“Set Your Hearts Apart!”
1 Peter 3:15

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Sixth Sunday of Easter–Confirmation Day—May 21, 2017

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

Luke, Evan; the text for your confirmation message is the first verse of today’s Epistle Reading.  St. Peter writes, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.”  “Set Your Hearts Apart!”

St. Peter’s First Epistle is probably a letter he wrote as a message to be read at the baptisms of newly converted Christians.  Because Christianity was spreading rapidly among the pagan people, those newly converted Christians being baptized nearly 2,000 years ago would have included many young people about your age, who had just recently been brought to faith in Jesus as their Savior. 

Your situation today is different, and yet very much the same.  The difference is that you were blessed with Christian parents, who followed the command of Christ, “Let the little children come unto me, and do not hinder them,” and so you were baptized as infants.  But, very much the same is the testimony you are giving today of your personal faith in Jesus.  As you confirm your Baptism today, you yourself are testifying that you trust in Jesus as your Savior, and you are pledging yourself to him, just like those newly converted Christians so long ago who pledged themselves to the same Savior. 

They were living in a period of human history surprisingly similar to our own, a time of great changes and upheavals: the breakup of traditional families; the breakdown of morals and civilized society; crime out of control; government in chaos; economic troubles; uncertainty for the future.  Their world back in those times was filled with turmoil, evils, and allurements away from Christ.  And so is your world today.  So, St. Peter’s ancient advice to them still applies to you too: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.”  Amidst the turmoil, the evils, the allurements of this world, “Set Your Hearts Apart!”

But, the bad news is, because of our sinful nature, our hearts are evil.  Because of our sinful nature, our hearts are not set apart for the Lord, but actually in sync with the wicked world.  As St. Peter declares in the Book of Acts, “Your heart is not right before God.”  The book of Genesis says, “The Lord saw how great men’s wickedness on the earth had become and that every thought and inclination of their hearts were always evil continually.”  The bad news is, because of our sinful hearts, we live sinful lives.  As Jesus said, “The evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.”  The bad news is, because of our sins, we deserve the punishment of eternal death and damnation. 

But, St. Paul says in Titus, “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”  The Good News is, not because of anything you have done, but because of his mercy, God saved you.  Saved you from the punishment you deserved.

Through Holy Baptism, “the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,” God made you “born again.”  Spiritually “born again,” so that you are no longer a child of this wicked world, but a spiritual child of your heavenly Father.  In your Baptism you were adopted into God’s family; he took you as his own precious, beloved child.  In your Baptism, the Holy Spirit spiritually renewed you, washing away the stain of sin from your heart, and implanting in your heart faith to trust in Christ as your Savior.  As St. Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “You were washed, you were sanctified, you justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.”

The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to earn forgiveness for your sins; the Lord Jesus Christ saved you because of his kindness and love and mercy.  Because of his perfect life, and sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection, you are forgiven.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says. “Trust in God, trust also in me.”

The turmoil, the evils, the allurements of this world—as you go on through life, all this things will try to trouble your hearts, to extinguish your faith, to drive out your Savior.  “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.”  “Set Your Hearts Apart!”

Have confident faith in your Savior’s love, and your heart will be like an island of peace in the midst of the storms that you will face in this world.  “Set Your Hearts Apart!”

“Chose this day whom you will serve,” Joshua says.  “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  “Set Your Hearts Apart!”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,” says the book of Proverbs, “and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”  “Set Your Hearts Apart!”

“Be faithful unto death,” Jesus promises, “and I will give you the crown of life.”  “Set Your Hearts Apart!”

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.”  This day and always “Set Your Hearts Apart”—for Jesus!