Confirmation: Fan the Flame

Sunday, May 2, 2004

Rev. Ronald Burcham

Typed from audio transcript

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

What a special day this is, special day for you guys. No more memory work. No more Midweek. Yeah, it's a great day. A special day for parents and for families, because they're so proud of you they could just bust their buttons, as they look at you and they've seen you grow throughout the years and they've seen you mature in the faith.

Well, this morning we're going to do something then a little bit different as we talk about your faith. We're going to sort of mix science along with our theology today, all right? What we're going to talk about, first of all, is fire. What does it take to have a fire? If something is going to burn, what's the one key ingredient you have to have no matter what's burning? It's okay, you can talk today. Yeah, it's all right. If you're burning wood, if you're burning cloth, or you're burning rubber, what's the one thing you have to have? Anyone know? What is it that actually burns? Air. Somebody said it. Yeah, you have to have oxygen. If you don't have oxygen, it won't burn.

Let's demonstrate that. Christian here, first day on the job as an acolyte, you all know what that's like, right? And I'm putting him to special work, but he can handle it. Light our candle, Christian, just like you did a few minutes ago. Now hang out for a couple of minutes. Okay, so the candle is burning, right? And it's doing all right. Actually, it's burning the oxygen that's in the air. Now what would happen if Christian were to take the little bell in that and put it over the top, what happens? This one's simple. It's easier than the Means of Grace. It goes out, right? Okay, go ahead, Christian. Why did it go out? What's that? It ran out of air. You put the cup over the top of that and, if there's no air, if there's no oxygen to burn, then the light goes out, right? Okay, Christian, light 'er back up again and then you can breathe a sigh of relief and sit down. Thanks, Christian, we're all set.

Okay, now, here's my question. If the lack of air causes the flame to go out, how could we make it burn even brighter? How could the candle be caused to burn even faster than what it is already? What do you think? Jacob, you're dying to tell me. To get more air to it. That would be logical, right? Let's do an experiment then. Everybody reach underneath your seat and you're going to find something there from me, okay. If you've been here previous years, you're not surprised at this. Okay, we have something that can move the air. Now what I want you all to do, don't turn them on yet. I want you to face it at the candle, okay? So face your fans at the candle and turn them on, okay? There are 38 of you. It's going to work, I'm telling you. Do you see it flickering? Is it going out? No. Now maybe you can't notice. It's getting bigger. It really is. I'll try to force a little more in there. Hopefully, I won't put it out. All right, go ahead and turn your fans off. Believe it or not, the flame is bigger than it was before and, in fact, if you would have kept those on for the whole service, the candle probably would have burned I'll bet you 20 percent faster just because you're forcing oxygen to the flame and the flame is getting bigger and brighter all the time.

Now go ahead and look at your fan. There's something written on it. Can you read it with me? I know you can. "I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God." You can do better than that. Ready? "I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God." St. Paul was talking to Timothy about fanning something into a flame, making it grow even brighter and stronger than it was before. Just the way we forced air at this candle and it became brighter and it burned hotter than it was before. Then St. Paul says to you that the gift God has given to you, you need to fan that gift so it grows brighter and brighter and it grows stronger and stronger. The gift that St. Paul is talking about is the gift of God's Holy Spirit. It is the gift of God's Spirit that was given to you at your baptism when the gift of faith was planted in your heart.

So 13-14 years ago, you gathered around a water basin, your parents were there, and your sponsors were there. Water was poured on your head in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and God gifted you. He planted faith in your heart. He gave you the gift of His Spirit. And now, throughout these years, your parents have been fanning that flame so your faith grows stronger and brighter and brighter all the time. You see, they made some promises when they came up here. They promised they would raise you in a Christian home. You promised you would pray for them on a regular basis. You promised you would bring them here to God's house so they could learn from God's Word so the faith that God gave them would continue to grow and mature.

This morning, you're going to confirm the faith that God gave you. You're going to confirm the gift that God gave you at your baptism. In a few moments, you're going to come up here and no longer are sponsors going to speak for you, no longer are your parents going to speak for you. You're going to speak for yourself, and you're going to say, "Yes, I have God's gift in my heart. God's spirit lives in me." In a few moments, you're going to confess that Jesus is your Lord, your Savior. You're going to say to all of these people and to God Himself that you put your faith and trust in Jesus and, because of His life, His death and resurrection; you know your sins have been forgiven. And you also know that eternal life has been given to you. Today you confirm the gift God has given to you. But you know what that gift is? Do you really understand the gift that God gave you at your baptism?

Evidently, Timothy didn't fully understand the gift God had given to him and that's why St. Paul reminds him to fan it into a flame, but he also tells him a little bit about it. He says, "The gift that God gave you is not a timid gift. It isn't one that doesn't have confidence." He says, "The gift of the spirit is the gift of power and of love and of self discipline." God has empowered you. The Spirit living in your heart is a spirit of power. It is not one of weakness. It's not one of being timid. It's one of being bold. It's one of being proud. It's not one of being arrogant, though, but it's one of power. It's one of confidence. It's a spirit that gives you the confidence to know that all things are possible with God. It's the confidence it gives you that says no matter what life throws at you, you can handle it. Because with God in your heart, no matter how bad the situation may be, God is going to give you the power and the strength and no matter what the situation may be, you have the confidence to know that in all things God works together for the good of those who love Him. You have a powerful spirit living in your heart. That's the gift that God's given you.

God's given you the gift of love, and it's a special kind of love. It's the same kind of love that God has shown to you. Do you remember what that kind of love was? You guys didn't think I was going to test you, did you? You're all looking down. Do you remember the three kinds of love? There was phileous love, right? That was kind of like brotherly love, your best friend. There was eros love. That's kind of that romantic stuff between men and women. What was the third kind of love? Go ahead, Jordan. Agape love. Agape love is the kind of love that God has for us. That means it's an unconditional love. It's a self-sacrificing love. Agape love says that I'm going to love you, but I'm not going to look for anything in return. And no matter what you do, no matter how you treat me, I'm going to continue to love you and that's what God does with us. No matter how we treat God, no matter how many times when we turn our back on God, God still loves us. That's His kind of love. That's agape love. That's the love God gave you. Now He says, "You can love others in that same way." You can love unconditionally. You can have a self-sacrificing love for someone else. Even if it doesn't serve your best interest, you're still going to care for another person. You now can have that kind of powerful love in your relationships. That's the gift God's given you.

God's given you the gift of self-discipline, of self-control. In other words, God has enabled you to lead a godly life, to lead a God-pleasing life. No, not because you want to score points with God. You know that's not the point. God freely offers you His forgiveness in faith. But God enables you to follow Him, not because you have to or because you must, but because you want to. You all remember the three uses of the law? Third use of the law as a guide? When you look to God's Word to tell you how you should live, you look to that Word not because you have to follow it but because you want to. You want to respond to God's love. You want to respond to all He's done for you and now God says He empowers you to be able to do that. He empowers you to have self-control. In other words, you have the power within you to resist temptation. Never can you say, "I couldn't help myself," because God lives in you. That's the gift He's given to you. You do have the power to resist. You do have the power to say no. You have the power to lead a godly life. That's the gift God has given to you. It's a gift of power. It's a gift of love. It's a gift of self-discipline.

And now God says, "Fan that gift into a flame." Take the gift God has given to you and make it even stronger, more vibrant than what it is right now. You see, this morning you take responsibility. You take responsibility for your spiritual lives. In a few moments when you speak for yourselves, it's not parents, and it's not sponsors, you take on the responsibility to keep fanning the flame so it grows brighter and stronger than it was before. You all face a very real danger, a danger that's lurking that you don't even see. No, it's not all the peer pressure you find at school. It's not even the things that are going to happen at high school. The danger you face is yourself. The danger you face is called apathy. You're all going to say to yourself, "But I'm done. I don't have to come here on Wednesday night anymore. I don't have memory work anymore. I don't have to listen to Brian and Pastor Burcham anymore." Wipe the smiles off your face. You're thinking, "I'm all set." What happened to the flame when Christian closed off all the oxygen? It started to flicker, and then it went out. Your faith never stays stagnant. It never stays in one place. Either it's growing or it's weakening. That's why I remind you to fan into flame the gift God has given to you, to take seriously the spiritual life God has bestowed upon you and now to take on that responsibility and to fan it into a flame. You fan it into flame with what? The Means of Grace. What are the Means of Grace? Word and Sacrament. That's what God has given us. We know that, through the Word and the Sacrament, God is going to cause your faith to grow. That means you need to be in God's Word. You need to here in God's house on a regular basis. Yes, to offer up your worship and your praise to God, to pray to Him, but also to receive, to receive His Word for your life.

You have my encouragement to be in the youth group. You say you don't have anything to do on Wednesday night because you're freed up from confirmation? Well, there are about 30 or 40 other high schoolers that meet usually in the Youth Center. And they talk about current topics and what God has to say about that. That's the Word in action. On Sunday morning, you don't have to go to Sunday school anymore, but check out the high school group again because, once again, they've gathered around the Word. There are two things that are happening there, My Friends, that is the Word of God is there but also you are there and you need each other. You need each one of the people sitting next to you and behind you. You need to come together as fellow believers because when you go out there, they're not all believers. When you hang out at school, I don't need to tell you that there are people that don't believe as you do. They don't have the same convictions you do. You need to come back here as your base, to know that you're not alone, that there are others who feel the same way and believe the same way. That only happens with fellow Christians. Fan into flames the gift of God through His Word.

Fan into flames the gift of God through the Sacrament. This morning, you'll take communion for the first time. You'll come up to the altar and you'll kneel. And you know and you've learned that in, with, and under that bread and wine is the very body and blood of Jesus. And you know that as you eat that bread and as you drink that wine, Jesus is coming to you on an individual basis and He's saying how much He loves you and how much He forgives you. You can walk away with a clean conscience; leave any shame or guilt behind. That's God building up that faith. This morning is the first time, but don't let it be the last time. Whenever the sacrament is offered, you should be here partaking of the greatest gift God could offer to you because He offers to you the very sacrifice He made so you could be forgiven and have eternal life. Fan into flame the gift of God through the sacrament.

If you fan into flame the gift God has given to you, I need to tell you, specifically your class; you will be a force to be reckoned with. And I'm serious about that. Not just because you're 38 strong, but you're 38 leaders. Maybe more so than any of the other classes I've seen. You have a class of leaders, and other young people follow you and they watch you and they see what you're doing. Instead of letting them set the trend, you set the trend. You've not been given a spirit of timidity but of power and of love and of self-discipline. If you 38 bond together and if you fan into flame the gift God has given to you, you can make a difference and you can make things happen. Make them happen in your neighborhood. I know you can make things happen in your school. And I firmly believe you can change the world. Because of the gift God has given to you, it's that powerful. Fan it into a flame, into a roaring fire in your heart that just makes you so committed and so faithful that you'll change the world.

It's been a privilege, once again, to be with you all in class. It's been fun watching you grow, watching you grow certainly throughout the years but especially this past year. You are not the same class that came bumbling in last September, laughing, giggling, and poking at each other and trying to decide whether you wanted to sit up front or in the back. You've changed, and maybe you haven't seen it but I know I have. And parents, I doubt that you saw it, I know. But trust me on this, they've changed. Where they were in September to where they are right now is miles apart because they've grown, because that gift of God has been fanned and now the flame is burning brightly in each of your hearts.

And my prayer for you is, let me remind you; fan into flame the gift of God. Amen.

Copyright 2004 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church