John 10 Confirmation 2006
Easter 4/Confirmation
May 7, 2006
John 10:11-18
“Taking It Seriously”
Introduction: Missionary Herb Schaefer tells about a thirteen-year-old Chinese girl who, with her family, worshiped God secretly in their home during the Cultural Revolution in China. During that time religion was forbidden and worship was banned by the Chinese rulers. One evening the Red Guards burst into their small home and threatened them for worshiping Jesus. A small altar with a crude cross stood in one corner of the room. Determined to put a stop to their worship and command complete allegiance to the Communist state, a Red Guard lieutenant demanded they spit on the cross. They all refused. Then the lieutenant became indignant and shouted at them that unless they spat on the cross they would be killed.
Finally an elder in the group came forward, spat on the cross and left. One by one the others followed, doing the same disgusting thing until only the thirteen-year-old remained.
Some things are to be taken lightly; some things are to be taken very seriously. If you were to ask me what I want for lunch today I probably might have some general idea but I might also say that I just don’t care. It doesn’t matter that much to me. But if you ask me whether I want to go to heaven or hell, I have a definite opinion. I want to go to heaven. During the confirmation instruction process we have had some fun, we’ve done some things that could be taken very lightly. But at other times, we’ve gotten very serious. I have looked into your eyes and said, “This is important, do you understand, I need you to know these things.” Some things are to be taken lightly and others are to be taken seriously. Confirmation is a very serious matter.
You will be confessing your personal faith in the Triune God, Father Son and Holy Ghost. You will be confessing that you are sinners, lost and condemned to eternal death and separated from God, if it were not for God’s grace and help. You will be confessing your faith in Jesus Christ, that He has redeemed you, bought you with his own precious, holy and innocent blood shed on the cross. He has saved you through Baptism and His Word that connect you to his death and resurrection. You will be confessing that He is ever present with you by His Holy Spirit and leads you in the Christian faith and life. These are all very serious things, aren’t they?
Most of us Christians take our faith lightly most of the time. Oh we would say that it is important, and it is, but our lives don’t always reflect the gracious gift of faith that God has given us. This is part of the weakness of the flesh. We are just too dull in the head to really understand what God has done, that the things of this life are nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed in us when our savior Jesus comes for us. Oh, that we could always understand what Jesus death on the cross really means for us.
Then there are times in our lives that we do understand, when we are confronted with the seriousness of God’s love for us. We see it clearly. Most often these times come like punctuation marks through out our lives. We are confronted with the seriousness of God when things affect our lives that are serious.
The men that lowered their crippled friend through the roof so that Jesus might touch him took life and Jesus seriously. Jesus, just as serious restored him to health. The widow of Nain took life and death seriously as she was about to bury her own son. Jesus, just as seriously restored him to new life. Peter took life and his own sinfulness seriously as he wept because he had denied his Lord three times. Jesus seriously assured Peter that he was forgiven and called on him to follow Jesus anew. We won’t always take God seriously, but there will be hard times in your lives. There will be sadness and sickness, times when you feel that God has abandoned you, times that you will recognize that you have abandoned God. At these serious times remember that Jesus, you good shepherd is always with you, he has called you by name, you are his. His plans for you are good. Because Jesus Christ died for you, no matter what happens, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, in this life and to the next, nothing shall separate you from His love.
The 13 year old Chinese girl understood these things and took her life and faith seriously. She watched as all the other spat on the cross. Then came her turn. She refused to do what the others had done. "I cannot and I will not," she replied. Then she told the lieutenant the depth of her faith and said that she was willing to die for it. Remarkably the Lieutenant seemed pleased. "This is the kind of devotion we want for the new China: people who will commit themselves so totally that they are willing to die for what they believe." But he wanted that devotion directed toward Chairman Mao. "We will change you," he promised and left. She was spared.
The world will clamor for your attention. As young people you have a passion for life. You have uncertainties but you also have hopes and dreams. The things of this world will try to redirect your passions away from God and away from your Savior Jesus Christ. Just like the Chinese soldier, the world understands that passion is good, but the direction of that passion is the most important thing.
Today, our passion is directed in the right direction. We are focused on Jesus Christ and His cross. We understand that God has given us faith that trusts in His great sacrifice for each one of us personally. We take this faith seriously, and we confess it together. We, as a congregation, take great joy and pleasure seeing what God has done in the lives of our young people. They/You are the future of the Christian church on earth. We rejoice that at this moment in time, this day of their confirmation, they/you take their/your faith seriously. This faith has been expressed again in the scripture verses they/you have chosen for this special day.
Jason Schnieder takes his faith seriously when He understands that, “John 3:16-18 16 "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” God choose to save us and for this reason He sent His Son into the world, to die for us all.
Sam Roskoph takes it seriously when she reminds us, “John 6:37 37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away.” God’s promise to be with her forever. That promise will never change. He will always be with her as he is always with us.
Gus Frank takes his faith seriously with these words, Ephesians 3:7 7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.” We have been called to faith for a reason, to be servants of God, proclaiming what He, by His grace and power has done.
Sam Herman takes it seriously as she understands these words, “John 15:5 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” That apart from Jesus Christ her life means nothing, and separated from Jesus means separation from God. But joined to Jesus Christ by faith she will live the full life that God intends for her.
Ashley Zimmel takes her faith seriously as she understands that to remain in Jesus means to be guided by His word, “Psalm 119:105 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
Heidi takes it seriously understanding the hope that our Christian faith gives us, “Philippians 3:20-21 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Because of Jesus she knows that heaven is her home.
Nicholas Geiger takes his faith seriously as he understands that this life will provide him with many teats of faith and life, but through the power of God and the Holy Spirit, he will withstand the test because, “Job 23:10 10 But he (that is God) knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”
Mark Lichtenberg takes his faith seriously, when he understands that this treasure of faith in Christ will require him to die, certainly to his fleshly desires, and perhaps even martyrdom, but certainly he will be required to be faithful throughout a hopefully long life, as the disciple John wrote, “Revelation 2:10 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution…. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
The story of the Chinese girl continued. Shortly after that life changing event when she confessed her faith, she fled to Hong Kong and found refuge. Later she entered a Christian School, and became a leader in the church there. There God used her to serve the needs of countless souls. She prays for the day when she will be allowed to return to her village and witness to her people, and perhaps even to that Red Guard lieutenant who spared her but murdered her family.
She was able to endure, to overcome that tragedy in her life, because she knew Jesus was her Savior and she followed him. Her confession of faith even to the point of death was not the end, but a new beginning with her walk with God.
Confirmation is not graduation. It is not the time to say, “I made it, all that is required of me is completed”, rather it is a new beginning. It all began when God brought you to faith in the waters of baptism. It begins anew everyday as you were instructed in the Christian faith. And it begins anew in your confirmation. Now God calls you to remain faithful, to take your faith seriously, and to serve Him all the days of your lives as He has served you by giving his life on the cross, and given you the crown of eternal life. Amen.
*Illustration: Taking the Risk Out of Dying, Lee Griess, CSS Publishing Company