Sermon manuscript:
For the question from the catechism that we will be
considering tonight it is helpful to know the question that comes before it:
“What benefits does baptism give?” Answer: “It works forgiveness of sins,
rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who
believe this as the words and promises of God declare.” Think about what is
being claimed here about baptism. It forgives sins. It rescues from death and
the devil. It gives eternal salvation. These are not small things.
So our question tonight naturally flows from that: “How can
water do such great things?” Baptism is such a simple thing that it appears
that it is not even very good at washing the body, much less being capable of
forgiving sin, rescuing from death and the devil, or giving eternal salvation.
Such grand things seem like they should require grand efforts on our part, or
at least a grand ritual. Baptism doesn’t seem to fit the bill. So how can water
do such great things?
The answer is extremely simple. It can’t. Water certainly
can’t do these things. But remember the definition of baptism that was given
with the first question in the catechism: “What is baptism.” Answer: “Baptism
is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and
combined with God’s Word.” Baptism isn’t plain water. It is a wordy water.
God’s word has been stuck into it. It is God’s word in baptism that makes it do
what it does, together with the faith the trusts this word of God in the water.
So let’s take a moment and consider this “active
ingredient,” if you will, that is in baptism. How did God create the heavens
and the earth? Did he get out a mixing bowl, put in the ingredients, mix it
together, and stick it in the oven? No. He spoke the world into existence. He
said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. When God speaks, things
happen. This is a power that human beings do not have. I can say, “Let there be
light,” until the cows come home but no light is going to be created.
Unless, of course, God commanded me to do such a thing.
Suppose that God said I should say, “Let there be light,” and he promised that
light would come about as a result. That would be an entirely different thing.
This is how the miracles generally happen in the Scriptures. God told Moses to
stretch out his staff over the waters and that he would divide the Red Sea in
two by doing so. A person could ask the question, “How can stretching out a
staff over the waters do such great things?” The answer would be: “It can’t.”
But when God tells you to do something and promises that it will produce
results, then that’s an entirely different matter.
With this line of reasoning you can understand something
important about our sacraments. If God did not command baptism, if God did not
promise that it saves, and if were just something that Christians decided to do
on their own, then it would be an empty and powerless thing. That would be like
Moses deciding on his own that he is going to hang out his arm with a staff in
it. Without God’s Word Moses could have stretched his staff out over the water
until his arm fell off. It wouldn’t have divided in two. But if God tells you
to do something and says what it will accomplish certain results, then we
should be absolutely certain about that.
So with baptism God says we should apply water with the
words, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit.” He also speaks to the benefits when he says, “Whoever
believes and is baptized shall be saved,” and he says, “Baptism now
saves you.” Since this is what God clearly says, he’d have to be a liar for
that not to take place.
The same thinking also applies to the sacrament of the
altar. Without God’s Word the bread would remain bread alone and the wine would
remain wine alone. But when Jesus says, “This bread is my body,” then
what used to be merely bread is most assuredly also Christ’s body. Furthermore
Jesus tells us what this sacrament does for us. He says that the body of Christ
is “given for you.” Concerning the cup he says that it is the “new
testament in his blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
If this is what Jesus says that it is, and this is what he says it does, then
who are you to disagree with him? You can disagree with God all you want. That
doesn’t change what God does. Someone’s unbelief cannot undo God’s actions.
However, unbelief can make it so that a person is not
benefited by God’s actions. This also is an important teaching. It is important
that we understand that baptism is totally effective, totally saving, just as
the ark saved Noah and his family. Whether a person believes it or not doesn’t
change that whatsoever. However, if a person doesn’t believe it, then it won’t
do that person any good.
Noah’s ark is helpful for understanding this. Peter says
that just as the ark saved Noah and his family, so also baptism now saves us
Christians. Noah built that boat not on his own initiative, but according to
God’s own word and command. God promised that that boat would save him from the
waters of judgment and death that were coming upon the world. But suppose that
Noah or any member of his family decided that this wasn’t true. If they didn’t
believe it, they wouldn’t have embraced the ark and held to it. Thus the ark
wouldn’t have done them any good. Even though the ark was given to them and
promised to do what God said it would, by their unbelief they would have made
it as though God had never spoken to them. God’s grace wouldn’t have helped
them.
And this is the very thing that happened with the multitudes
of people who thought that Noah was crazy. Let us not forget that what Noah did
appeared to be as ridiculous as somebody building an ocean-liner in Iowa. We’re
a long way from the ocean. It’s hard to see how such a boat is ever going to do
anything. Someone might ask, “How can a boat sitting on dry land do such great
things?” But that boat was included in God’s command and combined with God’s
Word. So it did what God said. But if people don’t believe, it won’t do them
any good. The people at Noah’s time didn’t believe, so that totally effective,
totally saving ark did them no good.
Let’s apply this line of thinking also to our own times, for
it is highly relevant. Our Christian culture is petering out. As a result every
single one of us knows dozens of people who were baptized, but are no longer
Christians. Some of them might be very open about that. They might say that the
Gospel is nothing but hogwash. That’s relatively rare, though. It is much more
common that people will claim to be a kind of secret Christian where they hold
on to their faith in private. But this is a delusion. The truth is that they
don’t want to hear God’s Word. They don’t want to congregate with other
Christians so as to make the Word of God more known among us. Actions speak
louder than words, as they say. You can know whether a person is a Christian or
not by observing whether they want God’s Word to be made known. All those who
refuse to have anything to do with Christians or Christian congregations, show
by their actions that they are unbelievers, even if they protest to the
contrary.
So with all these people that we all know who are baptized,
but no longer believe, we must properly understand what is going on with them
so that we are not led astray into doing what they have done, and so that we
can help them return to faith. Such people have been baptized. They have been
given the ark of salvation. They have even been put on that ark. But with their
unbelief they are saying, “This ark isn’t doing me any good,” and by their
unbelief they essentially jump overboard. Thus, even though their baptism has
worked the forgiveness of sins, rescued them from death and the devil, and
given them eternal salvation, they block it all and refuse it. The devil is a
great liar, so he has all kinds of tricks that are tailor made to accomplish
this very thing for each and every one of us. So it is not surprising that so
many walk away from their baptism.
How can we help these people? There is nothing better that
we can do for them than to make them realize where they are—namely, that they
are in the waters of sin, judgment and destruction. But we may also offer them
hope if they do not want to stay in their miserable state. In fact, we can
offer to them what already belongs to them. We can encourage them to believe
anew in the grace that God has already given to them by their baptism.
Sometimes people who have fallen away think that they need to be baptized again
to become a Christian. That is not true. There’s nothing wrong with the baptism
that they received. The problem was that they weren’t believing in it.
If someone had jumped off the ark in Noah’s time, they
wouldn’t have to build a whole new ark would they? The problem wasn’t in God’s
ark of salvation, it was that they were deceived into disregarding it and
disbelieving in it. What is needed is to return again to what God has said and
promised. Then, even if a person quit believing in their baptism for many
decades, the benefits of their baptism will no longer be blocked by their
unbelief. They will be able to enjoy those benefits even into eternity.
Despite baptism’s humble appearance, it always remains the
powerful thing that Jesus has made it to be. Simply believe what Jesus says,
and it is yours as he himself has promised: “Whoever believes and is
baptized shall be saved. Whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
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