Everyone Who Shall Confess Me
Discipleship is not a secret to be kept. Belief in and loyalty
to Jesus as Lord implies using our lives as dynamic confessions of our faith in
Him. Jesus simply and bluntly said that the consequences of denying Him will be
that He will deny us. He will not lie to the
Father in our behalf. He will deny that we are His disciples on the day of
judgment if, in deed, we are not, even though we may have pretended to be when
it had been convenient to do so.
Jesus said, "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also
confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before
men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." (Matthew
10:32,33).
Jesus invites us to come after Him, but to do so we must be willing to deny
self, pick up our cross, and follow Him (Luke 9:23). Consider some of the
aspects of "confessing Jesus" as they relate to discipleship.
Whom Should We Confess?
"Everyone therefore who shall confess Me..." (Matthew 10:32a).
Jesus Christ is the center, the foundation and the substance of our confession.
He is the exalted king and reigning Lord. His word alone rules our lives.
In all of our activities, teaching and words, we acknowledge His supremacy as
our sole authority. His doctrine is our doctrine, and we have no other. Our plea
is not "I think" or "it seems to me" or "I just know in my heart" but rather,
"The Lord says..." or "It is
written..." or "The Scriptures teach...". This keeps us safe from making
mistakes (Jeremiah 10:23).
Neither do we appeal to a religious party. It is not a matter of "us" versus
"them". "My church teaches such and such, what does your church teach?" is
really the wrong emphasis for determining what is right. Rather, we appeal to
the authority of Christ (1
Corinthians 1:10).
We do not appeal to a human creed. We do not believe that there is any profit in
such lists of beliefs, but much damage can result from them. Division after
division has occurred because men were not content to let Christ's word alone be
our sole authority, as it was meant to be (Matthew 15:9).
What is truth and what is error, what is right and what is wrong, what is
righteous and what is sin, has already been determined by the One we confess.
Not by preacher, elder, parent, friend or religious leader, but by Jesus.
Peter confessed to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" and
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." (Matthew 16:16;
John 6:68). Paul said, "For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not
ashamed; for I know
whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard that which I
have entrusted to Him until that day." (2 Timothy 1:12). Let your confession,
too, be of Jesus.
Before Whom Should We Confess Him?
"...who shall confess Me before men..." (Matthew 10:32b).
Our confession of Jesus is to be made before others. It is for them to both see
and hear. But before what kind of men?
a). Before other disciples. This is referred to as "edification" in the
Scriptures. It is one of the purposes of our coming together as a church (1
Corinthians 14:3,12,19,31; Ephesians 4:15,16). It is also on an individual level
that we encourage and build up one
another (Ephesians 4:29).
b). Before the world. This is referred to as evangelism" and is often emphasized
in the Scriptures. Jesus said we are to "let our light shine before men"
(Matthew 5:16) and Paul told disciples to prove themselves "blameless and
innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world." (Philippians 2:15).
If we become fearful, and refuse to make this confession of Jesus before His
enemies, we will fail to be His disciples. It happened even during His walk here
(John 12:42,43). Do not allow the world to intimidate
you into silence.
How Should We Confess Him?
"...confess Me before men..." (Matthew 10:32).
There are two main forms that this confession takes, and both are vitally
important to our walk of faith.
a). With our mouths . We speak to others about
Jesus. First, there is the initial confession we make after we have come to
believe that Jesus is God's Son and prior to our baptism into Him; "...that if
you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved" and "...and he
answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." (Romans
10:9; Acts 8:37).
Also, in our daily walks of life as disciples, we speak to others of Jesus. As
disciples of the first century went from place to place, they "went about
preaching the word" (Acts 8:4). We find them doing so privately and publicly, in
the market place, in homes, by the side of the sea, in court rooms, at
synagogues, and in prison, and were commended in the Scriptures of the Lord for
doing so (1 Thessalonians 1:8).
b.) With our deeds . Some might occasionally speak
of Jesus, but deny Him at the same time by their own unChristlike actions. On
one occasion, Jesus asked, "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord' and not do the
things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). Their actions were
not consistent with what they claimed to believe with their mouths. The
Scriptures say, "Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices
righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; and the one who practices
sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God
has appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil/" (1
John 3:7).
Why We Should Confess Christ
"I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall
deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."
(Matthew 10:32b,33).
Jesus Christ is our greatest benefactor. We ought to be grateful enough to
acknowledge His precious gifts by our daily confession. On one occasion, Jesus
used nine men He had cleansed of leprosy as negative examples. After having been
healed, they did
not return to glorify God or express appreciation. By neglecting doing the thing
they should have done and saying the things they ought to have said, they failed
to be what they ought to have been (Luke 17:11-19). What a vivid contrast their
example is with the confessing man who had been born blind but that Jesus had
healed (John 9:19-23; 24-34).
Another good reason to confess Jesus is so that we may hear Him confess us
before the Father's throne one day. But if we deny Him, then He will deny us
(Matthew 10:33). What do you want to hear concerning yourself from Jesus' mouth
on the day of
judgment? Confession or denial? The choice is yours.
By Jon W. Quinn
From Expository Files 11.3, March, 2004
