Sermon #242 May 13, 2007- Confirmation Sunday
John 3:16
Acts 1:12-26
Revelation 22:1-6, 12-20
In ancient Rome, when it was time for the scaffolding to finally be removed from a completed arch, Roman law demanded that the engineer who built the arch stand beneath it. If the arch came crashing down, the negligent engineer would be the first to know. Roman engineers knew that for their work to qualify as acceptable, they had to put their lives on the line. It is not surprising to find so many Roman arches still standing, 2,000 years later.
For their work to qualify, their work had to pass a test and they had to stand in the place most critical to the test. What about you as a Christian? Would you be willing to stand ‘under’ your Christianity as the scaffolding comes down? It seemed important in today’s reading from Acts that the person chosen to replace Judas be able to qualify for the position.
Look at verse 26, the last words there are, “So he was added to the eleven apostles” – they welcomed Matthias into the fellowship of the apostles. As fellow believers we too try to follow their example of welcoming others also. We seek to add other people, according to God’s will, to join with us in the fellowship of believers.
But did you notice that in verses 21-22 that for the person to be added to the role of apostle, the disciples needed someone who had been with them from the beginning? They needed someone who had been instructed as they had been; someone qualified. The instruction of Jesus 3 years of ministry was important to the disciples. Those who had received Christ’s instruction and had witnessed His death and resurrection were the only ones that were considered for being adding to the apostles.
Does that mean for us that someone needs to ‘qualify’ to be a believer? Well yes actually. So how do we know how to qualify someone? How do we know if we’re qualified ourselves?
Think about it this way. God has made it clear and simple hasn’t He? Consider John 3:16 which says that, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” And in Acts 16 it says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Mark 16 tells us, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.”
What a simple and gracious invitation to all people! God hasn't even ‘qualified’ His gracious invitation by demanding a certain degree or ‘amount’ of faith. He doesn't demand a set number of years or days or even hours of studying or believing. He doesn't demand a prescribed level of emotional intensity. When the Holy Spirit plants true faith in a human heart, at that very moment of spiritual rebirth, all of God's richest blessings in Christ are bestowed on that believing individual purely by the amazing grace of God.
The Bible gives us a wonderful example of just how simple it is to quote, unquote “qualify” for God's grace. That of course is when the thief on the cross in his dying hour finds the door to heaven open in Jesus Christ, who’s dying on the cross beside him… and for him. By the rich grace and mercy of God, the door to heaven is open for me, for you and for all through simple faith in Jesus Christ, God's Son, and our Savior from sin, death and Satan.
Remember that what qualified the thief on the cross was that God's gift of faith allowed him to recognize and publicly acknowledge Jesus as sent from God to die for our sins. That’s all the qualification that’s needed, as we said. To qualify as a Christian is contained in what that thief’s confession shows us.
But, by the same token, that confession is needed. Now, none of us can judge the heart of another person as to the purity of their confession. That’s for God alone to do as the disciples noted in verse 24 in today's’ reading. Read that just that verse with me, verse 24 , it says, Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen. No one can tell from the outside how fervent another person’s belief in Jesus Christ is.
But we’re not asked to judge one another in this regard nor are we allowed to think that we possess the right to judge another’s heart. But we are told that we are to judge what a person professes. In both the letters to Timothy and to Titus, Paul talks about what a person professes as important. In Romans 10:10 we’re told that "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
We don’t acknowledge someone who openly scorns belief in the Lord as a fellow believer. We don’t accept as a member of Christ’s body someone whose verbal declarations deny that Jesus is God’s Son. That sounds harsh perhaps, but that is the standard of scripture. It isn’t our standard; it’s God’s. We do judge the statements people make regarding their faith, but we do so, not based on some subjective standard of our own, but rather on the objective basis and standard of Holy Scripture. One element of that standard as we read in Rom 10 is for the heart to believe and for the mouth to confess.
On this confirmation Sunday this idea of confession is an important one. It’s also important in the reading from Acts today. In there we see that the disciples are seeking someone to be a fellow witness and fellow confessor of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In verses 24-26 the disciples act in a very deliberate manner to choose this person, and yet that manner is under the control of God.
First as we noted, they pray – they seek God's guidance to do what’s best and what’s needed. They also put their trust in God’s promise to answer prayer. And then they used a method called casting lots and they trust that God would use that method to reveal His will. And then they acted on that.
We’ve followed a similar pattern with our confirmands. We’ve prayed for them and given them instruction. Jesus gave His disciples and apostles 3 years of instruction as we said earlier. We believe that God has acted through the two year process of instruction we use. And like the apostles, we believe that God has chosen these young ladies to take their place among the communicant membership of our congregation. And today they are professing with their mouths, their personal belief on Jesus Christ as their own Lord and savior.
As we close, we are reminded that we too have made this profession and continue to do so both by our mouths and by how we live our lives. Not that we never sin or make mistakes. That isn’t what this confession is about; it’s not about our self-made perfection. It’s not about us making our lives so good that we have ‘qualified’ ourselves. No, it’s about what God has done for us, and for our confirmands.
I’m not much for bumper sticker theology but there is one I’ve seen that fits here very well. It says, God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. He qualifies the called. He’s made it possible for us to stand under the arch of Christianity and let the scaffolding be removed above our heads. We stand there confident because we are called / by / God’s / grace through the gift of faith to believe in Jesus as His Son come to redeem us from our sin.
That gift of faith is what qualifies us… and our confirmands. We are all / and we are each / called to profess and live our lives by what He has qualified us to be… believers. Believers in Jesus Christ crucified for our sins and raised for our justification.
In whose name we pray, Amen.