“We Are All Witnesses”
Acts 2:32

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
April 27, 2014—Second Sunday of Easter

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

Kurt, Chancie, Cooper, Chloe, Garrett; the text for your Confirmation sermon is from today’s Reading in the Book of Acts.  In the first ever Christian sermon, St. Peter says, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” 

“We Are All Witnesses.”  St. Peter was an eyewitness to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  With his perfect life, Jesus makes up for all your faults and failures; with his sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus pays the penalty for all your sins and wipes away all your guilt in the eyes of God; with his resurrection from the dead, Jesus assures you that you will have eternal life.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says, “Trust in God; trust also in me. . .  I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. . .  For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

St. Peter later beautifully summed up the Christian faith this way, in today’s Epistle Reading: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.”

Your parents and sponsors were witnesses as you were baptized into Christ.  “Through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” your sins were washed away, you were given the gift of faith and born again as children of God. 

Today, we are all witnesses as you confirm your baptisms.  We are all witnesses as you personally profess faith in Jesus.  We are all witnesses as you promise to live your lives for him.  We are all witnesses as you pledge to be faithful to Jesus for your entire lives.

Over 100 years ago, Dr. C.F.W. Walther said this in a Confirmation sermon:  “You have declared yourselves ready today to swear eternal faithfulness to your Savior.  But ah, already many a child has knelt at this altar, wetting it with his tears, and with trembling voice and tear-filled eyes has said, ‘Yes, I will remain with Jesus, with His word, with His grace, with His Church; nothing . . . shall separate me from Him, and—before the next year the child had already left his Savior.  Ah, with deep sadness I think today of so many dearly beloved confirmands upon whose head I have laid the hand of blessing in this holy place. . . I thought that even if no one else remains faithful, surely these will. . .  But what happened?  Where are they now?  The fire of faith and love kindled in them has died out; they are now [spiritually] cold and dead . . . they have left Jesus . . .”

Today, we are all witnesses as you commit yourselves to Jesus for life.  What will we be witnesses of in the years to come?  Like Dr. Walther, will we be sad witnesses as you drift away from Christ and his Church?  Will we be sad witnesses as your attendance at church and communion becomes less and less?  Will we be sad witnesses as you live an ungodly, immoral life, bringing shame on yourselves and the name Christian?  Will we be sad witnesses as all your pledges and promises of faithfulness come to nothing and the fire of faith in you dies out and goes cold?  Will we be sad witnesses as you leave Jesus?

Or, will we be glad witnesses as you remain ever faithful to Jesus?  Will we be glad witnesses as you remember the Sabbath and worship in the house of God?  Will we be glad witnesses as you accept Jesus’ invitation and come to his Holy Supper?  Will we be glad witnesses as you conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ, bringing honor to him with godly, Christian lives?  Will we be glad witnesses as you join with Christian spouses and commit your own households to serving the Lord?  Will we be glad witnesses as you bring up your own children in the training and instruction of the Lord?  Will we be glad witnesses as you remain faithful to Jesus even if you move away from this community and congregation?  Will we be glad witnesses as the promises and pledges you make here today are fulfilled in your lives?

The hymn that we will sing after your Confirmation today has a special meaning for me this year.  A few months ago when my 91-year-old Mother was hospitalized and near death, I asked her if there were any hymns she would like me to sing for her.  When she was confirmed the class would all memorize a hymn and sing it together for the congregation.  She asked me to sing her Confirmation hymn: “Let me be Thine forever, my faithful God and Lord.”  Over 75 years later, Mom still remembered that hymn, and quietly sang along.   A few days later at the moment she passed away us children were gathered around her bed singing for her that hymn: “Give me Thy constant blessing, and grant a Christian death.” So that was one of the hymns we picked for her funeral. 

Mom and Dad were confirmed together in 1936.  Over 75 years later Mom not only still knew their Confirmation hymn, she was still living it, and finally she died peacefully in the faith that she confessed so long ago on her Confirmation Day.  Now Mom and Dad are singing the Lord’s praises together again, in heaven: “Let me be Thine forever . . . ”

We are all witnesses.  Will we be sad witnesses, or glad witnesses?  Jesus says, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. . .  remain in Me. . .”  That is what you are promising Jesus today: You will remain in him.  “We Are All Witnesses.”