplished.
II. Confessing the Faith A. Three Purposes of Confessional Statements Knowing what our confession of faith is, is very important. But just as important is confessing our faith according to our confession of faith. St. Paul tells us, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10).
It is important that we know these confessions of faith, that we abide by them and that we speak them for three reasons. First, we must know what they say because they act as a cord that binds us together in unity with each other. This is where we agree to agree with each other about what the Scriptures say about God.
Second, confessional statements act like a security alarm that goes off whenever error and false teaching try to sneak in. They are the standards against which we can tell what’s on the mark and what’s not.
And third, confessional statements help us tell others what the Scriptures say about God and how He deals graciously with sinful men and women through Jesus Christ – by grace alone, through faith alone for Christ’s sake alone according to the Scriptures alone.
B. Why We Might Not Confess The presentation of the Augsburg Confession happened 476 years ago but it has great relevance for us today. Strong, clear, dogmatic statements of the Christian faith are strongly discouraged in our world today. Maybe the most commonly expressed confession of faith today is the “whatever confession of faith.” When it comes to making a strong, clear, dogmatic statement of what we believe the Scriptures say about God – the best we can sometimes manage is “whatever” or “who knows,” or “whose to say.” And maybe this helps explain helps why there is so much disunity within the Church today. Why there is so much false teaching going on. And why the Christian proclamation to the world is so garbled and unclear.
Today, we are gratefully reminded that just as the Scriptures command all Christians to confess their faith before men, the Lutheran Church has been blessed with faithful men who have committed and given their whole lives to passing on to us faithful and true confessions of faith that we may speak to ourselves for unity amongst us, for protection from false and misleading ideas and so that we make speak clearly and boldly to the world about what a loving God we have and how He deals with sinful men and women by Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead.
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