Pastor Detweiler’s sermon from Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008:

“God’s Holy Spirit is at work in and through us so that we can grow as his people.”

Matthew 16:13-20

Labor Day weekend is just a week away. School starts right after that, which means here at FELC that confirmation classes are not far behind. So the last few weeks we have been talking here in the staff about confirmation for this coming year.

Today’s gospel makes me think about something I memorized in confirmation. (You may think it strange I recall anything I learned or memorized so long ago, but I get a refresher every year when I teach it.) It is Martin Luther’s explanation to the third article of the Apostle’s Creed, which begins:

“I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and kept me in the true faith; in the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith …

I don’t think most of us believe that we cannot by our own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ or come to him – that it is the Holy Spirit that has made us believers. We think that belief is an act of will – that I decide to believe and I confess Jesus Christ as Lord, not that God through the Holy Spirit calls me to do those things.

Peter’s confession here is an amazing thing. Jesus had been preaching, teaching and healing, but he had not yet accomplished what makes him the Messiah and savior, the one we worship. He had not yet died and been raised. Peter’s confession was a bit premature.

It is as if the words came out of Peter’s mouth without him fully understanding what he was saying. Jesus’ response was: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood (people) has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. …and on this rock I will build my church …” Peter did not believe by his own understanding or effort, but by God’s revelation.

As if to prove this, in the next section of Chapter 16, Jesus predicts the events that will make him Messiah – that he will suffer, be killed and after three days be raised from death. Peter objects to this prediction so strongly that Jesus calls him “Satan.” The words of belief may have come from Peter’s mouth, but he did not understand fully what they meant.

We do not believe by our own understanding or effort either, but by God’s revelation through the Spirit which is at work in the Church. It is God’s Holy Spirit that calls us to gather here today, that calls parents to bring their children for baptism, and that motivates our growing and giving as Christ’s people. What we believe is revealed in God’s word and in the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion. As we gather we are called to confess Jesus as Christ and Lord, even though we may not fully understand what that means for us.

Making this confession of Jesus Christ as Messiah and Lord is the Church’s purpose. We exist because Jesus was raised from the dead – the Church began to meet separately from the synagogue on Sundays to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. This is the reason we baptize. In the very early days of the Church, before the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, baptism was “in the name of Jesus” – the one whose death and resurrection makes him Messiah or Christ.

We baptize and are baptized so we can make this confession to others. We offer Sunday school so we can teach and learn what this confession of Jesus as Christ means – how we can speak his name and live as his people.

Confirmation, baptism, new member workshops and Bible studies for adults all help us integrate, making this confession of Jesus as Christ into our lives – to help us make Peter’s confession our own and thereby fulfill the church’s purpose.

But we do not do this on our own understanding or effort. The Spirit of God is at work in us and through Christ’s body – the Church – to encourage and enlighten us.

Glen grew up in the church, and as a child was taken to Sunday school, went through confirmation, even attended worship during college, but had a skeptical approach to life that he inherited from his father. As an adult, Glen was never very active in his congregation, but took his children to worship and went through the motions of being a believer, at least half-heartedly.

But then one of his children became critically ill and Glen became aware that his own efforts at belief were inadequate. He confessed to a friend, “I believe in Jesus – that he lived and died, that he was a good man and taught us important stuff – but I don’t know about his resurrection. That’s hard to swallow.” His skeptical nature had gotten the best of him a long time ago, and at this critical time he found himself unable to pray, unable to trust that his prayers were heard and made a difference.

His friend asked what difference the church made for him. Glen just looked confused by the question. “What do you mean,” he said. “Well,” his friend said, “the church is a living witness to Jesus’ resurrection. It exists because God raised Jesus and is at work in the world through his Spirit. Your personal belief isn’t very important. It is being part of a believing community that matters at times like this. The church believes for you, in a sense. Listen to the words in prayers and hymns at worship. They can become your own.”

This takes us back to the beginning of Martin Luther’s explanation to the third article of the Apostle’s Creed:

“I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and kept me in the true faith …”; in the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith…

Believing is not our work, our effort, but God’s action through the Holy Spirit. Peter’s confession was not his own. A few verses after today’s gospel he objected to the news of Jesus’ upcoming death and resurrection – what would make him Messiah or Christ. But he became a leading witness later on because of the power of God’s Spirit at work in him and in the life of the church.

God in his Holy Spirit is at work in and through us, in and through our life as a congregation, calling, gathering, enlightening us so we can grow as his people and give the best we have to give: the good news of Jesus who is the Messiah because God raised him from death and will raise us too.