“Prepare For the Fight of Your Life”

a Confirmation Sunday 2010 a

1 Timothy 6:12

Dear fellow Christian brothers and sisters, the family and friends of our confirmands, but especially on this special
occasion, Emily and Scout, the 2010 confirmation class of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church:

My wife and I are big fans of the NBC television show, “The Biggest Loser.” Every Tuesday night, we sit
down, put our feet up and watch the drama that inevitably unfolds at the Biggest Loser ranch. Now, if anyone here
is unfamiliar with the show, it’s a program that invites people who are extremely unhealthy and overweight, almost
to the point where their lives are in danger, to come to a remote place and work out with professional trainers, Bob
and Jyllian, to lose tremendous amounts of weight, learn how to eat right and exercise faithfully, and embrace an
entirely new lifestyle so that when they go home, they can continue to be healthy and strong.
This year, there was a unique feature on the show that I can’t remember ever happening in previous seasons.
They brought back one of the contestants from an earlier season who had lost a ton of weight, and after going home
and entering the real world, had gained it all right back. They brought him in to teach the contestants a very
valuable lesson about their time on the ranch and the reality of what it will be like to go home and enter the real
world. Generally summarized, it went something like this: “You contestants think that the ranch is the hard part,
that having Jyllian and Bob screaming at you to work harder, that’s the most difficult part of your journey. It’s not!
This is the easy part! The hard part is when you go home and get into the real world, when you resume your
normal everyday lives...because, then, with temptation in front of you all the time, that’s when you’ll find out how
much you’ve really learned from this whole experience.”
Dear candidates for confirmation, every communicant member of this congregation and of our synod
knows what it’s like to be in your shoes today, and can remember the day when they were sitting in front of the
congregation awaiting the rite of confirmation - thinking to themselves, “Alright, the hard part’s almost over. I
survived the two years of catechetical training. I survived pastor’s class. I got my work done, I passed the tests...I
survived examination! And now it’s almost over...the hard part’s almost over. It gets easier from now on.”
I suppose in a sense, you’re right. But, compared to the challenges that will war against your faith, those
temptations that are sure to come when this day is over, when summer sets in, when you begin your high school
years, compared to those challenges, what you have completed, the classes, the examination, and soon, the rite of
confirmation, is the easy part. The most difficult stuff is yet to come, which is why, today, on this very special day, I
ask that you allow me just a few more minutes of teaching time, where I pray that you will heed these words, take
them to heart and learn from them – taking them with you as you step into a world that is at war against the
confession you are about to make publicly! “Prepare for the Fight of Your Life,” confident that you are equipped to
defend your faith in the face of falsehood and temptation, fully sure that through the same means by which your
God has brought you to faith, the gospel in Word and sacrament, he will continue to reaffirm you as his child, and
keep you safe through life’s journey until he brings you to the end goal of faith – everlasting glory in heaven.
There is a specific reason why Paul uses the type of language that he uses here. He tells the young pastor
Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith!” In other words, struggle with great intensity and effort in the fight that
every single Christian is engaged in – faith’s struggle, the fight to retain a connection of blessed fellowship with your
Savior Jesus. Because, when you step out of this sanctuary today as confirmed members of St. Paul’s Lutheran
Church, when you step out from under the formal catechetical training, that’s when the real battle begins, that’s
when the hard part starts, and the enemies fighting against your life of faith, your connection to Jesus, are numerous
and merciless.
The things that you will confess to believe in just a few moments, the spiritual truths that you have been
taught from Holy Scripture in your training, that there is One True Faith, that there is one Messiah, and only one
way to heaven, through faith in Jesus Christ, that there is only one satisfaction for sin – the blood of Jesus shed for
you on the cross, those basic elements of the Christian faith are not held by everyone. The world hates what you
love. The world rejects what you hold to as truth. The world despises what you hold dear. The sinful, unbelieving
world has no need of a Savior, no need of innocent blood, no need of a resurrected Christ – and will work tirelessly
to convince you of the same – working ever so diligently to entice you away from the truth that saves – working
every so mightily to draw you away from the loving care and protection of your Good Shepherd.
But that’s not all. As if that fight were not difficult enough, inside of you is a sinful nature that is at war
against the new man of faith. You will struggle with spiritual laziness. You will struggle with an apathetic attitude
towards God and his Word and his house. When you leave this place today and begin your post-confirmation life
as a confirmed member of this congregation, as you get older, start high school, and your lives get busier with
various responsibilities, you will need to prioritize – and how easily we can take for granted our life of faith, thinking
that we can step away from the Savior for a while and then, someday, when everything else in our lives are in order,
then we’ll have enough time, enough free time to come back to Jesus and meet him in his house and receive his holy
word and holy food. What a deception, a deception which more times than not leads to a severed relationship with
the church and its Messiah...which is why Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “...if you think you are standing firm,
be careful that you don’t fall!”
Is that enough enemies for you? The world fights against the truth that you hold dear, the sinful nature
constantly works to convince you that your Savior isn’t really all that important...oh, by the way, the devil is
prowling around like a lion, in the words of St. Peter, looking for someone to devour...looking for a sheep of the
Good Shepherd to entice through temptation, and how subtle he is in his work. He works to desensitize us to sin,
so that we fail to see how devastating sin can be in our lives, to the point where we don’t even see our desperate and
intrinsic need for salvation, so that we fail to see the need to return to the cross in Word and sacrament, to view in
all his glory the sacrificial Lamb, whose blood is the payment for our sins. And when the devil is successful in
reforming our hearts and minds by redefining what sin is and does, by hiding its real lasting consequences, we can
get to the point where we see absolutely no need for the church and its ministry, no need for the Messiah that the
church proclaims.
I pray that you see today, my confirmands, how the easy stuff is behind you. The good news is that you are
ready for what is ahead. You are ready for “faith’s good fight!” Think about what makes it possible for a contestant
on the Biggest Loser to succeed once they get out in the real world. They had training that they could refer to when
temptations arose. They were given tools to succeed so that they remained healthy and wouldn’t revert back to the
previous lifestyle. And they had support systems, people who were watching over them, and at times, would hold
them accountable when they began to slip. Those contestants who continued to make use of those things had a
great chance to live a healthy life in an unhealthy world. Those who didn’t ran the risk of reverting back to previous
behavior, which puts their health and ultimately their lives at risk!
 Emily and Scout, today is a day to rejoice. Because, while there are certainly enemies of faith that are going
to war against you throughout your life, attempting with all their strength to sever your relationship with your
Savior, you go from this place fully equipped to face the challenge. The road that you have traveled in your
education the last two years has been the “easy” road and yes, the road ahead is truly the hard part, but it is not
impossible given the many gifts that God has given to you.
You have been trained and equipped in the Christian faith. Before this congregation today, you will make
your public confession that your whole reliance for salvation rests upon Jesus Christ alone, who lived for you, died
for you and rose again so that you can live your life in the confidence of forgiveness and the sure hope of heaven.
And when life’s challenges present themselves, revert back to that basic training. Open your Bibles, open your
catechisms...don’t let them just gather dust after today...use them, and see, again and again, the length to which
your Savior has gone to keep you safe in his fold, even being willing to lay down his life for you on the cross so that
you will be with him in Paradise. See his love in action and know that in all things, “God works for the good of those
who love him, who are called according to his purpose.”
You have been given training. You have been given tools – specifically the Word of God and the
sacraments, those blessed means of grace which not only connect you to Jesus, but strengthen that connection so
that nothing in all creation will be able to sever that eternal relationship. Make use of those tools as often as possible
– receive the Word of God corporately in worship, in continuing education in Bible class, personally in your own
devotional life, and receive the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament as often as it is offered, because God has
given them to you for your benefit, and has not revealed any other means by which our relationship is established,
strengthened and kept to eternity. Use the tools God has given.
And finally, be confident in the good fight of faith, because you are not alone in it! Every Christian here,
every confirmed member of this congregation is with you in the battlefield for souls, fighting along side you and for
you so that you remain steadfast in faith until life’s end. You have a support system. My work as your shepherd is
certainly not complete. When you are troubled by anything, struggling with anything, make use of your shepherd.
So many don’t...and it’s really a shame, because the shepherd is there to help his sheep. I am here for you. Parents
– the next weeks, months, are critical. Be the support system for your daughters by helping them to establish
consistent spiritual habits. They will mirror what they see, what they live, which means that you have a special
responsibility especially now to assist them in continuing in the confession which they are making today. And
finally, members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, these young ones also need your assistance. Pray for them.
Welcome and embrace them with open arms, and most importantly, set for them an example of life and faith, so
that they may learn what it means to be a Christian, to be a confessional Lutheran, to be a child of God.
As much as you may not want to believe it this moment, the easy part is just about behind you. The hard
part lies ahead, when your training is going to be tested to the utmost degree. Prepare for the fight of your life!
Know that there are enemies of God that will assault your faith. But be confident that you are ready for it – because
God has given you training in his Word, tools in the means of grace, and the fellowship of Christian brothers and
sisters as a support system, all wonderful gifts that are yours so that you may: “Fight the good fight of the faith –
taking hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many
witnesses.” May God bless and keep you to life everlasting. Amen.