Sermon for 12/24/23: Fourth Sunday in Advent

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Confessing Christ

John 1:19-28

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

John the Baptist teaches us how to confess the Christian faith. Christians confess Christ. If you won’t confess Christ, Christ won’t confess you. Jesus says, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

Confessing Christ is a public act. Those who refuse to baptize babies argue that baptism is a public confession of the faith. They are wrong not to baptize babies, but they are right when they say that baptism is a public confession of the faith. We baptize babies with the solemn vow to teach them everything Christ commanded that they be taught so that they will be able to confess him publicly before the world. Confessing Christ is always a public act.

We confess personally and individually. But we also confess as a body. The word “confess” in the New Testament means to speak together the same thing. It is never a purely individual thing. It is always corporate, always a family affair. We don’t make up our own faith and confess it. We confess the faith of the One Holy Christian and Apostolic Church. We confess with the whole Church in heaven and on earth. We gather together to confess our faith. Confession is public, personal, and corporate.

John the Baptist teaches us how to confess Christ. The priests and the Levites who came to John to ask him who he was represented the religious leaders of the Jews. “Who are you?” they ask. They don’t ask John if he is the Christ. John is the one who brings Christ into the conversation. He said he himself was not the Christ. He was not denying Christ; he was saying he was not Christ. You cannot confess Christ faithfully unless you distinguish between you and Christ and between your thoughts and His Word. This is what John did.

God appointed John to be the forerunner of Christ, so John spoke God’s Word, not his own. John was not the focus of his preaching; Christ was. John always extolled Christ. He said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” He said he was not worthy to loose Christ’s sandal strap. Isaiah foretold the ministry of John hundreds of years earlier. He referred to John as the voice. That’s what John called himself. Who John is personally is beside the point. It’s what he confesses that matters.

John preached the Law in all its severity and the Gospel in all its sweetness. He preached the Law. He blasted religious hypocrites who came to him to be baptized, calling them a brood of vipers. Faith that bears no fruit is no faith at all. John made it crystal clear. In teaching God’s Law, he didn’t advocate separation from the world but living a holy life within this sinful world. Tax collectors should not collect more money than the law allows. Soldiers should not intimidate civilians, but be content with their wages. John didn’t tell tax collectors or soldiers to leave their jobs, but to do their jobs without ripping off their neighbors.

John preached the Gospel in all its sweetness. It was John who spoke the words we sing every Sunday before eating and drinking the body and the blood of Jesus, given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins. He pointed to Christ and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” A more beautiful statement of the Gospel of Christ has never been spoken. Faith isn’t a decision; faith is looking. It is seeing Jesus, the Lamb of God. He’s the Lamb of God because He is God made flesh to suffer and die. He’s the Lamb of God because he was appointed by the Father to suffer and die. He’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That’s what He did. This is the Gospel! It doesn’t give you instructions on how to get God to take away your sins. It points you to Jesus who has done the work to take away your sins. We sing the Gloria in Excelsis: “Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” This is what Christmas means. God is glorified as He brings His peace and goodwill to us sinners. We know and confess Him as He forgives undeserving sinners like you and me.

If we have God’s Word; if we have it poured over our heads in Baptism and into our mouths in the Holy Supper; if we receive forgiveness and life from Him, then we should confess Him clearly, dogmatically, and without compromise. We learn this from John, who fearlessly confessed Christ, even though it meant He would languish in prison and eventually meant His death. We confess Christ because He is our greatest treasure. We confess Christ because He is our only Savior, our only hope. He comes to us here in this place, Sunday after Sunday, forgiving our sins, feeding us in body and soul with His body and blood. But while Jesus is present in this place as He has promised—this place where two or three are gathered in His name—He is not confined to this place; He is everywhere, as true God and true man. And since He is everywhere, we will confess Him everywhere. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.