# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2016_S84
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

performing the truth and renouncing the false. In
other words, it had to do with confessing Christ boldly despite whatever consequences might follow. To
this day, this pastor continues to receive nasty notes
in an attempt to assassinate his character, including
from some of his fellow pastors. This is the North
American way of persecuting church leaders, which is
from within the church.3

Verse 28 says, “And do not fear those who kill the
body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who
can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

We cannot hide the truth, as our text warns us this
morning. It will be revealed, and it will be known.
The author Leonard Sweet reminds us, “There is only
one reason you should be a Christian. Because it’s
true. . . . The only reason you should be a Christian is
because God is God and because Jesus is the way, the
truth, and the life.”4 As Christians, we need to confess
Christ boldly.

	If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest
exposition every portion of the truth of God except
precisely that little point which the world and the
devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing
Christ.5

A few synonyms for the word boldly are confidently,
shamelessly, and courageously. Therefore, we confess
Christ confidently. We confess Christ shamelessly. We
confess Christ courageously. Thus, we confess Christ
boldly to the world. Why? Because He died for your
sins and my sins, for your shames and my shames. He
conquered death to be the way, the truth, and the life
for us. The truth will never put us to shame.
“Persecution Will Come” is the heading in the ESV
that covers part of our text for today. Our text simply
says, “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered
that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be
known.” In other words, the truth will come out.
Christ will be proclaimed boldly across this land,
across cultures, across languages, across the seas,
across the world—despite persecution.
 Reggie McNeal, “Persecution of church leaders in the North
American context does not come from outside the church.
It comes from inside the church,” in The Present Future: Six
Tough Questions for the Church (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2003), 66.
4
 Sweet, The Three Hardest Words in the World to Get Right, 44.
3

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U P O N T H I S R O C K • Sermon

Our text concludes that when we acknowledge Jesus
before men, He also will acknowledge us before the
Father, who is in heaven.
Luther puts it this way:

When it really matters, when the devil is attacking,
when the world is at odds with us, let us not back
away. Let us not give in to the cultural restriction. Let
us not fall prey to the idolatry of the self.
People from different cultures and languages outside
of the LCMS are noticing our strong biblical confession, especially when it’s heard in the native languages of the people. The truth is hard to hide when one
speaks from the language of the heart.
Fear not, let us confess Jesus Christ boldly in this convention and outside these walls in the streets of Milwaukee. Fear not, let us confess Christ boldly when we
return to our homes, our congregations, our neighborhoods, and our workplaces. Fear not, as a church body
let us confess Christ boldly to the world! Amen.
5

 
D. Martin Luthers Werke. Briefwechsel, 18 vols. (Weimar,
1930–), 3:81f.

“Fear Not, Confess Christ Boldly”