8th Sunday After Pentecost

Presentation of the Augsburg Confession
Sunday, June 25, 2023

“The Blessing of Confessing the Augsburg Confession” (Psalm 119:46)

Today Lutheran churches around the world are celebrating the 493rd anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. It was on June 25, 1530, in the city of Augsburg, Germany, that a group of Lutheran princes took a confession of their faith, composed by Luther’s associate Philip Melanchthon, and presented it to Emperor Charles V. This Augsburg Confession summarizes what Lutheran churches believe, teach, and confess, on the basis of Holy Scripture. And what a blessing this confession has proved to be! Not only did it confess the truth in 1530, it has served the church well for almost 500 years, and still today our congregation and our church body are glad to say that it sums up our faith as well. And so our theme this morning: “The Blessing of Confessing the Augsburg Confession.”

To confess the faith is to say the same thing as what God has first said to us. To confess the faith is to declare to one another and to the whole world what we believe and teach on the basis of God’s word. It is to declare the truth against all errors. It is to speak boldly and fearlessly what we know to be true, whether that’s popular or not. Thus to confess the faith can be a daring and even dangerous thing to do.

It is especially daring and dangerous when you confess the faith before those who are very powerful. But your confidence in the Lord compels you to speak, no matter the consequences. As the psalmist says, “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame.” The Augsburg confessors put that verse, Psalm 119:46, at the front of their confession. It sums up their attitude. You see, both the power of the emperor and the power of the pope were lined up against the Lutherans. The consequences could be severe. But the conviction of the gospel was stronger than any fear of earthly powers. And so the confessors of Augsburg really did speak truth to power.

Confessing the faith can be dangerous, but it’s also a joyful thing to do. The same psalmist who said, “I will speak of your testimonies before kings,” says in the next verse, “for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.” Yes, it’s a joyful thing to confess the faith. Just think of what we are confessing. Just think of whom we are confessing. We’re saying what God has first said to us, about who he is and what he has done for us. We are confessing Christ, our Savior and Lord.

The Augsburg Confession puts it like this in Article III: “There is one Christ, true God and true man, who was born of the Virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, died, and was buried. He did this to reconcile the Father to us.” Friends, this is the best good news in the world! This is the gospel, the only thing in the world that will save you! To confess this faith, then, is a joyful thing. “I believe, therefore have I spoken,” the Scripture says. God has filled our hearts with faith in Christ, and our mouths then speak what our hearts are filled with.

Therefore anything that would obscure the saving truth of the gospel is wrong. And when that happens, we must speak out. To remain silent in the face of error is to be unfaithful to God and unloving toward our neighbor. False teaching can endanger people’s salvation. So we confess the truth and refute the error. That’s what faith does. We want to keep the truth of the gospel clear and whole and pure.

And so when certain groups come along and say something different–when people either wittingly or unwittingly espouse errors that undermine the gospel–then we must refute the error and confess the truth. And we do so in every area of doctrine, in all that our Lord has given us to confess. All things, things like Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and so on. Whatever the Lord has given his church to hold on to, we are not to let go of. We’re not at liberty to change or to count as of no importance anything that our Lord has revealed to us.

Take the doctrine of Baptism, for example. To change Baptism from gospel into law, from something God that does for us into something that we do–which is what many churches teach–this could endanger a person’s salvation. People could think that their right standing with God is up to them. “God does his part, but I’ve got to do mine.” Well, that is dangerous thinking. It is not the way of faith.

To deny the truth about the sacraments robs people of the great comfort God wants them to have. So, for example, we gladly confess what Jesus says about his Holy Supper. Augsburg Confession, Article X: “Our churches teach that the body and blood of Christ are truly present and distributed to those who eat the Lord’s Supper. They reject those who teach otherwise.” See, that’s a clear confession: teaching the truth on the one hand and rejecting error on the other. And such a confession is still needed today. For while we Lutherans believe that Christ gives us his true body and blood in the Sacrament for the forgiveness of sins, many churches around us do not.

Confessing truth against error is still needed in our day. Our culture has slid downhill and now approves what God condemns. For instance, think of all the “Pride Month” celebrations. People are openly proud of what they should be ashamed of, and the rest of us are supposed to go along with it. Our society has become more and more secularized, with the church being increasingly marginalized. Non-denominational churches fail to preach Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins, and instead substitute entertainment and “five steps to a happier life.” False teachers continue to mislead millions. Oh, there’s plenty of need for confessing the faith in our day!

More than that, there is positive joy in proclaiming the good news of Jesus! We want to share our joy with others. We want our friends, family, and neighbors to know what we know, how people are put right with God. As Article IV of the Augsburg Confession says: “People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By his death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in his sight.” Brother and sisters, what good news this is!

So we dare not compromise or give away parts of the faith. Instead, we give glory to God and true gospel comfort to our neighbor by confessing the faith. The Lutheran church is a confessional church. We are not ashamed or afraid to say what our church believes and teaches. Oh, we may be accused of being loveless and rigid and dogmatic. But so be it. We speak the truth and reject error, for it is the truth that sets people free. We confess God’s word in its truth and purity, no matter how popular or unpopular it makes us. It is our duty and delight to confess the true faith.

Fellow confessors of the faith, today we are glad to say with the confessors of Augsburg what the psalmist prayed to the Lord: “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame.”

Confessors, princes, duty bound,
To Augsburg bold they came;
Before the king they stood their ground
And were not put to shame.
Their good confession made that day
Proved not to be in vain;
Gird us their sons, Lord, that we may
Still follow in their train.