The Good Confession

 

Jesu Juva

1 Timothy 6:11-16                                                        

January 24, 2021

St. Timothy, Pastor and Confessor           

 Dear saints of our Savior,

          Today the holy church throughout the world remembers and gives thanks for Saint Timothy, pastor and confessor.  Timothy’s upbringing was a little different from most pastors I know.  It’s a unique fact of Timothy’s childhood that his mother and his grandmother were the ones who catechized him and taught him the Christian faith.  Fathers ordinarily have a crucial role to play in teaching the faith, but Timothy was the offspring of a mixed marriage.  His father was not a believer.  Timothy is the proof of the power that mothers and grandmothers have to pass along the faith.  It’s a great day for all of us to

remember the special ways that our own mothers and grandmothers nurtured us in the faith.  And, if you happen to be a mother or a grandmother—well, take a lesson from Lois and Eunice.

          Timothy grew up to be a pastor.  He’s officially remembered today as “Pastor and Confessor.”  Pastors we know about; but confessors, perhaps, not so much.  A “confessor” is someone who confesses the faith—someone who speaks God’s truth.  The Greek verb literally means “to say the same thing.”  God speaks first; and then we confess what God has said to us.  It’s strange how “to confess” something these days usually has a bad connotation.  People tend to “confess” only the bad things they have done.  But to be a Christian “confessor” is to tell of the wonderful things that God has done and said.

          In today’s epistle, Saint Paul specifically recalls that time when Timothy became a confessor of the faith:  Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you make the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  We can’t say for sure whether this is a reference to Timothy’s baptism or to his ordination (or to both).  But what we can be sure of is that young Timothy confessed the faith.  He spoke what God had spoken.  He spoke what was sure and certain and true.  And you follow in Timothy’s footsteps every time you confess the creed—as you did just minutes ago.

          Today’s epistle also tells of how Jesus made the “good confession,” in his testimony before Pontius Pilate.  You can’t read about Jesus’ earthly ministry in the gospels without being struck by all the times Jesus told people to keep quiet—how often He told people who had experienced His divine power to tell no one—commanding people not to confess that He was the Christ.  Only on the day of His execution, as he stood before the one man with authority to execute Him, only then did Jesus make the good confession that He was the Christ—with a kingdom that is not of this world.  That confession is certainly what sealed the deal on His death.  For Timothy, too, his “good confession” ultimately led to a martyr’s death.

          Beloved in the Lord, this is a serious and solemn reminder to all of us who dare to make the good confession—to all who echo God’s truth before friend and foe alike:  Things might just get messy.  Someone will take offense.  Someone will disagree.  Someone will get angry.  Someone is working to silence your confession of God’s truth.  For it’s one thing to confess the faith as we do here, surrounded by a supportive family of fellow believers.  But it’s something far different to confess God’s truth before a world that is in love with lies.

          So why speak up when it’s easier to stay silent?  Why confess God’s truth when it will only earn you the disapproval of men?  I read something last week that reminded me of why we dare to make the good confession.  The example comes from family life—from when members of the family feud with one another.  It happens all the time—between husbands and wives, between parents and children, between brothers and sisters.  Family feuds often happen when someone speaks up—when someone confesses an inconvenient truth that others would rather not hear. 

          These kinds of family feuds happen, ultimately, because you love the members of your family.  You hardly ever get into a feud with someone you don’t care about.  We can politely “smile and wave” our way right past people we don’t care about.  But when it comes to the people you love and care about, then we speak up and say the unpopular thing.  Not because we want to be “right,” and not because we want to impose our will on others.  But because we want the best for those we love—because we care.

          And if that’s true in the family, then it’s also true elsewhere.  We are all called to care—to love our neighbors and our world.  And because we care, we speak.  We confess like Timothy . . . and like our Lord.  We are called to confess God’s truth before a world that won’t tolerate the truth much longer—that human life in the womb is precious and sacred, that children need a mother and a father, that God makes us male and female right down to our DNA, that we should flee all forms of sexual immorality, and, instead, pursue purity, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.

          Why speak up?  Why confess God’s truth when the resulting “feud” might be painful to endure?  Why?  Because we care.  But, more than that, because God cares—because God wants the best for all those He has created—because He desires not the death of sinners—because God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life.  Because God has spoken, we speak.  Because God loves, we love.  If we don’t confess—if we don’t speak God’s truth as the light of the world and the salt of the earth—then who will?

          The world tells us to clam-up and shut-up—or else be censored, be canceled, or worse.  But we have a promise concerning confessing—a promise from the Christ Himself:  Whoever confesses me before men, I will confess before my Father who is in heaven.  That means your confession counts.  It matters for all eternity.  Christians confess Christ!  That’s what we do.  To our children, to our neighbors, to colleagues and friends—we are called to confess Christ.  And this confessing we do joyfully, faithfully, and willingly.  Why?  Because we want others to share in this same confession.  We want other people to know and receive the blessings that come to all who confess Christ.

          Jesus Christ is the content of our confession.  He Himself made the good confession before Pontius Pilate.  And Jesus confessed not only by what He said before Pilate, but also by what He did.  And what did He do?  He was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried.  And on the third day rose again.  Jesus has earned the forgiveness of your sins.  He has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

          And so that you might believe this—so that you might take hold of the eternal life to which you have been called—God gives pastors.  God gives pastors like Timothy—calls them and sends them out to places like this around the world.  Their job is both simple and difficult:  to absolve us of our sins, to preach the Word in season and out of season, to feed us with the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ—which God the Father will display at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.  To him be honor and eternal dominion.  Amen.

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