In the 1930s and 1940s in Germany, as Adolph Hitler was seizing power, there were many Christians who were abandoning their Biblical doctrines and were being pulled into those non-Biblical social norms.
Those who were doing this somehow believed that it was possible and acceptable to give into the norms of the pagan society and still maintain their Christian faith and identity.
However, it was soon apparent that their Christian faith and practice were totally overwhelmed and captured by their current culture, and little was left of their Christian faith, doctrines, and proclamations.
The Gospel was at stake. To go further down the road with culture was leading to a complete loss of the Bible and The Church.
The Gospel was at stake.
Fortunately, in response to this pending demise of The Gospel, a group arose, led by faithful pastors such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, which resisted Hitler and his demonic plans for culture, and which preached Christ and Holy Scripture as the only ultimate authority by which to live and on which to construct society.
They preached Biblical sermons and wrote Biblical defenses for the time-tested virtue of the true Christian faith.
This group was known as The Confessing Church. This does not mean they were confessing their sins, which they also certainly did, but it means they made their faithful and authentic Confession/Profession of the True Christian Faith.
They confessed Christ, and Christ alone, even in the face of persecution and death.
The Gospel was at stake, and The Confessing Church could do no other than to stand with Christ, stand with the Bible, and stand against the vulgar culture of their time. Amen! God bless them! Amen!
Now go further back to the earthly life and ministry of Jesus as recorded in the Bible. Go to one particular Bible story.
Jesus asked His disciples two very simple, yet profound and important questions. The first was, “Who do others say that I am?”
I guess the disciples thought just a bit about what they had heard from others and answered, “Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say another prophet.”
Straight forward. Easy. No daring confession in the face of ridicule or persecution.
But then came the second question, much more important. The outcome of this answer might be life changing and life threatening. Peter jumped up and spoke up and made his great confession, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.”
Yes, even then, the Gospel was at stake. There was no fear of harm or retaliation in that exact moment, but “at stake” nonetheless.
Later in his life Peter would fail in his confession at the fire in the courtyard of the mock trial of Jesus, but after that he epitomized The Confessing Church many times over, even to his martyrdom because of his confession for Christ.
Now fast forward to our world today. Those two questions stand before us even now.
The first is still relatively easy. We can report that people say Jesus was just a man, that He was a good man, that He was a prophet, that He did good things.
Many, fortunately, also say with Peter and The Confessing Church that He was and is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world by His death on the cross and His resurrection back to life.
However, then the second question comes to us. Please do not take it lightly. It’s answer could be life changing or life threatening. “Who do you say that I am?”
Think about it. That question comes to us even as our culture pressures us to deny Christ, threatens us to adopt their Biblically abnormal behaviors and life styles, and demands that we water down our Biblical faith and our doctrinal beliefs.
The Gospel is at stake. What will you answer? What will we answer?
By the power of the Holy Spirit, I know what our answer will be. I know what authority we will declare to be the only True Authority. I know what stand we will take even though our culture, and even some who claim to be Christians and the Church, threaten us and pressure us to give in to sinful cultural norms.
I know we will join Peter. I know we will join The Confessing Church. I know we will stand with Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the faithful who have gone before us.
I know we will confess, “Jesus, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” Because He is. He truly is. There is no other. His is the only way of peace and life everlasting.
The Gospel is at stake. What a joy to be in the long true line of The Confessing Church. God help us. Amen!
[Dr. Justin Kollmeyer, a thirty-eight year resident of Fayette County, is a retired Lutheran pastor. He offers his preaching and teaching ministry to any church or group seeking or needing a Christ centered, Biblically based, and traditionally grounded sermon or teaching. Reach him at justin.kollmeyer@gmail.com.]
