Martin Luther and John Calvin both have said “The human heart is an idol factory.” In our sinfulness, our hearts naturally produce any number of things to which we declare, “You are that in which I find my comfort. You are that in which I receive my security. You are my god.”

The thing about an idol is that it comes between us and God. “You shall have no other gods before me.” An idol is something between you and God. An idol that obscures God’s face from you . . . an idol that prevents you from seeing the face of God . . . an idol that you have placed between you and Him.

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Alone, we stood naked before God. Naked . . . exposed . . . and ashamed. Ashamed of what we looked like without proper clothing. Ashamed of being naked before God. Ashamed of what we were.

But having been baptized into Christ, we are now clothed . . . covered . . . all our shame, all our fear, all our sin now covered with a righteousness not our own that could tarnish and fade, but clothed with the perfect robe of Christ’s own righteousness. Indeed, having been baptized, when the Father now looks upon us, He sees no sin, He sees no shame, He sees only the image of His Beloved Son . . . and there is no wrath left for us. The love He feels for His Son now washes over us, and we all are made as Christ before Him.

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Navy Chaplain Rev. Matthew Prince joins us today with a powerful message of the warrior God who never ceases to fight for His people . . . and win.

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Being in Christ is a gift, it is a treasure. It is a treasure more worthy than literally anything else in this world of being so valuable that we should retain it at any cost. It is to be held firmly, something that we determine is a pearl of such great price that nothing—nothing—is better than, is worth more, than it.

But a gift of such value is a gift that, curiously enough, is also very easy to give up. I don’t know why that is. I fear that it of such value that it is hard to fully grasp . . . and therefore some things—some infinitely lesser things—seem to our frail, finite eyes to be things we’d much rather cling to.

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God owes us no answers, and certainly owes us no apologies. When we speak in way that suggests the Lord has forgotten or forsaken us, especially to the Lord, it is we who are shortsighted, not Him. And so, when we do speak such things, even though it may be emotionally honest, it nevertheless shows that our faith has been deficient in some way. And when that is the case, the Lord will work in such a way that restores and strengthens our faith . . . but what does that look like?

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In our Lutheran Confessions, the line between “hypocrite” and “faithful Christian” is clear. But that is in a book of theology. Theology books have the benefit—indeed, the task—of providing straightforward answers. Theology in books is clean and neat. But in our outward gathering around Word and Sacrament that is called “church,”—and indeed in the secret, inner lives of our hearts and minds—the line between “hypocrite” and “faithful” is not nearly so clear nor so plain.

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For the benefit and salvation of all, the Son goes forth from the Father, and the Spirit goes forth from the Son. Each moves in a sort of arc: going forth and returning. For as the Holy Spirit goes forth, He calls people everywhere through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is how God’s missionary movement comes to its completion: by Him moving forward, moving outward, to call us, to gather us, to return us to Himself.

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But now . . . now Peter is the first to rise. Peter is the first to speak. He lifts up his voice and declares with boldness that what is happening before all the world is God’s doing . . . that it is God’s prophesied plan . . . and that God’s plan has come to fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Timid, frightened, denying Peter is now Peter with a fire in his belly . . . he is not Peter who speaks without fear . . . he is now Peter who publicly aligns himself with Jesus Christ and declares that all should join him in this faith. What has made the difference? That’s not the right question. The right question is “WHO has made the difference?”

This podcast can never be a substitute for in-person attendance at a local church. Click here to find a local church you can connect with! Find a Lutheran church near you!