Sermon manuscript:
Last week we considered the question: “What is baptism?” The
answer was very simple. It is the application of water together with God’s
Words: “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit.” The whole process takes less than a minute.
With such a simple ceremony we naturally tend to believe
that it can’t do very much. This is why it is important that we do not just
stick with the thoughts that come naturally to us, but that we be informed by
what Jesus and his apostles teach concerning baptism.
We can begin with what we have heard from the final chapters
of Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospels. The last chapters of all four of the Gospels
are very important. When Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples
he did not talk to them about the weather or merely mundane things. He had just
won the victory by his death and resurrection. Now his kingdom is to be
extended into the whole world. How? This is what all the endings to the four
Gospels address: How is Christ’s kingdom extended?
And, as you yourself have heard, baptism plays no small role
in the readings that we heard from last week and this week. In Matthew’s Gospel
Jesus says, “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
whatsoever I have instructed you, and, behold, I am with you always even to the
end of the age.” There are really only two things that specifically get
mentioned by Jesus: baptizing and teaching. If baptism were of minor
importance, or, of no effect, then how could it be so prominent in these highly
important final words?
In our reading tonight we hear Jesus instructing the eleven:
“Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” This is a
very simple statement. The Gospel is the good news of great joy that is for all
people. The Gospel is the story of Jesus, who is Christ the Lord. The disciples
were to preach this wherever and whenever the opportunity to do so might arise.
But you might be wondering, “Where’s baptism? What does baptism have to do with
this?” That comes immediately after this opening statement.
“Go, preach the Gospel to all creation. Whoever believes
and is baptized shall be saved. Whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
The preaching of the Gospel is to result in belief and in baptism. The idea of a message resulting in belief is not
surprising. This is what happens with all messages, I suppose. Either they are
believed or they are not believed. So the fact that Jesus says, “Whoever
believes and is baptized shall be
saved,” is deliberate and significant. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to
result in being baptized. Why is this? Why isn’t it just left with belief, when
that seems to make more sense to us?
Other passages from Scripture that speak about baptism help
to answer this for us. It is clear from these passages that baptism is not an
empty ceremony, or, as Luther puts it in the Catechism, that it is “not just
plain water.” Baptism works. It does stuff. It isn’t just an empty sign or
symbol.
In our reading tonight from Peter’s first epistle, he likens
baptism to Noah’s ark. I assure you that Noah and his family were not riding on
a sign or a symbol. They were riding on something very substantial that saved
them from the waters of destruction. The ark was very real and produced very
real results. Peter says, “And corresponding to that—i.e. to the way that
the ark saved Noah and his family—baptism now saves you.”
So the way that you should think about baptism is that it is
something that prevents us from being judged and damned. Those outside of the
ark were judged, convicted of sin, and were punished by God with death. Noah
and his family were preserved from that judgement by residing in the ark.
Likewise all people would be judged and damned as sinners, unless they received
the benefits of baptism that change the situation. Peter speaks to what baptism
changes: “This washing does not serve merely to remove dirt from the body,
but is a guarantee of a good conscience before God through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.”
With this passage from Peter’s epistle we see why Jesus
included baptism in the commission that he gave to his disciples instead of
only speaking about faith. The reason is that baptism actually works. It does
stuff. It changes the situation. In fact, it saves, just as the ark saved Noah
and his family.
There are other passages that tell us more about how baptism
is not just a sign or a symbol, but something that actually works. We will be
looking at these passages in the weeks ahead, so I’ll only mention a couple of
them tonight. In John chapter three Jesus speaks about baptism as being a
genuine second birth. The first birth is from our mother’s womb. The second
birth is by the water and the Spirit. It is necessary for us to be born this
second time in order to see the kingdom of God.
Paul, in the sixth chapter of Romans, speaks about baptism
as a union with Christ in his death and his resurrection. We are united with
him in his death. We are united with him in his resurrection. Paul says, “Do
you not know that all of us who were baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were therefore buried with him by this baptism into his
death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the
Father, we too would also walk in a new life.” These are not empty words,
mere symbols. Something really happened.
So I hope you can begin to see why baptism is included in
these commands that Jesus gives to his disciples before he ascends into heaven.
Baptism is, quite simply, the ordinary way for a person to become a Christian.
By baptism we are set free from our old lord, the devil, and given a new
Lord—Jesus the Christ. We renounce and leave behind the old ways of living—the
works and ways of the devil, and we embrace the new life of the Holy Spirit
creating fruits in us such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Baptism makes us into new creatures
whose sins are forgiven, who have been rescued from death and the devil, and
who have been given the inheritance of eternal life as children of God.
What I have told you about the benefits of baptism tonight
has come from specific passages of God’s Word, as you yourselves can see. I
haven’t made any of this up or artificially inflated any of it. The only thing
that gets in the way of people understanding the greatness of baptism and
believing it is our reason. Our reason asks, “How can water do such great
things?” which is the question of the catechism that we will consider next
week. But you should already know that what you think is one thing and what God
thinks is another. Jesus, as well as all Christians, do not wait around for
people to decide whether they find something to be plausible or not. They
follow what God thinks. What man thinks be damned!
So if God has spoken clearly about what baptism is and the
benefits that it gives, then let that be enough for you. It doesn’t matter if
you think it is strange or unlikely. Who cares what you think? What matters is
what God thinks, and, according to God, baptism is the way that you become his
child. It saves you like the ark saved Noah. So instead of fighting against how
this can be so, why don’t thank God for so great a gift?
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