The Reason for the Hope

In the name of Jesus, in whom we have life and union with God our Father, dear friends in Christ: If I had set out to find a fitting text to address at a confirmation worship service such as this, I’m pretty sure that I could not have selected better than the prescribed Epistle lesson for today. It strikes me that St. Peter’s opening exhortation, “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord”, is precisely what confirmation in the Lutheran Church is all about. I assure you, though, that we set the date of Confirmation without consulting the lectionary – which only goes to show that the Lord is diligent about these things even when I am not. And it’s a good thing that he is, too.

But what does St. Peter mean when he says, “set apart Christ as Lord”? A more literal translation of Peter’s words would be, “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart”, or this, “Make holy Christ as Lord”; which sort of reminds me of Luther’s explanations to certain petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. I mean, if Luther got his hands on this passage he might explain it this way: “Christ the Lord is holy in and of himself even without our making him so; but with this word of instruction St. Peter directs that Christ should be regarded as the one and only holy Lord also among us.” (Let the student of Luther understand.)

Ah, but what does that mean? I really think that this is where we Lutherans part company with the majority of our evangelical friends. For most of them, the idea of regarding Christ as Lord is first and foremost one of submission and obedience to him. It’s, “Christ is your Lord, so you’d better shape up, fly right, and do whatever he says.” The emphasis is on you giving yourself in service to him. Now, while there is some truth to that way of understanding, we Lutherans would tend to see that as putting the cart before the horse. We see Christ’s Lordship primarily in terms of him being our divine benefactor. Christ is Lord first in the sense that his is the divine name used throughout the Bible: “The LORD” – that is, the LORD who creates, sustains, redeems, defends, and enriches the lives of his people. Regarding Christ as Lord means looking to him to fulfill every need and desire we have, and counting on him, trusting in him, to do what’s best for us on account of his great love. It’s from this recognition – this attitude of total dependency on him – that flows our own obedience to him. Our obedience then is a faithful response to his superabundant grace and blessing. But again, the main idea of his Lordship is that he is the one in whom we place all our trust and hope.

This is why Peter goes to say, “Be prepared always to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have.” This is something he calls upon every one of us who regard Christ as Lord to be able to do. But look: when someone asks you about your faith in Christ, it doesn’t do any good to tell them about how devoted you are to him and about all the things you do to serve and honor him. No. There’s no hope in that. Rather, they need to know why you look to him as your gracious Lord. They need to hear about what he has done for you. They need to know the reason for the hope you have in him so that they too can see their need to look to him as their Lord.

—Which brings us to what we are doing here today. Part of the purpose of Confirmation in the Lutheran Church is to recognize and celebrate the arrival at this point of preparedness to give an answer – a whole and complete answer – by certain individuals who have been catechized in the faith and who have set aside Christ as Lord in their hearts. This is their opportunity to stand and make public confession of the reason for the hope they have in Christ. Further, it’s their day to declare to the assembled body of Christ their intent to remain steadfast in this confession, and, with God’s grace, to keep making it both in what they say and do for as long as they shall live. And here they will promise, in response to what they know their Lord has done and continues to do for them, that they will live lives that honor their Lord – the sort of lives that will cause others to ask them for the reason for the hope they have.

Now, in order to provide a vehicle for their public confession and to help them organize their thoughts, I’ve asked each of the confirmands to prepare a written paper that expounds the basics of the Christian faith as they have come to understand it. And what I’d like to do now is share with you excerpts of these papers so that you can hear in their words the reason for their hope in Christ the Lord.

The place to begin, naturally, is at the beginning, when the Triune God whom we worship created the heaven and earth and everything in them. One of the confirmands wrote, “Before God created life [the Bible says] the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the water … and then God spoke.” It was God speaking his powerful Word that changed everything – that improved everything. And the reason is that that powerful Word is God the Son. By his Son, God the Father brought light and life to the world. Why did he do it? The writer continues, “God the Father is wise, powerful, and loving … he created the world because he wanted to and because he loves me.”

Unfortunately, as we are all quite aware, the world did not stay in its original state of perfection. The fall of our first parents plunged the Creation into spiritual darkness and death. And this has had dire consequences for each one of us personally. According to one writer, “I believe that everyone, including myself is a sinner. I believe that everyone is born a sinner.” And describing sin’s consequences, another wrote that the state of sin is, “dead, dark, burning in hell. It makes my life miserable. I would be dead without Christ in my life.”

The good news is that our gracious and loving God did not leave humanity in that wretched state. Just as he did in the beginning when the world was dark and lifeless, the Father sent forth his Word – that is, his Son – to bring light and life to the world. But this time he did it in a very special way. Writes one of our confirmands, “Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary to come into this world and die to take away all of my sins.” Another wrote, “Jesus laid down his life for me when he suffered the punishment of my sins.” Yet another: “He died for my sins so that I can live with him a holy life and serve God.” And finally this rather emphatic statement, “Jesus Christ died for me.” Such statements demonstrate that our confirmands understand the finished work of salvation by Christ Jesus. As another wrote, “[On the cross] the Son completed his work of rescuing me from the power of Satan, sin, and death.”

This, as we know, is the very heart of the Gospel message: that our salvation has been achieved for us by Christ. And the way this salvation is received subjectively by an individual is by faith and faith alone. Reflecting this truth, one of the confirmands chose as a confirmation blessing the verse “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” But saving faith in Christ is not something we can generate within ourselves. It too is God’s gift to us, this time by the third person of the Trinity. As one of these put it, “Without the Holy Spirit I am helpless. By nature my heart is filled with unbelief and doubt toward God … the Holy Spirit gives me the power to know and to believe in Jesus as my Savior.”

How does the Spirit do his work and deliver the gift of faith? Well, he doesn’t just zap people as they’re walking around minding their business and suddenly make them believers. No, Scripture is clear on this point: the Holy Spirit works faith in the hearts of sinners through God’s appointed means. For example, Paul tells us that faith comes of hearing the Word of God. Just like the light went on the Creation when God spoke, so also spiritual illumination and faith come when God speaks through his Word today. And there are other means. In the wisdom of God, he has given us means by which he combines his Word with earthly elements to convey the gifts of forgiveness, faith, and salvation. We get a glimpse of this already at the time of Creation. Recall that when God spoke the first time, the Spirit of God was there hovering over the water. For most of us, that’s where the Spirit was the first time God spoke to us: hovering over the water of Baptism and bringing spiritual light through the Word. Our confirmands affirm this truth. One wrote, “He brought me to the [Christian] faith through Baptism when I was a baby.” Another wrote, “Baptism means that I am a child of God the Father ... without it I would miss out on all of his promises.”

And the Spirit creates, strengthens, and sustains faith in the saving work of Christ by yet a third means: Holy Communion. Speaking of the benefit of the Lord’s Supper, we have this from one of the papers: “Jesus offers me this wonderful gift in a special way. His body and blood, received with the bread and wine and joined with his forgiving Word makes me sure that my sins are forgiven.” And this from another: “I want to take the Lord’s Supper because I know that through it Christ will cleanse me of all my sins and keep me in him just as he is in me.” With these and other statements our confirmands make clear that they understand that through the Sacrament of Holy Communion the Lord Jesus is keeping the promise he made to his disciples in the Gospel lesson for today that he would not leave them as orphans. “I will come to you”, Jesus said, “the world will not see me, but you will see me. And because I live, you also will live.”

These, then, are the reasons expressed by these young Christians for the hope they have in Christ. But it doesn’t quite end there. They understand too that there will be difficult days ahead. St. Peter warns that the enemies of Christ will treat poorly those who claim him as Lord, speak ill of them, and even persecute them. So Peter warns us to be conscious of our behavior and how it reflects on the Church. We are to expect trouble, for it will certainly come. But we are to continue to make our confession of faith in firm and uncompromising terms; and yet not be antagonistic, but gentle and respectful so that those who speak against our good conduct in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. The Christian church is full of hypocrites; people who claim the name of Christ but who do not cherish his Word and seek to grow in it. Such as these make the charges of our detractors stick and give Christ a bad name in the world.

And with that in mind, our confirmands understand that they have a responsibility to live a life that reflects the Lord’s influence and his gentle, caring spirit. They know too that they cannot do this on their own. One writes, “[The Holy Spirit] gives me the ability to live as God the Father wants me to.” They also know to turn to him for help along the way, as one wrote, “He listens to my prayers and if it is in his will, he grants me what I pray for.” And they look to the Lord who has given them all things to also preserve them in Christ for all time, as one said it: “The Holy Spirit will keep me in faith to the very end.”

This, of course, is our prayer today for our confirmands – and for all those who have set apart Christ in their hearts as Lord – that by his Spirit he will keep us all in the one true saving faith until the end, when he who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him will return and bring us into his glory. Until that days comes, may he be with us, and give us all the grace to continue to give anyone who asks the reason for the hope we have. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Reason for the Hope

Soli Deo Gloria!