Sent...With His Spirit (Week 4 | Confirmation)

Scripture Readings: Acts 2:1-21 | John 7:37-39

How can we possibly live out what Jesus calls us to do? The answer is not found in our strength—but in the gift of the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit is poured out in Acts 2, we are reminded that God does not send us alone, neither is faith is  something we sustain on our own, but something God gives and preserves. This is the fourth and final week of “Sent."

Transcript

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In Matthew 28, Jesus said, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. He calls you to be that disciple. To hear his word, to receive his promises, to repent, to believe. That Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And that by believing you have life in his name. Now here are the good news of Jesus for you. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Many of you probably likely remember the Flint Water Crisis. Anyone? Yeah? As I was thinking about this, 12 years ago, that's about how long ago. Does it feel like it's 12 years ago? I don't know. It doesn't feel for me. Um anyway, the Flint Water Crisis made national news because over a few months something happened. The city of Flint could not get clean water. The whole city of Flint. And at first, the people of Flint were told, don't worry about it, there's nothing to worry about. Officials insisted that that was the case, that the water was safe. But before long, residents started noticing. They started noticing that something was wrong. The water began to look discolored. It smelled strange. Children developed rashes. People got sick. And eventually it became clear that the untreated river was corroding the pipes and it was contaminating the water supply, specifically the water supply with lead. Water is one of those things that you just kind of trust. You depend on it every single day without thinking about it. You turn on the faucet and you assume that good quality running water is going to come out. Which means that most people never really think about reservoirs or pipelines or treatment systems unless you work in them or until something goes wrong. But the story of Flint is a reminder that when the source, when the source becomes unhealthy, everything downstream suffers. Every faucet, every sink, every home. Our gospel reading today is from John chapter 7. It takes place during the Feast of Booths, or it's also referred to as the festival of the tabernacles. And it was a feast remembering the time of and after the Exodus, when God redeemed his people from slavery after hundreds of years. He brought them through the Red Sea, and then for 40 years they wandered in the wilderness. And they wandered in the wilderness without shelter and without an adequate supply of water and without food. And yet God provided. That's it. And so, in order to celebrate this event every year for seven days, they would camp with tents or booths or tabernacles to remember how they were wanderers in the wilderness for 40 years, and how during those 40 years, God did what he said he was going to do. He provided for his people. During the festival, during these seven days, uh, once during the festival, the priests would go out to the pool of Siloam and they would take the water and they would bring it into the temple. And then they would pour it out at the altar as a reminder that God provided water miraculously. It was a visible, visual reminder of what God had done. And on the last day of this festival, John 7 says, the great day, on the last day of the festival, Jesus stands up and he says, Anyone who's thirsty, come to me. Anyone who's thirsty, come to me and drink. Now, considering that context, that would have been shocking because the meaning of the whole festival is about God providing for his people miraculously. And so Jesus takes that meaning of this festival and he applies it to himself. And so, in essence, he's saying, that water that came from the rock, that was about me. The manna that came from heaven, also about me. The priest that pulled the water from the pool of Siloam and brought it into the temple, also pointing to me. He's redirecting the whole meaning, the whole purpose of the festival to himself. And he's saying that he is the true source. He even says that, that he is living water. The story of Flint was a tragedy. Again, it made national news for a reason. But the story of Flint and that water crisis was really about the problem of the wrong source. And here's the thing: if you were to tell someone that their main source of water, that it was contaminated, and if someone were to tell you that, you would avoid it. You would avoid it immediately, and you would avoid that water source at all costs. If you knew that the water that you were drinking was contaminated or poisoned or had lead or bacteria, you would not let anyone in your house or yourself ever go near that water. And you would protect them. You would protect yourself, you protect your neighbors, you protect the people around you so that they never got access and a hold of that water, would you? And yet, spiritually, we do this all the time. We keep returning to sources. We keep returning to sources that we already know. We know deep down that they can't give life. We know that no matter how much success we have, it will never satisfy. And yet we still chase it. We still chase it with achievements, with uh accomplishments, with promotions. We know, though, uh we know that comfort and distraction cannot heal us. It cannot heal our souls and cannot heal us deep down. And yet we keep running back to it. We keep running back to the things that give us temporary and momentary relief. Entertainment, scrolling on our phones and our iPads and all our technology. Uh, we keep busy, constantly busy. We're always shopping for new things and the best things, better things for sure. Uh consuming food and alcohol, watching sports and politics, taking on a new hobby. And if one of those things don't work, what do we do? Well, let's add a couple in. Maybe if we have more than just one, then it will really fill us. We know, we know deep down that approval and acceptance will never fill our identity cup the way that we know it needs to be filled. And yet, it doesn't stop us from seeking our identity from the people around us, the people that we've deemed to matter the most. We seek their approval, we seek their acceptance. We know that we're not strong enough to save ourselves, and yet we try. We try to become our own source of life. Sin has a way of doing that. It has a way of convincing us to drink from contaminated sources. From sources that can't give life. And Jesus stands up in the middle of this feast, this festival that's meant to be celebratory, to celebrate how God was caring for and protecting his people during the time of the Exodus and afterwards. And Jesus stands up and says, I know you're thirsty, and anyone who's thirsty, come to me and I'll give you drinks. Because Jesus knows, Jesus knows something about us. He knows that we're thirsty people, and he knows how often we try and quench that thirst with the wrong sources. The prophet Jeremiah once described it this way He said, The people had forsaken God, they'd abandoned God, and it says, the fountain of living waters. Jesus makes that same connection in John 7. He is the living water, he says. But Jeremiah says, the people have abandoned God, who is living water, and they made cisterns for themselves. And he goes on to say, broken cisterns that can't hold water. You hear what we're doing? This is what we do all the time. We try and go to these sources that aren't just inadequate, but they're broken. They can't even hold water as much as we try. And sin only heightens this. It separates us from God and it disconnects us from the true source, so that we go out and we search. We go out and search for something else, anywhere else. And that's why Jesus says, Come. Come to me. And so the question is, how does he do it? How does this source of living water actually come to the ears and the hearts and the lives of believers? Jesus goes on to say, he says, Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. This is what happens on Pentecost. The spirit happens, it comes. The disciples are in a room together, and there's a sound like a mighty wind, it says, and it fills the whole house, and they have tongues of fire that are resting on their head, although not quite sure what that means. But tongues of fire are resting on their head, and what do they do? They immediately leave and they go out and preach. Peter starts to preach. He starts to tell people about this Jesus, this good news. And as he tells people about this Jesus, 3,000 are baptized. They're added to their number that very day. The Spirit takes these words, this good news, and creates faith in the hearts and the lives of those there that day. Because that's what the Spirit does. The Spirit's role is to point people to Jesus over and over again. He delivers Christ, He proclaims Christ, and He still does that today. Many people have this confusion. They have this confusion about what Christianity, about being a Christian, about what it's all about. They think it's about going to church. And they think it's about reading your Bible and attending youth group and going to Bible studies and going to small groups. They think that being a Christian is about praying fervently and being incredibly disciplined and wildly committed and spiritually and emotionally strong. You want to know why people think that? Because it's something you can do. So it makes it a little bit more palatable, easier for you to digest and process and work through. It gives you something, a step that you can work on. And even we talk about it a little bit in confirmation. That today is, we even I even tell you, it's confirmation is not what? Come on. Don't embarrass me in front of these people. Confirmation is not a graduation. You've heard me say that, right? Okay. If you haven't heard me say that, then you were not listening. All right? It's a graduation. And graduation implies what? You do some things, you write lots of worship notes, you go to youth group, you go to all the confirmation classes, you do all the notes, and then you graduate. You've accomplished something. Right? We think that that's even what being a Christian is all about. And so then, because of that, then you feel this pressure, right? You feel this pressure that once today's over, now I've got all this responsibility because now I'm spiritually and I'm emotionally mature and strong, and I'm ready to go out into the world and do bigger and better things. That's what we think being a Christian is all about. And parents feel this too. They feel this need to raise their kids and to raise their kids right up in the faith so that they don't depart from it. There's even Bible verses about that. Churches feel this too. Churches can begin acting as though the future, the future of the church, the big church, depends entirely on having really strong programs and great pastors and preachers and having really great renew committees. That's right, we just went through one of those last year. That was fun. And that with more effort, then the church is going to thrive and it's going to succeed. But Pentecost reminds us of something incredibly important. That the church doesn't create living water. Jesus is living water all by himself. And the Holy Spirit delivers living water. Delivers living water from Jesus because he's a source. The Holy Spirit delivers living water from the cross and the empty tomb, from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And delivers it to sinners. That's what we are. Sinners. The same Spirit that is poured out on Pentecost and arrives in that room with those apostles was given to you. Was given to you on your baptismal date. So remember, this is a great day to remember. Remember May 24th, 2026. Alright? Remember that. You're gonna have baptismal or you're gonna have confirmation certificates that say it on there. But remember these dates as well. Riley, remember May 13th, 2012. Keegan, remember uh November 23rd, 2011. Katrina, uh June 10th, 2012. What happened on that day? Baptism. Yeah. Remember your baptism. We don't spend nearly enough time remembering that day that God said, ha! You're a child and you're my child. I've called you by name, you are mine. Remember your baptism. You all remember your baptism. That matters. That day matters. A lot of times people think that Lutherans believe in baptism, but that's not really what we believe. We believe that baptism was created by God, it was given by God. We believe that in that God commands baptism. He says, go and do this, because it's good. We believe that in baptism, God delivers his gifts. That he delivers the beautiful riches of the cross, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, that in baptism, the Spirit takes everything that belongs to Jesus and He gives it to you. Everything that belongs to Jesus, he gives to you. We believe that Jesus' words are true and they're trustworthy. He tells the truth, he keeps his promises. And that if in his word, if it says this, which it does say this, by the way, if it says that baptism gives a new life, and that baptism washes people clean, and that baptism forgives sins, and that baptism makes people new, and that baptism welcomes people into his family, his kingdom, and that baptism unites you with Jesus' death and resurrection. If God's word says that, and it does, then it's true. It must be. Because Jesus is trustworthy. I mean it's just water, and yet it's so much more. Because Jesus is living water. And the same thing is true for the Lord's Supper. It's just bread and wine, and yet it's so much more. Jesus says that he's there. He's present, he's truly present. That Jesus sits and he eats with sinners. Ah, how dare he do that! That's what people said. How dare he sit and eat with sinners? That's you and me. And that Jesus is there with you. And then Jesus is there for you, for your forgiveness, for new life, for eternal life. That the Spirit takes everything that belongs to Jesus and He gives it to you. Which means that if someone is thirsty, and you've heard me use this analogy in confirmation, if someone's thirsty, you don't tell them to go find a nearby water tower. That would be just silly. You don't vaguely point somewhere in the distance and say, you know what, I think if you go out there somewhere, you'll probably find water if you just search long enough. No. You give them water. You turn on the faucet, you grab the cup, and you hand them a full glass of water, or you go to the fridge and you fill up the cup and you say, Here, here's water. You're thirsty, I've got it for you. And you do the same thing with Jesus. If somebody is spiritually thirsty, you don't go tell them to find Jesus or search your heart. You say, Here's Jesus. You look at them and you say, Your sins are forgiven. They were removed as far as the East is from the West. That's what Jesus did for you. Christ died for you, Christ rose for you. You are baptized into him, you belong to him. And I know what you're thinking. That is way too bold. I'm never gonna do that. Except you are supposed to do that. Because the Spirit has been given to you as a guarantee. So that you would go and give people Jesus. And the Spirit's always doing that. The Spirit's always giving people Jesus. And he does that through means. He does that through baptism, he does that through the Lord's Supper, He does that through confession, absolution, He does that through words, not just my words, He does that through your words. He does that through the words of sinners. Spirit's always giving people Jesus, which leads us back to this idea that we're sent. You are sent. We talked about that. This is the fourth week. You are sent. Is that a burden? Oh, you bet it is. It weighs on you sometimes. It's a lot. I'm sent by Jesus to tell people about him? That's a lot. But it's also a joy. It's also a privilege. It's a privilege that God uses sinners, broken people, to proclaim this good news day in and day out. And that through this word being proclaimed, that God, through the Holy Spirit, creates faith. He creates faith as parents teach their children. You're here because your parents taught you. As pastors and teachers, Sunday school teachers and VBS, as you hear about this Jesus, as you read your Bible, as you pray, as you go to church, it is a joy and a privilege that God does not leave us alone, but He puts us into a community. And you are in a community. You are in a community that cares about you and loves you and is there for you. That God places us in a community where people will regularly tell us of what Christ has done for us. It's a joy and a privilege. And then when those moments when we have doubts and we have fears and worries and we're tempted or we feel ashamed because of something we've done, we don't hear, try harder. You know what? You should be a better Christian. No, we hear go back to the source. Go back to Jesus. Go back to what he has done. Go back to his life, his death, his resurrection, to the cross and the empty tomb. Where the judgment and the condemnation that we deserved, it fell on him instead of us. And he's risen and he's ascended. And he has poured out his spirit on believers. And so today, if you're weary, if you feel weak, if you feel thirsty, these are Jesus' words, and they're for you. If anyone thirsts, let him come and find drink. You're thirsty. I know you are. We are all thirsty. And there's nothing in this world that will quench it, that will fulfill it. Fill it like Jesus because he is living water. And the Spirit has been given. The Spirit has been given so that you know with confidence that everything that belongs to Jesus, everything that belongs to Jesus is given to you. Righteousness, holiness, blessedness, the forgiveness of sins, new life, eternal life, it's yours. It's yours.

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In Jesus' name. Amen.