Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 25:00 mark.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

493 years ago today a confession of the Scriptural Gospel was presented before Emperor Charles V in the German city of Augsburg. Besides the theologians present, the German princes who had believed the Reformation Gospel, that they were justified freely for Christ’s sake alone, and that this free gift was received by faith alone, were also there. And the emperor tried to force them to take part in the Corpus Christi procession, where the bread of Christ’s body was not eaten but paraded through the streets. Those princes all knelt down before Charles and said that he could take their heads, but he would never take their doctrine. They may have been afraid of death, or of losing their authority, but they were more afraid of God and His judgment than the emperor’s temporal authority over them. They knew they belonged to Jesus, so they did not fear the one who could only take their physical lives, but who could not kill their souls.

Three times in verses 26-31, Jesus tells His apostles not to be afraid. Do not be afraid, first of all, because God’s truth and Jesus’ gospel will win out. No matter how dark things look, what is hidden will be revealed; this is the word of Jesus, which He gives to the apostles to proclaim. Do not be afraid, no matter what things look like, because the Word of the Lord stands forever.

Second, do not be afraid because your eternal life is in the hand of Jesus. Even if someone can kill your body, he cannot kill your soul. Have more fear of God than you have of people.

Third, do not be afraid because Jesus has claimed you for His own. Your heavenly Father knows every single sparrow, which do not cost much. But you are more valuable to Him than many sparrows. The one who knows every bird, every creature, knows you more. Every hair on your head is numbered. You are the one for whom Jesus paid the cost of His own suffering and life. Do not be afraid, because Jesus is Lord, no matter how things look. Jesus is risen from the dead, no matter how much death appears to have the last word.

Fear comes easy to us. It is easy to consider our families, our congregations, our communities, our nation, the world, and be afraid about what is happening. There are, in fact, a lot of fearful things happening in the world. And when we are afraid, two common fruits of fear are anger and control. Perhaps you’ve experienced fear for your child in a dangerous situation, and it’s come out as anger. We often express our fear as anger. The other thing that causes fear is a lack of control. We look at our lives or at the world, and we feel like we’ve lost control; we feel like everything is out of control. And when we are afraid because of our lack of control, we often try to exert more control. And that works well, doesn’t it? Whenever you’ve tried to exert more control over things in your life, how does that work for you? We are far more likely to make things worse in trying to have control over things that are outside our control.

Jesus gets at the heart of our anger and control by relieving our fear. When the disciples were afraid in the upper room, He appeared in their midst and said, “Peace.” I am risen from the dead. He gave them Himself to be their peace. And so He does for you. He is present among us to be our peace, to be our consolation. He alone has control over all things, and He alone relieves our fear.

In the midst of a fearful world, Jesus tells His disciples and us that the one who endures to the end will be saved. To “endure” means to stand up under something. When the cares of the world and of your life are pressing down on you, endurance means standing up underneath it. But sometimes even the thought of enduring to the end is too much for us. When things are most stressful, most anxious, most tense in our hearts and minds, we can hardly imagine enduring to the end. It seems like it will be too much; it’s too much to think about enduring through all the days that the Lord gives us on the earth. It seems like it would be easier to just give up, just give in, just stop enduring. But Jesus doesn’t leave us to endure on our own, from our own strength. He says, “Are you burdened? Are you weary? Are you heavy-laden? Come to Me and I will give you rest.” He is the rock on which we stand up under the pressures and cares and worries and fears. He upholds us with His righteous right hand.

Do not be afraid, dear children of the heavenly Father. He has called you by His own Name. You belong to Him, no matter what. This is the confession we have been given to make before the world: that the Jesus who was crucified and raised from the dead is My Lord, who has made me His own to live before Him in righteousness and purity forever. He cleanses me from all my sins, all my fears, all my doubts. He covers me in His holiness to present me before my Creator. Whoever confesses Me before men, I will also confess before My Father in heaven. Whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny before My Father in heaven. How often we deny our Lord! By our fears and doubts, our anger and our attempts to take control of what is only His to control; by the ways our lives do not express our baptismal faith and hope; by our sins, when we act contrary to His clear word; when we are conformed much more closely to the ways of unbelievers than to Christ. We deny our Lord. So will He deny us, then?

Think of Peter, who did indeed make the good confession: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God! But think of Peter in that courtyard, near the fire, denying three times that he even knew Jesus. He denied Jesus publicly and openly, even calling down a curse on himself. Did Jesus deny him? No, He forgave, renewed, and restored him. He had said to Peter, “When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). When the Lord brings us through our temptations, trials, and cowardice, when He forgives and restores us, as He does this morning, we too have the opportunity to strengthen our brothers and sisters who face the same temptations, the same trials, the same sins, the same denials. The one who denies Jesus to the end will be denied. But do not be afraid in your weakness. Jesus confessed you before you ever confessed Him, and He is the one who will bring you in forgiveness and renewal to the last day. He is the one who will put the words of the good confession in your mouth. He is the one who not only redeemed you, but who keeps you day by day. He will finish what He started when He claimed you for His own at your baptism. He who called you is faithful. And because He is faithful, do not be afraid. He always does what He says.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

— Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 6/23/23