Sermon “Spreading the Light of the World”
Direct, us, Lord, in all we do, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
The apostles we read about in Acts chapter 1 realized that the Christian life was not only for them. They knew that Jesus had appointed them to carry the Gospel to their generation and to equip future generations to believe, teach and confess that message given to them by Jesus. They would pass the message along. The testimony of Christ must continue to the next generation. Jesus, savior of the world, is the precious gift of God which we pass on to our children, to our children's children, and to all the rest of history until the Lord comes in the last day.
We see in our readings today that God chooses his servants in every generation. We also see that he protects and preserves his people.
How does he choose his servants? Our Lord calls them by Word and Sacrament, he nurtures them in the Church, and he lets us recognize the vocations he has given us.
Our celebration of confirmation is a little picture of that process. By baptism our Lord has called Sarah and Blake to himself. He has washed their sins. He has placed the Holy Spirit upon them. They have been claimed as Jesus' own children. And over the years they have heard the Word of God, sometimes more frequently, sometimes less frequently. Do I dare say that sometimes they have heard God's word more or less willingly? I'd better not say that for them. I'll just say it for me. If Sarah and Blake are like I am sometimes they have been eager and willing to hear and receive God's Word and sometimes they haven't been so excited about it. Yet God calls his people by his Word and Sacraments. He uses external means to bring us to himself. He uses the witness of other Christians. And he did that for each one of us in this room today. God's Word does not come to you without some external means. Even if you first heard the Gospel by reading the Bible or reading a leaflet that talked about Jesus, someone published that writing and someone put it into your hand or put it where you would find it.
God uses people as his means of spreading the Gospel through Word and Sacrament. He then nurtures his people in the Church. Now I know there are some Christians, and no doubt some of them are genuinely trusting in Jesus, who don't belong to an “organized church.” They have chosen to depart from what they call “institutional Christianity.” I actually see it fairly frequently. Maybe you do also. Remember Aunt Ralphetta? She's really a religious person. Believes in Jesus. Reads her Bible and prays all the time. But she hasn't been in a church for years. Never goes. Can't find a good church, they're all full of hypocrites and sinners. I went through a little temptation like this for a couple of years. I'm not sure my family knows it. When I was looking at Lutheran theology at first we were involved in a good solid church congregation where I was one of the leaders, an elder who was appointed for ministry in Word and Sacrament, shepherding the congregation. Yet I was finding that I couldn't endorse the theology of the parent organization wholeheartedly. This was a problem since I was on a ministry leadership board for the denomination also. I backed out of that but was still conflicted about the local church congregation. When I considered the biblical Lutheran doctrine and then looked at the Lutheran churches within driving range of our home I very nearly decided we would have to form a church or move. We finally found a congregation within driving distance, though it was a fairly long drive, where the pastor and some of the people were fairly interested in the biblical foundations of the Lutheran reformation. But how many people fall through the cracks? Do we welcome people into the Church? Do we hold seriously to what we claim to believe, teach and confess? This requires us to recommit ourselves daily to the confession of faith that we hold. Are we persuaded that God has revealed himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ and that salvation is truly and only by grace through faith? Do we believe that Jesus will nurture us together in his Church and that there is no hope for the world outside of the preservation of Word and Sacrament in that “one holy Christian and apostolic Church”? Then let us be God's instruments to nurture his believers in the Church.
As we recognize God's call in Word and Sacrament, as we nurture Christians in the Church, may the Lord grant us grace to recognize our callings. We see that happening bit by bit in our young people. Sarah and Blake chose life verses. I admit that I have to smile at that idea. It's all right, Blake and Sarah, I give you all the permission in the world to find a passage of the Bible that you think describes your life and priorities a little differently during your life. You chose well, but who knows? You have quite a few years to go yet, discovering how the Lord would use you and how he will work out his priorities in your lives. Don't limit him to one Bible passage. Let him make you grow in him. Remember that your calling is in Christ and that he works in you and through you in your many vocations, callings in life. Much of your calling right now is to be a good student, a good child to your parents, a good friend to your friends, and even to your enemies. But at some time he may call you to be a good husband, a good wife, a good employee, a good employer, someone who is faithful with all sorts of tasks. He will express his grace and mercy through your lives and vocations.
So God chooses his servants, generation after generation. He calls us, he nurtures us, he puts us to work. And as he does this he also protects his people. He preserves us. We believe he will preserve Sarah and Blake throughout their lives, just as he does for all the rest of us. Very quickly, here are four ways I see God preserving his people.
First, he guards us in the Word. One of my privileges as a pastor is to visit people who don't get out of their homes, some who are in nursing homes, sometimes in hospitals. Sometimes when I walk into a room it's to bring God's Word to someone who would otherwise have no way of hearing these precious words of hope. And do you know what? They are exactly that, words of hope and comfort. I had several opportunities in the last few weeks to walk into rooms where I could feel the discouragement and fear. Time to open the Bible and bring people what they need, the Word of God. This gift of God is precious. May the Lord protect and preserve us all by His Word. That's why I chose to give nice copies of the Bible as confirmation gifts this year. The Word of God is what we need.
Second, how does God guard us? He guards us by giving us his joy. He pours out the joy of his presence on us, giving us hope. When we lose the joy of the Lord we are crippled. We need our Lord to restore the joy of His salvation, as David prays in Psalm 51. Yet our source of joy is not in the mood of songs we sing, not in the instrumentation used in worship, not in the circumstances of life. Our joy is in the Lord, in the fact that he has carried our sins on our behalf, that we no longer are bound by sin and shame. Do you know that joy isn't quite the same as happiness or glee? It isn't always a kind of smiley, giggly thing. No, it's a lot stronger than that. It's a firm confidence that in Christ nothing can ruin us. It's a trust that all is well, no matter what happens to me today. It is a trust that the Lord will use us according to his purpose to conform us and others around us into the image of Jesus. We look to the risen Lord so our joy may be complete.
Third, how does God guard us? He uses us with his mercy. He enables us to love our neighbor as ourselves. He shows us, at least he shows me, time after time, that there are a lot of other people out there whose needs are at least as great as mine. He shows us to consider others as more important than ourselves. He gives us the mind of Christ that we read about in Philippians 2 this week, not considering authority as something important, but humbling himself and becoming the servant of all. May the Lord use us, each and every one of us, according to his mercy and grace, as his instruments of healing to our families, friends and community.
Finally, how does God guard us? He feeds us in Word and Sacrament. I know people who have isolated themselves. They watch the pastor on television or listen on the radio. They do receive the Word of God. But they only receive it through their ears, and they aren't present to ask questions and receive answers to their questions, like those who are right there in Bible class or talking with one another. But how about this? In communion you not only receive the Word of God in your ears, but you receive him in your mouth as well. Jesus gives himself as the very real bread of heaven. He promises to be present for us, bodily, in his very substance, feeding us. He gave his blood for us, for the forgiveness of sins. Are we partakers of our Lord's presence in Word and Sacrament? Do we receive from our Lord together? Do we have an eagerness to hear and receive from him? I know it is not always possible. That's why I do so much visiting of some of our people who can't get out very easily. But when we are able, do we come together to receive the Word of God as a community, to be strengthened by him? May the Lord continue to use the gathering of the saints to nurture us and build us up in him.
So, Sarah and Blake, in his mercy and grace God has chosen you. By his grace I pray that he will protect you, keeping you in the faith, just as he promised. May he do it for all of us, in the context of the local church, gathered to hear and receive from Him. You've spent about a year telling me that you wish to be confirmed as communicants in this congregation. I think we've gotten beyond the joking about how many presents people give you when you are confirmed. I think we're ready to confess the faith together. Do you think so? I'll ask the whole congregation that, and ask that if we are ready to confess this Christian faith together that we stand and do so in the words of the Nicene Creed, printed for you if you need it, in your bulletin. Let us stand together.
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