Easter 2/Confirmation Sunday 5/1/2011
1 Peter 1:3-9
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text today is the epistle lesson, especially these words, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in Christ, especially you young confirmands. Today is a special day. Five young people officially become confirmed members of our congregation and, for the first time, receive the gift of the Lord’s Supper. Today, you get to partake in that preview of heaven, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, and eat the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today you begin the Christian life in earnest, the life of receiving gifts from God. Receiving from God. That is what today is about. That is what confirmation really is. It isn’t about what you do at all. It is completely about what God gives, and what God gives is his own Son, life, forgiveness, and salvation. God generously pours out all sorts of wonderful amazing gifts upon you here in His church, here in His Word, here among His people. Today your confirmation is completely and totally a gift.
The gifts you receive today are gifts that you need. Gifts that will carry you throughout your life. You see, just like every other person that has been confirmed here, just like every other member of this church and every person present here, you and I are sinners. Each one of us daily and grievously sins against our God and creator. We turn against Him. We disobey him in so many ways. We have all learned the 10 commandments, and in learning them we know that we do not keep them – we don’t even come CLOSE! And the biggest sin of all is when we take all sorts of other things, and put them into the place of God, breaking that first commandment. We make ourselves into a god, into the ultimate judge, and by doing so we spit in the eye of the true God.
Friends, we break these commandments when we think we don’t need to continue our learning past confirmation – and we all have considered that at one time or another. We break these commandments when we skip church for work, or play, or worst of all, when we say we don’t need what is offered here at church. We break these commandments when we openly go against God’s word, or in similar fashion openly deny the faith that is so graciously given by our heavenly father. We all have done it. We all are guilty. We all are wrong. Not one is better than another. All have fallen short of the glory of God. There is not one who is righteous, not even one!
Dear friends, dear confirmands, dear former confirmands and members of church. We don’t deserve anything from God, because we have so thanklessly turned our backs on him. We have constantly told God, “I have no need for you, I am my own boss, now step aside while I do what I can do for myself.” The problem is, we can’t do anything. We cannot save ourselves. We can’t clean up the mess we have made. We are stuck in our sin, and there is no way out.
But (today is not about how we’ve fallen short, how you’ve fallen short, how you will continue to fall short) today is about gifts. Today is about what God promises to give to you sinners, even to you sinners who don’t deserve anything from Him. Today is about a promise made first to Adam in the garden, and even now today to every child that is baptized. A promise of forgiveness. A promise of life. A promise of salvation. This promise is Jesus. This promise was first gifted to Adam and Eve in the garden, only a few short moments after that first sin. God gave them the promise that one day they would be saved from their sin.
This promise was given over and over again throughout the Old Testament, to Abraham, to Jacob, to David and more. God gave the promise of rescue. God gave to each person here that promise as you were baptized into God’s name. It is a promise that here today is given to you again, and you are confirmed in the faith.
The promise God gives you is assured in blood. This promise is given freely without any doing of your own. It is given simply because you could not do it on your own. The promise God gives you is fulfilled as Jesus dies and rises again for you. It is fulfilled as you Jesus cries out on your behalf, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” In the death and the resurrection of Jesus, you dear confirmands, and yes, you dear brothers and sisters in Christ, are promised heaven. You are promised rescue. You are promised a place apart from weeping and mourning, apart from gnashing of teeth. You are promised to be given – in faith – an eternal inheritance from your Father.
Today, for the first time you will participate in this promise, in this gift from God, as you come up to this altar and here eat the very body that was given on your behalf, and that was raised again. For the first time, you will drink of the blood that was poured out for your forgiveness, and that still today courses and flows through the living Jesus Christ in his kingdom. Dear confirmands, and dear Christians, here today at this altar, you participate in heaven.
What a gift! What a promise! IT is for you! It is yours now! As our Epistle lesson says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” It is yours now, as you are confirmed in the faith.
Please don’t misunderstand, life will not suddenly be easy. You will not always want to come here to church, you will not have a pain free life. Even our text says that there will be struggles. But because of the gifts of God has given to each of you, you can know that these struggles are like a refiner’s fire that will strengthen your faith. Each week as you come and eat and drink this body and blood, God will keep on giving gifts to you. He will keep pouring out His blessings upon you. Even in the struggles of your life, he will keep on giving to you. That is your promise today.
Dear confirmands, and dear friends in Christ. Today God gives to you. Tomorrow God gives to you, and even forevermore. “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” That is God’s gift to you today. Amen.
