Confirmation Sunday

Yesterday was a special day at Gloria Dei.  We saw and heard 9 youth confess their faith in Jesus as their Savior, essentially saying, “As a child my parents told me what to believe, but now this faith is my own.”  They confirmed their faith, and they were confirmed as members of our congregation!  

Do you remember your confirmation?  

One memory that stands out the sharpest when I think of my confirmation was Testing Sunday.  This was, in no small part, because I thought that I was very ready for that review of the Small Catechism having spent 9 years as a student in the Lutheran School and having had to memorize the Catechism (or at least parts of it) every year.  However, my father was not convinced, and we spent a large part of that Saturday night drilling the explanations Luther had penned for the Six Chief Parts.  I was not nearly as ready as I thought I was, but I was well prepared by the time Dad was done with me!  

As stressful as Testing Sunday was for so many of us, that test pales in comparison to the testing the world has given us for our faith.  Before our confirmation and since, the devil, the world, and our sinful nature have often urged us to live for ourselves, to disregard God’s Word, to treat it’s message lightly and take it for granted.  We’ve been tempted in many different ways, and, only too often we have fallen short.  

Thanks be to God, that ultimately the test of life has been taken and passed for us by Jesus!  His blood purifies us from all unrighteousness, and He is our confidence before God!  After all, a Christian is first and foremost a forgiven sinner!  Now our confidence is not in ourselves, but in what God has done.  John reminds us in 1 John 4, “Greater is the one in you than he who is in the world!” 

We overcome this world because, in our Baptism, through the Word of God, and by the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Spirit is given to us to create faith in our hearts, forgive our sins, and give us everlasting life.  He is the one who is in us, and He draws us into Jesus as His redeemed people.  

What a wonder it is that God has loved us so much that He created us, redeemed us at the cost of Jesus’ life, and now dwells within us through the Holy Spirit.  (Salvation is a truly Trinitarian activity!)  Indeed, this is love, not that we loved God, sought Him out, or found Him, but that He loved us, sought us, found us and “sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)  

I’d like to encourage all of us to remember the things we learned when we took confirmation or new member classes.  Dig out the Small Catechism and give it a read.  Remember the great message of Law and Gospel that we learned there.  And remember, that we’re not done learning, but God continues to teach us about His love and grace every day in His Word.  

Questions to Ponder

Throughout 1 John, the apostle refers to his readers as “dear friends” (literally “beloved”) and “dear children.”  How do those titles, “beloved” and “little children”, strike you?  Why do you think John repeats them over and over?  

John encourages us to test the spirits.  How can we know if a spirit is from God?   (v. 2-3)  Why do you think he stresses “in the flesh”?  

Where do you see evidence of false prophets and antichrists in our world today?  

How does v. 4 apply to you in your life?  Are there circumstances that you are facing where these words need to be applied?

How has God made His love known?  (v. 9)  Is that significant for how we show love?  Why or why not?

What does it mean to abide in Jesus?  (reference John 15:1-17)