What Really Counts?
Baccalaureate Vespers – Immanuel Lutheran School
June 9, 2021
Genesis 15:1-6
What really counts? I find value in the little notes I get from students.
[Personal reflections on the graduates]
We think report cards really matter. But in the end, not as much as you think.
Grades count for something when you’re applying for high school or college. But if you graduate from the most prestigious school, what will it gain you? What really counts?
Success gets you more things you can count: awards for your wall, dollars for your investment account, square feet in your house where you can put all your stuff. But when you have all that—the degree, the dollars, the domicile—when you have too much to even count, is that what will really count?
“And [Abram] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” It’s not that Abraham believed in the Lord, just believing in the existence of some kind of higher power. No, he believed the Lord, which is to say, he trusted that what God told him is true. He trusted God’s Word. That is at once the easiest and the hardest thing you can ever do.
It’s easy because it means Christ has done the work; it’s not up to you.
But it’s difficult because you are moving out into a world which ridicules Christ and His Word. So if you want success, you’ll have to set God’s Word to the side. If you want to be accepted, they will demand you call evil good, and good evil. If you want the world to love you, you’ll have to exchange the good, the true, and the beautiful for the evil, the lie, and the grotesque.
That temptation will be severe. The singing of the sirens seems irresistible. But you are those who have lashed yourselves to the ark of Christ’s Church. You believe the Lord, His Word and His promises.
That’s what counts. The school you attended won’t be on your tombstone. Even if they erect a statue of you in this generation, the next will pull it down in a fit of madness.
So seek not the follies and pleasures of this world. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
It’s not countable things that count. Abraham “believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” It’s God’s accounting that counts.
When Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine, journeyed to Jerusalem, she built towers along the way, so pilgrims would know they were on the right path. What path will you follow?
The so-called towering figures of this world, be they rappers or politicians, they will becloud your vision. But you have the towers of the prophets and apostles. Let their writings be your guide. Follow the Scriptures single-mindedly, as the only thing that counts.
When the chaos of our culture’s cacophony seems too much to bear, quiet your mind with the promises of God’s Word: justification, absolution, resurrection.
Believe the Lord’s promises, and He will count it to you as righteousness. That’s what counts.
Believe the Lord’s promises, though all the world revile you. Be faithful unto death, and He will give you the crown of life. +INJ+