The Ten Commandments are the mirror that teaches us to confess our sins. The Creed teaches us who our Lord is and what He has done for us. The Lord's Prayer is the living out of our life as Christians as we learn to trust our heavenly Father for all things. Now we consider Holy Baptism. Let's read these questions from the Catechism, p.325... These words of Jesus should make it clear: Baptism is something God does, not something we do. It is by Holy Baptism that the blood of Jesus which poured from His side on the cross is sprinkled upon us. It is by Holy Baptism that the Lord marks us with His own name as His own children. It is by Holy Baptism that the death and resurrection of Jesus become OUR death and resurrection. Baptism is our birth from above by water and the Spirit. Baptism is our being born again. It is our new birth and our regeneration and our new creation. Just as after Baptism the pastor writes our names in the church's book, Baptism is the writing of our names in the Lamb's Book of Life in heaven. We could go on. The fact is you just can't say enough about Holy Baptism! But let's consider how we use our Baptism in our daily life.
Baptism says that your sins are forgiven, that you are no longer a part of the devil's kingdom and that you have everlasting life. That's what the Word and water do. Because that is so, we only ever need to be baptized once, never over and over. But since it happens once and very often when we are younger, we may not remember it. The devil wants nothing more than for you to forget about your Baptism. He doesn't want you remembering that you are a child of God. He wants you to forget that you bear God's name upon you by that water and word. He wants you to ignore, forget and despise your Baptism. He comes after us in two ways. First of all he comes at us outwardly by teaming up with the world. He tries to convince us that God either loves us or hates us based on the things going on in our lives. Got a job? Got a raise? Got over some illness? See? God loves you. But then, someone died. You got sick. You lost your job or got bad grades or something really bad happened. God must hate you. He's against you. The devil wants you to judge whether God loves you based on the ups and downs of your life. But he also comes at you inwardly by teaming up with your sinful nature. He likes to tempt you into sinning. Hating. Lusting. Coveting. Lying. Whatever it is. And then the Devil uses those sins against you by saying, “See what you've done? What you've said? What you've even though? God can't love a sinner like you. You're no Christian. You are going to perish eternally!” So both inwardly and outwardly the Devil tries to pile up evidence that God is against you.
That's where Baptism comes in! We know what the Bible says about Jesus and our sins. We know that He died and rose to take away our sins. We also know that He has overcome the world for us. Baptism is God's way of making sure YOU know that all that Jesus did is for YOU. It's a physical proof that Jesus died and rose FOR YOU. And because Baptism is water combined with God's Word, there isn't anything that can contradict it. Therefore when the devil comes along with the world to trick us and say that God is against us because of some bad thing happening, we lay our Baptism against it and say, “It doesn't matter what good or bad things I have or have happen to me. Baptism says I am rescued from all that and God loves me.” Or when the Devil tries to throw our sins in our face we reply, “It's true that on my own I am a sinner; no argument there. But my Baptism says that my sins were taken away by the Lamb of God and that no matter what I've done, I am God's Child.” In other words, Baptism is the antidote for every lie that the devil, the world and your sinful nature tell. The devil can play his games, the world throw disasters at you and your sinful flesh doubt God's Word, but none of those things is more powerful than the Word of God that was attached to that water that was splashed on you at the holy font. Whenever these things come against you, you lay your Baptism against them and the triumph of Christ conquers these things.
The Catechism says that every morning and every evening, we should make the sign of the holy cross and say, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The sign of the cross is no mere superstition! It is a reminder that we are baptized, that we are marked with God's name and belong to Him. Making the sign of the cross is one way to use our Baptism every day, not just think of it as something that happened in the past. The Large Catechism even suggests that when something bad happens, we make the sign of the cross as a reminder that we are not going to let the Devil tell us how it is with God. How it is with the Lord is already established by our Baptism. The sign of the cross is just the reminder that because of that Baptism, nothing in this world can truly harm us, not even death.
Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil and gives eternal salvation. Is there any better gift than that? Is there any more sure or certain promise that the Lord is on your side? In our Baptism, we have a whole life's worth of God's promises to live in and believe. The power and promise of Jesus Himself and all His power over the devil is all yours because you have been washed with water and the word at the holy font. So whatever the world throws at you, don't worry about it. You're baptized. And that means you are Christ's. And if nothing can take Him down, nothing can take you down either since you are baptized into Jesus. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Your Baptismal name! Amen.
Showing posts with label baptism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baptism. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
January 12, 2011 - The Baptism of our Lord (Wednesday) - 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
It just doesn't make sense. Jesus is the Son of God. John is baptizing sinners in the Jordan River. What on earth is Jesus doing standing there in the water to be baptized? John is the sinner. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus should be doing the baptizing. John is not even worthy to untie Jesus' shoes and He wants John to baptize Him? The fact is: when we focus on God's glory and power and majesty and might and awesomeness, we get religion all wrong. Paul tells us that God uses the foolish and despised and weak things of the world to shame the strong and mighty. He uses the things people think aren't worth anything to accomplish mighty things. That's what Jesus getting baptized is all about. Nobody would have suspected that God Himself would stand in the water with sinners to be baptized as if He were one of them. But St. Paul explains it in our epistle lesson: Christ has become for us the wisdom of God, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. How does God save us from sin and death. It starts with His Son standing in the Jordan River which the world wouldn't consider a big deal at all. But that is where He takes on our sin to take it away.
You talk about foolish? How about the cross? We are so used to the cross being a symbol in the church that we forget it was a brutal and torturous form of execution. How foolish is that? How weak or silly is it that the most important symbol in our religion is an instrument of capital punishment? The notion that the Father would sacrifice His Son and that Jesus is true God and true man who is sacrificed for our sins is just ridiculous. Yet it is in this way that the Lord accomplishes our salvation. To overcome our sin, He takes our sin upon Himself. To overcome death, He dies and rises. To defeat the devil, He goes head to head and resists all temptation and robs the devil of his power to accuse us. All this He does by letting Himself be handed over to evil men to suffer not only physical tortures but the crushing weight of the wrath of the Father. Thorns, nails, spear—these aren't the things people think of when they think of God's glory and might. But the Lord chose these instruments of pain and death to use in rescuing us all from sin and death. What is lowly, despised, looked down upon, foolish, crazy—what doesn't make sense—this cross—is what the Lord has chosen to shame the devil and everyone else by using that cross as the means of our salvation.
But there's more foolishness to be had. The Lord doesn't blast people with lightning bolts to save them. Glowing cosmic energy doesn't engulf people. The Lord doesn't work the way we imagine or that put in movies. He doesn't come to us now with flash and sparkle. Nope. Water. Bread. Wine. Words in a book. All around the world people get wrapped up in amazing and strange religious things. They flock to the big box thing in Mecca. They meditate peacefully in a mountaintop Buddhist monastery. They shake and shriek in some so called Holy Ghost revival. You can find a million different ways people try to get some spiritual something or other. But God just uses water, bread, wine and words. Water. It doesn't seem like much but in that Baptism you have been given a holy calling as a child of God and a disciple of Jesus. At the altar, Christ Himself is present, not to our eyes but the eyes of faith as we receive His Body and Blood. A man in a robe reads and preaches from a book that's 2000 years old. Does any of that sound impressive? To the world, not at all. It's a joke. A curiosity. Something foolish. But to you, who have been called by the Holy Spirit, St. Paul tells us that these simple things are used by God to shame the wise and mighty. For it is by these things that we have the forgiveness of sins, the promise of everlasting life and the sure knowledge that the Lord Himself is with us.
The world, whenever it has any religion, has it for the purpose of getting some knowledge about secret things or things that can't be seen. For the world, religion is a way to try to figure out God and what God is and how to get to God. For many, religion is a way of experiencing something they call God. It's also a way to make yourself feel better because you aren't like all the rest of the poor people out there who don't have your secret knowledge. Or perhaps religion is just a way to feel better when things are going badly. Whatever it is, the religion of the world is about flattering us mightily. But the true faith, the Christian faith, the faith of Jesus, is not any of those things. Rather, it is Jesus Himself, coming to us in His church to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Christ has become for you the wisdom of God that is, the way of eternal life, by His life and death and resurrection. Christ has become your righteousness by taking your sins and being baptized, crucified, and risen for you. Christ has become your sanctification and holiness because it is by His blood that you are made holy and it is Christ who lives in and through you. Christ has become your redemption by paying the price for your sins and setting you free. It all looks so simple and common but it is the very power of God unto salvation. Where the religions of the world run after glory and exalting themselves, in His Church, Christ saves sinners by common and ordinary things that He uses for His holy purposes.
No, it doesn't make sense that Jesus the Holy One should be getting baptized. But then it shouldn't make sense that splashing some water on you should give you eternal life. Welcome to the Kingdom of God where things don't work the way WE think they should, but in a way that casts down all that we thought was important and mighty and gives to us forgiveness and life in Christ. Were you noble? Rich? Popular? I don't think so. Doesn't matter. The Lord has called you and made you His own. And that calling to life in Christ is better than anything the world has, though the world can't see it. But for you that calling means forgiveness of sins and eternal life. It is what God gives through His gifts which are foolishness to the world but your life. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
You talk about foolish? How about the cross? We are so used to the cross being a symbol in the church that we forget it was a brutal and torturous form of execution. How foolish is that? How weak or silly is it that the most important symbol in our religion is an instrument of capital punishment? The notion that the Father would sacrifice His Son and that Jesus is true God and true man who is sacrificed for our sins is just ridiculous. Yet it is in this way that the Lord accomplishes our salvation. To overcome our sin, He takes our sin upon Himself. To overcome death, He dies and rises. To defeat the devil, He goes head to head and resists all temptation and robs the devil of his power to accuse us. All this He does by letting Himself be handed over to evil men to suffer not only physical tortures but the crushing weight of the wrath of the Father. Thorns, nails, spear—these aren't the things people think of when they think of God's glory and might. But the Lord chose these instruments of pain and death to use in rescuing us all from sin and death. What is lowly, despised, looked down upon, foolish, crazy—what doesn't make sense—this cross—is what the Lord has chosen to shame the devil and everyone else by using that cross as the means of our salvation.
But there's more foolishness to be had. The Lord doesn't blast people with lightning bolts to save them. Glowing cosmic energy doesn't engulf people. The Lord doesn't work the way we imagine or that put in movies. He doesn't come to us now with flash and sparkle. Nope. Water. Bread. Wine. Words in a book. All around the world people get wrapped up in amazing and strange religious things. They flock to the big box thing in Mecca. They meditate peacefully in a mountaintop Buddhist monastery. They shake and shriek in some so called Holy Ghost revival. You can find a million different ways people try to get some spiritual something or other. But God just uses water, bread, wine and words. Water. It doesn't seem like much but in that Baptism you have been given a holy calling as a child of God and a disciple of Jesus. At the altar, Christ Himself is present, not to our eyes but the eyes of faith as we receive His Body and Blood. A man in a robe reads and preaches from a book that's 2000 years old. Does any of that sound impressive? To the world, not at all. It's a joke. A curiosity. Something foolish. But to you, who have been called by the Holy Spirit, St. Paul tells us that these simple things are used by God to shame the wise and mighty. For it is by these things that we have the forgiveness of sins, the promise of everlasting life and the sure knowledge that the Lord Himself is with us.
The world, whenever it has any religion, has it for the purpose of getting some knowledge about secret things or things that can't be seen. For the world, religion is a way to try to figure out God and what God is and how to get to God. For many, religion is a way of experiencing something they call God. It's also a way to make yourself feel better because you aren't like all the rest of the poor people out there who don't have your secret knowledge. Or perhaps religion is just a way to feel better when things are going badly. Whatever it is, the religion of the world is about flattering us mightily. But the true faith, the Christian faith, the faith of Jesus, is not any of those things. Rather, it is Jesus Himself, coming to us in His church to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Christ has become for you the wisdom of God that is, the way of eternal life, by His life and death and resurrection. Christ has become your righteousness by taking your sins and being baptized, crucified, and risen for you. Christ has become your sanctification and holiness because it is by His blood that you are made holy and it is Christ who lives in and through you. Christ has become your redemption by paying the price for your sins and setting you free. It all looks so simple and common but it is the very power of God unto salvation. Where the religions of the world run after glory and exalting themselves, in His Church, Christ saves sinners by common and ordinary things that He uses for His holy purposes.
No, it doesn't make sense that Jesus the Holy One should be getting baptized. But then it shouldn't make sense that splashing some water on you should give you eternal life. Welcome to the Kingdom of God where things don't work the way WE think they should, but in a way that casts down all that we thought was important and mighty and gives to us forgiveness and life in Christ. Were you noble? Rich? Popular? I don't think so. Doesn't matter. The Lord has called you and made you His own. And that calling to life in Christ is better than anything the world has, though the world can't see it. But for you that calling means forgiveness of sins and eternal life. It is what God gives through His gifts which are foolishness to the world but your life. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Monday, January 10, 2011
January 9, 2011 - The Baptism of Our Lord (First Sunday after the Epiphany) - St. Matthew 3:13-17
The Christian life is not ABOUT Christ. It IS Christ. What do I mean by that? I mean that being a Christian isn't about knowing some facts about Jesus. It's about being in Christ and Christ living in you and transforming you into a new creation by His forgiveness and life. We are surrounded with churches that teach that Baptism is just a symbol, a sort of public ceremony that you've grasped some facts and accepted something. But the Scriptures teach us that our Baptism is something else entirely. Baptism is GOD'S work. When you were baptized, it is the Lord who did something. He draped you with Christ and stamped His Name on you. He washed your sins away and claimed you as His own. He took you, who were destined for everlasting death and hell and rescued you and gave you eternal life. Baptism is the amazing work of God by which you are united with Christ so that all that He is and has becomes yours. So your life as a Christian isn't about you. It's about Jesus. Oh, we want to make it about us. But it's not. It's about what Christ has done for you and what He does now as He lives in and through you. Everything that Jesus has is yours. Everything He does is yours. His life. His death. His resurrection all become yours in Holy Baptism. Let's take a look and see how this is so.
John's got it nailed. Jesus should be the one doing the baptizing. John is the sinner. Jesus is the Savior. But Jesus has it backwards. He's acting like He's the sinner. THAT is righteousness. Jesus taking on our sins. Jesus is as much as saying, “I am indeed the Savior. And I save by becoming the sinner. Taking the sins on. Making them mine. Getting rid of them for you.” He will take those sins and carry them to the cross of Calvary and there bleed and die for them. That's righteousness. The sinless Son of God becoming sin for us. For you. So now, in your Baptism, that sinlessness gets put upon you. In His Baptism, Jesus takes on your sins. In your Baptism He puts on you His perfection and holiness. It's a trade. An exchange. What's His for what's yours. That's righteousness. Learn that simple and clear definition of this big church word. Righteousness is Jesus taking your place. Say it: “Righteousness is Jesus taking my place.” Now no one can ever say they don't know what “righteousness” is when I ask! It's Jesus taking your place. That's what's going on in the Jordan River and at this font.
But there's more. A dove landing on Jesus. Doves go with floods and floods mean the Lord is killing and saving. When the Flood happened, the Lord destroyed a whole earth of sinners. But Noah, the only guy who trusted in God's promises is spared, for the sake of God's promises. The Lord couldn't very well bring a Savior into the world if everybody was gone, now could He? When the Flood, the punishment of God's wrath was over, there was a dove. A dove means God's wrath is done. It's over. So there's a dove at Jesus' baptism to say that because of Jesus, God's wrath is done for. Now there is peace with God. And it's on the other side of the Flood. When the flood is past. More baptismal stuff! Just as Noah came through the flood, Jesus comes up out of the water and there's a dove. Landing on Him. This is the one who brings peace. So now, in your Baptism, the Holy Spirit descends upon you and that means you have peace with God. No more thinking God is going to pay you back. No more making silly deals with God to bail you out. No more thinking you're not really God's child because of your sins. The Holy Spirit who descended upon you at the font says otherwise. He says there is peace with God. The price has been paid. The war is over. Olly olly oxen free. God is not going to get you. The dove has landed on you. Peace with God because the Spirit landed on Jesus the bringer of that peace by His death and resurrection.
But there's still more! The Father's voice from the heavens: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!” A divine “That's my boy!” The Father loves the Son because the Son does what He tells Him too: dies for sinners. God the Father asks only one thing of His Son: to become man and save sinners. And the Son does it without fussing or arguing or pouting or any of the other things we do when our parents tell us to do something. The Son does what He came to do: save sinners. On the day of His Baptism, the Father loves His Son because His Son is standing with us sinners. How could the Father be proud of a Son who is hanging out with such people? Because He does so to save them. To redeem them. To make us the children of God. So now, in your Baptism, the voice speaks about you: “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!” Jesus is beloved and that means you are beloved. The Father is pleased as punch with His Boy and so now He is pleased with you, too, in Christ. By your Baptism. Never worry or doubt whether God loves you. Whether He forgives your sins. Whether you are His child. He has said so on the day you were splashed at the font with His water and word. Your Baptism connects and joins you to Jesus Christ. So if He's God's beloved Son, so are you!
So you see? The Christian life isn't ABOUT Jesus. It IS Jesus. No trying to living righteously enough: Jesus has done so by trading places with you. No more trying to get God off your back. Jesus has brought the Spirit of peace to you. No more trying to impress God with your life. Jesus has made you His beloved Son. So no more living as if the Christian life is about you. When it's like that, then there's no room for God and your neighbor. Just you trying to do it. But Christ has already done it and does it now living in you. Brothers and sisters in Christ, when we live as if knowing Christ is just some book knowledge to pin the name Christian on ourselves, that is no good to anyone. But when Christ lives in us and through us; when HE is our righteousness, our peace and our sonship, well then God is glorified and our neighbor will be served and loved. On this day, Jesus was numbered with us sinners when He got down in the water. So that when you have come from the water of your Baptism, you stand as a righteous, at-peace, child of God. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
John's got it nailed. Jesus should be the one doing the baptizing. John is the sinner. Jesus is the Savior. But Jesus has it backwards. He's acting like He's the sinner. THAT is righteousness. Jesus taking on our sins. Jesus is as much as saying, “I am indeed the Savior. And I save by becoming the sinner. Taking the sins on. Making them mine. Getting rid of them for you.” He will take those sins and carry them to the cross of Calvary and there bleed and die for them. That's righteousness. The sinless Son of God becoming sin for us. For you. So now, in your Baptism, that sinlessness gets put upon you. In His Baptism, Jesus takes on your sins. In your Baptism He puts on you His perfection and holiness. It's a trade. An exchange. What's His for what's yours. That's righteousness. Learn that simple and clear definition of this big church word. Righteousness is Jesus taking your place. Say it: “Righteousness is Jesus taking my place.” Now no one can ever say they don't know what “righteousness” is when I ask! It's Jesus taking your place. That's what's going on in the Jordan River and at this font.
But there's more. A dove landing on Jesus. Doves go with floods and floods mean the Lord is killing and saving. When the Flood happened, the Lord destroyed a whole earth of sinners. But Noah, the only guy who trusted in God's promises is spared, for the sake of God's promises. The Lord couldn't very well bring a Savior into the world if everybody was gone, now could He? When the Flood, the punishment of God's wrath was over, there was a dove. A dove means God's wrath is done. It's over. So there's a dove at Jesus' baptism to say that because of Jesus, God's wrath is done for. Now there is peace with God. And it's on the other side of the Flood. When the flood is past. More baptismal stuff! Just as Noah came through the flood, Jesus comes up out of the water and there's a dove. Landing on Him. This is the one who brings peace. So now, in your Baptism, the Holy Spirit descends upon you and that means you have peace with God. No more thinking God is going to pay you back. No more making silly deals with God to bail you out. No more thinking you're not really God's child because of your sins. The Holy Spirit who descended upon you at the font says otherwise. He says there is peace with God. The price has been paid. The war is over. Olly olly oxen free. God is not going to get you. The dove has landed on you. Peace with God because the Spirit landed on Jesus the bringer of that peace by His death and resurrection.
But there's still more! The Father's voice from the heavens: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!” A divine “That's my boy!” The Father loves the Son because the Son does what He tells Him too: dies for sinners. God the Father asks only one thing of His Son: to become man and save sinners. And the Son does it without fussing or arguing or pouting or any of the other things we do when our parents tell us to do something. The Son does what He came to do: save sinners. On the day of His Baptism, the Father loves His Son because His Son is standing with us sinners. How could the Father be proud of a Son who is hanging out with such people? Because He does so to save them. To redeem them. To make us the children of God. So now, in your Baptism, the voice speaks about you: “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!” Jesus is beloved and that means you are beloved. The Father is pleased as punch with His Boy and so now He is pleased with you, too, in Christ. By your Baptism. Never worry or doubt whether God loves you. Whether He forgives your sins. Whether you are His child. He has said so on the day you were splashed at the font with His water and word. Your Baptism connects and joins you to Jesus Christ. So if He's God's beloved Son, so are you!
So you see? The Christian life isn't ABOUT Jesus. It IS Jesus. No trying to living righteously enough: Jesus has done so by trading places with you. No more trying to get God off your back. Jesus has brought the Spirit of peace to you. No more trying to impress God with your life. Jesus has made you His beloved Son. So no more living as if the Christian life is about you. When it's like that, then there's no room for God and your neighbor. Just you trying to do it. But Christ has already done it and does it now living in you. Brothers and sisters in Christ, when we live as if knowing Christ is just some book knowledge to pin the name Christian on ourselves, that is no good to anyone. But when Christ lives in us and through us; when HE is our righteousness, our peace and our sonship, well then God is glorified and our neighbor will be served and loved. On this day, Jesus was numbered with us sinners when He got down in the water. So that when you have come from the water of your Baptism, you stand as a righteous, at-peace, child of God. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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