John 15:9-17; Confirmation Sunday; May 6, 2012;

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Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Creston, Iowa

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:9–17, ESV)

(From a sermon by Glen Neilson.)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus calls us his friends. Right in the middle of this reading we hear him say to us, “you are my friends. Right there in the middle of all that talk about doing what I command, obeying the Father, bearing fruit, Jesus says we are his friends. He says that he has a relationship with us, actually being our friend.

We all know how precious and rare a good friend is. We all need someone to be friends with. There are times when we need a friend to discuss the troubles in our life. We all needs someone to sit with for a cup of coffee, shop with, and even commiserate about life, kids, work and school. We know how important is it to have a good friend to do all those kind of things with, and yet, we also know how really rare good friendships are.

Today, friendships seem to be extra hard to build. They take time, and time is a luxury we seem to have so little of these days. Everyone is so busy, with school, work, family there’s little time left to develop a good friendship. And even when there’s time we often lack the energy. Life today is full…

There’s another problem too. Lot’s of people really don’t know how to be a good friend. All too often people use relationships for their own benefit, and their own purposes. People want you around and call you a friend when you can do something for them. They want you to be there when you can make them feel good, but as soon as a little trouble starts or as soon as you’re not useful anymore they split. Friendship is difficult when you get used, in the process.

Friendship makes you vulnerable. That’s just the nature of the beast. Friends see us for who we are, with our masks removed. We let our guard down and tell them things we don’t tell anyone else. When the true you comes out you put yourself in a position to be hurt easily. That’s another reason why friendship is rare.

Friendship is so rare that maybe it makes Jesus’ offer of friendship a little difficult to accept. We do what him to be with us, after all we gather together here Sunday after Sunday to come into contact with him. We want him to listen to our problems and he promises to do just that. He promises that nothing is to small a matter for him, and we can confide in him anytime. He always has time for us. He always treats us right. He promises to give us whatever we ask in his name. He actually was the friend who gave his very life for his friends. Jesus loves us, in spite of who we are. He promises to fill us with joy. He knows us for who we are and never turns us away. Jesus is the kind of friend we really want. What a precious gift it is to be chosen as a friend of Jesus. “You are my friends” Jesus says.

Unfortunately we aren’t good friends in return. We don’t spend the time and energy necessary for this friendship. We know what the pressures are. It’s difficult to get everyone up and around in the morning, just in time to catch the bus, or off to work. Who has time for adding an extra half hour, or even fifteen minuets for devotions? Sunday is a day to rest and catch up. No wonder our minds wander from the task at hand in worship. There’s so much to do today, especially on a confirmation Sunday! And meals are all too often around the TV instead of the table. Family devotions don’t fit very well during commercials. And it’s our friendship with Jesus that suffers. Not time. No energy. No will to do it.

Maybe his friendship with us isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? Does he really treat me right? Does he really hear my prayers? All of them? Being chosen as a friend of Jesus hasn’t made my life any easier. Where’s that joy that he promises anyway? I’ve got pain in my life, and lots of it. And Jesus, “my friend” seems a long way away. My friendship with Jesus is filled with doubt.

Jesus, our friend, shows us all our weaknesses. Especially when we compare ourselves to him. He is perfect. We are not. He does everything right, we constantly fail. He loves perfectly. We give our love with conditions. He is a good friend. We are simply friendly. Who wants to hang around someone who is always opening those wounds? It’s easier to avoid Jesus, and let that friendship with Jesus die.

And we’d let it die. But Jesus is too good a friend for that. Jesus considers his friendship with us so precious that he won’t let it die. He didn’t choose for friends so that we’d wither up and die, like dead branches on the vine. He wants us to bear fruit. He promises joy and that’s what he gives with his friendship.

Jesus is a true friend. He gives his time to us fully. As a matter of fact he lived his whole life only for us, his friends. He obeyed his father’s command, that was, to give his very life for us, even when it meant death and execution. He did what was best for us even when it meant his own death, even when it meant sacrificing himself. That’s true friendship, to lay down your life for your friends. Jesus laid down his life for you, his friends, on the cross. His friendship takes him to the darkness and pain of death. He has that “greater love” that he was talking about. But that love doesn’t stop in death. He takes his life up again. That’s where the joy is. It’s Easter joy! Jesus friendship for us didn’t die in the tomb. He rose again, and came alive. He isn’t a dead friend who gave up everything for us. He alive. He is our friend forever. He will never leave us or forsake us. He knows who we truly are and he is still our friend. He knew us before he died. He knew us on the cross, and he still died for us. He knows us now and still calls us his friends.

What a friend we have in Jesus! Do we need a friend to talk to? Take it to the lord in prayer. Do we need a friend to walk with? He is with us through his Word, we simply need to open it up and read. Do we need a friend to accept us? We can go to his table and eat and drink with his blessings. He welcomes us there just as he welcomed tax collectors and sinners. Do we need a friend to love us? We can go to Jesus and remain in his love always.

Do we need a friend? Yes we do. We need Jesus. He is our true friend. He has chosen us to be his friends. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Signs? Trends? Change? Me?

At the beginning of the school year I asked my confirmation class (7th and 8th Grade) for their eMail address so we could keep in touch.

"I don't use eMail."  Said one of the students, and they all quickly agreed. 

"Then how do you communicate?" Their out-of-cool pastor asked.

"We text." they said in unison holding up their phones... (I actually caught them text-ing each other in class just a few weeks ago, they can do it without looking).

It was a defining moment.  What should I do?  I've been using eMail since it was invented.  I've actually communicated using 300 baud, long before Al Gore invented the Internet.  I blog.  I PodCast.  I Google.  I have Facebook friends.  I've edited WikiPedia Articles.  (and now I even Twitter)  I had always considered myself somewhere at least near to the 'bleeding edge' even though I knew I had slipped a bit in the last few years.  It was painfully clear that something had zoomed past me while I was happily engaged in eMail.

I had a solution, a work around.  Before the next class period I composed a short eMail and sent it to them through the Internet to their phones.  No relpy.  In class I asked.

"Hey, I sent you a text message.  Why didn't you reply?" 

"Pastor, if your going to text you have to use your phone.  Texting with eMail is just lame."

I had been quickly demoted from 'out-of-cool' to lame. 

So I took the plunge.  I entered all the numbers in my phone, spent the $.10 each and sent them all a text message from my phone. (Time to upgrade to an unlimited text message plan).

"Hey, I sent you a text message.  And you didn't reply.  You know that's just lame."  I quipped at the next class.  It worked.  At least a bit.  We swap a few messages a week about class.

So when I read this article about the number of Facebook users over 35 increasing rapidly, I had to smile.  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=102973 (HT: @RyanMarkel) Especially this paragraph. 

"It also notes the particular trend of moms going on Facebook. "I can't tell you how many friends of mine have complained about their mothers registering in the past couple weeks," wrote AllFacebook's Nick O'Neill. He acknowledges that "younger individuals" may not find that so cool.

It is a peculiar trend that is almost running backwards.  Online, and technology used to be a "safe" place for kids away from their parents.  Things change.   Even my son (he's 22) was reluctant to confirm my "friends" request on Facebook.  None of the confirmation class has done that yet.  I keep trying.  The struggle is worth it.  I'm not trying to be cool, relevant, or even hip.  I'm their pastor I have a call to be in their face.... book. 

Speed up your PC

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Confirmation, May 13, 2007, John 14:6

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Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Allissa, Thomas, and Jeremy; It is an exciting day for you. Confirmation day is the day you publicly stand up before the congregation and promise to remain faithful to what you have been taught, and that you would rather die than give up your faith. Over the past couple of years we’ve talked a lot about Jesus, about who he is and what he has done for you. You’ve learned all about it and you’ve learned it pretty well. You are ready to make this step toward Christ’s altar and receive his body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. But first…

I want your confirmation to be a memorable one so let’s talk about today’s Gospel lesson just a little bit. Especially verse 6.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, ESV)

Now this text is one of the most beautiful statements of the Good News of Jesus that there is. And what’s more these words come from Jesus himself. He’s packed a lot in those two little sentences. Unfortunately, these words have been very often misused by Christians.

Like I said I want your confirmation to be memorable so listen carefully: [droning voice] in his 26^th evening on May 1^st, 1885 Rev. Dr. C. F. W. Walther stated in Thesis XV: "In the eleventh place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is turned into a preaching of repentance." Now it should be noted that this thesis rightly follows Thesis V which was part of his 9^th evening lecture of November 21, 1884 during which Dr. Walther stated that the grossest confounding of Law and Gospel occurs when Christ is represented as a new Lawgiver and the Gospel is turned into a doctrine of meritorious works. Got it? Yes? No?

Ok maybe not. Let’s try it another way. Imagine that I have stick… no let’s not imagine lets look at this stick. This stick is a John 14:6 stick. What does it look like? A sword. See it has a handle, that’s called the hilt, and a blade, and on the blade is written the reference to the bible passage “I am the way the truth and the life…”

Now how would you use this sword? Well, let’s imagine now that you have a whole pen full of chickens, hundreds of them. You job is to get the chickens into the chicken house through a small opening in the side. So you take this sword here and you wave it around at them and try to get them to go in. You can swing the thing at them, and shout the words of John 14:6 at them. You can even beat them with it. Of course, you know what’s going to happen. Chick Run! Mayhem and panic. You’ll chase those chickens around that pen all day with your sword and you’ll never get them to go trough the door.

Now this is church, and you know that in church we aren’t really worried about chickens. What we’re really talking about is people. We’re not trying to get people into a chicken house, but into the place that God has prepared, an eternal home with God forever. God’s desire is for all people to be with him now and forever. God wants you and me and all those billons of people scattered across our planet to be with Him now in His church, and forever in heaven.

That’s what Jesus is talking about in the text. He says that he is the way to God. He is the way that people like you and me, and all people everywhere can get from here in this sinful, broken world into God’s eternal and prefect world. Our problem is (everyone’s problem is) that we when we are born our relationship with God isn’t a very good one. In fact, according to the bible we are God’s enemies. We are born in the sin of our parents. It’s called original sin. Do you remember how we talked about that in class? Original sin is “not living in a perfect relationship with God.” That’s how we are born. Sinful people apart from a relationship with God. Jesus came to earth as a human being to restore our relationship with God. He came to be the Way to God. He was…

…conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

In the Gospel reading for today he talks about it, too. “And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the Way were I am going" (John 14:3-4).

You know the way. You have known it for many years. It’s been taught to you over and over again. You confessed “the Way” last Wednesday night. Jesus has been the way for you ever since your parents brought you to baptism here at this font. God gave you the gift of faith through the work of the Holy Spirit at this font or at another one. And he works through the Word spoken here to keep you in the way. But I want to be very frank with you. God has promised never to leave you. But you can walk away from him very easily. The place where your faith grows is here, in worship. You’re going to promise that you’d rather die than give up the faith. For most of us it’s not dramatic choice between giving up the faith and facing a martyr’s death. Like the British reporters who were abducted a few months ago, and chose to deny Christianity instead having their heads cut off. But we face that very issue every Sunday morning. If this is where your faith grows, you need to be here, every Sunday. It’s hard to get it done. You’ve so much against you; Transportation issues; Parents who can’t or won’t come with you; Other Sunday morning activities that seem to be much more important; friends that laugh at you; Every Sunday you miss, is easier to miss the next. God wants you to be here every Sunday, I want you to be here every Sunday. The voices that tell you not to be here every Sunday, or the voices that tell you that you don’t belong here, are speaking from Satan. He’s the one who wants you in Hell. The Good News is the news you’ve already heard. It’s what you’ve been taught, that Jesus is the only way to the Father, that there is no way to heaven except through Jesus. It’s Good News. Good News for you and for me because we don’t have to worry about what we have to do to get right with God. We don’t have to worry about what we have to do to restore our relationship with Him. God has done it all for us in Jesus. He’s made the way for us already. And through baptism he made it our way.

Now think about this sword again. You haven’t been chased with this sword, poked and prodded, or forced to believe in Jesus. The way to heaven isn’t through the sword of John 14:6 it isn’t the law to beat you over the head. The way to heaven is the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus. You see if you turn the sword upside down, You’ll see that it’s also a cross. Jesus made the way for you to get to heaven and be with God forever through his death on the cross.

The thing is it’s very easy to get it all turned around again. That’s because there’s a whole world out there that’s trying to tell you exactly the opposite. The minute you step outside these walls you’re bombarded with the idea that there are many paths to God and that any one is as good as any other. You’ll be told that if you’ll just allow for the idea that there are many valid expressions of faith you can believe anything you want. If you don’t you are unloving and intolerant. And what’s more, you’ll even hear the same thing said in the name of God in churches that claim to be part of the Christian church. “We’ve got to be careful not to offend people.”

The reason is that people don’t want God’s way of salvation. They want to make their own way. One of my Seminary professors once said that the essence of sin is that we want to kill God and take his place. We want to be in control and take the credit for our own achievements. Really, it makes the most sense to us. Our way of thinking about God is the same way we think about every other part of our life. Every day we have to earn our way along in life. It only makes sense that we should have to earn our way to God, too.

God’s Way of salvation goes against everything we think and feel. God’s Way of salvation takes our efforts completely out of the picture. And that’s why it’s such Good News because God’s Way of salvation is the only way that we can be sure of because it’s not found in our weak will and our imperfect good works. The Way to God is through Jesus. He had a perfect will. He always did what God the Father asked of Him, even when it meant death on the cross. Jesus whole life was full of perfect good works, too. His relationship with God is perfect, so when he died to take away our sins, He was raised to life again. Because you are a Baptized Child of God, Jesus perfect life, death and resurrection are yours. In other words, you have a perfect relationship with God through Jesus. Did you hear how it’s all God’s work in Jesus? Did you hear how you and I don’t have any part in our salvation? That’s the Good News. That’s the wonderful gift of faith. And that’s the hardest thing for us to accept, and why it’s so important that we hear the Good News over and over again. It goes against our nature.

That’s why God has given us this place to gather. He knows how hard it is for us to hold on. That’s exactly why he gives us his Word that he promise will work in our hearts. That’s why he attaches His Word to water in baptism. So that we can see what it means to have our sins washed away. That’s why Jesus comes to us in his very body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. He connects to us through the forgiveness that comes though the same body and blood that hung on the cross for you.

That’s what you’ll promise today. To hold on to Jesus and all that he did for you in faith. It’s just a promise to open up your arms and mouth and heart and receive the gifts that he gives here. Jesus has already done everything you need. Hold on to him in faith. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.