Confirmed in the Truth

John 20:19-31 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." ²⁴ Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." ²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." ²⁸ Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" ²⁹ Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." ³⁰ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Maybe if you’re older than our eight confirmands you’ve heard the expression, “If it looks like a duck and it waddles like a duck and it quacks like a duck … it’s probably a duck.” If we apply that phrase to a book that is now selling in book stores, you could say, “If it looks like a Bible and it sounds like a Bible and it has a name like the Bible’s … it ought to be a Bible.”

But it isn’t. Most definitely, the book I’m talking about isn’t the Bible. And what book is this? This is a secular alternative to the Bible written by atheist-humanist Anthony C. Grayling – a non-religious Bible he has audaciously entitled: The Good Book.

The Good Book has two columns like many Bibles. It uses chapters and verses like your Bible. It even tries to duplicate the beautiful and powerful rhythms of the King James Version of Scripture.

Grayling’s The Good Book looks like the Bible, but it isn’t.

In your Bible, God is credited with creation of heaven and earth. In Grayling’s book it says, “All things take their origins from earlier kinds. Ancestors of most creatures rose from the sea, some inhabitants of the sea evolved from land-dwelling forefathers.” Your Bible tells how Adam and Eve were seduced into sinning when they ate the forbidden fruit. Gatling prefers to substitute the story of an apple falling onto Isaac Newton’s noggin. And when your Bible talks about sin and the need for Jesus’ blood-bought forgiveness, Grayling’s The Good Book says all of us are really very good and very nice.

And why does Mr. Grayling feel the need to author such a book? It stems from his dislike of how John ends his Gospel: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). Grayling doesn’t believe God’s Word is really the Word of God. He doesn’t believe there is really faith and life in this Word. And he’s pretty sure he can come up with a better plan for humanity than what is contained in Scripture.

Grayling’s thinking and writing is a sign of the times. According to the latest poll released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of self-proclaimed atheists in America has nearly doubled since 2001 from 900,000 to 1.6 million. The religion of people who believe in nothing seems to be winning more and more converts every year.

Too many people miss out on the mysterious because they’re so fixated on what they can see and touch and taste and hear. They’re so steeped in their belief in “nothingness” that they’re totally blind to the existence of another world – a radically different world than the one they’re familiar with. A world of faith, miracles and grace, a world of angels and diabolical warfare, a world of life after death. A world where the highest values are completely opposite from those of secular society – where humility equals glory, weakness is greater than strength, sacrificing comes before salvation, and suffering is required for discipleship.

Where the atheists, agnostics and humanists need to reach out with their hands, poke their fingers, and see with their eyes in order to believe, our eight confirmands are blessed because they have not see and yet have believed (John 20:29).

These confirmands were brought to faith years ago through the sacrament of Baptism, five of them at this very font. All of them have been fed and nourished through God’s Word from this pulpit, in our classrooms and in our classes together. Now they will also receive the strengthening of their faith by receiving Christ’s body and blood in their Lord’s Supper.

I asked the confirmands to answer why they believe in God as the Creator of the Universe and the Savior of their soul. They wrote: Because “I did not come to Him, but He came to me.” Because, “God sent His Son to die for me. He shows His grace and mercy every day by giving me life and not giving me the eternal damnation I deserve.” Because “of the beautiful sunsets, sunrises and rainbows,” “my parents who have always taken care of me and brought me into this Christian congregation.” While atheists deny the existence of God, our confirmands confess, “You can tell He is the Creator of the Universe just by looking around.”

Here are eight teenagers who through the working of the Holy Spirit have knelt at the foot of the cross to repent of their sin; who have peered into the open, empty tomb; who have heard the comforting words of their Savior, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” and “Peace be with you.” They have seen the light shining through the holes in Jesus’ hands and have placed their finger into His side. Today they stand next to Thomas and breathlessly, with sweaty palms and nervous voices, boldly confess, “My Lord and my God.”

They are not just planning on confessing their faith with their mouths, but also profess their faith with their lives. They are willing to serve the Lord by being good role models, playing sports to God’s glory and to the best of their abilities, sharing God’s Word with others, praising God with their voices and artistic abilities, serving in the church and possibly doing mission work. Or as one confirmand summed it up, “God has given me the ability to share His Word, canvass, be a cheerleader and play soccer (since I’m a Zarling).”

Atheists, of course, claim that all of this is absurd. They say that Christianity, especially, with its belief in Easter and the resurrection is nothing but “wishful thinking.” But is it wishful thinking to believe in hell, the devil and demons? Is it wishful thinking that we’re going to be judged and held accountable for every sin we’ve ever committed? Is it wishful thinking to “suffer grief and all kinds of trials” for Christ (1 Peter 1:6)?

If human beings were going to invent a religion based on wishful thinking, they could come up with something a lot “easier” than Christianity. After all, who would invent a religion where you are told to refrain from promiscuous sex and gluttony in this life so you can enjoy real living in the life to come; where you are told to love your enemies and pray for your persecutors, and where you die in order to live? Who would invent a religion where God became human and lived in our world so we humans could live with God in His world, where the Creator died for His creation, and where the Savior was beaten, mocked and crucified by those He came to save? Who would invent such a crazy religion?

Can you imagine Paul having a conversation with Peter about starting up their own made-up religion? Peter asks Paul, “If we start this religion, are we going to get famous and wealthy or at least become babe-magnets?” Paul replies, “No, in fact, people are going to hate you, throw you in jail, kick you out of town and probably crucify you upside down. I’m going to give up my rock star status as a Christian-killing Pharisee in order to become a Christian. Then people are going to beat me up, throw rocks at my head, put me in prison and then kill me.”

Peter sarcastically replies, “Riiight.”

You can’t imagine it because it didn’t happen. Paul, Peter and the other apostles were ready to die for their faith because they knew it was the true faith. Jesus Christ really did die and rise from the dead for them. His death paid for their sins. His resurrection guarantees that “Christ has been raised from dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Christ Jesus is the first installment of the resurrection. Because He burst from His grave in soul and body, you and I are immortal. His resurrection guarantees your forgiveness. His resurrection guarantees your resurrection. Because Jesus lived, died and lives again for the apostles, they were willing to live and die for Him.

And now these eight confirmands are also ready to live and die for their Savior. Today they will be asked, “Are you willing to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from your confirmation faith?” They answered:

“I would rather face death than fall away from God because He tells us in His Word that Christians will face hardships for believing in Him. But He also tells us if we are faithful, He will give us the crown of life.”

“I am ready to face everything, even death, because all I need in life is my faith in God.”

“It is the least I can do for God after all He has done for me.”

“I know that some day when I die, I will go to heaven.”

“I am ready to face all, even death, because I know that eternal suffering in hell is so much worse than dying for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the rewards of being faithful are great.”

“I would rather face death than deny my Lord because if I accept God and die physically I know I will be saved.”

“I am ready to go and keep my head up and share the Word of Christ with everyone in this world, even if others don’t like it … because that’s what Jesus did for me.”

Jessica, along with other members of her sophomore class, was doing a week-long community service project. Jessica elected to help a third-grade class in a public school. At the end of the week she decided to give the kids a few treats inside a colored plastic egg. Naturally she asked for the teacher’s blessing. She received that blessing with this condition: the school said her gifts weren’t to be called “Easter eggs.”

No, those gifts were to carry the politically correct title: “spring spheres.”

Now, I was never good at geometry, so I had to check. Sure enough, eggs aren’t spheres – never were, never will be. For those who are geometrically challenged like me, I can share that all the outside points of a sphere are the same distance from the center of the sphere, such as a ball. So, if I've got this right a school is sacrificing good geometry on the altar of bad political correctness.

Friends, do you think that school’s administration realizes the word “Easter” refers to a pagan god and not the Savior’s resurrection? If they’re going to tackle that goddess, they’d better get a new name for the month of March, which is named after Mars, or January, which gets its name from the god Janus, and Thursday is the day of Thor.

Wow! I wonder where it will end – probably where such things always end ... with the people of the world trying to stuff Jesus back into His grave, rolling back the stone and setting a guard to make the tomb as secure as they can.

It will end where it ended that first Resurrection Sunday. It will end with the risen Christ brushing aside all attempts to keep Him buried. The Christ who has died for sinful humankind has also physically risen from the dead. Jesus has risen, He has risen indeed. You know it, these confirmands know it and today they are ready to publicly profess it. They are willing to stand up for the Savior who stood up for them. They are willing to die for the God who died for them. And they are willing to live for the Savior who continues to live for them.

And if you’ll excuse me for saying it like these teens would (without punctuation, capitalization or proper spelling and grammar) “jesus rose and he will stay rose. and like thats the truth.” Amen.

Confirmation on May 1, 2011 at Epiphany