Fix Your Eyes on Jesus in His Word of the Gospel

“Be on the alert!”  Pay attention to what you see happening in the world around you, in both the church and the state, among your neighbors, in your family, and within yourself.  But above all, give ear to what the Lord your God says; and so interpret all that you see by faith in His Word.

All around you, everywhere you look — and no less so where you refuse to look — there is sin and death, decay, and destruction.  The whole world is wearing out and wasting away.  None of it will last.  The days are growing short.  A harsh wind is blowing in a big storm.  The Winter is coming.

It’s more than just the weather or the season of the year.  There’s plenty of uncertainty in these dark and difficult days.  Political strife, ideological divisions, and economic challenges abound.

All such trials and tribulations, within and without, are constant reminders and signs that we live in a fallen and perishing world, and all of Creation is subject to the curse of sin and death.  Heaven and earth are passing away, and so are you.  Your mortal flesh and blood, your heart, mind, and body are like the grass which withers and fades, like the autumn leaves which fall and blow away.

Number your days, and know how short your life here is.  Consider your end, which comes before you know it, sooner than you think.  There is no strength in you that shall survive.

But your hope is in the Lord.  So be alert to Him.  Hear and heed what He says.  And pay attention to His Word of the Cross, in particular, even though it seems so futile, even worse than helpless.

Your dear Lord Jesus deals with sin, which is the real problem and the underlying cause of death and every evil.  He forgives all sins which you have done; but He also deals with your sin at its heart, not simply your bad behavior, but your turning away from God, your Creator.  You do not rely on Him or trust in Him; and that unbelief is your unrighteousness, which leads only to death.

But now, the Lord sends forth a Law, even to the ends of the earth.  He establishes His justice in the midst of sin and death.  Henceforth, His righteousness is near, and His salvation has gone forth forevermore.  Though everything else will perish, His salvation and His righteousness remain.

It is true that His holy and righteous Law would condemn you and sentence you to death and hell, because you are neither holy nor righteous in yourself.  Yet, He calls you to repentance, to faith and life in Him, to hope in the righteousness of Christ, the Lord, the incarnate Son of God.  For He has suffered the great tribulation and the final judgment in Himself, and has thereby accomplished justice and established righteousness forever.  Though He is the Creator of all things, the Word by whom all things are made — and though He is Life in Himself — He has taken the entire curse of sin and death, the destruction and decay of the whole world, into His own Body of flesh and blood.

By His Cross and Passion, the Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for the sins of the world, once-for-all.  And in His bodily Resurrection from the dead, He has rectified what was broken in all of Creation.  He has reconciled the sons and daughters of man unto His God and Father in heaven.

In flesh and blood like yours, as the true Man, conceived and born of St. Mary, He has waited in faith upon His Father.  He has lived as Man is created and meant to live — not knowing the day or the hour in advance, but hearing and heeding and relying on His Father’s faithful Word.  So has He been awake and alert.  At the right time He was ready.  He went to the Cross in faith and love.

So, learn the lesson of His Tree.  Consider its tenderness, its Leaves and its Fruit, which are for the healing of the nations — and so also for your healing, unto faith and life in Him, body and soul.

He has sent forth His messengers with its rich and lush Fruits, to gather His elect from the four winds, His disciples from all the nations.  Thus, by the Fruits of His Cross, that is, by the preaching of His Word and the administration of His Sacraments, He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies His whole Christian Church on earth.  With these healthy Fruits, by this Ministry of His Gospel, He Himself is near you — He is right at the door — daily and richly to forgive you all your sins.

It is for the sake of His forgiveness that He has appointed His servants to care for His household and family, that is, to feed and clothe, nurture and teach His children.  His pastors and teachers are watchmen on the heights, the doorkeepers of His Church on earth, the stewards of His Mysteries.  They are called and ordained to keep watch, both day and night, to guard your coming in and your going out by the catechesis of His Word, and to guide all your days and your deeds in His Peace.

And what He says to them, He says also to you — to the confirmands this morning, to be sure, but so also to each and every one of you: “Be on the alert!”  For to you, also, He has given your own proper duties, your own responsibilities within His household and family.  That is where and how you are to watch and to wait for the coming of the Lord, faithfully doing what He has given you to do in the hope of His mercy, which is to say, in the sure and certain hope of His Resurrection.

Give heed to the Word of the Lord, His Law and His Gospel.  And set your heart on the pilgrim’s way, to live by faith as a sojourner through the wilderness, as a wayfarer on earth.  Not with your eyes downcast and your chin in the dirt, but with your heart, mind, and spirit lifted up, your eyes and ears fixed on Christ Jesus, your Savior; for He is ready, willing, and able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand erect in His glorious presence — blameless in body and soul.

In the midst of the great tribulation — which is to say, in your pilgrimage under the Cross — rest yourself in Him and live by faith in His Word.  Gladly hear and learn His preaching and teaching.  And avail yourself of the Gospel by making regular use of the means of grace, just as the Rite of Confirmation indicates.  Remember your Baptism and exercise its ongoing, lifelong significance by confessing your sins and receiving Absolution in the Name of Jesus.  And as often as you are given the blessed opportunity, eat and drink His Body and Blood in faith and with thanksgiving.

Likewise, keep yourself in the Love of God and live by faith in Christ Jesus, by praying in the Holy Spirit at all times and in all places, without ceasing, as the Lord Himself has taught you to pray and given you the very Words with which to do so.

Pray, also, within the fellowship of the Church, which is the Body of Christ.  For it is in Him and with Him and through Him that you pray; and He would have you pray for one another in Him.  You thereby serve and support your brothers and sisters with your prayer, and they do the same for you; and together you receive the answer to all your prayers in the Word and Flesh of Jesus.

So, then, by the Word of God and prayer, wait eagerly upon the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Fix your eyes on Him, and trust that, by His Sacrifice upon the Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead, He has established His righteousness and His salvation for you and for all, forever.

Do not be consumed by the temporal things of this life on earth, but temper your consuming with the humility of repentance.  After all, you don’t know what even tomorrow may bring, nor if there will even be a tomorrow for you on this earth.  But comfort and strengthen yourself with the eternal things of Christ, who has risen from the dead and lives forever, whose Word shall never pass away.

And as you wait upon His mercy, so have mercy on your neighbor.  Comfort and encourage the doubting in their weakness and fear by loving them graciously and well.  Save others by snatching them out of the fire, by warning them straightforwardly.  Don’t wink or nod at sin, but call it what it is, and call your neighbor to repentance in a spirit of gentleness.  To hate the garment polluted by the flesh is not to flee from your brother or sister, but to flee from sin in the fear of the Lord.

Have mercy on your neighbor, who is a sinner like yourself, just as you also depend on the mercy of God in Christ, and as He Himself is merciful.  Be gentle and compassionate, as the Lord your God is gentle and compassionate with you.  Forgive, as you yourself are freely and fully forgiven.

Have no fear of death, and do not despair of hope, for the Lord Himself now helps you in your weaknesses and doubts, and He now saves you from the fires of your passions and from the fires of eternal punishment in hell.  As your merciful and great High Priest, He persists in His constant prayer and intercession for you.  And here in His Church He faithfully speaks His Word to you.  He sends out His holy angels to guard and keep you in body and soul, and He sends His ministers to gather you to Himself by the catechesis of His Word, by the forgiveness of all your sins in His Name and stead, and by giving you the Food and the Drink that you need at the proper time.

In calling you to repentance, He calls you daily to faith and life in His forgiveness.  He calls you to find your Sabbath rest and perfect Peace in His righteousness and holiness, in His innocence and blessedness, now and forever.  Indeed, with His forgiveness He delivers you from every evil, unto that day and hour when He shall call you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven, as even now His fruitful Cross shines the summer sunshine of His Love upon you through His Gospel.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Going Up to the Temple as the Children of God in Christ Jesus

Fathers, teach your children to pray, to worship the Lord, and to sacrifice themselves in faith toward Him, in love for each other and for their other neighbors in the world.  Do not wait to do it, but teach them to pray already while they are yet little babies — even in the womb and at their mother’s breast — by praying with them and for them.

Teach your children to worship the Lord their God by teaching them His Word, by speaking it to them, and by confessing it for them and with them.  And teach them by the example of your own worship of faith and love.  Go to church and take your children with you.  Do not hinder or prevent them, but indoctrinate them with God’s Word and the preaching of it.

Bring your children to the Lord Jesus, that He might touch them, heal them, and save them in the waters of Holy Baptism and with His own Body and Blood in the Holy Communion.  Then also teach them to pray in the remembrance of their Baptism and in the confession of Christ the Crucified, by teaching them to make the sign of the Cross, especially when they are afraid, but also when they rejoice in His rescue and give thanks for His great salvation.

Teach your children to sacrifice themselves in the faith and confidence of Christ Jesus and in love for their neighbors, also by the example of your own self-sacrifice.  Set aside your own wants, desires, and pleasures, in order to meet their needs and care for them.  Love their mother and lay down your life for her, day by day, as the Lord Jesus Christ loves His Bride and gives Himself freely for her.  So may your sons and daughters learn from you, not only what it means to be a godly husband or wife, a godly man or woman, but what it is to be a Christian, a member of Christ’s Church, and a child of His God and Father.

Teach your children humility by humbling yourself.  Teach them to master their sins by your own self-discipline and daily repentance.  Teach them to fall upon the mercies of God in Christ by confessing your sins and availing yourself of the Gospel in the Lord’s ways and means of grace and forgiveness, including His gift of Holy Absolution.  Let such confession and absolution shape and define your Christian faith and life, your piety and practice, not only within the life of the church but also in your home and in all of your relationships.

Wherever you have done wrong (and, yes, you have done wrong), acknowledge your faults, apologize, and make amends as you are able.  And where others have sinned against you, be ready and willing, eager and quick to forgive them — and gladly do good to them.

Where you have sinned against your children — by harshness or neglect, by impatience or inattentiveness, by unreasonable demands or unfair punishments, or by whatever faults of temper, words, or actions you have done — humble yourself under the Lord your God, apologize to your children, who are also His dear children, and seek their forgiveness.

Do not seek to justify or excuse yourself, but let Christ alone by your Savior and Redeemer.  And so love all your neighbors, big and small, both young and old, family, friends, and foes, the brilliant and the daft, the successful and pathetic, all for Jesus’ sake.  For they, too, shall be saved, not by any righteousness, merit, or worthiness of their own, but solely by the righteousness and mercy of Christ Jesus — the very same righteousness and mercy, of the same Lord Jesus Christ, by which alone you are justified and saved from sin, death, the devil, and hell.  That is the source of your own humility and confidence of repentant faith.

If you exalt yourself — if you trust in yourself and your own righteousness, as though you were a god — you will be humbled.  Pray that you are thus humbled before the Day of Judgment, when the time of repentance shall have passed.  Pray that the Lord in His mercy would humble you now, and each and every day of your life on earth, by His preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of your sins; and that He would exalt you in His peace, as He has done for Frederick and Simon by way of Baptism and the Catechesis of His Word.

These two young men have come up to the Temple to pray, not in any righteousness of their own, but in the righteousness of Christ, by grace through faith in His mercy and forgiveness.  Not in competition, at odds, or with any contempt for one another, but in the peace of the Lord, as brothers in Christ Jesus within the Household and Family of His God and Father.  As children of God, their entire life is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to His Name.

When you know and confess that your life is from God, that it depends entirely on Him, that He gives you life by His divine grace, and that He preserves your life, not only here in time but unto all eternity in both body and soul — all by one and the same divine grace in Christ Jesus — then you comprehend the real meaning of life, and thus you are able to live before God in peace and hope, in faith and love, in graceful confidence and joyful satisfaction.

When you don’t get it — when you have not been humbled unto repentance and faith in the mercies of God — when you exalt yourself and attempt to justify yourself — then you are hounded and driven by fear.  You have no peace or joy, no confidence or satisfaction.  Not really.  You strive to keep the Law according to its letter; or else you avoid it as much as you can while tending to yourself and your own personal ambitions.  But the Lord has no regard for your self-righteousness.  He takes no pleasure in your selfish works.  And He has no delight in your sacrifices when they are offered as a bribe or as a buyout for your sins.

The harder you try to appease the Lord your God or to pay Him off in an effort to get Him off your back, the worse your situation becomes. Your self-righteous pride, indignation, laziness, and greed continue to grow and get worse, until they threaten to swallow you up and consume you altogether.  Such things are the heart and soul of sin, which entices and allures you, and yet, all the while it is really killing and destroying you.

In the futile agitation of your own self-defeating efforts, you grow more and more restless and angry with God.  You suppose that He’s unfair.  He just doesn’t like you, or so it seems.  “It’s not your fault, right? You’re doing your bit.”  But, since you can’t get even with God, and you cannot possibly compete with Him, you turn your anger and enmity, your hatred and vengeance against your neighbor.  You give yourself over to envy and jealousy and bitter resentment, to the point that you lash out at your neighbor, perhaps even your nearest and dearest kin, with hurtful words, or schemes to rob and steal, or outright bodily injury.

Make no mistake, as a child of Adam such sin is always crouching at your door, and its desire is to have you.  Resist it, and master it by contrition, repentance, and self-discipline.  Hear and heed the Word of the Lord and honor His commandments.  Love your neighbor by helping him, and by doing no harm to him in word or deed.  Examine yourself honestly and confess your sins, that you might hear and receive the blessed Gospel of forgiveness.

Pray that God the Lord would have mercy upon you, that you might live by His grace and rest in His peace.  Trust Him to provide you with all that you need, for body and soul, for this life and the Life everlasting.  And so understand that your possessions, your abilities, your time and energy, your treasures and talents, and your whole body and life on earth are a sacred trust, a divine stewardship of God’s good gifts, which He has given to you for the sake of likewise loving and serving your neighbor in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is how you sacrifice your crops and herds, your goods and services, your body and life.  In faith toward God you love your neighbor with all that you are and have, because your life is entirely from the Lord, in Him, and with Him; and it is lived unto Him at all times.

You are your brother’s keeper, as surely as the Lord Himself is your Keeper, your Maker and Redeemer.  Frederick and Simon and all your fellow Christians belong to you, and you belong to them.  And all of your neighbors are given to be objects of your love, as you are loved by God.  So, if you are poured out as a drink offering for your neighbor, keep the faith and finish the course in peace, as the Lord Jesus pours out His Lifeblood for you.  Give your body as a living sacrifice, and feed and clothe, shelter, and protect your neighbor’s body, as the Lord Jesus Christ feeds you with His Body and His Blood, clothes you with His righteousness, and shelters and protects you by His grace within His holy Christian Church.

The same Lord Jesus Christ stands with you in all hardship and adversity, in all your trials and temptations.  He forgives you all your sins and failings, strengthens your faith and love, and guards and keeps your body and soul in Him; He thereby delivers you from every evil and brings you safely into His heavenly kingdom.  This He surely does, and so shall He crown you with His own righteousness, because He has humbled Himself unto death and given Himself for your salvation; wherefore God the Father has highly exalted Him and given Him the Name above every name.  In Him you also are exalted and named by God.

As Christ has died for you and risen from the dead for you, and as He ever lives to intercede for you before the Throne of God — as He, your merciful and great High Priest, has entered the Holy of Holies made without hands on your behalf with His most holy and precious Blood — so does He bring you home, justified by His grace through faith in His Gospel.

The Body of this dear Lord Jesus Christ is the Altar upon which you offer your sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.  Not that you should thereby atone for your sins, but that you rather give all thanks and praise to Him because He has atoned for all your sins, once and for all.

It is in Him, and through Him, and with Him, and by Him, that you and your children and your children’s children pray and worship and sacrifice.  So are you and yours received as a pleasing sacrifice and sweet-smelling incense by your dear God and Father in heaven.  He has regard for you, for your prayer and sacrifice, for Jesus’ sake.  He lifts you up in mercy and sustains you by His grace, even through death and the grave, unto the Life everlasting.

In order that you be kept safe in this Life and Salvation forever, the Lord has set His mark upon you, His sign of the Cross upon your forehead and your heart, on your body and your soul.  Though you are a sinner, deserving of nothing but the punishment of death and eternal damnation, yet, by this sign of the Cross the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh are served notice that you belong to Christ the Crucified, your Savior and Redeemer.  He shall not only avenge whatever wrong is done to you, but He also forgives the wrongs that you have done; and at the last He shall vindicate you forever in the resurrection of your body.

Even though you die, yet shall you live, forever and always.  Indeed, the Kingdom of God belongs to such as you, because you are His own beloved child in Christ Jesus.

Come up here, then, to this Temple of Christ Jesus.  Receive the holy Body with which He feeds you and the drink-offering of His own precious Blood.  And pray in the peace and confidence of His sure mercies and forgiveness.  Offer here the sacrifice of thanksgiving, take up the Cup of Salvation, and call on the Name of the Lord.  He hears and answers your prayers, dear child of God, because you are justified by the Lord, the righteous Judge.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Faith and Life in the Body of Christ

Not only for Benjamin and Julianne, who are being confirmed on this day, but for everyone who has been confirmed, for each and all of our catechumens, for all the baptized, and for all who will be baptized, here is the faith and life to which you are called in the Body of Christ Jesus:

It is first of all to hear and receive the Word of God, to believe and confess His Word, to pray and to live by His Word in love for God and man.  For you have one Teacher, Christ, who catechizes you in the Word and the Wisdom of God.  Listen to Him, and learn from Him.  And as you hear and learn, so also speak and pray; for it is by such faith in His Word that you live by His grace.

Hear and heed His Word while you have this opportunity, while it is near and spoken to you, lest He remove it from you and leave you with nothing but darkness and silence, death and despair.

Not only listen to His Word, but trust and rely on His Word, and so also do what He commands.  Work and labor, faithfully and righteously, within your own office and station in life.  Submit to the authorities that God has placed over you in this world, as unto Him, according to His Word.  And be a faithful “father,” as it were, in exercising whatever authority you have been given within your own calling, under the one Father in heaven by whom all fatherhood on earth is named.

Do not serve for the love of money, nor to make a name for yourself, to be seen and acknowledged by other people.  Rather, work and labor in the fear of the Lord, in faith and love for Him, and in love for your neighbor, in harmony with God’s Word.  His Word is always your reference point.

As He has named you with His Name and given you Himself and all good things by His grace, rely on Him for all that you need, and receive His good and perfect gifts in the Gospel of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son.  And for the same reason, love and serve your brothers and sisters in the same Lord Jesus Christ, since they and you are children of one and the same God and Father in heaven.

Discipline yourself and your flesh, and “possess your own vessel,” that is, your body, in holiness and honor.  For as your body also is redeemed and sanctified by Christ — who bore all your sins in His Body on the Cross, and who was raised bodily from the dead for your justification — and as your body has been cleansed, along with your soul, by the washing of water with His Word in Holy Baptism; and as your body is fed, along with your soul, with the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Communion; and as your body shall be resurrected at the last and glorified forever — so, too, the life that you live here and now in the body really matters.  It does make a difference.

Your life in the body matters and makes a difference, whether you live in faith and love unto the righteousness and holiness of Christ, or in laziness, lust, and licentiousness, unto death.  For as faith lays hold of life in Christ, so does sin lay hold of death by denying and departing from Christ.

Your righteousness and life in Christ Jesus are free and clear; for they are by His grace alone, prior to any works of yours.  That is certainly true.  But that is not an excuse or permission for laziness or licentiousness.  It is rather grounds for holiness in word and deed.  Whereas good works do not lead the way into heaven, nor can they ever get you there, they do follow after faith in Christ.

Good works do not make the saint; but good works do follow after the saints, who live by faith in Christ Jesus.  And their good works of love glorify the Name of their God and Father in heaven.

So, then, beloved of the Lord, do not be lazy.  Do not make others have to make up for your slack and serve you.  But work hard at your job, provide for your family, and care for your neighbor.

Give yourself over to the good works that God has prepared for you to do within your office and stations in life.  Not only is this good and right, according to His Word, but it focuses your time, attention, and energy on loving your neighbor, and on giving life to your neighbor, as the Lord loves you and gives you life by the Word and work of His Gospel.

Discipline yourself to live and work in love, rather than leaving your heart and mind and eyes to wander in lust.  Do not by any means pursue your lust, which, left unchecked and undisciplined, leads to bodily impurity and to sins against your neighbor (and against your neighbor’s spouse).

If you do not struggle with sexual temptations, praise God for that.  But still be on your guard against the covetous lusts that do rage within your heart, mind, and body, whether it be for money or fame, for music or sports, for popularity or power, or for whatever else it might be.

Do not be deceived, and do not kid yourself.  What you do with your body matters.  When you set your heart and mind upon that which is contrary to the Word of God — to desire what He has not given to you — when you turn your eyes to gaze upon it, and move your feet toward it, and set your hand upon it, then your covetous lust has conceived and given birth to sin.  And when your sin is fully grown, it will bring forth death.  It may or may not be the death of your mortal body, but the pursuit of your sinful passions and impurity will put to death your faith and life in Christ.

But the Lord is the Avenger in all these things.  He avenges your neighbor against your sins, to be sure, but He also avenges you against the assaults and accusations of the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh.  As your body participates in your sin, so does the Lord discipline your body, not only to curb and temper your wickedness, but also to alert you to the danger and call you to repentance.  He likewise sends His true Prophets to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name.

He does not chase you down and chastise you in order to embarrass and shame you, but to save you from sin and death, and to bring you to Himself in love.  He humbles you in order to exalt you.

Be humbled, then, before both God and man.  Fear, love, and trust in God.  Rely upon His Word, instead of striving to make a life for yourself.  And as you are loved by Him and cared for by His grace, so humble yourself to love and serve and care for your neighbor in the Lord.

Do not worry about yourself, but follow Christ Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith.  Follow Him by listening to Him, by hearing and heeding His Word and the preaching of it.  Trust His Word, and live according to it.  And follow His example.  For He is your Leader — already in your life in the body here on earth, and so also through death and the grave into the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting in heaven.  He leads not only by His Word, but also by His example.

And yet, for all of that, He is far more than just a good example.  In His true divine greatness and almighty strength, He has become your Servant.  He has come down from heaven to serve you, and to save you, at the cost of His own body and life.  He has taken all your sin, all your suffering and sorrow, all your mortality and death upon Himself.  And He has humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God; He has become obedient, even unto death upon the Cross.  He has thereby suffered all your punishment, for He has given His life and shed His blood to atone for all your sins.

In this you see His perfect faith and holy love.  He did not talk the talk without walking the walk.  He did not bind the heavy burden of the Law upon your shoulders, but He took its full back-breaking load upon Himself and bore it for you.  He trusted His Father and He submitted Himself entirely to the Word and will of His Father.  In such faith, He gave Himself up for you and for all.

And God the Father raised this same Christ Jesus from the dead.  Indeed, He has highly exalted Him, and given Him the Name above every name.  The Father has glorified His incarnate Son — in His Body of flesh and blood like yours! — and has seated Him at His right hand for all eternity.

He is thus your merciful and great High Priest.  He is your Righteousness and Holiness forever.  His Cross and Resurrection are your repentance, by which you are now called and carried out of sin and death, and out of the grave, into faith and life, to be seated with Him in the heavenly places.  That is what your Holy Baptism has given and done for you, and that is what it signifies and works in you, day after day, throughout your life on earth.  It puts you to death to your sin, and it raises you up, again and again, to newness of life in Christ Jesus through His free and full forgiveness.

Such repentance and forgiveness are not thwarted, undone, or defeated by your death.  They are rather completed in your bodily death from this vale of tears, and then they shall be fully realized in the resurrection of your body unto the life everlasting of your body and soul in heaven.  Today, in the rite of Confirmation, we all together affirm and confess that gracious gift of Holy Baptism.

It is in the confidence of your Baptism, in the certainty of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ, that you live and work and labor.  And it is in the same confidence and certainty that we remember and give thanks for the faithful departed, that great cloud of witnesses with which we are surrounded.  For as they live and abide in the Body of Christ, as they are cleansed by His Blood and clothed in His Righteousness forevermore, so are we also one Holy Communion with them in the Body and Blood of the same Lord Jesus Christ.  So are you cleansed and clothed by Him, as a Bride made beautiful for her Groom.  And so do you also live and abide in Him, both now and forever.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Exalted in the Humility of Christ

Christ is your Teacher, your Rabbi; and He is your Leader through life and death, into the Resurrection of the Body and the life everlasting.  His God and Father is your true God and Father, who has given you His Holy Spirit for the sanctification of your body and soul in Christ Jesus, for Life with God here in time and hereafter in eternity.

To this end, or, rather, to this divine eternal Life, the Lord Jesus Christ teaches you His Word, which is the good and acceptable will of God, both the Law and the Gospel.  He teaches you to live in love for God and man, as you heard from Him last Sunday.  And He teaches you that such life and love are yours by faith in Him, who is both true God and true Man, your Savior from sin, death, the devil, and hell.  In love for you, He daily and richly forgives you all your sins, and by such forgiveness you receive the Holy Spirit and learn to know your Father in heaven rightly.

To live by such faith in the forgiveness of sins is genuine humility, in which you know your faults and failures, your poverty and need, and, for that reason, you rely upon the mercies of the Lord instead of your own righteousness, reason, or strength.  The Lord humbles you with His Word to know and believe this, in order to exalt you by His grace, by His Word and Holy Spirit.

It’s not about intellectual achievement or hard work.  It is the fear of the Lord and a loving trust in Him alone.  There is, perhaps, a temptation to sinful pride in this business of “confirmation,” as though the diligent young Lutheran (but not too young!) could pull himself up by his bootstraps and exalt himself.  But, of course, that is not the point at all.  Confirmation embraces the promises of God and the confession of faith in His Gospel.  It clings to Christ for dear Life in His Ministry of Word and Sacrament.  It abides in the ongoing significance and meaning of one Holy Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and so promises to continue dying and rising through daily contrition and repentance.  It finds no life in yourself or in your flesh, but only in Christ Jesus.

It is to this humility of repentant faith that the celebration of All Saints and the commemoration of the faithful departed call you.  For here at the Table of the Lord in His House, in the face of death and the grave, we confess that those who have died in the faith of Christ are not dead and gone, but are alive and well in Him.  They are at peace with God, and at rest from all their labors.  Their bodies, although even now returning to the dust of the earth from which they were taken, await the Resurrection of all flesh in the sure and certain hope of the risen Lord Jesus.

They surely do not exalt themselves!  There is no pride in death.  For those of you who have watched your loved ones waste away and die, you know there is no boast in mortal flesh and blood.  There is only the Cross of Christ to cling to, and the Resurrection of Christ to rely upon.  Nothing else can save you.  Yet, there is that which He has done and accomplished for you and for all.

He is your One Leader, who not only shows you the way to go, but is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  He goes before you and blazes the trail.  He enters into your sin and death, and He takes your place in the dust of the earth, in order to open up the way of life for you in His Resurrection from the dead.  He is the One who humbles Himself, even unto death on the Cross, who is exalted by His God and Father and given the Name above every name, with which He has also named you.

As He has died and risen for you in His own Body of flesh and blood, so have you died with Him and are raised with Him through Holy Baptism.  Which is all that your Confirmation confesses and relies upon: That you are baptized into Christ, God’s own child in Him, clothed in His righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, anointed by His Spirit, and fed by His Body and Blood.

Because that is true, the life that you live in your body, even now, actually matters and means something.  The fact that all your sins are freely forgiven for Jesus’ sake is not a reason to go on sinning — God forbid!  Rather, excel more and more in faith and love toward God, and in love for your neighbor.  Flee from sin and every evil, and possess your own vessel, your body and life on earth, in the holiness and honor of the Lord.  Where you have fallen into temptation and sin, repent.  Lay hold of Christ and His forgiveness in the Gospel, and live again according to His Word.

Do not despair, but fear, love, and trust in God.  As He humbles you unto repentance, so does He exalt you in Christ Jesus by His Gospel of forgiveness.  Day by day throughout your life, He raises you up through faith in His Word and promises.  And on that great and final Day, He shall raise your body from the grave in the Glory of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.  This is most certainly true.

This is what it means to be and to live as a Christian, as a child of the one true God.  And all who believe and are baptized in His Holy Name are brothers and sisters in Christ, sons and daughters of one Father, and members of His one household and family in heaven and on earth.  We mourn together with those who are bereaved, not without hope, but in the hope of the Resurrection.  And so do we also rejoice with one another as one Body in Christ Jesus.

The men and women we name before His Altar this morning, and the saints we remember with thanksgiving throughout the year — Apostles and Evangelists, St. Mary, and St. John the Baptist — they are all knit together with us, and we with them, in the Holy Communion.  Death has not severed that connection, nor is it even able to do so, since Christ our Lord is risen from the dead.

So, today, our confirmands affirm the pledge and promise of Baptism: They yet again renounce the devil, all his works, and all his ways, and confess their faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in whom alone true Life is found.  They would die before giving up that faith and confession, for there is no other God.  One is your Father.  One is your Teacher.  One is your Leader and Lord.

Even for these four young men, their day to die will come, whether sooner or later.  But, as also for those who have gone before us in the faith, even death wll not be able to end their gladness.

For now, they labor in love.  Then they shall enter their rest.  Either way, they are the Lord’s.

Their deeds do not lead the way, but Christ their Savior leads them; and their good deeds of faith and love quietly follow after Him.  Men are not impressed by such a life, but the Father in heaven is pleased with them and all His children for the sake of His Beloved Son.  Therefore, He gives to them the place of honor, to be seated with Christ Jesus in the heavenly places, even as they recline here at His Table in peace, and feast upon His Banquet, adorned with His garments of salvation.

So does He also wash your robes and make them white in the Blood of the Lamb, unto the resurrection of your body and the life everlasting.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.