Acknowledging Jesus

The message given in the Sunday morning worship services in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  October 30, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Luke 11:53--12:12.

            Most of us know about Jesus’ battles with the Pharisees.  All the arguments He got into with them, all the times they tried to trick Him or trap Him into saying something that would get Him into trouble.  But I don’t know if we think often enough about the courage it took for Jesus to say the things about the Pharisees that He said.

            The Pharisees were the top dogs in the Jewish leadership.  Yes, there were other groups, the Sadducees and the Essenes and so forth.  And there was a Roman government that had ultimate say-so.  But the Pharisees were the biggest, most prominent group, and the Roman government really did not care what the Jews did, as long as they paid their taxes and did not cause any trouble.  So for all practical purposes, the Pharisees were in control.

            And when I say “in control”, I mean that.  The Pharisees pretty much were the law.  They could not give someone the death penalty, but other than that they could do pretty much what they wanted.  And that’s the group Jesus was taking on when He criticized the Pharisees.

            Jesus knew that, of course.  I don’t know that He was concerned about His own safety–after all, Jesus knew how things were ultimately going to go.  But Jesus was concerned about His disciples.  And in the passage we read today, Jesus is trying both to warn the disciples about what was going to happen and to give them courage to face it.

            Jesus tells them, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.  What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”

            Jesus is telling His disciples, look, you cannot be a secret follower of Mine.  You cannot hide who you are.  You cannot hide what you believe.  At some point, everyone is going to know you are My followers.  It’s going to be obvious.  If you are truly following Me, your words, your actions, everything about you is going to show that.  Everyone is going to know who you are and what you believe.

            That had to be a scary thought for the disciples.  And Jesus knew it would be.  So here’s what Jesus tells them next, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.”  

            Now, we hear that, and we probably know where Jesus is going with it.  But if you were James, or John, or Andrew, or one of the other disciples who was right there, that’s not exactly a comforting thought, is it?  Don’t be afraid of the Pharisees, because all they can do is kill you?  That’s supposed to make us feel better?

            But of course, Jesus goes on to explain it.  He says, “I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell.”  

            In other words, Jesus is saying, keep your priorities in order.  Yes, the Pharisees could end your life on earth, but your faith in Jesus–or your lack of faith in Jesus–determines where you will spend eternity.  That decides whether you go to heaven or hell.  Your life on earth is going to end sometime anyway.  Your eternal life is what you need to be concerned about.

            And the way to keep that eternal life is to stay faithful to Jesus.  He tells them that even sparrows are remembered by God, and people are worth a lot more than sparrows.  And then, Jesus says this:  “Whoever acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.  But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.”

            Jesus knew His disciples were going to be in danger.  And He knew that the danger was only going to get worse.  Jesus knew it would take courage for His disciples to stay faithful to Him.  And so He wanted to make clear to the disciples just what the stakes were.  Yes, they could deny Him on earth.  Or, they could just keep their faith in Him to themselves, and not say anything about it to anyone.  And that would make things a lot easier for them while they were on earth.  But the cost would be high.  The cost would be their eternal life.  Because if they did not let people know they were followers of Jesus–if they refused to acknowledge their faith in Him while they were on earth–it would cost them salvation and eternal life.  But if they stayed strong, if they were willing to risk the wrath of the Pharisees, if they were able to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Savior, the divine Son of God, no matter what the potential cost was on earth, they would receive salvation and eternal life.

            Now, Jesus was saying this to a certain group of people, the disciples, at a certain place at a certain time.  But the fact that it’s in the Bible tells me that there’s a lesson you and I are supposed to know here.  I assume that same standard applies to us.  If you and I acknowledge Jesus as the Savior before others, Jesus will acknowledge us before the angels of God.  If you and I disown Jesus before others, we will be disowned before the angels of God.  So that brings up the key question–do you acknowledge Jesus as the Savior before others.

            That “before others” is the tricky part.  It’s one thing to say I acknowledge Jesus as the Savior when I’m alone.  It’s another thing to acknowledge Jesus as the Savior when I’m around other believers.  But it’s another thing entirely to acknowledge Jesus as the Savior when I’m around people who may not believe in Jesus as the Savior.  And it’s still another thing to acknowledge Jesus as the Savior when I’m around people who I know do not believe in Jesus as the Savior.

            Now, maybe you do all of those things.  I don’t know what you do, and it’s not my job to judge you or point fingers.  But I know I don’t do it nearly as often as I should.  And I even have an advantage over a lot of people, because I’ve been here long enough that just about everyone in the parish knows I’m a Christian pastor.  They assume I believe in Jesus as the Savior.  But of course, I go to lots of other places where people don’t know me.  And when I’m in those places, nobody’s going to know I believe in Jesus as the Savior unless I say something about it.

            And of course, it’s tempting to fall back on the old statement that “I don’t need to tell people about my faith.  I show it by the way I live my life.”  But is that really true?  Can someone tell I believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior by the way I live my life?  How?  Because I do good things sometimes?  There are lots of people who don’t believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior who do good things.  Does the way I live my life show that I believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior?  Or does it just show that, sometimes, I can be a nice guy?

            It’s not easy to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Savior before others.  We get scared.  We feel like people might think we’re odd or strange.  People might not like us.  We might make pests of ourselves.  We might even turn people off, get known as that religious nut that people steer clear of because they don’t want to hear it anymore.

            But here’s the thing.  We don’t have to do this by ourselves.  We have the power of the Holy Spirit with us, just like the disciples did.  Listen to what Jesus said to the disciples.  “Do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what to say.”

            The Holy Spirit will tell us what to say.  But first, you and I need to decide to say something.  We need to have the courage to actively acknowledge Jesus as the Savior.

            I admit I have failed at this many times.  And I continue to fail at it.  Maybe you don’t, I don’t know.  But for those like me who do, here’s a couple of things that might help.

            The first is what Jesus told the disciples.  Our eternal life depends on this.  Yes, we get salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ and in no other way.  But if we have faith in Jesus, that faith needs to be shown by doing what Jesus told us to do.  And Jesus told us to go and make disciples.  That means you and I need to acknowledge Jesus as the Savior to those people who do not believe in Him.  Again, if we do not acknowledge Jesus as the Savior “before others”--and it was Jesus who threw that “before others” in there–if we don’t acknowledge Jesus as the Savior before others, Jesus will not acknowledge us.

            But that’s a negative way of looking at it.  Don’t get me wrong–it’s still true, and it’s still important for us to know.  But there’s a more positive way of looking at it that might help, too.

            Again, salvation and eternal life depend on faith in Jesus Christ.  Acknowledging Jesus Christ as the Savior before others may lead those others to believe in Him.  You and I, by having the courage to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Savior to people who do not believe, just might lead someone else to salvation and eternal life.

            That would be an awesome thing, right?  To have a role in helping someone have salvation and eternal life?  That would be the greatest thing we could ever do for someone.  It would be an incredible thing to do.

            So let’s all work on this.  The Holy Spirit will tell us what to say.  But we need to decide to that we’re going to say something.  We need to have the courage to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Savior, even with people who don’t believe.  It will be scary, sometimes.  We won’t always succeed.  But actually, we will, because in Jesus’ eyes, our success is not dependent on what other people choose to do.  In Jesus’ eyes, we succeed by being faithful to Him.  And if we acknowledge Jesus as the Savior, we will be faithful to Jesus, whether we convince anyone or not.

            So let’s be faithful to Jesus.  The Holy Spirit will be with us.  And we will be acknowledged before the angels of God.  And when you think about it, it doesn’t get any better than that.