PALM SUNDAY, CONFIRMATION
Text: 1 Peter 3:21
Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.
Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yes, the work of our hands establish thou it. Amen.
In Christ dearly beloved children.
The day has finally come when you will publicly renew the covenant which once as infants you made with the Triune God at your Baptism, before all the world call the true God your covenant God, and promise to remain faithful in faith, word, and deed until death. Oh what a wonderful day this is for you! God looks down in a friendly and gracious manner; for nothing pleases God more than when one boasts of him before the world. We read in Jeremiah: "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." Jer. 9,23.24. Jesus Christ, the Son of God testifies to the same thing when he says: "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." Mt.10,32. How joyfully you can therefore open your mouth today to boast that the Lord is your God, and confess that Christ is your Savior, since you know for certain that your God and Savior himself rejoices over this act !
But still more; what pleases God, pleases also his holy angels. It is their continual duty and their highest joy to praise and extol God and sing the thrice holy to him throughout heaven. Certainly, these good spirits are invisibly present among you today. From the day of your birth they have carried you on their hands and protected you that you could appear here in order to boast before the whole world with your own mouth that God has done great things for you, and confess that you want to be his servants in time and eternity. Oh, how the holy angels will rejoice in this hour to hear such a confession from your mouth! "Amen! Amen!" they will joyfully add to your confession and cry to one another: These children who have publicly confessed that they also want to serve the Lord of heaven and earth as we do we will continue to guide and accompany and guard and protect until they finally come to us in heaven and join us in seeing God face to face in eternal joy and blessed light.
These however are the invisible witnesses who today look down with pleasure upon you; see what a great host of people have also gathered here. Joyfully they wait to hear from your own mouth that you want to keep what you once promised God through your sponsors, that you want to renounce the devil, the world, and sin and surrender yourselves body and soul to him, the Triune God, in his service and as his possession. In particular, your parents are looking upon you with tears of joy. Certainly they are saying to God in their hearts: "Lord, what are we and what is our house that you have done such great things to our child and brought him to this occasion? Praised be your faithfulness to all eternity! Be and remain our child's gracious God and Father, preserve him in your grace and truth, help him in the battle and grant him victory, and finally lead him into your kingdom of glory!"
Not only does joy radiate today from the countenances of your parents, sponsors, brothers, sisters, friends, and relatives who are present; behold, joy radiates from the faces of all gathered here that you want to lift up your hands to the great God of heaven and publicly swear eternal faithfulness to him. Only Satan and his evil angels, as well as all who belong to his party hate this beautiful day and will wrathfully see and hear how you even as children publicly step up, renounce all the enemies of God and his Word, and declare war upon them, but that you lay
yourselves at the feet of the Lord of lords.
But are you not still too weak for such a great work? Will God be pleased with your confession and oath since you are still unlearned children, most inexperienced boys and girls? It is true, dear children: In this world you are still minors; you lack the maturity of understanding and the firmness of spirit in order to witness and struggle there; but in the kingdom of grace, where God’s Spirit must do everything, it is different.
Have you not read that when Jesus was twelve years old he went into the temple and confessed God's Word? In so doing he left us an example that you should follow in his footsteps. Have you not read that when King Josiah (2 Chron 22) was eight years old he began to seek the God of his father David and in his twelfth year began to cleanse the Church of his country of all idolatrous worship? Have you not read of the reputation of young Timothy: "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation"? 2 Tim 3,15. Have you not read that many thousands of children have joyfully shed their blood because they confessed Christ and became martyrs? So, can not even a child publicly confess his faith?
Here we must add: God clearly says: "Unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have 1 righteousness and strength." Is 45,23.24. Therefore also the knees of children shall bow to the Lord, also their tongues shall swear. According to Solomon’s testimony God says also to children in the kingdom of grace: "My son, my daughter, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways." Prov 23,26. Yes, David says expressly to God: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." Ps 8,2.
The prayers of children are so powerful that all of God's foes must tremble. Hence we read in Matthew: When on Palm Sunday Christ solemnly entered Jerusalem for the last time, not only did the disciples and a great host of people greet him with their joyous hosannas, but even the children in the temple cried loudly: "Hosanna, hosanna to the Son of David!" The chief priests and scribes became very angry at that and they thought that even Jesus would be against the idea that unwise, small children would want to confess him; they said to him, “Hearest thou what these say?" Jesus replied: "Yea, have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" Mt 21,16. You see, my dear children, the cries of hosanna of the children of Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday pleased Christ greatly; so be certain: When to day in the simplicity of your heart you publicly promise to be faithful to the Lord, though men may be offended that you are still unwise children and though others may despise your confession, Christ, our gracious Savior, will listen and bless you.
But before you make your oath, let me direct a few questions to you; the way you answer them before this Christian congregation should show that you have grasped the fundamentals of the Christian doctrine, that you do not confess blindly, nor by force, nor by persuasion, but of your own free conviction worked by God himself you today confess the Christian faith.
EXAMINATION CHORAL NUMBER SERMON
In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
My dear children.
The Apostle Peter writes in 1 Pet 3,21: " The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ." In the words the apostle not only briefly states what Holy Baptism works, namely, salvation, but also what it really is, namely a covenant: " The answer of a good conscience toward God." You have also made this covenant with the Most High God when shortly after your birth you were baptized. You could then not of yourself confess that you would acknowledge and keep this covenant, for you were placed, as it were, while sleeping into the arms of God your Father; now you have been instructed, not only in what God has promised you in this covenant, but also what you have promised God; therefore you should first publicly renew your baptismal covenant since you want to go to the Lord’s Table and confess in the presence of this congregation, what you believe and how you are minded, whether you intend to keep your covenant or renounce the Triune God and join the world.
In order that you may ponder what you should do, permit me first to present to you from God's Word:
WHAT MUST YOU DO SINCE YOU INTEND TO RENEW YOUR BAPTISMAL COVENANT PUBLICLY?
I reply:
1. You Should Confess What Great Things God has Done to You in Holy Baptism, and
2. You Should with Upright Heart Promise Anew to Remain Faithful to God in Faith and Life Until Death.
I.
My dear children, everything which man does by his own powers does not count in God's eyes, no matter how gloriously it shines, for every man is a sinner; even if a person could do and actually would have done what was his duty to do, he would still have to confess that with all his efforts he was an unprofitable servant. Though all of men's works are vain, everything which God does, though it may seem to reason to be ever so insignificant and contemptible, is on the other hand great, glorious, mighty, powerful, and rich in grace and salvation.
If Baptism were something which we were to do, then those would be right who despise Baptism and say: What can a few hands full of water profit a person? How dare a person place his trust upon such a miserable work which even the godless can do? But Baptism is a work which not man but God does. Though it may seem to be something very insignificant, it nevertheless is so great and so full of grace and salvation that no tongue can ever finish speaking of it. God gave his only begotten Son for the whole world, through him reconciled all sinners with himself, removed damnation from them, earned righteousness and salvation for them, and so reopened heaven again; and H 0 ly Baptism is the means by which God offers, appropriates, and seals all that Christ has won for men; it is the open door by which man enters into the kingdom of grace founded by Christ.
That is why Peter calls Baptism " the answer of a good conscience toward God." In the covenant of grace God promises man that he wants to give him what his Savior has done and suffered for him; he wants to forgive him his sins and accept him as his child and heir of eternal life; in Baptism man receives a good conscience; for in this way he is freed from the slavish fear of God and receives the Spirit of adoption so that with childlike confidence he can step before God and cry to him: "Abba, dear Father!"
I repeat, if Baptism were a work which we were to do as other works of the Law, we would have to cry out in despair: "How can water do such great things?" But since God’s Son out of inexpressible love has won the infinite treasures of grace and salvation for the entire fallen world, Baptism is now God's hand by which and with which he hands and gives us those treasures of grace and salvation; thus we are given a good conscience which otherwise we could ! not receive in any other way in heaven and on earth.
But that Baptism actually has such blessed power we see not only from the fact that Peter expressly says in our text: " Baptism doth also now save us;" but we also see this from many other clear words of God. Christ says: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Mk 16,16. Again: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Jn 3,5?: Ananias says to Paul: "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins." Acts 22,16. St. Paul says: "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ," Gal 3,27; and in another passage: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Tit 3,5; and finally: "Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word." Eph 5,25.26.
You see from this what great treasures are offered, presented, and appropriated to him who is baptized in the name of the Triune God! His sins are washed away; his soul is cleansed; Christ is put on like a garment; he is born again a child of God's grace; he is received into the kingdom of grace and salvation, and all the gates of heaven are opened to him; all this happens not under the condition that he has been pious and has done good works, but alone for Christ's sake; not for any merit which man must have, but out of pure grace and mercy.
Something just as great is what God has done to you when you were baptized! How highly blessed, how rich in the treasures of heaven, how inexpressibly blessed you became! See that, that above all is what you today want to praise and what you are to confess in faith before the whole world since you intend to renew your baptismal covenant publicly.
But you will say: Dare we also believe that the grace offered, given, and sealed to us in Holy Baptism still concerns us because we are poor, wretched sinners who have not kept what they promised God? I reply: Yes, my dear children; you not only dare believe it; you should believe it. For we indeed can break the covenant which we made with God, but God does not break his covenant; as far as he is concerned it stands firmly; he will keep what he has promised; he is and remains faithful even if we become unfaithful; God never regrets his gifts and call. We read in Isaiah: "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Is 54,10.
Therefore, if after your Baptism you have again loved sin and the world and have lost the Spirit of grace from your heart who was poured out upon you in your Baptism, you are in a sad way; as far as you are concerned you have faithlessly broken your baptismal covenant. But God does not regret that he has promised to be your Father and save yöü:; if you have lost your childlike heart toward him, he has never lost his Father's heart toward you. We read in Jeremiah: "Return, thou blacksliding Israel, saith I the Lord!, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God." Jer 3,12.13a.
But now you should return, confess your iniquity with remorse and
sorrow, and fly back again into the arms which your heavenly Father has opened to you in Baptism. If you do that, you can also this very hour confidently praise God for the great things he has done to you in Holy Baptism. For everything depends on faith. Christ clearly says: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Man's faith should therefore come to God's Baptism; then the person has what Baptism offers and hands him. So your greatest sin would be if after you have broken your baptismal covenant you would not contritely in faith return to your baptism but in unbelief would want to despise your Baptism as does the godless world.
Therefore confess tod a y with confident heart before this assembly: "The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad." We are baptized! Oh, what inexpressible grace! There God has cast all our sins into the depths of the sea; there God has assured us that we also are to share in the redemption won by his Son; there God has assured us, that he has loved us from eternity and chosen us to salvation before the foundation of the world was laid; there God has assured us, that he is our Father and that we are his children; there God has opened heaven to us and it remains open to us forever. If in ourselves we are impure and full of sin, our Baptism is our cleansing; if the garment of our own righteousness is a torn, filthy garment, in our Baptism we have put on Christ with his holiness, righteousness, and innocence; we are poor, weak, wretched people who easily stumble and fall, our Baptism stands firm; there God has begun the good work in us and he has promised that he will continue it until that day.
Oh blessed are we! God himself has established a covenant of grace with us; no world, no sin, no devil, no hell can overthrow our salvation. God can do nothing else: whenever we come to him in faith because he has awakened us, he must accept us; and if we remind God in the hour of death of his covenant, he cannot reject us; he will keep his covenant and receive us into his heavenly kingdom. Therefore say: Oh bless, yes "bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" in your Baptism. "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases," Ps 103,1-3. Hallelujah!
II.
My dear children, although the first and most important thing when you renew your baptismal covenant is that you give honor to God, praise his faithfulness, grace, and mercy, and in faith confess what great things God has done to you in Baptism, a second thing necessarily is that you once again honestly vow to remain faithful to God in faith and life until death.
When you were baptized, everyone of you were asked: Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways? and, do you believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Your sponsors answered these questions for you with a serious, decided, and holy yes! You pledged God that you wanted to renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways.
What is that? Nothing else than this: You promised that you did not intend to follow Satan when he wants to tempt you to sin or error; you promised that you did not want to place yourself into the same class with the world whose god and lord is Satan; you promised to sever connections with the godless, unbelieving world, and not join it in its vanities and sinful pleasures; you promised that you wanted to be irreconcilable foes of sin and all ungodly ways; that you intended to struggle against them until death; you wanted to reprimand sin in words and deeds and testify against it; you would rather die than consent to one sin and go against God's commandments. With that renunciation you also
promised that you were going to hate, avoid, challenge, and have no part in any error, any lies, any false doctrine, any heresy, and any distortion and falsification of God's Word. You would not join a false church or sect which clings firmly to error and battles against the truth, but renounce and testify against such false, heretical communions with heart and mouth, by word and deed.
At the same time you declared that you believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; you promised that you wanted to persevere in the true faith until the end, recognize the Triune God as your God and Lord, trust him alone, and serve him as his obedient servant until death. You also promised that you wanted to remain in God's pure Word, in the unadulterated Gospel, in the pure truth, in the pure doctrine, and in the true Church, openly confess the truth to the world, struggle for it as much as you are able, and permit neither love nor grief, neither enticements nor threats, neither pleasure nor fear to dissuade you from the pure Gospel, but rather suffer all the pains and torments which the enemies of the truth can use against you than fall away.
You have also promised to give God your whole heart, reserve all the room in it for his Holy Spirit, walk in continual repentance, watch and pray unceasingly, not stop reading, speaking, and believing God's Word; you promised to use and study it day and night, follow after sanctification earnestly and whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise to think of these things, let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven; in short, you have promised to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, you want to flee the broad way, merry way of the great majority of the world which leads to damnation and choose the narrow way of the cross upon which few go but which leads to eternal life.
This oath made at your Baptism you are to renew publicly today. Not only this great assembly but also the holy angels, yes the Triune God himself will be your witnesses. Ah, dear children, ponder carefully what you are about to do. Recall how you will be tempted every day from now on by Satan, the world, and your own flesh and blood to break your oath. Remember that in your hour of death your conscience will ask: Have you done what you promised? Alas, how unhappy you would then be if you would have to confess that you have broken this holy covenant again!
But more. Even on judgment day when you will stand before God's throne you will be reminded of this day and the holy vow which you today renew. Does your heart not pound when you think of this great, terrible day? Must you then not groan in your heart: Oh Lord, my God, have mercy upon me, for I am weak; alas, how easily I fall, how quickly I stumble!
Oh, blessed are you, blessed are you if you know your helplessness! Blessed are you if you despair of yourself! Blessed are you if you discover that you have no power to keep your vow! if you with fear and trembling and with sighs for God's help make your vow! For whoever despairs of himself and seeks his refuge in God is not lost. For God "hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord, pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." Ps 103,10-14.
Therefore cast yourself down today in spirit before this gracious, good and merciful God with all your weakness, with all your wretchedness, with all your sins and cling to his grace,in Christ Jesus until death; you will also
at all times be victorious by his grace; if you have been wounded you will be healed, and if you have been made to stumble you will be stood upright again. For he says: "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Is 41,10.
SONG OF THE CHILDREN RITE OF CONFIRMATION CONCLUSION
My dear congregation; these children have renewed their baptismal covenant in your presence and again publicly swore allegiance to God; now they come to you in order to come to the Lord's Table with you and join you in going to the heavenly Jerusalem. Receive them with brotherly and sisterly love. But bear in mind: They are God's possession; do not therefore steal their souls from him; do not offend them; do not become the fault that they return to the ways of the world, that their blood will not cry against you to him who has so dearly bought them. Precede them on the narrow way; if they err, instruct them; if they sin, reprimand them; if they are in danger, warn them; if they are in anguish, comfort them; if they are in distress, stand by them. Entice them by word and example to remain with Jesus so that when he will appear in his glory we will rejoice with them and not have to be ashamed at his coming.
But let us turn to him from whom alone all help comes; let us kneel before our God, carry the needs of these children to him, and pray:
Oh most holy Triune God! These children have again vowed that they want to remain faithful to you in faith, word, and deed until death, and that nothing, neither joy nor suffering, honor nor disgrace, life nor death shall separate them from your love. But alas, oh Lord, when we recall how corrupt, how deceitful, how weak the heart of man is, when we remember how cunning and powerful Satan, this sworn enemy of their souls, is, when we remember how alluring the world is, how full of offences and thousands of temptations, and how dreadful these last times are, then we become anxious; then we ask with trembling: Will they keep what they have promised? Will they persevere to the end?
Whither shall we go with our cares but to you, oh faithful, merciful, and gracious God? Yes, we turn to you and beseech you: Take, oh take these children under your protection. Take them as your little chicks under your wings; take them as your lambs under your Shepherd's staff; take them as your children into your lap. Lord, they are yours, therefore never let them become the prey of Satan, nor the possession of the world. When the riches and honor and lusts of the world want to blind them, then open their eyes that they may know how fleeting all earthly things are and that you alone can satisfy the heart, that you are the only, true, and greatest Good. When the seducer draws near and entices them sweetly upon the way of sin, open their eyes so that they may know how sin the ruin of a people; may they see the abyss into which they are to be enticed, and draw them back with your almighty hand. When sin closes in upon them, support them in the struggle and do not let them he defeated. Or when distress and tribulation plunges them into worry and fear, and when in the evil hour Satan attempts to hurl them into despair, appear to them with your comfort, do not extinguish the smoking flax nor break the bruised reed.
Oh, Lord, this also we beseech you; if they should wander about as lost sons and daughters, forgetting you and your Word, do you not forget them; do not send your judgment upon them; do not tear them away suddenly in their sins by a sudden and evil death; do not let the seed sown in them be completely lost; let it finally grow up again; let them find no rest until they have again found rest in you; knock at their hearts with your Word, with your Spirit, and if necessary with cross and tribulation, with poverty or disgrace, with sickness
or pain until they repentantly smite their breast and are converted and seek and find grace.
Oh Lord, we collect all our prayers for them and ardently beseech you: Do not let them, oh, let not a single soul be lost; grant them a blessed death. When they stand at the gates of eternity, oh Lord, then do not hide yourself from them but open to them the gates of your grace. Oh Father, remind them that from eternity you have chosen them in Christ from the flames of hell; oh God the Son, Lord Jesus Christ, appear to them and show their breaking heart the tree on which you were smitten and let them find in it comfort for their souls; oh Lord God, Holy Spirit, comfort their trembling heart with your comfort and let their spirit find your testimony of their adoption.
Oh Father, who created them and made an eternal covenant with them, have mercy upon them for the sake of your faithfulness and truth and save them! Oh God the Son, who redeemed them, have mercy upon them for the sake of your suffering and death, for the sake of your bloody sweat, your death and resurrection and save them! Oh Lord God, Holy Ghost, who has dedicated them to be your temple, have mercy upon them for the sake of your friendliness; do not forsake the wretched house that is their heart, and save them !
Oh Most Holy Triune God, hear us, hear us; we lie before you not in our righteousness, but in your great mercy; in mercy continually remember these children now and at all times, in the hour of death and on the day of judgment. Kyrie eleison. Amen! Amen !