The Scripture
that Dylan read a few minutes ago from Philippians, chapter two, what Paul
wrote, to let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus[2]. I had a sermon, a WONDERFUL sermon
prepared today. On the way here
God changed it; sometimes I hate it when He does that. But God placed it upon my heart that
everything about this confirmation was contained in that one sentence, let
this mind be in YOU that was in Christ Jesus.
The “mind of
Christ” – that’s a strange sentence, isn’t it?
When Jesus was feeding the 5,000, what do you think the mind of
Christ was doing at that moment?
What was he thinking about? When
he reached out and grabbed a leper by his diseased hand, what was His
mind considering? Jesus did
some stuff that, I wonder, if we would ever do.
Confirmation:
the word itself means to make firm. Have you ever ordered something online? Yeah, I know; I should have said, during
the first hymn, did you order anything online. We do that all the time, right? What do you get in an email 7 seconds
later? The Confirmation! They’re telling you, YES…we got your
order, and we are PLEASED to take your money…thank you very much! That money would be out of your account before
you even spoke. Confirmation means
something has happened.
In just a few
moments we’re going to have this platform filled. We are going to be confirming these young people. We generally think of confirmation in the
church as something the church does TO the young people;
NO…this is what these young people are doing BEFORE God! And so will we…we will be answering also (see
the answers in the bulletin). It says, do
you, the congregation…. That’s
you! We are reaffirming our vows, but
for these young people, for the first time, they’re making firm their vows publicly
before God. If you were here on March 27th,
we had a “wet experience” in the fellowship hall. We baptized those young folks in the gigantic
fish tank. The early church identified
as fish…it was kind of the secret handshake they drew in the sand to identify
each other back when Christianity was illegal.
They were saying they were of one mind.
What mind? The mind of Christ. That’s what this is all about, they’re making
firm their vow before God.
Look at those
promises (vows) in the bulletin. I want
you to see that there are five of those promises that these young men will be
saying “yes…we do…we will be supporting this church and its ministries by these
five ways. They’re saying what each of
you members said when you became part of this church, that these five working
parts of the Christian faith is the sermon challenge for each of us…those who
took those vows in the past, those who are taking those vows today, and for
those who will consider taking those vows in the future.
Let’s look
at the first one
1. We vow our Prayers
What we ask is, are you going to participate in
the church’s ministries by your prayers? We’re
asking for that mind to be in Christ Jesus by doing what Jesus did, continually
praying. I had a friend who recently
passed, who, years ago gave me an understanding of what the Apostle Paul meant
when he wrote pray without ceasing. She told me, Russell, I have so much to pray about I can never say Amen. I thought, Donna, what in the world are you
talking about? She said, when you say ‘Amen’ that’s the end of the prayer, right? I never stop praying; I have this
conversation that’s going on with God all the time. That is the issue with the praying promise…are
you going to be joining with your fellow believers in this mind of prayer, which
is the mind of Christ, and have an ongoing conversation with God…24/7 (I know
that will keep you awake at nights, but He will let you sleep when it’s time to
sleep). So, by your prayers you are known. Then…
Your presence is exactly what you’re doing
this morning…you’re here! You’re showing
up. Isn’t that 90% of life, just showing
up? Once you get past that you can see
what else (the other 10%) needs doing. I’m
not just talking about showing up in church; I’m talking about all of life. Are you engaged?
There are two ideas about that business of “presence.”
a. When you’re in school the teacher takes
attendance. She calls your name, and you
answer, present.
That’s presence
b. But what happens when the lecture gets boring
a little later? You’re not so present
anymore, are you? You kind of check-out
sometimes.
To be “present” in terms of this vow is to be
engaged in what God’s saying. The
preacher may have a message, or think he does, but God is speaking through the
preacher’s words. The question becomes, are
you engaged enough with God in that message that it will go with you when you
leave? If you invite God to be Lord over
your life, and not just Savior from spiritual death, He will go with you
everywhere.
Prayers, Presence, and then…
3. We vow our Gifts
Stewardship…your tithes and offerings are the gifts we vow. But there’s another sense in which gifts come
into play. The idea of stewardship is to
be found faithful[3]
with what you have been given. This is a
favorite theme of mine. Whatever we are
doing, wherever we find ourselves, at school, at home, at work, in the garden,
fishing, going on vacation, all diverse ways of spending our time, are we faithful stewards of the gifts we have
been given? Maybe you’ve been given the
gift of discernment – you need to be on guard to look and see what is being
said, or what is going on, so you can make discerned decisions and act
according to what the mind of Christ demands.
If you’ve been given the gift of preaching, you ought not stay silent.
So, Prayers, Presence, Gifts, and there’s also…
4. We vow our Service
Service is making sure you are faithful over
the resources you’ve been given. As a
faithful steward your presence involves service. It’s not just “onlooking.” We are not just “onlookers” observing what
happens in the world, we are hands-on!
Your service means you are willing to help other people.
These five words – five things we do as Christians, are the way we exercise our commitment to God, our vow,
worked-out in daily life. These are the
true measurement sticks by which we monitor our progress of growing into
Christlikeness. There’s a fifth word…
5. We vow our Witness
My understanding of “witness” is
simply retelling your story, that which has happened to you. To witness to someone is to tell that person
what Christ has done in your life.
Now, listen, I get the feeling – I get
the sense, that, if you get the first four words right, that tells you you’re meeting
the criteria for the fifth word. For
instance, if your prayer life is what it ought to be. You’re in an ongoing conversation with Christ,
and He’s talking back to you, speaking to your heart, moving you into serving,
you’re going to be the kind of witness for Christ He needs, because that
conversation with Jesus is not going to stay silent…it will come out of
you.
What about gifts? If you are a faithful steward with what God has
placed in your hands, to help other people in service, financially, or however
God directs, then that, is a witness…is it not?
Where you are on a Sunday morning (presence) is also a testimony (witness)
to other people.
Years ago I read a story about an
elderly lady who had spent all her life in church. And it was still going on. Every Sunday morning she’d get up early,
study her Sunday School lesson, get ready and walk the three blocks to
church. And every walk was past the same
houses. One of those houses, there was a
guy who never darkened the doorstep of a church. Each time the lady passed there he’d mutter, there she goes, church lady, goin’ t’ church, every Sunday…church,
church, church! After years
of this it was finally enough. She got
up one Sunday, studied her lesson, got dressed and walked to church. When she got in front of that
house, he was at it again, there she goes, that church lady, goin’ t’
church, every Sunday…church, church, church! She stopped, turned to him, and kindly said, that’s
ok, friend…I got my priorities and you have yours; I just want God and
everybody else to know whose side I’m on.
And that’s the point about witness.
Truly, I think, the most graphic, the
most vivid demonstration of whether you’re on His side is your service. It’s when there’s no question that, if someone
needs an arm around the shoulder, your arm is ready. It’s when you’re ready to take that five-dollar
bill out of your wallet when you’ve only got two of them, and place it in the
hand of that one who has nothing.
Offering to bring someone to church.
Offering to help someone rake their yard, or whatever needs doing.
So how do you do all that? How do you get your prayers, your presence,
your gifts, your service, and your witness all in line? It works something like the picture of that “double
tree.”
“Christ
likeness” is the goal. If friends, or a
family, church, or even a nation would be unified, enjoying genuine fellowship,
then Christ
like is what we seek.
A great Bible scholar named A. J. Gordon wrote:
Two little saplings
grew-up side-by-side. Through the action
of the wind they crossed each other. By
and by each became wounded by the friction.
The sap began to mingle until one calm day they became attached. Then the stronger began to absorb the
weaker. It became larger and larger,
while the other withered and declined till it finally dropped away and
disappeared. And now there are two
trunks at the bottom and only one farther up.
Death has taken away the one; life has triumphed in the other.
To become Christ-like, is to grow so close to Him that people see Him, and precious little of you. This is unity, where the spirit of Christ has taken over.
Our goal is to
grow into Christ in maturity, to be so much absorbed in Him that when people
get to know you, or even just observe the way you live your life, they will
become curious enough to ask the question:
Are you a Christian?
And
what they’ll mean is…I believe you are a Christian…you’re like a picture
of Him.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!
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