Text: Romans 1:16-17. Theme: "The Righteous Will Live by Faith!" PASTOR HEITSCH: Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, Our Father and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, dear friends. The word of our Lord upon which we want to base our meditation this morning for this confirmation Sunday is the reading from Romans 1, verses 16 and 17 printed for you in your service bulletin. The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit through, Trevor, verbal inspiration was guided and directed to introduce this important epistle letter to the Christians in Rome. He starts out with this reminder: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God to the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, for in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith." This is the word of our Lord. I will say specifically to our confirmands and yet to all of us, these words are spoken to encourage and to direct and to remind us, the righteous will live by faith. That was one thing
that, again, this year I definitely stepped back and didn't try to manipulate because sometimes I will try to manipulate the stories of the kids to make sure we get all of the commandments covered. But as the stories they picked on their own highlight, again and again and again, the first commandment was there: You shall have no other gods. Keep God number one. Again, the importance of it, right, is key, to keep God number one. You've done that. You've related your stories. You have done a great job. Drazen, you didn't faint as you thought you would the other day when he was up there all wiggly. You guys handled it. So that is now why we get to say welcome, because you're righteous through your works? You know the answer to that. God blessed you today, as he's blessed you these many years already. Through faith, the blessings of that faith highlighted by being raised in Christian homes. Now the opportunity again now to draw close to your Lord. In a few moments you will be invited to come forward and to acknowledge that faith. My encouragement to you and my encouragement to all of us is, again, to remind ourselves and understand the blessing and gift that is ours in faith. We saw the creation of faith take place this
morning. That's what we believe that happens in baptism. Through the simple pouring of water onto a tiny child's head faith is created. Not because I poured it the right way. Not because that's some special, magical holy water in that baptismal font, but because of the power of God's Word and the promise that's connected with that word. Azalea was given the gift of faith. We as a congregation have promised to keep Azalea in our prayers to do what we can as a Christian family to provide Christian training and instruction that as she gets to this age, seventh and eighth grade, to sit in a classroom with Pastor, to review the doctrines as summarized in Luther's small catechism, which you guys have done. You've completed all of that in the rite of confirmation. Say well, you're not done. But you're not done with your faith, you're not done with the promise you make here today, nor are any of us ever done. You're righteous. You're righteous. Not because you've got all of the questions you needed to down right. Not because you wrote your stories down right. You're righteous by faith. Your stories highlighted the importance of that faith: Keeping God number one all the time. My prayer, my earnest
prayer, is that you never forget that; you never forget the importance of faith and letting that faith be your guide. I want to say I can guarantee you will never have to face the fiery furnace, but you know we see pretty crazy bizarre things going on in our world. We see our spirituality and our opportunity to walk with Christ even in the United States threatened in unique ways. So though I know God will never abandon us and I know the church will never be overcome, can I say in your lifetime you will never have to face that type of threat? I pray not, but I'm not worried if you ever do. I'm not worried if any of us ever do. Why? Because just as those three men were blessed by the Holy Spirit with that faith, you have that same blessing. We all have that same blessing. Righteous, holy, perfect in God's stead by faith. Live that faith. Don't give up on that faith. This is not a graduation ceremony. This is not, "There, I've done it. See you later." This is just simply a spiritual step with you again acknowledging the blessing you had in your baptism and now confirming your faith and saying, "I'm going to be responsible for that." No, you're not moving away from home. You don't say, "Mom and Dad, don't worry
about it. I was confirmed and now I'm in charge of my own spiritual life." You will love, you will honor, respect your parents all your days. But right now you take this promise to live by faith because you're righteous, not because of anything you've done but because of what Christ has done for you. You've had the opportunity again today to share that wonderful truth with your stories. And you've all done a great job and thank you for that. But again, please don't leave your stories sitting on that lectern and walk away and forget about it. This is a continuing action: The righteous will live by faith. It is not over and done. You will live by that faith every day, not just on Sundays when you come to church, but every day we live, keeping God number one in our hearts and our lives. The pressures are there. The temptations are there. You're heading to high school and in the university time, your faith will be attacked and challenged. You will be encouraged to put it off to the side. Don't fall into that trap. Remember the truths that you have related here again today in your stories. Remember the blessings that God promises to all who remain faithful to him. He watched over and protected Adam and Eve, Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego. He watched over Esther. He helped Abraham and Isaac. Yes, Trevor, he rebuked all the people who rebelled against him, but he came and that rebuke was in love to draw them to him. Your stories related the importance of keeping God number one. Your stories remind you of the love and mercy and presence that God has in lives of all people, including you, including us. Let's not forget that. And live! Live every day in that righteousness that is yours by faith because the Holy Spirit has planted in your hearts and the hearts of us all. Whether it was through baptism or hearing that Word of God, that faith is there. May we live in that faith and the righteousness he gives us every day. Amen.