Matthew’s Gospel: Confession

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It is a powerful thing to believe something; to confess what we believe is more powerful still.

In this way we are made in the image of God: our speech brings things into existence. Not to the extent of God’s confessions, to be sure. He confessed a universe and suddenly there was a universe. We certainly cannot create physical realities by simply saying, “Let there be…” but God can and did and does. Our confessions of belief create the internal universe of our interpretation of events and objects and people. We cannot confess “rain” and see it fall but we can sing a song like “Rainy days and Mondays always get me down” and see it come true.

Confessing Christ

Jesus was instructing His listeners and followers in the Father’s confession over us—He loves us more than many sparrows! He is committed to us, offering eternal life as well as a meaningful life while we remain earthbound. We must respond to these astounding confessions with confessions of our own. We must confess Christ. It is one thing to believe in our hearts—it is an essential thing—and quite another to confess with our mouths, to go public with what we believe. It takes courage. Once spoken, a new life begins. A bridge is crossed over a wide chasm; it would be foolhardy to turn back, to turn away from life and return to death. Confession of Christ is the crossing of that bridge.

Confession and Denial

Confession brings the contents of the heart to the surface for all to see. If a person is quietly considering The Jesus Story, pondering its status as truth or legend, history or myth, it is a private matter. No one sees. No one hears. Life is not altered in any way. When that careful consideration becomes a confession before men, everything changes. Life is fundamentally altered. A contract with the Almighty has been enacted, the New Covenant. God’s promises to His People go into effect. These blessings are the ones Jesus told us about in the Sermon on the Mount:

  • A new way of living,
  • A personal candle burning in each of us,
  • A house built on the Rock, impervious to storms, and
  • A privilege of prayer in the Secret Place with the Father every day.

When we confess Christ before men, the contract, the Covenant, goes into force.

Some will consider Christ in their hearts and decide that it is all a myth, a hopeful spasm of dull minds, a dead-end dream that simply cannot be true. They will call Jesus a good man, a great teacher—though they do not believe what He taught—another fine person cut down by hate before he could reach his potential. Nonsense. These confessions of Jesus are worthless and deceiving, no matter how popular they are. They are an attempt to file The Jesus Story away in some safe place, lock it in a drawer, and erase it from the mind. Who needs it?

What is the response to such denial? With sadness deeper than we can ever imagine, Jesus denies the unbeliever before the Father.

Count the Cost

Confessing Christ is not for cowards. Some lose their families to gain Christ. Some lose their earthly lives to gain eternal ones. The irony of confessing Christ is expressed in the words of Jesus:

“He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

The life you possess came from God. Sin stole it from you. To believe in your heart and confess with your mouth is to lose it in Jesus and find it again.

Scriptures:

Matthew 10:32-39
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Romans 10:8-13
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I confess that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God! I join my voice to Peter and to countless saints through the ages who have made this confession. I confess that You are my Savior, my Lord and Master, and my soon-coming King! You have a plan for my life and You show it to me one step at a time by the power of Your Holy Spirit. I confess that today will be a day of faithfulness to that plan and a day peace in the process. I confess that my life is hidden in Yours and that my life is solidly built on the Rock! Amen and Amen.

Songs:

Life Giver / You Are the Christ
Words and Music: Jimmy and Carol Owes (from The Witness)

Who is this who has life to give?
Who is this who tells the dead to live?
Not an ordinary man with some words of truth to say
Who has His moment in the sun and one day fades away.

Who is this who has life to give?
Who is this who tells the dead to live?

Not an ordinary man but one who dares to say
He is the resurrection and the life,
And then offers it to you and me.

Come to the Life-Giver, come to the Life-Giver,
And let Him pour His life on You,
Let Him pour His life on You.
Let Him pour His life on You.

Who am I? What are they saying?
Do they know the truth or are they blind?
Who am I? What do you call me?
Tell me, what is my name?

You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
I say You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
You are the Christ—You are the Lord!

You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
I say You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
You are the Christ—You are my Lord!

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About the Author

Full of passion for Jesus Christ, Stephen Phifer is a third-generation minister with more than three decades of experience as a pastoral artist, worship leader, and conductor.