What Is Confirmation?

    Many of us grew up being taught and believing something of the sort that confirmation was the time that one would confirm their baptismal vow. Yet, when we parse that statement we realize that we do not make a vow at our baptism, rather God is the one doing the doing and giving the gifts. So the question again is, “What is confirmation?”
    Notice, as always, we get it right when we point, not to ourselves, but to Jesus. Confirmation is something we do, but only after something has been done to us and for us. As we recall, the Church stands or falls on the doctrine of Justification, that is that we are made just and right in God’s eyes by God Himself. Just as a drowning person cannot save themself, or they would not be drowning, so we cannot save ourselves. Our salvation must and does come from outside of us, it comes from Christ. In the waters of Holy Baptism with God’s name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God imputes faith, that is He puts faith in our hearts. God gives faith. As we grow in our faith through the means of God’s Word, in Sunday School and in reading our Bible, the Holy Spirit works through these means to strengthen and keep us in faith and then to help us to do what is right which we call sanctification. And yet, just as our justification begins and ends with Jesus, He is the on doing the justifying and making us just and right in God’s eyes, so even in sanctification the Holy Spirit is the One doing the doing, moving in us to make good decisions. So, in pointing to Jesus, Confirmation is the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts of those who have been instructed in the Christian faith to speak words of affirmation of the faith which God has given them in the baptism.

Our Attitude, like Christ’s - March 29, 2015 - Palm Sunday - Text: Philippians 2:5-11

This day is a day that three young men have been working and looking forward to for two years. And I do have to say it, this is not their graduation day. This is their day of confirmation and really this is the day that they are considered adults in the church. With that “change of status” comes the responsibility to take the initiative in their spiritual life, meaning, being an active member, being involved in worship and Bible class, being involved with areas of service, and beginning to get interested and involved in serving on the boards and committees of this congregation. Today is the day that they are to take on the attitude of Christ that Paul describes for us in our text for today.
    

we look at our text, the first thing I want to say about our text is that it is thought that this text may have been a part of an early Christian creed which was spoken during a worship service, similar to how we speak the Nicene or Apostles’ Creeds. Our text begins by telling us about Jesus Christ, and specifically, about His attitude. Paul says, “5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (v. 5-6). Paul exhorts us to have the mind, that is, the attitude, of Jesus. This is what I just said about our confirmands, that they are to have the attitude of Christ, and really, we are all to have the attitude of Christ. Okay, so what is the attitude of Christ?
 

The attitude of Christ has its foundation in the fact that He is true God. As true God He was enjoying all the glory that was His. He was in heaven where He freely used all His divine attributes of omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, and the like. He was in heaven being God, watching over us, ruling over us, taking care of us. He was in heaven enjoying the eternal bliss of heaven. And we might be thinking, that is an easy attitude to have, enjoying heaven.
 

Yet, His attitude is what moved Him to give up all that was His in heaven. He gave up all the glory that was His in heaven in order to show how much He loved us, His creation. He gave up the use of His divine attributes, so that while He was here on this earth He did not always use His divine attributes or power, nor did He use them to their full potential. He gave up enjoying the eternal bliss of heaven. His attitude was that He gave up all this, not because He had to or was forced to, but because of His love for us.
 

His attitude is that He humbled Himself. As Paul continues, “7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (V. 7-8). Paul says, Jesus emptied Himself, that is, He made a decision not to use His divine attributes to their fullest. Did you notice Him doing this? Remember when He was tempted by the devil in the desert, He did not change the rock into bread. Did you notice that He did not raise everyone who had died from the dead. He did not heal everyone in the world. Yes, He used some of His divine attributes to some extend, but He did not fully use them as He could, as God.
 

In His love for us He took on human flesh and blood. He was born as a human. He was born, lowly, in a small town. He had a manger, an animals feeding trough, for His first bed. His parents were not wealthy or of seeming nobility, although He was born from the line of King David. He lived a rather obscure life. We do not hear anything about Him from birth until age twelve. Then we do not hear anything about Him until He reaches thirty and is ready to begin His earthly ministry and mission. He did not seek to be rich, or famous and or powerful, which are the things we deem as being great in our world today.
 

His greatest humility is in this, that He humbled Himself to the point of death. He was obedient to the Father’s will. He took all our sins upon Himself. Our sins of pride, greed, envy, and lust. Our sins of wanting our own way even to the detriment of others. Our sins of neglecting our own spiritual well being, absenting ourselves from worship and Bible Class, not reading God’s Word and praying to Him. He took all these sins upon Himself. He became sin for us. Not because He had too, but because He wanted to. Yes, because He wanted to, because of His great love for us.
 

He is our prophet, priest and king. As our priest He went to the altar to make sacrifices for us. As our Savior He became the sacrifice for us, in our place, once and for all, on the cross. He suffered the cruellest of deaths. He suffered the most humiliating and shameful of deaths. He suffered so that we might not have to suffer. He suffered so that we might have forgiveness of sins and life. Think about it this way, if He had not humbled Himself, if He had not suffered for our sins, if He had not died, we would still be in our sins and if we were still in our sins that would ultimately mean eternal spiritual death and hell for us.
 

After His suffering, as Paul continues in our text, “9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (v. 9-11). Paul says, “therefore.” Therefore, because of what He did for us, Jesus was exalted. God the Father exalted Him so that now He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He has returned to the place from where He came. He has returned to the right hand of the Father. There He is interceding for us, praying for us, watching over us, ruling over us, and guiding and directing all our doings in this life.
 

There, at the right hand of the Father, in heaven, He enjoys all the glory that is rightfully His, that He had given up for us. Paul tells us what John tells us in Revelation, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and in earth. All creation will bow before the Lord, both those who believe and those who do not believe. In the end all people will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, some will confess to the demise, other to their eternal glory.
 

And, every tongue will confess, in heaven and in earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord. Again, Paul tells us the same thing John tells us in Revelation. The unbelievers will confess and then will try to blame God for their unbelief. The believers, we faithful Christians, will rejoice and sing praises to the Holy Name of the Lord.
 

Likewise, as Paul tells us, so should our attitude be. This morning we have the privilege of confirming three young men of our congregation. Certainly our text speaks to them. As they have worked hard for two years in order to reach this point, the point of confirmation, so we pray that they now realize that this is not an end, this is not a graduation, but this is just a beginning. For them, and really, for all of us, to take on the attitude of Christ is to understand and acknowledge that when it comes to knowing God, the more we learn about Him, the more we can see that there is so much more that we do not know about Him. And that reminds us that there is even more reason to continue on with our own instruction in God’s Word, continuing to be a part of a Sunday Bible class, continuing to read God’s Word at home, and to have personal and family devotions, continuing to humbly learn and grow in faith. This is taking on Christ’s attitude.
 

Again, I can never say it too much, Confirmation is not graduation. Confirmation, as defined in our catechism, is “a public rite of the church preceded by a period of instruction designed to help baptized Christians identify with the life and mission of the Christian community.” And the catechism also notes, “Prior to admission to the Lord’s Supper, it is necessary to be instructed in the Christian faith (1 Cor. 11:28). The rite of confirmation provides an opportunity for the individual Christian, relying on God’s promise given in Holy Baptism, to make a personal public confession of the faith and a lifelong pledge of fidelity to Christ.”
 

Notice, as always, we get it right when we point, not to ourselves, but to Jesus. Confirmation is something we do, but only after something has been done to us and for us. As we recall, the Church stands or falls on the doctrine of Justification, that is that we are made just and right in God’s eyes by God Himself. Just as a drowning person cannot save themself, or they would not be drowning, so we cannot save ourselves. Our salvation must and does come from outside of us, it comes from Christ. In the waters of Holy Baptism with God’s name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God imputes faith, that is He puts faith in our hearts. God gives faith. As we grow in our faith through the means of God’s Word, in Sunday School and in reading our Bible, the Holy Spirit works through these means to strengthen and keep us in faith and then to help us to do what is right which we call sanctification. And yet, just as our justification begins and ends with Jesus, He is the on doing the justifying and making us just and right in God’s eyes, so even in sanctification the Holy Spirit is the One doing the doing, moving in us to make good decisions. So, in pointing to Jesus, Confirmation is the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts of these young men to speak words of affirmation of the faith which God has given them in the baptism, two of the three of which I had the privilege of God baptizing them with my hands.
 

Confirmation, then, is kind of a new beginning. Confirmation is a rite marking our beginning to be responsible for our own spiritual life, with the help of the Holy Spirit of course. To those of us who have already been confirmed, I ask you, do you remember your confirmation and what it meant for you? Did it give you any incentive to be more self-responsible? Did your confirmation make you what I will suggest to these confirmands? That is, that now is the time to not depend so much on your mom or dad to wake you to tell you it is time to get up and get ready for church and Bible class, but to take the initiative on your own to get up and get ready. I think that would be a part of taking on the attitude of Christ.
 

I would summarize this morning by saying that Confirmation is a time to continue in the attitude of Christ, to continue in living a life to the glory of God by continuing to be in the Word and partake of the Sacrament, and to be willing to give your life for Him. May God grant you the will and the strength to live in such a way. To Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

What Is Truth? - Lent Midweek Six - March 25, 2015 - Text: John 18:37-38

Our text is John 18:37-38: “37Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.” This is our text.
 

A child at Vacation Bible School once asked, “How do we know the Bible is true?” My first thought was that this is the same question that Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” And as we will hear and as we well know, the answer to Pilate’s question of “What is truth?” was sitting right in front of him. Indeed Jesus is truth. And the “truth” is that apart from Jesus there is and can be no truth.
 

Sociologist attempt to put history into some bit of sociological categories in order to help us better understanding people of particular eras of history. We hear about the baby boomers, the gen-xers, the millennials, we hear about the modern world, the post-modern world as well as the post-Christian world. All of these categories tend to be spoken of in certain generalities which are meant to help us understand the way people live and move and have their being, the way people act at various times in history. I say these are spoken of in generalities, which is a nice way of saying profiling, or as we said in days gone by, stereotyping.
    For a while it was said that we were living in a post-modern world and I have to admit, I am not sure what is the category we are supposed to be in today. Anyway, in this post-modern world and yet even today it is said that one generality is that truth is relative. It is said that what may be true for you may not be true for me and what may be true for me may not be true for you. Of course, those of us who believe there are certain truths which are undeniable, have a difficult time with those who refuse to acknowledge such truths as it were.
 

Again, today in our post-modern or beyond world, we are told there are no absolutes, and as some have declared, and I would say tongue in cheek, there are absolutely no absolutes. Of course that sounds a lot like someone saying “I cannot tolerate intolerant people.”  Unfortunately, the person who declares there are no absolutes does so either realizing or not that if there are no absolutes then there also is or can be no morality nor ethics.
 

And once again in our post-modern and beyond world and even in our world today, for many people it is their feelings that for them determines fact, in other words, if I feel it, then it must be true, at least for me. All this information means is that truth becomes subjective and in essence, I become my own god determining what is true or not, at least in my own little world.
 

I would suppose that it may not have been much different in Jesus’ day, and I say that simply from the fact of Pilate’s statement when confronted with the ultimate truth, Jesus Himself. Pilate had a hard time with what was true, especially concerning Jesus. Pilate had a hard enough time distinguishing between Roman rule and Jewish customs, let alone attempting to understand Jesus, true God in human flesh.
    Also Pilate did not understand Jesus, a king, living as a servant. Why would Jesus allow this to happen to Himself if He was a king, even a god? For Pilate none of the accusations, none of the hype and hoopla made any sense. And so Pilate did not understand truth, especially not as he was hearing it.
 

So, what is truth? What was truth for Pilate and what is truth for us even today? For Pilate, truth was what the Roman government said was truth. For too many people today, truth is what they feel to be truth, thus it is often neither rational nor logical for the simple reason that feelings can be deceptive and one cannot depend on their own feelings at any given time. To paraphrase and modernize Scrooge’s words in the Christmas Carol, one bit of bad food can make one feel all kinds of bad things.
 

As Christians we understand that apart from Jesus and faith in Jesus there truly can be no truth. As you have heard me say time and again, when it comes to the witness of man, when it comes to the writings and sayings of fallible human beings versus the witness of God’s Word, I am going to side with God’s Word every time. Human beings get it wrong. God never gets it wrong. Jesus is true God in human flesh, thus He always gets it right. God’s Word has never and never will change. What God speaks in His Word is faithful and true.
 

Again, apart from Jesus and faith in Jesus there is and can be no truth. Jesus is truth because He is God, Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier. Jesus is truth because He was there at the creation of the world bringing truth into this world. Jesus is truth because He is the one who has traded the truth of His perfection for the lie of our sins and imperfections. Jesus is truth because He sends His Holy Spirit to work through the truth of His Word to give the gifts He has to give, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation.
 

Thus, Jesus alone is and gives truth. Even as He says Himself, He is the way, the truth and the life and apart from Jesus there is no salvation. Jesus is the one and only one way to eternal life in heaven. Jesus is the one and only truth. Jesus is the one and only one way to eternal life. When challenged by the Pharisees we have Jesus response: “13So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father  who sent me. 17In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:13-19).
 

Jesus is truth and God’s Word is truth. Again I will say it, fallible human beings get it wrong, God never gets it wrong.
 

What does this mean? Our world will continue to have a problem with truth and even more so as Jesus is shoved further and further out. As the church, even the seeming so called Christian church succumbs to the temptations of the world and accommodates the beliefs of the culture, more and more giving up the faith of Holy Scripture, the more and more there will be the question of what is truth as truth will simply be nothing more than my own idea of what is mete, right and salutary for me at any given moment, because what is right for me now may not be right for me later and so my truth is fluid, this is truth now, something else is truth later.
 

When and only when we as a Christian church and congregation adopt God’s plan as His children moved into the promised land, not that we are to wipe out the people of our world, but when and only when we stand up and defend the truth of the Word of God, will true truth abound. God’s Word is truth and we know His Word is truth. We have and know the truth because Jesus is the truth, He is the way, the truth and the life.
 

Finally, the truth is that by grace, through faith, we are saved. Just as grace and salvation points outside of oneself, so truth must point outside oneself, it must point to Jesus alone. I get it wrong, Jesus gets it right. My feelings change, God’s Word is always the same. I cannot depend on myself, but I can always depend on Jesus.
 

“What is truth?” is the question that is often asked today, perhaps not directly, but indirectly. Sometimes it is asked as in “Did God really say or mean what He said?” We answer with a resounding God is truth, Jesus is truth and only by faith in Jesus do we know the truth and with the truth we have life and salvation. Thanks be to God for His truth, Jesus. To Him be the glory. Amen.

My Kingdom Is Not of This World - Lent Midweek Five - March 18, 2015 - Text: John 18:33-37

Our text is John 18:33-37: “33So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” This is our text.
 

In confirmation we always have the question, “What does this mean?” followed by the answer, “We should . . . ” Interestingly, I have been told that in German the question really is, “What is this?” implying that we are not searching for some, perhaps mystical answer to the meaning of some bit of theology or doctrine, but we are asking what did God say and answering that God surely  meant what He said. This evening we get to a very significant question, one that is misconstrued by those who teach the new theology of rapture and millenialism in our world today, that is the question concerning the kingdom of God.
 

To understand the Kingdom of God, we must first go back to the first promise of a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ. In Genesis we read of God creating a good, even a very good, that is a perfect world and we read how as long as God was running the show everything was running rather smoothly. When we get to Adam and Eve running the show in chapter three, we see how quickly they mess up the good that God had given. By being disobedient to God they brought sin and God’s curse on this once perfect world. And yet, because of God’s great love for us, we also hear God’s first promise to send a Savior, a Messiah, even a Christ and this promise was given in the Garden of Eden and this is the beginning of the Christian faith and church.
 

More than once God reiterated His promise. Notice He reiterated His promise, He did not make a new promise, nor a second promise, but reiterated His promise and narrowed the line of fulfillment of that promise by promising that through Abraham the Savior of the world, the Messiah, the Christ would be born. And with Abraham God expanded His promise. He told Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation a nation of kings and most importantly that the Savior of all people of the whole world would be born through His line.
 

To Abraham’s great grandson, God narrowed His promise even more so that through the line of Judah the Christ would be born. Also, through the line of Judah the promise was that there would always be a ruler on the throne, in other words, the king of Israel would be from the line of Judah, but this promise was never meant as a strictly earthly promise, but this promise was one that pointed heavenward, as we will see.
 

And ultimately, God promised that the Messiah would be born from the line of King David, thus He would be royalty, a King of Israel. And yet, even this promise was not meant simply as an earthly promise of earthly royalty and an earthly kingdom. Indeed, the promise was that the Christ would be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, indeed, prophet, priest and king.
 

At Jesus’ birth the fulfillment of the promise of the Christ began. According to the promise, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the home of King David, thus Jesus fulfilled this prophecy concerning the Savior, the Christ.
 

At the same time, as we follow the genealogies of the Gospel writers, Jesus was born of the line of Judah and King David, again, making Him one in the line of royalty and also fulfilling another of God’s prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, the Christ, the Savior.
 

Indeed, Jesus was born as King, and the visit of the Wisemen, the Magi confirmed Jesus royalty. Their gifts of gold, a gift for a king, incense, a gift for a priest, and myrrh, a gift for a prophet pointed to Jesus threefold office as prophet, priest and king. At the same time we see that Jesus did not seek any earthly rule. Jesus understood that His kingdom was an eternal kingdom, that His role of salvation was an eternal role, one of forgiveness of sins.
 

Jesus lived His life such that although He truly was and is King, even King of Kings, He lived as a servant. Jesus never lived His life seeking to be served while here on this earth. He came to seek and to save the lost. He came to serve, to heal the sick, to feed the hungry, to raise the dead, to comfort the downtrodden. Most importantly Jesus lived His life as our substitute. Everything He did, He did for you and for me because of His great love for us, His children, His creation.
 

After Jesus lived, suffered, died, and rose He ascended into heaven, the place from which He had descended in order to live for us. Jesus is now in heaven, not that we attempt to permanently locate Him in heaven, because He continues to be truly God meaning that He continues to be everywhere present. But now Jesus does live in heaven. He lives in heaven where He is being given all the glory that was His and that He had given up in order to take on human flesh and blood. He lives in heaven where He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
 

Jesus is in heaven where He is watching over us, ruling over us and interceding for us. What great joy and comfort we have in knowing that Jesus never slumbers nor sleeps, but He is always watching over us. What great joy and comfort to know that even while there may be chaos in our world, Jesus is in heaven ruling over us. And what great joy and comfort to know that Jesus is in heaven where He too is praying and interceding for us before His and our heavenly Father.
 

We know that one day, one day soon, Jesus will come again. He will return to take us to heaven to live with Him for eternity as our great King. The fact of the matter is, we will meet Jesus, either at our own passing, or at His return, but that day will come and I believe that day will be sooner than we know and sooner than we might imagine. We are living in the end times, in the last days as Jesus birth ushered in these last days.
 

Until our Lord and Savior Jesus returns we wait with great hope and certainty. We wait in joy and certainty because we know that our great King, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, Jesus has done it all and continues to do it all and gives it all to us. Indeed, we rest assured that our salvation has been taken care of because Jesus has taken care of all that needs to be done. We look, not into ourselves, but outside ourselves, to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, the One who accomplished our salvation for us.
 

Jesus is true God who gave up the glory that was His in heaven in order to take on human flesh and blood, in order to intervene in human history in order to save His creation, all mankind. God’s promise of a Savior was a promise which would find its fulfillment in an earthly kingdom, namely the kingdom of Israel and the line of King David. Yet, God’s promise was never a promise for an eternal earthly kingdom, rather His promise, His earthly promise always had as its ultimate fulfillment in an eternal heavenly kingdom, one in which Jesus would sit on the throne as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We rejoice and celebrate that by grace, through faith, given to us by our Lord, through His means of grace, we are a part of the eternal kingdom. We rejoice that as the Lord has taken care of all that we need for our eternal salvation, so He will continue in heaven to take care of all our needs as well. Our response is simply a response of faith and joy saying, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.