Sermon Audio: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ministrybymail

Dear fellow children of the heavenly Father,

“With each step I am more certain, Everything will turn out fine. I have confidence, the world can all be mine! They’ll have to agree I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN ME.” In “The Sound of Music,” as Maria makes her way from the convent to become the governess for the von Trapp family, her future is filled with all sorts of uncertainty and fear. But Maria bolsters herself by having confidence in herself to care Captain von Trapp’s children.

Confidence is very important in many aspects of life. Now that we’re in baseball season, if a batter lacks confidence at the plate, he will be an easy out for the pitcher. When children lack the confidence of knowing that their parents love them, it can affect them mentally, emotionally, and developmentally.

And then there is the debilitating fear of having spiritual uncertainty. When a person is uncertain of their standing before God, it is paralyzing. Uncertainty about how God feels about a person can cause frustration, anxiety, overwhelming fear of punishment, and the terrors of death.

God does not want you to be uncertain about His relationship with you. He wants you to approach Him with confident faith. But where does this confidence come from? Are we to be like Maria and have “confidence in me” as we approach God? For our answer, as in all things, we turn to the Word of God. Listen today to God’s Word recorded in the first letter of John, chapter 3, verses 19 through 24:

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (ESV)

This is the Word of God, given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and preserved by Him for your hearing today, that you may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Confident that this is God’s Word, let us pray that God would sanctify us, that is set us apart for Himself that we may keep His commandments and do what pleases Him: “Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen.”

When it comes to confidence in approaching God, there are usually two ditches that people fall into. The one ditch we could call the “Maria ditch”—those who have “confidence in ME.” This was the confidence that that Pharisees had in Jesus’ day. They thought that since they were physical descendants of Abraham and were very zealous in outwardly keeping God’s law and the tradition of the elders, that God would HAVE to accept them. With Maria, they had confidence in themselves.

This Maria ditch of self-confidence before God is seen in other ways. It’s seen in the dying man who was confident he could stand before God because he wasn’t as bad as other people he had seen and met. It’s seen in the woman who had been living a life that was directly opposed to God’s Word and will for 10 years, but was confident that when she stood before God that He would understand the choices she made. Like Maria and the Pharisees, these people were in the ditch of self-confidence and were blind to just how lost they were in their sins.

The other ditch that people fall into is the ditch of despair. They are like the Prophet Isaiah who saw the glory of the LORD in His temple and said, “Woe to me! I am undone! For I am a man of unclean lips…” Or Peter, who was confronted by the greatness of Jesus after the miraculous catch of fish and said to Jesus, “Away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

We fall into the ditch of despair when our “heart condemn us,” as John writes in our text. Our heart wakes us up in the middle of the night and parades our sins through our minds. Our heart condemns us and says, “If you were a real Christian, why did you say such an ugly thing to your husband? If you were a real Christian, why did you have such lustful thoughts about that other woman? If you were a real Christian, wouldn’t you trust God more to take care of you?” John writes of our hearts condemning us because he knows it happens to Christians. Our hearts condemn us as sinners whose thoughts, whose words, whose actions fall far short of what God wants. Searching his heart, the Apostle Paul writes, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh.” (Romans 7:18) Our hearts condemn us for having a weak faith that fails to fully trust God in every situation. Like Peter, in our “littleness of faith” we take our eyes off of Jesus as storms rage around us, and we begin to sink as our hearts condemn us.

So where can we find Christian Confidence? John goes on, “For whenever our heart condemns us, GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEART, AND HE KNOWS EVERYTHING.” Your heart knows you are a sinner. Your heart knows your faith is so weak. John says that God knows that too. In fact, He knows your secret sins; those sins you’ve committed that you don’t even realize you’ve done. God knows everything.

But God is GREATER than your heart. And knowing everything, what did God do? He sent His Son to save you from your condemnation—He sent Jesus. He sent Jesus who would bear all those dark sins in His body on the tree of the cross. He sent His Son, of whom John wrote earlier, would cleanse you from ALL unrighteousness. Jesus came to take all those sins about which your heart condemns you on Himself. He was condemned on the cross to free you from the condemnation of your sins. By His wounds we are healed!

God is greater than your heart. He is greater than your weakness. And He knows EVERYTHING. He knows Jesus died on the cross to take away all of your sins. And now God who knows everything says in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus.” God knows that because Jesus was condemned because of your sins, that now in Christ there is no condemnation for you. Therefore, do not look inwardly for your Christian confidence, look to God’s words and promises to you. Look to the cross and empty tomb of Easter for your Christian confidence. Is Christ risen from the dead? If He’s alive, that means you are forgiven!

As God tells us that we are redeemed, restored, and forgiven through Jesus precious blood, we have Christian confidence. Verse 21: “If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.” If God forgives us, if there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, then we have confidence before God. We can go to the Father’s throne speaking to Him in prayer, as Luther says, “as dear children ask their dear fathers on earth.”

We don’t need to be afraid of God, as though He were an angry judge waiting to punish us. God has already punished Jesus and by His resurrection announced to the world that we are forgiven. With Christian confidence in His forgiving grace, we can come before Him with all of our needs. When it comes to our spiritual needs, to things God has told us in His Word that He wants to give us, we can ask unconditionally and know that we will receive them from Him. When it comes to uncertain things, when we don’t know what is best and pray, “Thy will be done,” we still pray in confidence knowing we will receive that which is according to God’s will as we asked.

We can also pray confidently because, as John says, we “keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.” And what is that commandment? What pleases God? John goes on, “And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us.” God sent His Son into the world and wants you to believe in Him. He wants you to find your confidence not in your own heart or your own works, but in Jesus’ loving heart and His perfect works. That is what God wants.

And He wants you to love one another. Confident that the Father loved you and sent His Son to save you, believing in the name of His Son Jesus Christ who loved you and died for you, it is a natural fruit of faith that we then love one another. If we are confident of God’s love for us, we can love one another freely, regardless of how they treat us.

John then concludes, “Whoever keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” Christian confidence is the work of the Triune God. God sent His Son into the world and wants us to believe in Him. The Son came to reconcile us to God by His life, death, and resurrection. And it is God the Holy Spirit whom God gives us that causes us to believe that Jesus came to save us. Evidence that God abides in you is found in the fact that you believe in Jesus as your Savior from sin and want to live for God.

In the Sound of Music, Maria calmed her fears to be the governess for the von Trapp family by being confident in herself. Her self-confidence paid off as she was able to put up with the seven von Trapp children and their shenanigans, eventually earning their trust and respect, and then marrying their father, Captain von Trapp.

While self-confidence may have helped Maria take care of some kids, confidence in ourselves will not help us in approaching the almighty God who knows EVERYTHING. No flesh will be justified in His sight by their own works.

Praise God that He is greater than our hearts that rightly condemn us. He counts us righteous in His sight for Jesus’ sake. He has given us His Holy Spirit so that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and want to live to please Him. Therefore, dear Christian, find your confidence in the Triune God and in His promises to you. Amen.

—Pastor Nathan Pfeiffer

Berea Ev. Lutheran Church
Inver Grove Heights, MN

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Ministry by Mail is a weekly publication of the Church of the Lutheran Confession. Subscription and staff information may be found online at www.clclutheran.org/ministrybymail.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.