CONFIRMATION
May
18-20, 2012
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Psalm 119:73
“A CONFIRMATION PRAYER TO THE HOLY
SPIRIT”
1.
Thank
you.
2.
Please.
Psalm 119:73
(NIV 1984) “Your hands made
me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.”
Mind your manners! Please and thank
you. How many times have you heard that or said that? Manners are important and
so parents spend quite a bit of time teaching their children manners and
demanding their use. In Confirmation Class I reminded the students that one of
the keys to success in the adult world is using manners. That was emphasized
again by a recent news report showing college grads going to etiquette classes
to try to give them a leg up in landing a job. Yes, manners are important. But
not just in interactions with other people. They are important in our
relationship with God. Today we observe, celebrate, two very important
milestones that are connected. In the Church Year today is Pentecost. It
reminds us of the essential work and blessing of the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit is the person of God who works through the Gospel message to create faith
and to strengthen faith in Jesus as Savior. On the St. Jacobi church schedule
today is Confirmation Day. It’s the day when a new batch of communicant members
is hatched as our 2013 Confirmation Class makes their vows and all current
confirmed members renew them. They fit together nicely because only the Holy
Spirit can enable us to make and keep the promise to be faithful to Jesus even
if it means dying. With the Holy Spirit it’s good to mind your manners—only with
Him it’s thank you, then please. Psalm 119:73 then serves as our Confirmation
Prayer to the Holy Spirit on the Day of
Pentecost.
Our prayer starts with a “Thank You”
to the Holy Spirit. What for? Psalm 119 verse 73 tells us. “Your hands made me and formed me.” First we thank the Holy Spirit
for making us. He made us in our mother’s wombs. Only God can give life. We’ve
heard some pretty horrific things in the news lately about the murder of babies
in their mother’s wombs and outside of their mothers’ wombs. The horror is
greater for believers than the rest of Americans who don’t acknowledge God because
we see the Lord’s work being ruined. Scripture tells us that the Spirit made
us. Think about that. When you were growing and developing in your mother’s
womb the Holy Spirit was at work. There He was giving to you all your physical
characteristics, what you would look like, the abilities and personality you
would have. God was so interested in you that He didn’t just mass produce or
clone you but made you individually.
That’s neat and something to treasure.
It reminds us to resist that nasty sinful nature habit we have of comparing
ourselves to others. We wish we were as tall as that person, as thin as that
person, as strong as that person. We wish we could sing like that person, play
like that person, do the things that they can do. All of that robs us of joy
and thankfulness to the one who made us. The Holy Spirit has all wisdom and He
made you just how you are supposed to be. He put together the right physical
and emotional make up and the right abilities. You are made by the hands of God
so you have the right to be happy and thankful and feel good about yourself
because of what the Holy Spirit has done. With me you can say, “I am right
heighted, right sized and right gifted. Thank you Holy Spirit for making me.
Thank you Holy Spirit for forming me.
This makes us think about the Holy Spirit’s work during our lives so far. He
formed us into believers at our Baptism. He’s been forming us and reforming
throughout our lives and He has guided our steps and directed us through God’s
Word. A recent devotion at the regular faculty devotion held every morning used
a great picture to make a point. It told the story of a man who had found a
cocoon. Seeing the moth inside struggle to get out the man thought to help by
opening the cocoon. But when the moth came out its wings were too small and its
body too large. It was not fully formed. It wasn’t strong enough. He should
have left things to God’s timing who was using the moth’s struggles to
strengthen it for its later life. The Holy Spirit does similar things in life
with us. It’s easy to be thankful to the Lord for our successes and for when
things go our way. We need to learn to be thankful also for our struggles and
trials and realize that the all wise God knows what He is doing. When the door
to something you desire closes in your face it might hurt at the time but it
closes at God’s command as He forms us. Ill timed accidents or injuries are not
ill timed at all. It just seems that way to us but the Holy Spirit is using
those things to form us. We need to trust the Holy Spirit to form us or reform
us through the struggles so that whether we have easy times or hard we say “Thank
you” to the Holy Spirit for what He has done to form us.
But now it’s time to go on with “Please.”
You say please when you are asking for something. What would it be good for us
to ask the Holy Spirit for on Confirmation and Pentecost? The Psalmist provides
us with a good prayer, “Give me
understanding to learn your commands.” First we ask the Lord to please give
us understanding of His word. Scripture plainly tells us that the man without
the Holy Spirit cannot understand the things that come from the Spirit because
they are spiritually discerned. Without the Holy Spirit all of the Bible’s
teachings appear as foolishness. It’s like reading someone else’s love letter.
You can see what it says but there’s no meaning to it. On this
Confirmation/Pentecost Day we admit our spiritual helplessness apart from the
Holy Spirit. We pray for Him to give us understanding when we read God’s Word.
And to give us the ability to learn
His commands. Confirmation is a special day. Think back to your own. The
opportunity to publicly confess faith in Jesus, to promise to be faithful to
Him. That’s awesome! The white robes we use picture the white robes described in
the book of Revelation. People who have washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the lamb. It’s great to have this special ceremony day. But
what is actually more important than Confirmation Day is all the learning that
took place to get here. You spent years in the Holy Spirit’s workshop before
you get to Confirmation Day. You need to continue to spend years in the Holy
Spirit’s workshop. Pentecost reminds us that the need for the Holy Spirit is
ongoing. He is not one and done. We pray to the Holy Spirit then to give us
wisdom to keep learning God’s commands.
But not just to learn them. We want to
obey them. That’s also in our Confirmation/Pentecost prayer to the Holy Spirit.
To learn without obeying is foolishness. This is how God put it in the book of
James. “Do
not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
23 Anyone who listens to
the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in
a mirror 24 and,
after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
25 But whoever looks
intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not
forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they
do.” Did you hear that? God wants to bless
us. His perfect commands summarized by the Ten Commandments don’t enslave us
but free us from serving self and sin. Once again we need the Holy Spirit. Only
with Him working in our hearts will we have the ability to follow God’s
commands. He reminds us of God’s great love for us in Jesus. He helps us
appreciate the gift of forgiveness won by the blood of Jesus Christ so we want
to thank God with holy living.
I
hope by now you’ve gotten the impression that the Holy Spirit is necessary.
Think back to Pentecost. You had disciples of Jesus who were fearful for their
future. You had disciples of Jesus who still had their minds on an earthly
kingdom. Then the day of Pentecost comes. They become bold and courageous in
their faithfulness to Jesus. They are fixated on the heavenly goal. The count
trouble and trial as a joy they get to experience for Jesus. They have gifts
and abilities they never had before. What gives? What changed? The presence of
the Holy Spirit in their lives. Dear people that same Holy Spirit is there for
you. He is present every time the holy word of God is proclaimed, heard,
studied, read. On this day we proclaim our faithfulness to Jesus. Keeping that
promise is only possible with the presence and help of the Holy Spirit. Seek
Him daily and mind your manners. Please and thank you. Or in this case. Thank
you and please. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment