Today we continue on in
a study on the hallmarks of a disciple of Jesus and look at the willingness of
a true disciple to confess Jesus as Lord. If nothing else convicts me I think
my commitment to sharing Jesus with others is too often neglected. The last
teaching spoke about not fearing the world yet in so many ways our failure as
witnesses come out of that fear. For most of us we have no fear of death
because of our witness but our fears lie in our lack of willingness to be
ridiculed or to lose friends because of our faith. We simply must stop that.
Listen to the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 10:32-33, “So everyone who acknowledges me
before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but
whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in
heaven.”
This is serious stuff. Let us take a look at what Jesus is
saying. First of all note that he begins with the word “everyone” which instructs
us that this verse is talking to me and it’s talking to you. One thing many
people misunderstand is the relationship between the free gift of our salvation
and the result of what happens when we receive that gift. No one believes more strongly
than I that salvation is in no way put in place by one single act of self. The
Bible is clear on this and Ephesians
2:8-9 is just one of many scriptures that explain it. “For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is
the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.” But after we are saved the Bible is also
clear that we are new creations and the Holy Spirit lives in us. While
certainly most of us are not instantly made totally like Jesus, if salvation is
real in our lives there will be change and growth and by the power of the Holy
Spirit we will begin to become obedient to the commands of scripture. The
blessings of being a Christian are found in a relationship of cause and effect.
Verses such as 1 John 1:9 that
say “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our
sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” My point is that the Christian
life involves a lot of “if” we do this “then” God does that. I do not have time
to develop this though deeper here but careful Bible study will teach you how
all this works. We must be a participant in our sanctification.
Jesus says we must “confess” him before men. This means we
not only say we believe Him to be our Lord and Savior but we also live out our
lives before the world in a way that demonstrates we really have made Him Lord.
Following the principle of the “if then” conditional way of
life for the Christian Jesus tells us directly that if we confess Him before
men, then He will confess us before the Father. Jesus reiterates this by giving
the opposite view of that. If we deny Christ before men then He will deny us
before the Father. This is a warning about not only a direct denial but also a
denial by silence. We are not supposed to sit in our little cubicle at work and
privately live out our faith. No we must go out into the world and shine the light
of Christ (See Matthew 5:14-16).
Obviously we fail so often in our witness. God knows our
weaknesses and though we fail often does not necessarily mean we are not His
but the point here is to be constantly watching and testing our faith so we can
be sure we are not drifting. We need to encourage each other to stay on the
path and follow Jesus. I leave you today with the words of Joshua from Joshua 24:15 “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you
will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the
River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and
my house, we will serve the LORD."
We need to make a choice. God bless all of you.
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