Photo by hoch3media on Unsplash

Audio: iTunes | Spotify | Download

Jesus said, “Fear rather Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”

Paul said, “He alone has immortality.”

᛭ INI ᛭

CHRIST ALONE HAS IMMORTALITY FOR YOUR BODY AND SOUL.

That is the core belief of the Christian religion. It is the heart and center of everything we believe, teach, and confess. It’s what we Christians tell to the world. It’s what we tell each other. It’s what we tell our children. We sing about it in our hymns. It’s what’s preached in our sermons. It’s what’s taught in Sunday School, Bible Class, and at Good Shepherd. It’s what’s simply laid out in Luther’s Small Catechism.

We say what Jesus has done: that He alone is our Lord, that is, our Savior from sin, death, and the devil. Christ has died, and He alone has made full satisfaction for our sins. We also speak the Truth of His Word. We repeat what His Word says. Whatever the Bible says on various topics, that’s what we say. What it says are sins, we say are sins. What it says is good and right, we say is good and right. What is says is evil, we say is evil. What God’s Word says about God—about Jesus, His Father, and the Holy Spirit—we also say that.

We don’t just repeat things Word for Word, though we often do. (This is where Creeds and Confessions come in.) Creeds and Confessions are just statements of beliefs drawn from the Bible. They may use more words or different words to further explain what it is the Bible is saying. Creeds, simply put, are saying “We say this, we believe this way because, ‘Thus says the LORD.’”

And the central belief of the Christian faith, the belief that informs all others can be put in many ways. It can be confessed that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. It can be said that “Christ died for our sins and was raised according to the Scriptures.” It can be said that our justification before God, that is, that He declares us innocent, on account of Christ’s death is the doctrine upon which the Church stands or falls. It can be said all theology, that is, everything the Bible teaches, is Christology, that is, related to who Christ is what He does for you. Or it can be summarized, like I am this morning from Paul and Jesus: CHRIST ALONE HAS IMMORTALITY FOR YOUR BODY AND SOUL.

That’s what’s true from the Scriptures. Apart from what Christ has and gives we would die and be lost forever. We are worthy of “temporal and eternal punishment.” But Christ, out of great love for you and other sinners, gave His life. The one who is Life itself died. The one who alone possesses immortality, eternal life, became mortal and stopped living. The One who created our human flesh and blood, took on human flesh and blood to do it. He is the one who not only has immortality but He gives it to you. He shares all His riches and life! CHRIST ALONE HAS IMMORTALITY FOR YOUR BODY AND SOUL.

So, what are you afraid of? Oh, we’re afraid of many things! But our Gospel text today lays bare a particular fear when it comes to confessing what we believe. We’re afraid of other people. We’re afraid of our family members, our friends, our coworkers, our neighbors. We’re more afraid of them than we are of our heavenly Father. We’re don’t really have “fear of God” as the Bible puts it. That doesn’t just mean that we should be afraid of our heavenly Father, though we should be: “He can cast your soul and body in hell!” Fear in the Bible is an all encompassing word that has to do with trusting in the true God, believing Him, worshipping Him, serving Him. We don’t have that either!

As it is, we are afraid of what we’ll say or what other people will say or think about us, if we confess the Christian faith to them. Jesus says, “Whoever confesses Me before men,” and we often fall silent. We are content with silence, or to let people or ourselves talk about “god” in generic terms. Or let people go to churches where the main thing is not Jesus alone for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Like it’s not that big of a deal. “Whoever denies Me, I will deny.”

We do not confess Jesus, tell everyone who’s not with us this morning about Jesus, what He’s done for them, and how He is here for them in His Word and Gifts. This isn’t just about duty, generations of LCMS preaching in that vein hasn’t yielded much fruit. “Duty” doesn’t cast out fear. Failing in your duty adds fear upon fear! **“Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 Jn)** Only Christ overcomes our fear. (But more on that in a bit.)

“On June 25, 1530, the German Princes, who followed Luther’s reformation, appeared before Emperor Charles V in order to present their confession of faith, which was not Luther’s teaching at all but the teachings of Holy Scripture. When the confessors stood boldly before the Emperor at Augsburg, they were prepared to die rather than let the Word of God be taken from them. “Fear not those who kill the body; rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Mt 10:28) Only the Word of the Lord endures forever.” At Augsburg Jesus kept the Word of Psalm 119: “I will speak of your testimonies before kings, O Lord, and will not be put to shame.”

They fought the good fight of faith. They laid hold of the eternal life to which they were called in Holy Baptism. They did this because Christ was at work in them and for them. CHRIST ALONE HAS IMMORTALITY FOR YOUR BODY AND SOUL. And so they weren’t afraid of death. They believed, they taught, they confessed in the face of rejection, of persecution, of even a death sentence! Yet it was not them, but Christ in them. Christ is such a Christ even for you.

That is the way of faith in Jesus and confessing Jesus and what He does for sinners. CHRIST ALONE HAS IMMORTALITY FOR YOUR BODY AND SOUL, and He doesn’t just possess it has a carrot to get us to be faithful. It’s His free Gift to us in order to make us faithful. He creates faithfulness within us! “Faithfulness” is “the fruit of the Spirit.” (Gal 5)

Sure, you’re afraid, but why? Telling people about Jesus won’t kill you, and even if they do kill you for it, so what? He’ll just raise you from the dead as He is risen to live forever. After all, CHRIST ALONE HAS IMMORTALITY FOR YOUR BODY AND SOUL. Jesus made the good confession before Pilate for you. Jesus died and rose for your sins and the sins of all. In holy Baptism He claimed you as His own, making you “an heir having the hope of eternal life.” In Absolution and Sermons here He tells you, “You are forgiven and mine forever.” At His Supper He promises, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will resurrect him on the Last Day.” (Jn 6)

He will make you a confessor, someone who both believes and speaks what He has done for you. And so Christians use every opportunity to confess Jesus and His salvation. Christian Weddings are an opportunity for a Christian couple not only to profess and celebrate their love and commitment to each other, but more importantly its a chance to point the people they love most, their friends and family, to Jesus. (What other opportunity would they have to hear the Gospel of Jesus?) Funerals are the same. A chance to confess the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, and not merely a pagan celebration of life. So, all our worship services serve the same purpose because the one who has immortality is here in our midst to give His Gifts: to put His Word into your ears, to bring it out of your mouth in the Creed, the Liturgy, the Hymns, and the prayers, and to give you forgiveness in the eating and drinking of His body and blood “to strengthen and keep you body and soul unto life everlasting.”

The core truth of the Christian faith is what Jesus does for us. It was confessed at Augsburg. We continue to believe, teach, and confess it. Not only because it’s true, but because of Jesus we can say like the Psalmist in today’s introit: “In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Not much at all, since CHRIST ALONE HAS IMMORTALITY FOR YOUR BODY AND SOUL, and gives the same to you.

᛭ INI ᛭