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Baptism of our Lord - 2003
Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Baptism of Our Lord from Matthew chapter 3.
Baptism is one of the most despised and forgotten gifts that God gives to us, His children. At the beginning of this service, we sang a hymn for the first time that has basically sat unnoticed and dormant for 250 years. God’s Own Child, I Gladly Say It was written in the 18th century at a time when many Christians were beginning to doubt that Baptism meant anything. It’s just an outward show. It doesn’t do anything. The only way your saved is if you put some effort into it. If you show and prove your piety and work at your salvation, then God will bless you.
That is basically the view that is held by most of American Christianity today. In most Christian churches today, sadly even in many Lutheran churches, Baptism is something you do to infants or an occasional adult, but it doesn’t really mean anything in your life. Often the baptismal fonts are stuffed in the corner somewhere, or even hidden in a closet. The idea of remembering your baptism or trusting in God’s promises given there are smiled at and tolerated by a few, but the go on their merry way of believing that salvation is all about what they do. They live with their guilt and fear of never being good enough for God, of having to work out their own problems, and of quietly suffering without God’s intervention.
Why is this the case? Why is it that even in Lutheran Churches, we can so forget God’s promises in Baptism and act as if they don’t matter to us anymore? I have thought and prayed for some time about that very question, and I believe there are a couple answers to it.
The first and most significant reason is that we simply don’t believe that we’re missing much. Our text says that at Jesus’ Baptism, which really sanctifies and makes your baptism, that at Jesus’ baptism the heaven’s were opened, the Holy Spirit comes down in the form of a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven and says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. That is what God says to you in your baptism.
But those words will mean nothing, nothing to you if you do not believe that heaven is closed to you without them. If you believe that you are basically good enough for God, if you believe that God is pretty satisfied with your pathetic attempts to follow His commandments perfectly, if you truly believe that you are good enough to gain heaven on your own, well, then you don’t need baptism. Then it is just water and one more thing to do, nothing more.
Now you hear that message every day of your life. We live in a world and in a culture that tries to teach you that the most important thing is that you forgive yourself. Self-improvement. Be at peace with yourself. Improve yourself for you! Make things better for you. And when you can be happy with yourself, and forgive yourself of your own little foibles and faults, then things are good in the world. That is what the world would teach you about yourself.
Well, I am here today to tell you not to believe that lie. You can’t forgive yourself. Forgiveness by definition must come from outside of you. You may lie to yourself or try to convince yourself that you can be happy and satisfied with your faults, but there is no lying to God. He sees all and knows all. There is no hiding from Him. And He demands perfection, which you cannot do or possibly accomplish. Repent of your so-called self-forgiveness and affirmation and trying to blot God out of your life. Repent.
Now when you come to that point, by God’s Law, now baptism is much more important, isn’t it? When you come to realize that you have rebelled against God and are in the clutches of sin, death and the power of the devil, then God’s Word to you this day is sweeter than anything else you have ever heard. God says to you, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That, dear friends, is God’s work.
The only way that you are saved and in a right relationship with God is because of His great love for you which He pours out in your baptism. This is the bath which washes away your sins and presents you spotless, clean and holy before His heavenly throne. This great work which He does for you literally opens heaven for you. It is your key and door to eternal life. St. Peter even says in no uncertain terms baptism saves you.
Think of everything that comes with this great reality! Your sins are washed away. Satan is crushed under your feet, so that you no longer have to fear his wrath and attempts at your soul. Even death itself has no power over you! You can look at the grave without fear, because Christ has opened the door to paradise. Sounds amazing? It is.
Dear friends, that is the nature of the God who made the universe. His nature is one of love, where He gives and gives and gives of Himself until there is no more. And then when it seems He has nothing else to give, He gives you even His very flesh and blood. Who else would sacrifice so much for you? Who else cares that much for you? No one else cares that much, no one but Jesus.
He does care for you that much. That is the beauty of Holy Baptism. Look upon those waters as proof that God loves you and wants only what is best for you. And when your heart and soul doubt God’s love, look to your baptism. And when Satan tempts you to abandon Christ, look to your baptism. And when death and the world have their tentacles all around you, you can say to them, begone! You have no hold over me! God has purchased me with His own blood! The world may despise the gifts God gives you in His holy waters, but you know better:
Though my flesh awaits its raising,
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.
This page was created on 01/15/2007 and last edited on: 01/15/2007