In today’s sermon we look at what it means to receive a messenger. And when we receive a messenger, Jesus says that we receive the reward of a prophet when we receive a prophet and the reward of a righteous person when we receive a righteous person. But, most importantly, when we receive a messenger of God, we receive Jesus Christ, and when we receive Him, we receive the Father.

  ReceivingTheMessengers

Summary:

Matthew 1:40-42 (NKJV)

⁴⁰  “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. ⁴¹ He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴² And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

In Matthew Chapter 10, Jesus gives the apostles their marching orders to go to the lost sheep of Israel and proclaim that the kingdom is at hand. As they go, they are to take nothing with them, minister to the people, and, in turn, be ministered to. In each city they are to find someone worthy and, when they are received, give their hosts the apostle’s peace and stay with them till their work in the city is done. We look at Matthew 10:40-42 which is the end of the chapter. In these passages, Jesus tells us that those who receive an apostle receives Him, and those who receive Him, receive the Father. Also, those who receive a prophet receives a prophet’s reward, receive a righteous person and receive a righteous person’s reward, and receive a disciple and receive a disciple’s reward.

This sermon addresses some key questions that arise out of this passage. Who is “worthy” to have an apostle come into their house and enjoy their hospitality? What does it mean to “receive” an apostle? What is a prophet’s reward? A righteous person’s reward? A disciple’s reward? The reward in each case, is Jesus Christ. And who can be a messenger? A messenger is every believer. Every brother and sister who has put their faith in Christ, is then filled with the Holy Spirit who will lead them where they need to go and give them what they need to say. Give yourself up and let the Holy Spirit lead you to be the messenger that God has called you to be.

Today Pastor Choi urges the congregation to cultivate sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.  Using the example of Philip in Acts 8, he points out that God only works with those who are willing to do God’s will and with those who put their trust in the Lord one day at a time and one step at a time.

  Holy Spirit. Sensitivity

Following is a summary of his sermon: 

Holy Spirit: Sensitivity                                                            

 Acts 8:26-40     New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²⁶ But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) ²⁷ So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” ³⁰ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”³¹ And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

“He was led as a sheep to slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He does not open His mouth.
³³ “In humiliation His judgment was taken away;
Who will relate His generation?
For His life is removed from the earth.”³⁴ The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this?  Of himself or of someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” ³⁷ [And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] ³⁸ And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

Introduction

There was a family who lived in New York City.  They were the Thomas’s: father, mother, and their kids.  The mother, Mrs. Thomas, stayed home taking care of the kids.  The father, Mr. Thomas, was the only bread earner in the family.  In fact, he was a pastor who ministered to the poorest of the poor in the City.  As you can see, the income he brought home was far from enough to feed the entire family.  Although the two oldest kids worked part time, it didn’t help the situation much.   Moreover, no one outside the family would support them on a regular basis.

Although the family was poor, they were never down.  One thing they always kept in their hearts was God’s promises in the Bible, especially Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”  They believed deep in their hearts that as long as their father served God in faith, and as long as they sought God’s kingdom first, their needs would be met according to God’s riches (Philippians 4:19).  Indeed, most of the time their needs were met timely, but sometimes their faith was tested.

One afternoon, as usual, the father was out busy working for the poor.  The mother found out that she had no bread for supper, not even for one person.  No money to buy bread, either.  She immediately went to the Lord in prayer, pouring out her heart to Him, “O, Lord, what shall I do? The kids are hungry, and we have no bread, let alone money to buy it.”  While she was waiting on the Lord in silence, she heard God speaking softly in her heart, saying, “Arise, go to the kitchen, and start cooking right now!  Fill the pot with water and put it on the stove.  And call out the children to the table!”  Wow!

Even though she couldn’t understand a bit why the Lord commanded so, she simply obeyed the voice of the Lord.  As the children were gathered around the dining table, while the water was boiling, she offered her words of grace, saying, “O heavenly Father, thank you for giving us our daily bread…”  Before she finished her grace, there was a knock at the door.  One of the boys ran toward the door to answer.  As soon as he opened the door, the family saw three gentlemen standing on the porch with grocery bags in their hands, six bags in total.  One of the strangers asked, “Is this Mr. Thomas’s residence?”  “Yes,” answered Mrs. Thomas in curiosity.  “Ma’am, this afternoon we were gathered together in my place for prayer,” said one of the men.  “While we were deep in prayers, all three of us heard God speaking to us urgently, ‘Hurry up!  Go to the supermarket, get some groceries, and go to Mr. Thomas’s residence, 123 Apple Street Apt. 1B.”  “We don’t fully understand what this is all about,” he continued, “but we brought some groceries to your family, and hope you can use them.”  That night the family had a feast with a grateful heart.

Contents

                The story shows us one thing that the family and the three men shared in common: sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  When they both heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, they obeyed and experienced God’s miracles in their lives.  God worked with them because their hearts were trained to discern God’s voice and their minds were trained to obey God’s will.  That’s the topic I am going to talk about this morning: how to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit so that we may work with God. 

Sometimes we hear Christians claim that they indeed have heard the Lord speaking to them in such and such a manner.  Or, some would say, “The Holy Spirit spoke to me such and such...”  We should be very careful before we believe every single story or every detail of what they claim, but one thing is certain.  Only those who are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, or trained to discern it, can receive clear directions from the Spirit and therefore have the privilege to work with God.

In today’s passage, we see such a man who was well trained in discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit and ended up working for the Lord.  His name was Philip.  Every time the Spirit of God spoke to him, he knew right away that it was from God.  He didn’t have to spend the next seven days to figure out whether it was from God or not, because he was sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

Philip was one of the deacons in Jerusalem Church.  He was well known among the believers.  He served as one of the dynamic witnesses for Christ.  He worked with God because he was sensitive to the Spirit of God.  For instance, verse 26 reads, “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”  Also, in verse 29, it says, “The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”  Both times Philip was able to clearly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and obeyed.  The result?  The Ethiopian eunuch and his household, later the entire kingdom of Ethiopia, came to know the Lord Jesus through the Gospel (the eunuch returned home and became an evangelist— Eusebius, W. Willimon, p. 72).  Many lives were touched and saved because of one believer who was sensitive to the voice of Spirit.

A question arises.  Does every believer in Jesus have such a keen sensitivity like Philip’s to the voice of the Holy Spirit?  I wish I could say yes, but the answer is ‘unfortunately not.’  Why?  Here’s why.  After we accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, after we were born again, many of us remain spiritual babies—the babies who do not grow spiritually: many of us are not growing in the knowledge of the Lord.  Neither are we trained in discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Consequently, God cannot use us or work with us, even though He wants to,…. like a chef cannot use a dull knife for cutting vegetables.

What keeps us from growing spiritually?  What keeps us from being sensitive to the voice of God?  In my humble opinion, the single most important reason for our inability to discern God’s voice is unwillingness to obey the Lord.  Many of us still live a life where we are in charge not God.  We are the king and queen not God.  Our will rules, not God’s.  That’s why we don’t hear God’s voice, even though God still reveals Himself through various ways (audibly, visibly, through our dreams or visions, and through our daily devotions).  When we don’t hear God’s voice, then we miss the opportunities to participate in God’s mighty works.

E. g.  One year I asked my adult Sunday school, which consisted of 12 students, saying, “Suppose God appears to you tonight in your dream and ask you to go to an inner city and minister to one of the lonely, dying AIDS patients.   How many of you are willing to go and minister to the patient?”  To my surprise, only two of them raised their hands.  The rest of them weren’t sure.  What surprised me more was a man’s response.  He said, “I would make sure if the dream is actually from God or not.”  Although I made it clear that it was from God, the man still wouldn’t go.  A good example of unwillingness to do God’s will.

Jesus says in John 7:17, “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.”  If you want to know the truth and true God’s will for you, you need to be willing to do what God wants you to.  Do you want to know God’s will clearly?  Then get your heart ready with absolute obedience to God.  When your heart is ready to do God’s will, He will make known His will to you.  His clear guidance is revealed only to those who are ready to do His will.  And once God makes His will known, and then all that is left is to obey and do it.

Philip was one of them.  He was a man of obedience.  Whatever the Lord commanded him to do, he was ready to do it, and did it immediately.  For instance, look at verse 26.  “Go toward south (kata membrian), which also can be translated into at noon.  If that’s the case, God asked Philip to travel at noon.  And, if I were Philip, I would negotiate with God for another time or gently protest why I should go out into the desert in the middle of the day when the sun is extremely hot right above my head.  Yet, Philip never raised such questions but simply went out as he was told.

Another point I see in today’s passage is Philip trusted in the Lord even though he didn’t know what was ahead of him.  Consider the passage once again.  When the Lord spoke to Philip, He didn’t tell him everything ahead of him.  He didn’t say, “Hey Philip, this is what’s going to happen to you today.  Go south, and you will meet an Ethiopian eunuch.  You will find him reading the Prophet Isaiah.  He will invite you onto his chariot and you will explain to him the book of Isaiah.  After that, you will baptize him in the water, and I will take you back to Azotus.”  No, the Lord rather simply revealed His plan one thing at a time.  At first, He said, “Go to the desert road.”  And, when Philip arrived there, He spoke to him second time to run to the chariot and stay by it.  And, when he got there, the Lord gave him another direction.  This is the way the Lord leads us.  He leads us one step at a time, not showing the whole picture.  This is where our trust in the Lord comes in.  The Holy Spirit works with only those who put their trust in Him and obey one day at a time, and one step at a time.

Conclusion

              Today the Lord anxiously waits to work with His children.  He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit as He did to Philip.  He is ready.  You need to get yourself ready, too.  How?  By cultivating your sensitivity to the voice of the Spirit.   By training your senses to discern of God’s voice through the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 5:14).  By getting our hearts ready to do God’s will.  Cultivating sensitivity to the Spirit is a process, which means it takes time and practice.  So, we can start it today and as time goes by, we will get better each day.  The more we practice it, the more sensitive we will become to the guidance of the Spirit.  The less we do it, the less sensitive we will become.  May the Lord fill our church with such spiritually sensitive believers.

I am going to lead in prayer those folks who would like to live a life guided by the Holy Spirit.  Say after me the following prayer: “Lord, help me train my heart and mind to listen to Your voice.  I am ready to do your will.  I put my trust in You.  I know You will guide me into the right path.  Use me for your Kingdom.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.”

Today Pastor Choi talks about fatherhood.  Based on Peter Chin’s article, he begins his message with the reasons for a poor self-image of fatherhood among men today: the wrong assumption on “born perfect” and the bad influence from the media.  Then, presenting how God the perfect Father does His fathering for His children, he exhorts the earthly fathers to do the same: love your children by putting their interests first, know your children by spending time together, and instruct them with God’s Word.

Concerning Fatherhood

Following is a summary of his sermon:

Concerning Fatherhood

Ephesians 6:4  New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Introduction

Happy Father’s Day!

The message this morning is for all dads present: dads in their 20s and dads in their 90s.  Dads who are raising kids at home and dads whose children are grown up.  It is for the adoptive/step/ biological fathers.  It is for every father.

It is also for the “perfect” fathers and the not-so-great fathers.  It is for the fathers who consider themselves “bad” or even “the worst” father in the world.  It is for all fathers who would like to grow mature.

My intention is not to remind us of what a lousy job we have done as fathers.  Rather, I would like to give all fathers a glimpse of hope; the hope of improvement in fathering no matter how old we are or no matter how a bad job we have done (parenting is not over until we die).  I also would like to encourage every father to do a better job and go on unto perfection (Hebrews 6:1).

Now, before I dig deeper, let me remind you that my message is for fathers not for children.  My heart goes out to those children who struggle with their not-so-great earthly fathers.   They may have a hard time getting along with their fathers.  Some of them may have not forgiven their “terrible” fathers yet.  Others may not talk to their dads at all.  I don’t have time today to cover the topic “how to get along with our hard-to-forgive dads,” however, be patient with me.  I may come back to that topic at a later time.

Contents

So, let me begin with a simple question to all dads: What kind of self-image do you have when it comes down to fatherhood?  Why do some of us fathers, if not many, carry a poor image or a mediocre image at best?

I think the answer comes from Peter Chin.  He points out a couple of sources of the poor image of fatherhood among men (Confessions of a Bad Dad, p. 52, Christianity Today, June 2014).

First, we carry the wrong assumption/understanding of “perfect” fathers.  We believe that some fathers out there were born with a natural aptitude to do a great job of fathering.  They are cut out for the job.  It comes naturally for them.  They do it with no sweat!   We think this way: Look!  Those “perfect” dads are always loving, they are cool all the time, everything seems under control in their homes, they never lose their tempers, they know all the right answers in every single situation, they are strong both physically and emotionally, they provide everything the family needs, and so on.  We feel somehow that those fathers were born with a genetic superiority, while we weren’t.  From their birth, they know it all (A to Z) in parenting, while we are clueless.

The second thing that contributes to our poor self-image of fatherhood is the influence in the world, particularly from the media.  Peter Chin continues, “On television, I watched Al Bundy from Married with Children.  Homer from the Simpsons, and Peter Griffin from Family Guy.  These fathers were bungling and lazy, oblivious and indifferent to the needs of their family.  They normalized mediocre fatherhood, creating the impression that these types of fathers were, by their nature, irrevocably incompetent.  Not only was there little possibility of improving as a father, but there was little need because nothing more was expected from a dad than to sit on the couch all day, a beer in one hand and a remote control in the other” (Ibid.)

These two factors (the wrong assumption of born perfect and bad example to follow) undercut any inclinations in us to grow as fathers, therefore, keep most fathers unmotivated in fathering.

So, if we want to be better dads, we need to alter our course and start going into the right direction.  We need to replace the wrong assumption about perfect dads with the right understanding about ourselves.

What is the right understanding, then?  No father is born perfect.  No father knows it all; no father is equipped so well with skills that he scores a bull’s eye in every parental duty from day one.  That means that you and I have hope.  Every father makes mistakes.  We all do.  Every father has room to grow.  No one is born perfect, yet all of us can grow mature and go on unto perfection in parenting.  Onward and upward.

Another part of the right understanding is this: growing as a father requires time and occasions.  No father learns about fathering instantaneously.  No father masters the knowledge by reading books only.  It takes time and occasions for us to grow mature in our relationship with our children.  E.g. Peter Chin shares his lesson on fathering through his wife’s cancer and treatments.  Before her diagnosis, he didn’t know much about fathering.  Thrown into daily parenting duty to help his wife, after the initial despair, he began to grow mature as a father.  He learned about cooking, doing dishes, cleaning, laundry, taking kids to school and activities, and so on.  By spending time with his kids, he began to know them better—their personalities and idiosyncrasies.  “In those nine months, I went from a terrible father to a good one, or at least a better one.  And it didn’t take all that much for this to happen, only my wife falling gravely ill.” He concludes, “I’m not sure anything less would have gotten the job done” (op. cit., p. 54).  Likewise, we need to welcome and embrace the time and occasions God provides for us to learn lessons for fathers, rather than avoiding or running away from them.

I talked about the bad influence from the world.  It is time that we turned to the good influence and the right role model.  For that purpose, let me introduce to you God the Father, who is a perfect parent for His children.  We earthly fathers can imitate Him in our parenting.  In fact, the Scripture reveals how God does His job as our loving dad so that we can model Him after.  At least a dozen ways, but I have condensed them into the following three:

First, God the Father loves His children (John 8:42).  What’s that mean ‘loving His children’?   Love never forces anyone, so it means God never forces His children to do anything against their own will and wishes.  The lesson for fathers is that we too never force our own will or plan for our children against their will.  If we do, we may provoke them to anger (Ephesians 6:4).  I am not saying that we should let our children do anything they want.  There are times that we should insist on certain things for their best interests (E.g. don’t play with the knife, brush your teeth before bed).  But, here I am talking about the danger of pursuing our parental dream against the child’s wish.  E.g. My experience with my child’s violin future.  Let’s always put the child’s best interest before ours.

Next, God the Father knows His children (John 10:15).  Every good father knows his children.  Not just about them, but of them.  Like the Heavenly Father knows of us through and through.  Do you know your children?  By the way, how do you get to know them? By spending time together, right?   Do you spend enough time with your children, with each of them?  E.g. Guess Mr. Warren Buffet promises a reward of $ 1 million each to 1,000 fathers who would spend 30 minutes every day with their children for the next 30 days.  I bet in no time he will spend $ 1 billion.  I am sure all of you would apply for the reward as well.  Let me tell you something.  Even though you don’t get $1 million after spending time with your children, you would get a far greater reward than money.  You know what that is?  A wonderful relationship with your children.  You cannot buy such a thing with money.  I bet there are some billionaires out there who would rather exchange their entire wealth for wonderful relationships with their children.  Know your children by spending time together.

Thirdly, God the Father instructs His children (John 12:49) and disciplines them in the way they should go.  So should we.  God gives His children His law, the Torah, the Bible and disciplines them in the fairest way.  So should we.  He provides with them the best tools for life, here on earth and the life beyond.  So should we.  If you, fathers, really love your children, you would make sure that they would take God’s Word seriously, more than anything in the world, and far more than education and money.

I have seen some Christian parents with all good intentions providing what they think their children need: education and some cash in the bank.  Sadly, however, many of them don’t include God’s Word in the list.  Here’s a thing:  if God the Father takes His Word very seriously, so should we.  From the very beginning of His relationship with humanity, He provided His commandments to Adam and Eve.  He did it with Noah.  He did it with Abraham.   He did it with Moses.  Jesus the Son also took God’s Word very seriously.  He said man cannot live by bread alone, but by the word of God that proceeds from His mouth.  Paul the Apostle said the same: bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).  How much more should we emphasize the Word of God in our children’s life?

Do you want to be a good father to your children?  Introduce them to the Bible.  Instill in their hearts early on a habit of getting into God’s Word daily, and your children will forever appreciate it (by the way, you need to set the example first before them).  E.g. I am a father too.  The best thing I ever have done for my child is to introduce her to God’s Word, the source of wisdom, courage, insight, hope, love, assurance of salvation, and strength.  In times of need, she doesn’t need to rely on human wisdom and might, because she can tap into the divine resources.

Closing

Fathers, turn your hearts to your children (Luke 1:17), and your reward will be great.  What’s the reward?  A wonderful relationship with them.  When you turn your heart to them, your children also will turn their hearts to you.  Not the other way around.  You have to do your job first before you expect your children to do it.  My hope and prayer is this: all the fathers in our church enjoy such a wonderful relationship with their children.

Let us pray.

Today Pastor Choi explains the biblical meaning of confirmation.  It is more than just for the youth.  It is for all God’s children.  It is also a daily, on-going, life-long process of strengthening one’s faith in Jesus Christ.  It is a must for all believers so that they may not lose their salvation.  Every believer is called to work with God for daily confirmation both for their own sake as well as for the future generations.  They are encouraged to support their faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, kindness, and charity.

Pass It On

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Pass It On                                            2 Peter 1:3-11

• The Christian’s Call and Election
• ³ His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. ⁵ For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with mutualaffection, and mutual affection with love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters,be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. ¹¹ For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.Introduction
• Today is Confirmation Sunday.  Four youths will be confirmed at the 11 a.m. service and will officially join as members of the United Methodist Church and of our congregation.  It is a great day for those who are confirmed after three months of lesson.  It is also a great day for us to welcome them as a part of Christ’s Body.  Please keep them in your prayers and care.
• Since I don’t do a message on confirmation often, I would like to take this opportunity to explain the biblical meaning of confirmation.  The Greek word for confirmation is bebaio/s.  It literally means to strengthen/verify/sustain.  So, confirmation in the Bible means a process to strengthen/sustain your faith.  Keep that in mind.
• It seems to me that there’s a wide spread misunderstanding, or myths, on confirmation among God’s people.  I can identify at least two.
• Myth 1: Confirmation is just for the youth.  Truth: It is for everyone.  God is in the confirmation business (1 Corinthians 1:8).  He has every child of His registered in it.  Even Jesus was in it (Hebrews 2:9, 18).  It is for those members in their 90s and it is also for the toddlers.  It is for the pastor and for the laity.   It is for the choir director and for the members in the choir.  It is for the youth and their leaders.  It is for the Sunday school teachers and students.  It is for the life-long members and for the beginners.  It is for you.  It is for me.  Everyone is in.
• Myth 2: Confirmation is a graduation from the Church.  Truth: It goes on life-time.  Like there’s no graduation from the Church, there’s no graduation from confirmation until we get to Heaven.  As long as you remain a follower of Christ, your confirmation continues until you pass onto the eternal life.   Confirmation doesn’t last only three months, or six months or a year.   It lasts a life-time.
• Reality Check: This notion of “done with the Church” is prevalent especially among the youth.  In my 24 years of ministry, I have confirmed about 50 youths so far.   Five of them (about 10%) are active within the Church beyond confirmation Sunday (Praise God for that!).  Sadly, however, the majority of them disappeared from my sight into the world.  Statistics say that those youth who leave the church after confirmation class are likely to come back when they are married and have children.  This means about 20 years of lost years in their lives!  That’s when as parents, they feel inadequate themselves to raise their children in a godly home, so they bring back their children to the Church.  Then, the cycle of confirmation, getting lost, and coming back repeats in the next generation.
• Of course, our God is very merciful and gracious to welcome them back anytime.   But in my opinion, this is unhealthy and a huge loss to the Kingdom of God, because we lose 20 years in their 20s and 30s—the most productive time in the believer’s life!  As long as this cycle continues, we cannot build strong Christian families who are dedicated to God’s Kingdom work.  I would like to see the reversal of this vicious cycle, and that begins with the right understanding of what confirmation is all about.  The right understanding comes from the Word of God, the Bible.  So, let’s listen to what it says about confirmation.Contents
• First, confirmation is a daily, on-going, and life-long process of getting to know who God is and what Jesus has done for us.  Confirmation Sunday is a beginning of our faith journey, not the end of it.  Yes, you get confirmed, you get a certificate for it, and become a full member of God’s Church, but it doesn’t mean that you have mastered the knowledge of God.  In fact, you’ve just started.  E.g.  Let’s say Sally just got a doctorate degree in biology.  That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have to study anymore, because she got the highest academic degree in her field.  Rather, now she is equipped with and knows how to use all the tools, so she can start studying by herself.  Her life-long learning just begins.   So does your confirmation.   You never stop learning of God’s Kingdom and His salvation as long as you breathe.  The Scripture says, “God shall confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (NASB, 1 Corinthians 1:8).  He promises a thorough confirmation (through and through).  He starts confirming you today, and His eyes are already set on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Last Day.  You can count on His faithfulness.
• Next, confirmation is a must so that we may not lose our salvation.  It is like daily meals that would keep us healthy and strong.  It keeps us going strong and well-founded in our faith.  Peter the Apostle urges us to confirm our call and election from God (v. 10).  Why is it necessary for us to make every effort to confirm our call and election from God?  Because by doing so we pave the path and build steps to Heaven accessible both for us and for the future generations of believers (v. 11).
• Peter also points out that there’s a huge difference between those folks who keep confirming their call and election and those who don’t.  Those folks who confirm their call and election will be effective and fruitful in their walk with God (v. 8).  He also warns about those folks who don’t: they are near-sighted and blind (means don’t see the future—only wrapped up with the earthly life and don’t see what awaits us next after we die), and even forget of the cleansing of their past sins (v. 9).  Whoa.  Listen again.  Forgotten that they have been cleansed from their past sins.  Yes, if we neglect the on-going confirmation, the worst thing will happen to us.  What is it?  We may forget we have been cleansed from our sins.  We may forget we are sinners in need of forgiveness from our sins.  We may forget who has redeemed us from our sins.  We may even forget who Jesus is and what He has done for us on the cross.
• What’s the benefit of confirmation?  What happens when we are diligent in confirming our call and election from God?  It keeps us from being blind and near-sighted in our journey to Heaven.  It keeps us from forgetting that we were sinners and that Jesus redeemed us from God’s judgment by His own blood.  It keeps us from getting corrupt with worldly lust and evil desires (v. 4).  It keeps us pure and blameless until the Day of the Lord.  It keeps our life as believers rich and effective and fruitful that benefits everyone around us.  When we are diligently engaged in confirmation, it prepares our path to Heaven straight and strong.  It equips us to travel with confidence.  We will never stumble (v. 10).  It paves our road to Heaven solid.  No one wants to travel on an unpaved and muddy road, though.  Do you?  That leads me to the final point.
• The question is who’s going to do that job of confirmation for us.   “I will,” God says, “but, you have to work with Me, too.”  Like a coach promises the championship, yet, he asks for the commitment from the players.  God begins the confirmation and He will finish His good work for us.  However, in between, you need to work with Him.  It’s like God provides the daily bread, but you have to cook, eat, and clean yourself.  Nobody else will do it for you.  You’re called by God to self-confirmation that requires awareness and discipline.   Here’s why I say so.  Look at verse 10.  “Therefore, brothers and sisters,be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble.”  Here, Peter uses an imperative sentence to make effort, be eager, and be diligent to make sure your calling and election.  Who’s going to do the job?   You.  God will help you.  So will the Church.  So will the pastor.  But, eventually it is you who needs to work.  God provides all the materials you need for your eternal life and godliness (v. 3) to build up the steps to Heaven, but it is you who need to get on your knees and get your hands dirty to lay one brick at a time on your path to Heaven.
• Very briefly, Peter points out seven steps to Heaven’s door.  Seven things we need to ensure in our confirmation process.   They are: virtue (moral excellence, basically anything that is pleasing to the Lord).  Add knowledge to your moral excellence.  The knowledge here, of course, is the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.  Therefore, we cannot neglect getting into the Word of God, the Bible, for this task.  Thirdly, add self-control to the knowledge.  Then, you add endurance/patience to the knowledge.  Then, add godliness to endurance.  Next, you add kindness to godliness.  And, on top of everything, you add charity, the divine love–agape.   Today, I don’t have time to expound on these seven steps in life-long confirmation, but you get the picture.Closing
• What is Confirmation?  It is a life-long process for God’s children not only to stay in salvation but also to pass on the message of salvation to the next generation.  You are in.  Let’s get on with it today.
• After the message:  Form rows of believers (those who have been a believer 50+, 30+, 10+, and the rest).  Ask them to lay a hand on the person’s shoulder before them.  Proclaim with me: “Lord Jesus.  I confirm your love for me today.  Thanks for loving me.  Thanks for choosing me.  Thanks for saving me from my sin.  Thanks for the eternal life.  I believe and confirm that the gospel message is true.  I pass it onto the next generation.  In the name of Jesus, I proclaim.”  Amen.