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“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
᛭ INI ᛭
In the hymn “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name,” which is a versification of the Te Deum, the third stanza, in praise to God, goes like this:
“Lo, th’apostles’ holy train
Join Thy sacred name to hallow;
Prophets swell the glad refrain,
And the white-robed martyrs follow,
And from morn to set of sun
Through the Church the song goes on.” (LSB 940)
It’s true that “through the Church the song goes on,” and yet the Christian Church isn’t just singing. There’s something else going on all over the world through the Christian Church. It’s also going on in the Church’s song. Sts. Peter and Paul day is a good day to bring this “something” up. Through the Church the preaching goes on. Through the Church the confessing goes on. “Through the Church the song,” the preaching, and the confession of Christ “goes on.”
That’s the Gospel reading for today. Christ asks His Apostles, “Who do people and who do you say that I am?” Peter confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter’s confession continues to be made. Through the Church the same confession goes on, the same preaching goes on. Through the Church songs go on that preach and confess what Peter and Paul preached and confessed. For, the song, the confession, the preaching of the Christian Church is this:
IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.
(I. What this confession and preaching means.)
When it’s preached and confessed that IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, it means something. It’s saying something to the Church and to the world. What this confession and preaching means has eternal import to all people everywhere.
IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD first means that IHS is the Christ, the Anointed One. That’s what Christ means—“Anointed One.” It means the exact same as “Messiah.” Messiah is Hebrew, Christ is Greek, and they both mean “Anointed One.” To preach and confess that IHS is the Christ is to preach and confess that He is the long-promised heir of King David. (Kings were anointed, so was Christ, at His baptism with the Spirit.) “IHS Christ our Lord was born of the seed of David according to the flesh.” (Rom 1)
Second, to preach and confessed that IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, is also to preach and confess that He is THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. In fact, “Christ” also points to this, as Psalm 2 sings and prophesies. Christ isn’t just the heir of David’s lineage and throne. He’s not only the Seed foretold to Abraham or the Seed promised Adam and Eve in Eden. IHS is also God, as Paul, under the moving of the Holy Spirit, preaches in Romans 9: “from [the fathers,] according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” “For in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Col 2)
Finally, to preach, teach, and confess that IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD means not only that He’s 100% true man (like you and me), not only that He’s 100% true, eternal God, it finally also means that He is your one and only true Savior. It means He must suffer, die, and rise to save you from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation. It means He has the flesh and blood to give into death. It means His giving His flesh and blood in death actually counts for you. This is why right after our Gospel reading in Matthew 16 that the Holy Spirit tells us this: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Mt 16) Doing those things “for us and for our salvation” is what it means for Him to be THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.
(Transition.)
IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. The holy Christian and apostolic Church preaches, teaches, and confesses this. All true Christians believe this! We believe that IHS is the Christ, that, according to His flesh, He was born of the virgin Mary some 2,025 years ago. We also believe that He’s also “true God,” (SC) “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God,” (NC) “begotten of the Father from eternity,” that according to His divine nature He is eternal and everlasting. But we also believe that this IHS Christ “is my Lord who has redeemed me a lost and condemned, purchased and won me from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil, with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” (SC)
But who makes or preaches this confession? That’s a question we often don’t like answered… In fact, who’s even asking that question? I guess I will, and I’ll answer it, too!
(II. The person who makes or preaches this confession.)
The confession that IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD doesn’t just exist. The State of the Union Address needs a President to give it, a lesson on Math or Science or History needs a teacher. A prophecy is given by a prophet. A sermon needs a preacher. A confession needs a mouth, a person, a confessor to confess it. So also, Baptism doesn’t just need water and word. There needs to be not only someone who receives that water and word but also someone to splash the water and speak Christ’s Word in His stead! Bread and wine aren’t just up here for you to grab whenever you like. According to Christ’s institution, the bread and wine must be blessed with Christ’s own Word.
We like to disembody the word. As if the preacher is of no importance. As if the Word of God exists without someone to speak it. That’s nonsense! The devil uses that idea to drive us away from preachers, as if sermons are useless unless the content meets our approval. We’d rather be our own preachers. The sinful flesh says, “I don’t need a preacher, I have my Bible.” But those who say that clearly haven’t actually read their Bible. For the Holy Spirit says through Paul in Romans 10: “‘Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”
A confession, a teaching, a preaching needs a mouth. Peter was that mouth in Cesarea-Philippi. Paul was that mouth among the Galatians and Gentiles. Throughout time, in various places, the Lord has appointed and continues to appoint His mouth-pieces: His Prophets and Apostles, His Priests and Levites of the Old Testament as well as His Pastors today. Always a bunch of names: like Peter and Paul. When Peter died, there was Clement of Rome. When Paul died, there were Pastors Timothy and Titus. When the Apostle John died, after him there was Polycarp, after him was Irenaeus, after him Hippolytus, after Him only God knows. Jobst, Bohm, Grimmenstein, Kirk, Fenker. After that? God knows… None of the names I just mentioned were always in the same place—many places, many pulpits, many to stand in those pulpits to preach: IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, your Savior. Many hands and mouths to say, “I baptize you;” “I forgive you all your sins,” “Take, eat; the body of Christ, given for you. Take, drink; the blood of Christ, shed for you.”
So also you are the Lord’s mouth-piece, each of you according to your vocations, your daily place in life, put there to be the one who confesses not only with deeds but with words: IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. For flesh and blood does not reveal this to you. You didn’t cook it up in your own head. It was preached to you. You declare it to others. The Father sends the Spirit who uses that preaching, that confession to create faith in Christ, to sustain faith in Christ. The Spirit uses you fathers and mothers to do so whenever you read the Word and speak of it at home with your children, as Deuteronomy 6 says.
(Conclusion.)
IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. Through the Church that song, that confession, that message goes on. It preaches that IHS Christ is really God, really man, that He saves you from your sins, even from turn ears away from His appointed mouth-pieces.
Because, yes, that’s how the Father does it. IHS being THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD didn’t just pop into Peter’s heart and head. He saw what Christ did. He heard what Christ preached. The Father, by the working of the Holy Spirit, used that work and word to create faith and to bubble up a confession out of Peter’s mouth.
The Lord uses preachers and swaps them out. One guy can wear the vestments just as much as the next. Like Eleazar did with his father Aaron’s High Priestly vestments. But the Lord also has appointed you. He brings His Word to you, so that a confession and message would bubble forth from your mouth, too. Each one of you according to your individual daily callings and life. To tell others that IHS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, which means He’s man and God and died and risen for them and all people. Even for you, and He’ll make sure the Baptizing, the Absolving, the Preaching, the Teaching, and the Communion goes on so that you and all would be saved.
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