St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles – June 29, 2025

Praise to you and peace from God, our Father, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today, June 29th, we commemorate the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul.

Since the year 258 AD, the Church has remembered these two Apostles on this

very day. Can you imagine that?

The church has recognized these two for over 1,700 years, and we do that today as well.

So this is one of the oldest festivals of the church year, which commemorates a saint.

We will focus on St. Peter and St. Paul today, but we cannot also focus on the

one whom they pointed to, namely, Jesus, our Savior,

our one and only Savior, he is also the chief cornerstone of the church.

It is our prayer that God will strengthen us, that we may confess the truth

of the gospel like they did.

And that we may be ready to lay down our lives for the sake of Christ,

who laid down his life for us.

First of all, how was Peter and Paul a disciple slash apostle?

Peter was first a fisherman along with his brother Andrew.

And then one day Jesus come along and said to them, follow me.

And they both gave up fishing and followed Jesus as a disciple.

Paul, on the other hand, was born of the tribe of Benjamin in the Roman city of Tarsus.

He studied with the famous teacher Gamaliel.

Saul was thoroughly trained in the Mosaic law and he followed the covenant regulations.

Paul was part of a movement which sought to stop the spread of Christianity

and to persecute Christians.

And so during the stoning of Stephen, Saul, slash Paul, took care of the garments

of those who were stoning Stephen.

And actually consented to Stephen's death. One day as Saul was traveling on the road to Damascus,

Jesus appeared to him and said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And by the power of the Holy Spirit, Saul was converted from unbelief to faith

in Christ and was now named Paul.

Paul then proclaimed Christ as the one and only Savior.

What about you? What is your calling in life?

As a baptized believer in Christ, you are to be a faithful husband or wife,

a faithful son or daughter, a faithful employer, employee, faithful to your neighbor,

faithful in hearing the word of God and receiving the sacraments.

Faithful in reflecting the light of Christ to a world filled with darkness and unbelief.

Faithful in telling other people about Christ and inviting them to church.

Secondly, what was Peter and Paul's education?

Peter learned how to be a disciple slash apostle by being with Jesus for three years.

And during this time, he learned from Jesus. He watched Jesus in what he did

and said. He listened to Jesus' teaching.

He witnessed Jesus' miracles. And oftentimes he asked a lot of questions,

such as, what is the meaning of this parable or that parable?

He also asked Jesus, how many times are we to forgive each other?

Peter was seen as a leader among the disciples, kind of a spokesman for them.

He even witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Paul, on the other hand, was not

one of the 12 disciples. After Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus,

he was baptized by Ananias, and then he went away for a while to Arabia and

was schooled in the teachings of Jesus.

How about you? Many of us were instructed in the faith in catechism class.

We learned from the scriptures, from Sunday school, home devotions,

reading the Bible, hearing it preached, and so forth and so on.

God's word had its way with you. Faith comes out hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

And so it created faith in you, and it also strengthens and nurtures your faith in Christ.

You are a faithful witness to the gospel And where you go and what you do,

Third, Peter and Paul were regarded as pillars of the church,

an immense blessing for the church as well.

However, they were not perfect. They were sinful, like each and every one of us.

At one time, Jesus told his disciples that he's going to suffer many things

from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed when the

third day rise from the dead.

And Peter would not hear of it.

He was not going to let Jesus be killed. And so he said to Jesus,

far be it from me, Lord, that this should happen to you.

Peter was not mindful of the things of God. He was mindful and he did not understand

the necessity of Jesus dying for the sins of the whole world.

And Jesus kind of rebuked him.

The second time Peter sinned was when after Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane.

And during Jesus' trial with the Sanhedrin,

Jesus, Peter, happened to be in the courtyard and some people recognized Peter

and associated him with being with Jesus. And he denied it.

And he denied it three times saying, I don't know the man. This was a flat out lie.

Eventually, Peter recognized his sin. He went out and he wept bitterly. What about Paul?

In 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, he admits that he is a chief of sinners.

1 Timothy 1:15

He writes, quote, The saying is trustworthy and deserving of all acceptance

that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost.

And in Romans chapter 7, he confessed that he has a sinful nature.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

He says, the good that I'm supposed to do, I don't find myself doing.

And the bad that I'm not supposed to do, I find myself doing.

Now, thanks be to God that both Peter and Paul were repentant,

were forgiven, and they lived that repentant life with faith in the forgiveness of sins.

What about you? What about me? We too are sinful by nature.

And the things that we're not supposed to do, we find ourselves doing.

The things that we're supposed to do, we don't find ourselves doing.

We sin by our thoughts, our thought, word, and deed.

And it's our prayer that the Holy Spirit will always work repentance in our

hearts, confessing our sins and receiving the gospel.

If our Lord was gracious and merciful to Peter and to Paul in forgiving them

their sins, then God is also gracious and merciful to us, poor sinners,

forgiving our sin on account of Christ, who died for our sin and who rose from the dead.

Fourth, both Peter and Paul made a wonderful confession that Jesus is our one and only Savior,

that there is salvation through faith in Christ and not by works.

In our Holy Gospel for today, Peter made a wonderful confession of who Jesus is.

He said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And the church is not built on Peter. It's built upon this confession of who Christ is.

Jesus is the cornerstone of the church, its foundation.

And so Jesus is like Moses and David in that Jesus is human,

but Jesus is greater than Moses and David because Jesus is the Son of God in human flesh.

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

He died for our sins on the cross, and he rose again, and he is living now and forevermore.

Another time during Jesus' ministry, Jesus asked his disciples, will you leave me also?

And Peter has a wonderful confession. He said, Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

Peter recognized that Christ and his words are our source of life.

Furthermore, on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached a wonderful sermon.

It's recorded in Acts chapter 2, and in this sermon, he proclaims salvation

Acts 2 · chapter mention

through faith in Christ.

And also by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter wrote the epistle of Peter, books 1, 2, and 3.

And tradition has it that he also wrote the gospel of Mark, true Mark,

as the one who inscribed it.

What about Paul? Paul's accomplishments were great.

Paul was one of the greatest missionaries of Christianity. He wrote 13 letters

to various churches or individuals.

They are included in the New Testament.

He also conducted three missionary journeys, traveling probably over 8,000 miles.

He planted churches. He trained future pastors. He preached the gospel.

Yet Paul suffered for the sake of the gospel. He was treated poorly by his own

Jewish people, and he was persecuted by the civil rulers.

And yet, by God's grace, he persevered, and he remained faithful in the proclamation of the gospel.

Let me now say a few words about both Peter and Paul.

They both preached the gospel to the Jew and Gentile.

Peter primarily to the Jew and Paul primarily

to the Gentile but they preached to both as

well and during the early church the

question was asked do Gentiles have to

be circumcised do they need to follow the ceremonial law like circumcision and

others and the covenant laws in order to be saved and the answer is no because

Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law.

And therefore, salvation is through faith in Christ. This was radical for the

early Christian church to wrestle with this.

But Peter and Paul proclaimed salvation in Christ alone. And this was debated

in the First Council in Jerusalem and is recorded in Acts chapter 15,

Acts 15 · chapter mention

our first reading for today.

And Paul also talks about the gospel going out to everyone, even the Gentiles,

in Galatians chapter 3, our epistle lesson for today as well.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Paul once wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 15,

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received from that

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture, that he was buried,

that he was raised from the dead in accordance with the scripture,

And I deliver to you the very same gospel, that Christ died upon the cross as

a payment for your sins and for the sins of the whole world, that he was buried.

And on the third day, he rose from the dead.

Sin is now paid for. Death is defeated. Christ won the victory over the devil.

Therefore, because Christ lives, you too shall live. You now have peace with

God through our Lord Jesus Christ, a peace that the world can never give,

a peace knowing that heaven is open for you and for all who believe.

This precious gospel goes out to all nations, even today, no matter what economic

status you are, no matter what nationality you are, no matter what age or ethnic group you are.

Christ died for you and he died for the whole world. and in Christ there is

forgiveness life and salvation.

Finally, did Peter and Paul remain faithful, even unto death?

The answer is yes.

According to tradition, Peter died by means of crucifixion, but he did not want

to be crucified the same way as his Lord.

And so he was crucified on an upside-down cross, and that's how he died.

And for Paul, tradition has it that he died by means of beheaded by a sword.

What about you? What about me? We live in a world which is hostile to Christianity.

The devil wants to take your faith away.

He wants to destroy all that is good. And the unbelieving world perhaps might

make fun of you because we hold to the word of God as our source of truth.

The unbelieving world laughs at us because we are baptized into Christ and not ashamed of it.

It makes fun of us because we confess Christ as our one and only Savior.

So what should we do? If there's anything that we can learn from Peter and Paul,

it's to acknowledge Christ alone as our one and only Savior and to persevere in this one truth.

We should not remain silent. We should not give in to the immorality of our culture.

Rather, by God's grace, pray that God would help us to be a light in a dark

world in telling other people about Jesus and inviting them to church.

When you were confirmed, you were asked this question. Do you intend to live

according to the word of God and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to

God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?

And you answered, I do, by the grace of God.

And so it is only by the grace of God that we remain faithful to him and to

his word and precious gospel.

So in the midst of hostility from an unbelieving world, count it all joy,

count it all joy, that Christ is your Savior.

Pray for your persecutors, that they too may be converted to faith in Christ.

Christ is your light and your salvation there's nothing to fear Christ is your

strength there's nothing to be afraid of nothing will be able to separate you

from the love of Christ which is in Christ Jesus our Lord you are in the world

but you are not of the world you are of Christ,

by God's grace speak the truth in love so that others may hear this precious

gospel Be converted to faith in Christ.

Remember that Christ won the victory.

Your sins are paid for in full by Christ's death upon the cross.

Jesus overcame death by his resurrection from the dead. And the devil is defeated.

In Christ, God is gracious and merciful to you.

And he now feeds you with his own body and blood here at this altar.

So may God help us to confess the truth of the gospel.

And may he help us to be faithful to Christ, who laid down his life for us.

Thanks be to God. Amen.