Every year leading up to confirmation, I ask the confirmands a series of questions on whether they want to be confirmed or not. I don’t want to assume that they desire to be confirmed. Nor should they assume that I feel they are ready to be confirmed. That’s why we sit down together in February to talk.
The first question I ask the confirmands is, “What is the purpose of confirmation?” This year’s confirmation class gave answers that included:
“So that I understand everything and get to take communion.”
“To become a member and take communion.”
“To become an official part of God’s family and receive communion.”
“Get closer to God by taking communion.”
“Forgiveness in Jesus’ body and blood.”
“It’s showing what you learned before taking communion.”
“So you can announce your faith and receive communion.”
You might think that I drilled it into them that taking communion is an important part of being a confirmed member of our church. … I did.
As I teach about Holy Communion in 8th grade Catechism class, I have the parents and confirmands read through Martin Luther’s Large Catechism together. Since many of you probably haven’t read Luther’s Large Catechism, I’ll share some of his thoughts on the Sacrament in today’s sermon.
There is a danger for every Christian, whether they were confirmed a few months or several decades ago. That danger is to become lazy and indifferent about receiving the Sacrament. As Christians absent themselves from God’s Word and Sacrament, at best, they will become weak and worn out. At worst, they will come to despise both the Sacrament and God’s Word.
Luther has some strong words about those who deprive themselves of the Sacrament for a long time. He says, “They are not to be considered Christians” (par. 42).
Sadly, many confirmands will eventually stop coming to church and receiving the Sacrament sometime after they make their confirmation vows. They may feel the freedom to no longer pray or take Holy Communion. To that Luther says, “They might as well have the freedom to not be a Christian” (par. 49-50).
It is a good practice to examine yourself to see why you have withdrawn yourself from the Sacrament. Then examine yourself to see how you feel about the Sacrament after missing it for any length of time. Luther contends, “That if a person thus withdraw from this Sacrament, he will daily become more and more callous and cold, and will at last disregard it altogether. To avoid this, we must, indeed, examine heart and conscience, and act like a person who desires to be right with God. Now, the more this is done, the more will the heart be warmed and enkindled, that it may not become entirely cold” (par. 53-54).
Several paragraphs later in his Large Catechism, Luther asks what a Christian should do if he thinks he no longer hungers or thirsts for the Sacrament. Then he answers his own question, “For those who are so minded that they do not realize their condition I know no better counsel than that they put their hand into their bosom to ascertain whether they also have flesh and blood” (par. 75). If they do, then they need the Sacrament to counteract the fruits of the flesh.
Luther then advises that the less you feel your sins and infirmities, the more reason you have to go to the Sacrament to seek help and remedy (par. 78).
That’s why we crave receiving the Sacrament so often. The Sacrament is pure Gospel. Luther writes, “The entire Gospel and the article of the Creed – I believe in the Holy Christian Church … the forgiveness of sins, and so on – are embodied by the Word in this Sacrament and presented to us” (par. 32). When the Church shares Word and Sacrament, the Gospel is proclaimed loud and strong as St Paul declares: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
Why do you come to the Lord’s Table? Is it because everybody else does it? Is it a habit? A custom? It might be. Thankfully, we have been given a much better reason to come. St. Paul writes, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?”
In the Lord’s Supper Jesus gives us his body and blood for our forgiveness. When you hear the words of Absolution, that is Jesus’ voice being heard in the pastor’s words. However, when you receive the Sacrament, that is one-on-one time with your Savior. You not only hear Jesus’ words, you hold his flesh and taste his blood. The Sacrament is Absolution spoken, not generally, but specifically.
We are a people whose vision has been clouded by sin. When we come to the Sacrament, the myopia is cured for a moment and we see Jesus face-to-face. We are a people who grasp the tangible. The Sacrament is intangible. When we come to the Sacrament, we touch and handle eternal grace unseen but now solid to the touch and taste. We are a people who are starving in this desert world of emptiness and loneliness. When we come to the Sacrament, we are seated at the banquet feast of the Lamb of God and fellowship with all his saints.
Dangers lurk around us on every side. The world and our sinful nature are willing allies with Satan, the ancient serpent, the great red dragon of Revelation 12. The great red dragon hates the Church. He hates pastors for preaching Christ. He hates you for believing in Christ. He despises any who are baptized with Christ’s forgiveness. He loathes us for being strengthened with Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. He detests Christians for our prayers, our devotional life, our support of Lutheran education and Christian worship. Satan, the old evil foe, is on the prowl. And he is after God’s saints here in the desert of this world.
We need protection from the devil and his minions. But we also need food. We need the bread of heaven, or we will die in this world. The Israelites needed the bread that came down from heaven to sustain them in the desert wandering. They drank from a water-giving rock in the wilderness. We receive our strength and nourishment from the Living Bread from heaven (John 6). This is spiritual eating and drinking of Christ by faith. But this spiritual eating and drinking are joined with physical eating and drinking as the bread of heaven is given under earthly bread.
A question I ask in my adult confirmation class is, “Should a member who is down, depressed or burdened with sin come to the Lord’s Supper?” The answer is a resounding, “Absolutely! That’s what the Sacrament is for!” “And that’s who the Sacrament is for!” That’s why Jesus invites, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-29) As lambs and sheep, you are hurting, harassed and helpless on your own. That’s why you need to receive the Sacrament. The balm of Gilead for your hurts. The Physician’s medicine of forgiveness for your scarred hearts. The Living Bread for your starving soul.
The Lord’s Supper connects us to Christ in a spiritual, as well as a physical way. As one of our elders put it, “We need all the forgiveness we can get.” The Augsburg Confession quoted the early church father Ambrose, “Because I always sin, I always need to take the medicine.”
Something else we receive in the Sacrament is a unity that we don’t receive anywhere else on earth. Paul writes, “Because there is one bread, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” There is a unity of faith among those who receive the Sacrament together in our church. Whether you are kneeling next to someone in table communion or walking behind them during continuous distribution, you don’t have to wonder what they believe. You have the assurance that they went through confirmation classes just like you did. They agree with you and the Scriptures on the doctrines of the Bible. We are one body partaking of the one bread of Christ. That is a unity unlike anything else in our world.
Why do I and your church elders encourage you to receive the Sacrament often? Because we are following Jesus’ Gospel imperative, “Do this.” The gifts he gives us in this Meal are gifts that no one else can give. Nowhere else this side of glory do we come face-to-face with Christ. The Sacrament is the tool that the Holy Spirit uses to forgive our sins, strengthen our faith, and assure us of eternal life. What a blessing of vertical and horizontal fellowship among believers and their God.
One author put it this way, “It is the antidote of immortality – an antidote so that we may not die but live forever in him.” [1] Our Lutheran Confessions quote the early church fathers as saying, “[Christ’s] flesh is truly a life-giving food and His blood truly a life-giving drink [John 6:55].” [2] “The body and blood of our Lord in the Supper are life giving. They are never unfruitful, impotent, or useless. Here we receive the body and blood of the living God into this body made of dust. What could be more powerful? What could be more beneficial? This is the greatest treasure in the life of a Christian.” [3]
What does the Lord Supper offer? The simple answer is Jesus. Yes, we have Jesus with us at all times through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. But Jesus loves us so much that he comes to us in the special and sacramental way of the Lord’s Supper. He is really present in this Sacrament. He gives us himself – the unity of divinity and humanity contained in the mystery of flesh and blood that is in, with and under the bread and wine. That is a miraculous power that we cannot get anywhere else. Taking the Lord’s Supper gives forgiveness. It offers us a new life in Christ. It confers upon us the gift of eternal salvation. The Sacrament assures us that Jesus loves us. It really is pure Gospel. The Gospel in the Lord’s Supper comforts our troubled consciences. The Gospel in the Lord’s Supper lifts our sagging spirits. It cheers our wounded hearts. It connects us to Christ in a spiritual way and a physical way. It is the Lamb’s High Feast (CW: 141). It is the Feast of Victory (CW: 265). It is the Feast of our Salvation (CW: 312).
We are invited to this Feast! So whether you were confirmed months ago or decades ago, we crave this Feast! Often! Amen.
[1] Gaylin R. Schmeling, “God’s Gift to You: A Devotional Book on the Lord’s Supper” (Northwestern Publishing House, Milwaukee, WI), 15.
[2] Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article VIII, The Person of Christ: 76.
[3] Schmeling, 12.