Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord which engages us this morning comes from our Gospel lesson (Mark 13: 1-13).                 

We have a beautiful church building. I was joking with some friends recently who belong to a congregation here in town that just built a new building. I told them that they now had the 2nd most beautiful church building in Junction City, second to ours. When visitors come, many of them remark about how beautiful our sanctuary is, or how spacious our atrium is, how much bigger this edifice is than what it looks like from the outside. I love to tell the story of how this building came to be, and how many of you worked on it with your own hands. We do have a beautiful church building, one that we can say the Lord has truly blessed us with. Even other pastors and church workers who visit us sometimes seem like they may be a bit covetous of our physical church. I know that for many of you, this is still the "NEW" church. But just so you have some perspective, all four of today's confirmands were born and baptized after this church was built. Two of them were baptized here in this sanctuary, but they were baptized some two years after this congregation moved here. For all four of them, this is the only "Immanuel Lutheran Church" building they have ever known, which is true for nearly half our current members. Nearly half of us have either transferred or become adult members here or have been born after November 29, 1987, the day this building was dedicated.                 

While this building is no longer "new", it's not really yet old or even middle-aged. This building is, like our confirmands, a teenager. This building will likely, earthly-speaking, outlive us all. God willing and if Christ hasn't yet returned, if this building doesn't get hit by lightning or destroyed by fire or tornado, it will probably still be standing here 100 years from now, perhaps with this congregation of people still meeting here. If that is true, the grandchildren of our confirmands will probably be in their 60's and already have grandchildren of their own. Did you comprehend what I said? The grandchildren of our teenagers may be in their sixties, even 70's, carrying on the work of the Lord here. If the Lord does not return before that time, it is possible that these confirmands will already have great-great grandchildren born and baptized by then.                 

We have a beautiful church building. God has blessed us. But our text reminds us that God is not impressed with the size and magnificence of a building. "As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" 2 "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." You need to understand that this temple in Jerusalem and the grounds around it were immense. The smallest stones in the structure weighed 2 to 3 tons. Many of them weighed 50 tons. The largest stone we know of was nearly 40 feet long and 10 feet high, and it weighed hundreds of tons! The stones were so immense that neither mortar nor any other binding material was used between the stones. Their stability was attained simply by the great weight of the stones. The walls towered over Jerusalem, over 400 feet in one area. Inside the four walls was 45 acres of bedrock mountain shaved flat and during Jesus' day a quarter of a million people could fit comfortably within the structure. No sports structure in America today comes close to its size (details of temple from Sermonillustrations.com for November 16, 2003). No wonder the disciples were amazed at it.

Jesus, in his ability to know all things, revealed to his disciples that the temple would be torn down. And it was demolished by the Romans just 40 years later, although he doesn't tell the disciples when this will happen. Instead He says, "Watch out. Be on guard. Many terrible things will happen in this sinful world before I return: earthquakes, and wars and famines. Be on guard. Don't be swayed by any deceptive teachings or prophets who comes around. Know that there will be many dangers for many Christians. Some will be whipped and imprisoned. Relatives will betray some of you to the authorities. All unbelievers will hate you because of me, but 'He who stands firm to the end will be saved.'" Jesus promises to be with us – not to rescue us out of every danger – but to preserve us through all such dangers.

In a few moments our confirmands will be asked a sobering question, one that the rest of us were asked at our confirmations: "Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall from it? This question seems harsh, but it echoes what Jesus tells the church (in Smyrna) in Revelation 2: 10 "Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you a crown of life."

I said earlier that this church building will likely still be standing here when all of us have left this earthly life, assuming Jesus doesn't return first. But in another very real, the most real way, this building is very temporary and we, God's children called in baptism, are the eternal church. We who remain faithful, standing firm to the end will receive the eternal inheritance that will make all these birth pangs seem minor. We who continue as his disciples, his students, who continue listening to and responding to his voice revealed in His Word will receive that crown of life. We who continue to confess our sins and our need for a rescuer, and who confess Jesus' Name as that rescuer before others, we will have our names confessed before our Father in heaven. Jesus spoke about the signs of the End of the Age, but in the next two chapters of Mark we hear how Jesus took on the powers of this world and let himself be arrested and beaten, brought before the Roman governor for our sakes. He was innocent, but He spoke not a word in his defense, because for our sakes He was declared guilty. He was handed over to be crucified, the most hideous form of torture and death ever devised. For hours He was forsaken by His Father God, and then he died so that we don't have to die eternally. He was truly faithful to the end, the one true and permanent rock of our salvation. At His first coming, His suffering, death and resurrection changed our universe forever. Because He was and is unshakeable to the end, we need not fear His Second Coming, when things in this world begin to shake, in fact we know they will shake and be destroyed in the end because God's Word tells us so.                 

General Alexander Haig was a military leader in the war in Vietnam and political leader in the Reagan administration. Now, General Haig was not exactly what you would call a great theologian. He once said something which on the surface sounded utterly stupid, and he was roundly criticized by the media for saying it. He said, "There are worse things than a nuclear war." That sounds like he stuck his foot in his mouth, but that is exactly what we Christians believe. What is far worse than a nuclear war? Not having faith and trust in Christ Jesus. Not to trust God and his promises means that one is headed for a destiny even worse than a nuclear holocaust (modified from Sermonillustrations.com for November 16, 2003). We stand firm to the end not because of our own strength or will power, but because the Holy Spirit, through God's Word and Sacraments strengthens us to trust in Jesus and his rescue and his promise to return.                 

In a few moments our confirmands will take a big step, but this step is not a graduation experience. They have not really "finished" anything. They are now confirming what was started in them years ago, when their Lord called them to be his disciples, his followers, his students through the waters of Baptism. There they became enemies of Satan, but children of God, united with Christ into His death and resurrection. They have since been instructed in the basics of the faith, the 10 commandments, the Creed, Lord's Prayer, Baptism, Lord's Supper, and Confession/Absolution. They will now stand before us, confessing publicly the faith into which they were baptized. But they aren't finished, just as none of us called to trust in Jesus Christ are ever finished in this life. He calls us to teach and learn everything He has taught us in His Word (Matthew 28: 19). Today, they are simply confirming publicly that they are part of his Holy Christian Church, the Kingdom of God which cannot be shaken. Jesus said (Mark 13: 31): "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." May you (confirmands) and all of us here today stand firm to the end by continuing to listen to the words that will never pass away.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7)