Text: I Peter 3:13-22

Theme: “Do Good”

Date: April 27, 2008; Confirmation Sunday, 7^th Sunday of Easter

Place: Immanuel, Altamont, IL

             This morning is a blessed day for each one of you confirmands. It is a day when you will be confirmed in the very faith that was worked in your heart on the day when you were baptized. Many years ago, your parents brought you to the baptismal font. There they made a solemn vow that they would raise you in the faith, showing you Jesus as your Lord and Savior, giving you every opportunity to grow in that relationship.

Parents, do you remember that day, the day you stood at the baptismal font with your little one?  Today is a culmination of that day. Over the past 13 years, you have made every effort to be sure that your son or daughter was learning about Jesus as their Savior. You worked hard to make it possible for them to attend worship, SS, ALIS, confirmation classes, whatever it took to make sure that they were raised in that relationship with Jesus. You can rejoice today, for today shows the hard work that you did. You did good in your life. You trusted in the Spirit and let Him guide you as you raised your child.

The reason we call today “confirmation” is because each one of you will be confirmed in your faith. That means you will be given the opportunity to profess your faith in Jesus Christ. Then you will find that today is another day in your life as a maturing young person. I know that you want to be independent of your parents. How often you said (or thought), “I am old enough to make up my own mind. You don’t have to tell me what to do.” Today you are at the point in your spiritual life where that is going to become par t of the reality of your life. You will soon be standing up and will say, “I will live this life of faith.” No longer are you going to say, “Mom, Dad, what should I believe? What should I confess?” As one that is confirmed in that faith, you are saying that you will now live that life of faith. You will begin to take responsibility for your walk of faith.

As you do that, I want to challenge you to “do good.” The good that I challenge you to do is to live the life of faith that is laid before you. Actually, I challenge all of you that are here today to “do good” in your walk of faith. I challenge you to do two things: 1) to confess Jesus as your only Lord and Savior and 2) to live your life each day as though you truly do believe in Jesus as your Savior. Whether you are a new confirmand, as you 16 young men and women are today, or someone who has walked in the faith for years, do good in your life, holding firm to the faith that you have been given, the faith that you profess.

In the epistle reading for today, Peter talks about the very One in whom we are to have faith. He tells us, “For Christ also suffered for us, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18 ESV) That is the basis of our faith, the basis for all that we do in our lives. It begins with the reality that we are unrighteous. What that means is that because of sin, we are not worthy to receive eternal life. From the time of our birth, we come to know that we are sinners. It is called original sin. That sin makes us unrighteous and unworthy. Because of sin, we have no hope of salvation.

Except for Christ Jesus. He gave Himself upon the cross for us. He was the righteous one of the unrighteous – us. He is the One that had no sin, perfect in every way, able to take upon Himself the fullness of the law. For the law demands perfection. We are imperfect. We can’t fulfill the law. He is the perfect Son of God, able to keep the law perfectly for us, taking our place. He is the righteous one, dying for the unrighteous, giving to us what we could not give ourselves, forgiveness and life.

He did all this to bring us to God. He brings us into that wonderful relationship with God our Father. We are brought into that relationship through the waters of baptism. In those sacred waters, we are given that forgiveness of sins through the very faith that is worked in our hearts and lives. We are rescued from sin and the devil. We are also given that life eternal with our Savior in heaven. What a blessed thing that we are given.

And as we live in that faith, live each day in Christ Jesus, we are lead right to this point. Our young people are confirmed in our faith. Each one of us professes the faith that we are given. And we live our lives as though we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We do good in our lives. We live as He would have us live.

Yet this is not all that easy. You confirmands will challenged in your life. When you go through this summer, you will be facing the beginning of those challenges. Will you go to worship? Will you hold firm to Christ? Will you continue to read your bible or to prayer? Will you do those things in your life that you know you should do? More than that, as you get into high school, you will be tempted in many different ways. Will you do good when your friends tempt you to drink? Will you do good when you are tempted to go further in a relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend? Will you truly do good each day of your life? That is the challenge that you will face.

Each one of us faces those very challenges. Will you live the life that God places before you? Are you going to hold firm to the faith that you have been given? Will you do good in your lives? When you are faced with temptation, what will you do? Will you give in to that temptation? Or will you stand firm in your faith? Will you confess Christ, even it means that someone is going to be upset with you? Will you live the faith, do good in life, and follow Christ with all your heart?

So there is challenge before all of us here today. We are faced with the challenge of living the life of faith in all that we do. Oh, it is easy to confess Christ when we are being confirmed. Many people have stood in this church or in other churches around the nation and made that very confession. “I will be faithful to Christ, to the faith, to the walk of life that is laid before me, even to the point of death.” And then temptation comes along and it is “good bye” faith and hello world. What will you do? Will you stand firm? Will you do good?

What about each of us here today? What will we do? Will we stand firm? Will we do good? Oh, it is easy once again to say that we will follow Christ with our whole heart as we sit here. But what about when you go to the celebrations later today? Or when you go home? To work? To school? Will it make a difference for you?

The only way that you and I will ever be able to do good is by being guided by the Holy Spirit through the Means of Grace. You know what those means of grace are? Word and Sacrament. Through the Word, the Holy Spirit will guide you. Through the waters of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Holy Supper, you and I will be empowered to live the life of faith.

Confirmation is just a little step in your life. It is not the end of your walk of faith nor is it the beginning. It is but one more moment in which the Holy Spirit is filling your heart and life with the power to live for Christ. May you go from here and do good, living for Christ Jesus in all that you do May you be empowered to live as a child of God, loving Him with all your heart.

Amen.