The
Church Season of Easter,
Easter
5, Cantate, One Year Series
The
Confirmation of Justin and Jacob Beck
Our
Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (May 6, 2012)
Isaiah 12:1-6
James 1:16-21
John 16:5-15
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Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and
the Holy Spirit, Amen
John 16:5-15 (NIV)
[Jesus said] 5 “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet
none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Because I have said these things, you are
filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that
I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will
send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will
convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you
can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to
judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all
truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he
will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will
bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All
that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take
from what is mine and make it known to you.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, Amen
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
He
is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
As has become our custom here, the
first Sunday in May is confirmation day.
And the sermon for the day is one addressed particularly to the
confirmands, but we do allow the rest of the congregation to overhear the words
in which Scripture speaks to you Jacob and Justin. These past few years have had more than a few
milestone for your lives. Two years ago
in confirmation I was taller than you, today you are both taller than me. Hopefully that will not be your greatest
achievement.
In our Gospel lesson the apostles
spent three years with Jesus, learning from Him and He told them that it was
now time for Him to go. Jesus was
sending the Holy Spirit who would guide them in truth. While they were with Jesus the apostles
sometimes understood, sometimes they did not, sometimes they stood by Jesus and
in His most critical hour they did not.
The apostles were human, they succeeded at times and failed at times,
but in the end we can safely call each one of them martyrs for the faith.
We think of people like St. Peter, as
martyrs, because he died for his belief in Jesus Christ. As legend tells us St. Peter was crucified
upside down because he was too humble to die the way that Jesus did, or St.
Paul who went through shipwreck, torture, and threat of death rather than keep
quiet about the good news Jesus had sent him to tell. And in your lessons you have learned that you
Jacob & Justin are to share the Gospel, the good news of Christ. So you, and all Christians are called to be heroes of the
faith, for you and they are to keep calling on the Name of the Lord no matter
what they face in life. You Jacob and Justin probably know that better than
anyone your age should.
And today on your confirmation we want
to remind you of all that God has done to save you, and encourage you to
continue to be a hero of the faith. Jesus said in the 12th chapter of Luke,
"If you boldly claim me before the
world, I will claim to know you before my Father in heaven. But if, for
whatever reason, you don't claim to know me before the world, I will have to
claim I don't know you when you come looking to get into heaven."
Jacob & Justin you can claim to
know God because he first claimed you. When Jesus died on the cross, He gave His
life to work forgiveness for the sins of the world. Jesus also gave Himself
personally for you. When you were baptized, God put His Name on you and counted
you part of his family. He put faith into your heart, and your parents and
sponsors promised to raise you in a way that would teach you who your Savior
is.
Ever since that day you've belonged
to God. When you were crawling around the house, you belonged to God. When you
went to school for the first day, Jesus was there with you. When you were out
on the basketball court, sitting in school taking tests, or going on vacation
with your family, or even sliding down that big icy ramp at your grandparents
house, Jesus was right there with you. He forgave your sins and washed you
clean every time you asked for it.
I have asked you many times why you
were coming to confirmation class. You
know that you didn’t come to those classes to become a member. You have been a member of this church since
the day you were baptized. You know you’re are not completing your salvation
today. You were saved when you were baptized.
We've come to this point today to
celebrate God being with you and to ask you some very important questions. Just two more, but now these will be
easy. Number 1 is do you believe in
Jesus only because your parents or grandparents make you, or do you believe in
Him as your Savior on your own? And the number 2 question is are you going to
continue to be a Christian and stay close to Jesus every day you live in this
world?
In a few minutes we’ll put those
questions to you for you to answer. But before we do, let's take them one at a
time and go over them so we all know what we are promising to do.
The first
question you will be asked is this: Do you acknowledge the gifts God gave you
in your baptism? And remember from the Catechism that the gifts of Baptism
promised to you are forgiveness, life and salvation. This question is another
way of saying if you were to die tonight, do you know that you would go to
heaven. You are not answering that with a maybe, but a solid "YES!"
You can answer yes because you know what Jesus has done for you and you have
learned that Jesus brought you to that faith through baptism and the teaching
you have learned from your parents, grandparents, and your whole family.
The next question asks: Do you
renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways? I know that nobody thinks
they belong to the devil. We recognize him as the great enemy of every
Christian. So. it's important for us to remember that we don't belong to
ourselves either. As created people, we do belong to somebody. We don't belong
to the devil; we belong to the Heavenly Father. From your baptism until now,
from this day on and in every situation of life, remember who you belong to,
you belong to Jesus Christ.
After that we’ll ask if you believe
in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We will speak together the
Apostles' Creed. This creed was read when you were baptized. It is a symbol of
the religion you were belong to. Together you studied the Apostles' Creed very
carefully in your Catechism instruction. Today you speak that creed as a symbol
of all you've learned about God and hold to be true.
The next question. Do you intend to continue steadfast in this
confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from
it? No one can answer that question on
their own, but only with God leading you, you can and you will.
The next question asks if you
believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, and the doctrine you've learned
from the Catechism is true to the Bible. If you believe the Bible is true, then
you are going to keep studying it. Today is not your graduation from Christian
education. Confirmation means you now have the tools to begin studying the
Bible for yourself. Keep reading the Bible. Don't let your catechism book get
covered with dust.
We will ask if you wish to become a
member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and of this congregation of Our
Savior Lutheran Church. If you answer
yes, then you are committing yourself to supporting the church with your
presence at the worship services, with your talents and special abilities, and
your treasures.
You are welcomed now to come to the
Lord's Supper and eat and drink with us the Body and Blood of the Lord. We have
taught you to come in the right way, prepared to meet Jesus by confessing all
your sins and asking Him to help you lead a godly life. You can't drink the cup
of Jesus and the cup of the world at the same time. You've got to make a choice
every day of your life how you want to live: as a Christian or not.
Jesus on the cross is the reminder
that God the Father helped him keep his promise to save us. He loves you both
very much and promises to be right there with you every step of the way. He
gives you the power to follow him. And when you find that you've failed, you've
sinned and gone astray, come back to Jesus and ask his forgiveness, and He will
always welcome you back. God loves you very much. Your parents, grandparents
and family love you also. I love you, I will always have time to listen or
share the Gospel of Christ. This whole church loves you. Remember we are your
Christian family. Be on guard against your enemy, and stay with God and us all
your life. This is your confirmation promise today. But you already know that
because your great students and great young men. And God keeps His promises for
you. In fact He gave His Son Jesus
Christ so that you may have the promise of eternal life. Amen.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
He
is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of
God
and the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit be with you all.
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