John 14:25

May 23 2010 Confirmation Sermon

Pentecost Sunday

John 14: ²⁵"These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.

This morning there are five young people sitting here in the front pew. (You can tell they've not been confirmed yet, because Lutherans sit in the rear of the church.) For the past two years they have given up their Saturday mornings and sometimes their Sunday afternoons as well. They have studied God's Word, memorized the Catechism, and learned a lot of information. Their heads are full. They are ready to step into a new relationship with the church as adult members of the body of Christ. I have to say it was a pleasure having these young people in class. We had our fun times and our not so fun times. But they are all marvelous people, and I am sorry to see it come to an end.

Now, today, we have to do something with all that new knowledge. Being able to recite creeds and memorize verses is not faith in Jesus. Intellectual knowledge of historical facts is not faith. We don't place our faith in abstract concepts or propositions, nor in cognitive understanding. Faith is in a person; and that person is Jesus Christ. So today let's talk about how those facts and that information become part of your life; how to experience His cross in your; how to live in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Let's talk today about how the HIStory of Jesus becomes YOUR story. That is our goal at Confirmation; transforming historical facts into a living reality.

Exactly at this point is where Pentecost Sunday can help us. On the cross Jesus let go of his Spirit. He "gave it up" and "released it" back to His Father. Jesus' Spirit is the Spirit of God. On the cross He released His Spirit so that on Pentecost the Spirit could be sent to us. It is the Spirit of Jesus who, when He comes into us, joins us to Jesus' life and death and resurrection. The Spirit makes the history of Jesus our reality; our life. By the Spirit we experience Jesus and we take part in his death and resurrection.

But how exactly does this work? Let's look in the Book of Acts and see. When the Spirit had come to St. Peter on Pentecost, he began preaching. When the people asked Peter how they could be saved, Peter said, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Baptism then, is the true Pentecost. It is by Baptism that we receive the Holy Spirit. So 3000 people were baptized that day. 3000 People received forgiveness and the Holy Spirit.

What did they do next? They continued to meet together every day to hear the teaching of the Apostles and Break the Bread of Holy Communion. So just as Pentecost takes place in Baptism, Pentecost continues all throughout your life in the Sacrament of the Altar.

Now that's the first point: Baptism is our initiation into Christ. It is the foundation of our Christian life. Baptism defines who and what we are for the rest of our life. Seen this way, Baptism is not a mere past event. It's not history; something we did, got it over with and move on. Rather Baptism continues for your entire life. We live in our Baptism every day. When we confess our sins daily and receive the Lord's Supper we are renewing and strengthening our Baptism; living in our Baptism.

So there is a difference between Baptism and Communion. Many people have trouble distinguishing between the two; thinking they do pretty much the same thing. But that's wrong! Baptism is initiation and Communion is how we continue living in Baptism. So how does Baptism and Communion make the life of Christ a reality in our life?

KaiLoni, the verse you chose for your Confirmation says, "Nothing will be impossible with God." That is what the Angel told Mary when he said she would have a son. With God all things are possible. That Possible then is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But how does your verse then become a part of your life? The Holy Spirit makes it part of your life in your Baptism. As you continue to live in your Baptism, by hearing the Word of God, by Confessing your sins and receiving absolution, and by partaking of the Lord's Supper, the "All Things Possible God" lives in you, empowers your life, and becomes part of your life experience. Today you will be admitted to the Lord's Table for the first time. Today that which the Spirit began in Baptism will be continued in Communion. You bind yourself again to the "All Things are Possible God" today and every time you eat his body and drink his blood.

Elijah, in your verse Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to that Father but by me." Notice what it says about how we come to the "All Things Possible God." We get to him through Jesus. Jesus is the way, he is the road, he is the highway to God. In this life we often lose our way. We sometimes feel lost, confused, and don't know where to turn. Have you ever gone somewhere and had to ask someone how to get there? They told you what road to take; they showed you the way to get to where you wanted to go. The way to get to the God of "all things are possible" is Jesus. You were put on the way in Baptism. It is a road; a journey. You began the journey when you were baptized, but you keep walking down the road all your life. In Confession and Absolution and the Lord's Supper you continue your walk down the road; you continue living your Baptism.

Julia, your verse says that "Love is patient and kind,...it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things." Young people today are very concerned about their image. What do I look like? What do others think of me? Do my friends like me? Life is all about image at your age.

Well, the love that your verse talks about is all about image too. Love is the image of God. Love is the image, pure and holy, of Jesus himself.

Love is the beauty that is often lacking in our world and our lives. People are unfair to each other, thinking only of themselves they hurt others for their own gain or pleasure. We live in the ugliness of self-interest and selfishness. We live in the ugliness of hurt and injustice.

But Love is the beauty of a just and fair world. Love is the beauty of forgiveness and reconciliation; it's the beauty of people getting along with one another and being kind to one another, of helping one another. Love is the beauty of the image of Jesus. Begun at Baptism and continued in the Lord's Supper, that image of Jesus is being formed inside you. Eating the body and drinking the blood of Jesus you are transformed into his image. Love is the beauty that shines from the inside so that through you the world might be a more beautiful place.

Bryan; your verse says that the Lord is your refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble. You live in a troubled world. A world where people think more of themselves than of others. A world where the future is unsure and frightening. Young people like to project the image of confidence. They want people to see them as grown up, in control, and as responsible and capable people.

But inside they often feel afraid of the future. Sometimes they feel weak and unsure, like a child that isn't sure he wants to grow up. But in the midst of this troubled world there is a stronghold of refuge. The hymn we will sing in a couple of minutes says that in Baptism "we bind ourselves to the 'strong name of the Triune God.'" God is our refuge and strength; the strength that is bound to us in Baptism and strengthened in Holy Communion. It is the strength of the cross of Jesus; the sacrifice for sin. It is the strength of his body offered as a sacrifice on a cross and the strength of the atoning blood that washes away sin and evil and frees you from the power of death. That very body and blood which you eat and drink in Communion is what binds you to the death and resurrection of Jesus, your refuge and strength.

Dakota; your verse says that Jesus will come again and receive you unto himself, that where he is you shall be also. Like a distant lover who comes back to you and sweeps you off your feet and carries you off into the sunset on his swift stallion, so Jesus will come and take you unto himself and you shall be together forever. Jesus is coming for you, but not on the last day. He is coming for you today. He comes in his Supper and takes you unto himself just as he comes into you and becomes part of you when you eat his body and drink his blood. He comes to bind himself to you forever. Around the Table of the Lord is where the body of Christ is joined together and formed into a community. Here you bind yourself to Jesus and to the rest of the faithful; to the church. At the Lord's Table we enter into communion with each other, bear each others' burdens and share each others' joys. Here the church as one body, one fellowship, partakes of and shares in the divinity and becomes one with the divine.

So as all of you on this Confirmation day remember your Baptism and confess the faith that the Holy Spirit gave you at Baptism, you also look ahead to the rest of your life in Christ, as you continue in your Baptism in the worship of God through the Word, through Absolution and through Holy Communion. These are what define your life as a believer and child of God. Here in these means of grace you experience the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus. You partake of the divine and become one with Him. You are molded and shaped into the image of God and are joined to the body of Christ and you become part of the community of believers; the Communion of Saints; the Holy Christian Church.

Never forsake the gift that is in you; the Spirit of the Living God, the image of Christ born in you at Baptism and being made perfect in you in Communion.

Amen.