"Confessing Christ"

Isaiah 56

Romans 10

Last week we looked at the relationship between baptism and membership.

We saw that all who are baptized are members of Christ and his body.

But, as some of you pointed out,

towards the end of the sermon, we turned to how you transfer from one church to another.

And that transfer involved the question of profession of faith.

So today, let us consider what it means to profess faith,

and how confessing Christ is related both to baptism and to church membership.

Last week we read 1 Corinthians 12:13

"For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free."

Today we read in Romans 10:10-12

"For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

For the scripture says, 'Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.'

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;

the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him."

Did you notice that?

Paul's point in 1 Corinthians was that baptism brought both Jews and Greeks into the body.

And in Romans he says that confessing Christ saves both Jews and Greeks.

This is the fulfillment of what was promised in Isaiah 56,

that the foreigner who "holds fast to my covenant" would be included in the people of God.

Indeed, such a one could even bring offerings to the Lord, and be accepted.

We sometimes think that the Old Testament church was exclusively Jewish.

In practice that was often the way it looked,

but it was not designed that way by God.

The promise to Abraham was that in him, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

And Isaiah speaks of this when he speaks of "the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh."

And God promises that in the restoration from Exile,

when he brings his people back to the land,

he will bring not only ethnic Israel,

but all nations.

"My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (56:7)

So in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is saying that baptism is uniting Jew and Greek in one body.

And here in Romans 10, he is saying that confessing Christ brings salvation.

What is the connection between baptism and profession?

In Acts 2:38, Peter declared, "Repent and be baptized every one of you

in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,

and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

In verse 41 it says that those who received his word were baptized,

and 3,000 souls were added to the church that day.

Later, in Acts 10:43,

Peter declared that "everyone who believes in [Jesus]

receives forgiveness of sins through his name,"

and when his Gentile hearers believed, they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

And when Paul is asked by the Philippian jailer, "what must I do to be saved," (Acts 16:30)

he is told, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

Baptism is intimately linked to a Christian profession.

When asked how to be saved,

the answer is "repent and be baptized,"

or "believe on the Lord Jesus."

They are not exactly equivalent,

but they both speak of the same thing.

The gospel calls for the response of repentance and faith.

That response must be both internal and an external.

Paul says that it is "with the heart one believes and is justified,

and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."

Both what you believe in your heart and what you profess with your mouth

are essential for salvation.

And, as the passages in Acts demonstrate,

Baptism is the divinely appointed mode of making that profession.

This is why the apostles baptized new converts on the same day that they professed faith.

When an unbeliever professes faith in Christ,

he should be baptized without delay.

In Walkerton we had two unbelievers profess faith on the same day

after the morning worship service.

We promptly baptized them in the afternoon service.

What is the content of such a profession?

The reformed tradition has given two answers to that question.

The original answer was the right one.

A profession of faith is the confession that Jesus is Lord.

It is a confession of faith in Jesus.

Under the influence of Pietism,

some Reformed pastors and theologians began to say that a profession of faith

was a declaration of conversion.

What's the difference?

In the pietist version, you are declaring that God has worked regeneration in you.

In the reformed version, you are declaring that God has worked in Jesus Christ to save sinners,

and that this is your hope for salvation.

The pietist profession focuses on you;

the reformed profession focuses on Christ.

The pietist profession sees salvation as a past event;

the reformed profession sees salvation as past, present and future.

Pietist elders want to see some evidence of sanctification before they will accept a profession.

Reformed elders recognize that profession comes at the beginning of the Christian life,

and therefore are willing to accept the profession even of someone like Simon Magus.

Look over at Acts 8. (Read 9-24)

The Bible says that Simon believed and was baptized.

Philip accepted his profession at face value,

and welcomed him into the body.

Only a few days or weeks later,

Peter and John had to excommunicate him. (v20-23)

(The text isn't clear exactly what happens to Simon,

but early church narratives explain that he went on to found a heretical cult).

The pietist model tries to avoid discipline by raising the bar of profession.

They make people take long, detailed courses in order to become a member,

in order to ensure that only serious Christians become members.

In doing this, pietists wind up turning the Lord's Supper into a reward for sanctification.

Once you have "proven" that you are regenerate by your sanctified life,

then-and only then-can you come to the Lord's Table.

That is not the classic Reformed view of profession.

That is not the biblical view of profession.

As we saw last time,

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:3 that

"no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit."

No one can make a Christian profession unless the Holy Spirit is doing something.

Now, remember, that this does not mean that everyone who makes a Christian profession

is therefore elect!

We do believe with Hebrews 6 that there are those who "have shared in the Holy Spirit,

and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come"

who nonetheless apostatize.

We do believe that there are "common operations of the Holy Spirit" (Confession 10:4),

whereby a man may temporarily confess Christ.

But the fact that it is only temporary does not mean that the Holy Spirit was not involved.

The point is that we cannot judge the hearts of others.

We, as the elders, must simply determine, "is this a Christian profession?"

Does this person confess Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the gospel?

We don't require detailed theological knowledge.

We simply ask, do they understand the gospel, do they believe the gospel,

and do they desire to live according to the gospel.

In one case where the session was interviewing a man,

I asked him whether he believed that he deserved the grace of God,

and he said "yes!"

Somewhat startled, I asked why he said that.

He replied, "I have no idea, but since God has saved me,

I must have deserved it, because he doesn't make mistakes!"

I looked at the elders, and we all grinned.

His theological vocabulary needed a little work,

but he had the right idea.

Paul defines the heart of a Christian profession as the statement, "Jesus is Lord,"

combined with faith in the resurrection. (10:9)

After all,

this is the heart of the gospel-the good news.

God has redeemed his people and has brought about the final restoration from Exile.

Jesus is Lord is the glorious declaration that Jesus of Nazareth

is nothing less than the resurrected and exalted Son of God.

Everything that Israel had expected would happen to them at the end of history,

has happened to Jesus in the middle of history.

Therefore if you want to partake in the eschatological blessings of the kingdom of God,

if you want to be saved,

you must confess Jesus is Lord!

This is why Paul emphasizes the fact that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

Both when talking about baptism in 1 Corinthians 12,

and when talking about profession in Romans 10.

Because he's talking about the same thing.

Membership in the people of God has been opened to the Gentiles apart from the law.

As Paul said earlier in Romans 2,

"For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly,

Nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart,

by the Spirit, not by the letter." (2:28-29)

To be a part of the people of God, you must be united to Jesus Christ,

through baptism into his death.

The route into the church is no longer through circumcision-through the law.

It is through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the "Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him."

A Christian profession, then,

is the confession that Jesus is Lord,

a profession of faith in what he did through his death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father.

If you have been regularly attending Michiana Covenant Church,

come talk with the elders.

Tell us that you believe the gospel, and desire to live according to the gospel.

You may be uncertain as to how long you will be in South Bend.

You may be uncertain as to how long you will be at Michiana Covenant Church.

That doesn't matter.

You may be thinking,

"Oh, but there are so many denominations, which one should I join?"

Don't worry.

Find a church of Jesus Christ and be a part of it.

If you unite with MCC and six months from now

become convinced that it is your duty to transfer

to a different church of Jesus Christ,

that is no problem.

As one wise 19^th century minister put it, "It is better to be in any part of the kingdom of Christ,

than to be in the kingdom of Satan."

So, then, how should this profession be conducted?

Many churches have adopted a form of public profession.

My own denomination, the OPC, requires it.

Your denomination only requires it at the baptism of adult converts,

merely recommending it in the case of young people and transfers.

I must say, however, that I can find no biblical warrant for requiring a public profession.

Scripture permits public profession (so I can live with the practice),

but it does not require it.

A public profession consists of public vows to believe the gospel and live according to it.

Public vows were common in the Old Testament,

and Paul participated in the public vows of various Christians in Acts 21.

So there is nothing wrong with a person standing up in front of the congregation

and promising to believe the gospel and live according to the gospel.

Actually, you do this every Sunday when you confess the Apostles' or Nicene Creeds.

You do this every time we partake of the Lord's Supper together.

These are public professions of faith, whereby we renew covenant with our Lord.

John Blair was a Presbyterian minister at the end of the 18^th century.

He had been influenced by the pietist vision of profession early in his ministry,

but after many years in the ministry, he reconsidered his practice.

He argued his point beautifully:

"Are not the Signs which our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed

and the Manner of Covenanting which he has prescribed sufficient,

without the Addition of our own Inventions to supply the Defect?"

John Blair, Essays on I. The Nature, uses, and subjects of the Sacraments of the New Testament (New York: Printed by John Holt, 1771) 26

In other words,

Christ has given us baptism and the Lord's Supper

as the means of making our Christian profession.

I remember when I was baptized in the Baptist church,

I was looking forward to making my profession of faith.

When my brother was baptized a few months before,

the pastor had asked him to say a few words to the congregation.

Now it was my turn!

You wouldn't believe how crestfallen I was when the pastor didn't give me a chance to say anything!

Sad to say, my view of public profession was more about me than it was about Christ.

That is the danger of the ritual.

That is why I tend to downplay "public professions" in the church.

After all,

public professions are about me, and what I believe.

They draw attention away from Christ and toward the individual who is professing.

But that is also why I emphasize the sacraments.

Because the sacraments are about Jesus Christ, and what he has done.

We are the ones who act in public professions.

Christ is the one who acts in the sacraments.

In baptism we pray that as I baptize with water,

so also will God forgive this person's sins and give them the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the Lord's supper we pray that as we partake of the bread and the wine,

so also will God feed us with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the sacraments we have God's promise that he will work, by his word and by his Spirit,

to accomplish his purposes.

Or as John Blair put it:

"Are not the Signs which our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed

and the Manner of Covenanting which he has prescribed sufficient,

without the Addition of our own Inventions to supply the Defect?"

As we come to the Lord's Table today,

remember that HE is the one who acts in the Supper.

He is the one who feeds us with his body and blood as true Spiritual food.

Therefore come to the Table and, trusting in his promises,

renew your covenant together as one body.