Why We Baptize - A Sermon for Sexagesima

Sexagesima Sunday, February 20^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Why We Baptize - Isaiah 55:10-13, Hebrews 4:9-13, Luke 8:4-15

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

   Why did we baptize James Oaklee this morning?  Why do we baptize
anyone?  

   There are a number of ways we can correctly answer this question.  Our readings this morning from the prophet Isaiah, from the letter to the Hebrews, and from the Gospel of Luke combine to emphasize that Scripture alone is the center of teaching and practice in the Christian Church.  God’s Word is at the heart of all that it is to be Christian.  We can certainly get at a reason to baptize through this route.  Simply put, we Christians baptize because God through His Bible tells us to baptize:  Jesus commanded the Eleven Apostles, just before He ascended into heaven, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Ten days later, Peter at Pentecost cries out to his hearers: “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and your children.”  We also learn from Peter a simple reason to baptize Oaklee, or anyone, when in his first letter the Apostle tells us, “Baptism now saves you.”  That is quite a promise! 

 

   Scripture, God’s Word alone, is our authority for understanding and teaching God’s will, so we are careful not to allow human reason to introduce objections, or put conditions on the gift of Baptism that God has not declared.  Which, sadly, we have a tendency to do, because Baptism seems unreasonable to our fallen minds.  It’s just water and some words, after all: “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  Surely salvation can’t come through just that?  Throughout the history of the Church questions have entered the thoughts of well-meaning Christians: How can plain water do such great things?  Well, says God through Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways.”  God declares: “I send my Word to save, and this is what I mean to accomplish through it, and so it does.”  The Word does not return to the Lord without accomplishing His purposes.  So, because of God’s Word, Holy Scripture, we baptize. 

   There is another way to explain why we baptize, not unrelated to Scripture Alone, but more personal.  My favorite way to explain why we would baptize a baby like Oaklee is simple: because we love him.  

   Now ‘love’ is a word that means different things to different people, and often Christians bemoan the way the world twists this good and important word.  ‘Love.’  Love is not selfishness, it is not power, nor pleasure seeking lust.  Love is not just momentary thrill, nor does it rejoice in the hurt or control of others.  Love is not a rejection of the Creator and the order of His Creation.  And through these negative examples, we know that the word ‘love’ is terribly misused, so often. 

   We should be careful how we use this precious word.  But we can’t stop the world from abusing language, and in this case, the many ways we use or abuse the word ‘love’ actually provides us with an opportunity.  People may misunderstand and misuse it, but everyone wants to be on the side of ‘love.’  Which creates the opportunity to make a comparison, to speak of ‘love’ as God speaks of love, an opportunity, as Paul says, to speak the Truth in love.  To speak of the selflessness, the self-sacrifice, the other centered-ness of true love.  Such speaking will, among other things, take us into all the depth and riches of the gift of Holy Baptism.  For this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son as the propitiation, as the atoning sacrifice to take away our sins.  The loving gift of God, which the Holy Spirit delivered to you, in your Baptism. 

   Think of it this way:  When you love someone, you naturally want to talk with them.  From birth, long before they can respond with words, we talk to our babies.  Which is good for them and good for us.  Our words to babies help their brains develop and help them to know in their souls that they are loved.  Talking to babies is so good; it is almost God-like.  For God promises through Isaiah that the Word which comes from His mouth would be like the life-giving rains that cause seeds to grow, and allow people to eat and live.  And the Lord tells us through the preacher to the Hebrews that God’s Word is living and active, it does things.  And Jesus in our parable today portrays Himself as wildly optimistic and careless farmer, scattering the seed of His Word everywhere, almost as if God wanted everyone to hear, believe and be saved.  Which we know is true, because God is love, and the part of His creation that He loves the most, despite many reasons not to, is us.  God loves mankind, men and women and babies, and in an act of sustaining and protecting grace, God has maintained this feeling of love, even in sinners like us. 

   And so Oaklee’s parents have discovered what so many of us know, that having a child taps a well of love inside us that we didn’t know was there.  They love him, and Oaklee’s extended family loves him, and any of you who have had a chance to hold this handsome little man love him, and together, we desired that Oaklee be baptized.  Because we love Oaklee, we wanted to give him the promises the Bible makes about Holy Baptism, which is a life-giving water of renewal and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, a dying and rising with Jesus Christ.  To be baptized is to be clothed with Christ, to be joined to Him.  Baptism is adoption by God the Father.  Looking down from heaven, and seeing one baptized into His Son Jesus, the Father extends the blessing He declared when the Christ was baptized in the Jordan River.  Today, to Oaklee, for Jesus’ sake, the Father says: “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

   When you ask a Christian about the importance of God’s Word, the first thing you will usually hear will have to do with the Authority of the Bible.  That God’s Word is inerrant, infallible, and tells us what is true, what is acceptable, what we are to do and not do.  You will hear how we must maintain and respect the Authority of Scripture.  And all this is true.  But this Authority is not the fullness of Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone.  God’s Word is true and authoritative.  However, that by itself doesn’t make it good news.  But God’s Word, as we have said, is also effective.  God’s Word accomplishes what God wills, what He desires.  And God desires to save sinners.  So the Word brings us to repentance for our sins, and faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ, living and active, the Good News of free forgiveness, which is the power of God unto salvation. 

   God the Holy Spirit uses the Word to save us, to convert us from rebellion and make us children of the Heavenly Father.  The Spirit does this at our Baptism, and continues this work throughout our earthly lives.  Which is a good thing.  Because we want the promises of Baptism... until we don’t.  We need the Word to be living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, because even as Christians, we try to twist and avoid and ignore what God has said to us.  The Word restrains and rebukes our sinfulness.  We desire what God knows is bad for us, and so He says no.  And we rebel. 

   So we need the Spirit, with the sharpest of all swords, to come along and cut out what is false, and replace it with truth.  We need the Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord to accomplish God’s will, because we cannot.  We need the scattered seed of the Word to make good soil out of our hearts.  Because not one of us is naturally good soil. 

   The Word tells us what God does through Baptism, and the Word is the Lord’s tool to actually do His will in time and space, to create good and honest hearts, hearts of flesh and not of stone, to create new hearts, new hearts that gladly receive the implanted Word, which is able to save our souls. 

   And how does the Word of the God have such power?  Because of the Word
made flesh, Jesus Christ, the very best utterance of the Father, who came down from heaven and joined us in our humanity.  Jesus created the powerful Word of forgiveness, through His bloody death, in order that we might be restored to God’s family, today, and forever and ever.  Jesus is the Seed who fell into the ground and died, so that He might produce a hundred-fold harvest, nay, a millions and millions fold harvest of souls.  The Word of Baptism, the Word of Forgiveness, the Word of the Supper, these Words deliver to us today the victory that Jesus, the Word made flesh, won for us, on His Cross. 

   And so we rejoice in the love of God, spoken to Oaklee today.  And also to you, on the day of your Baptism, and every day since.  Rejoice in Christ’s Word of life and love, live in the promise of your Baptism, and go forth, free to love and speak and pray for all,

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.   

Grace Alone Save: So Don't Give God the Stink-Eye

Septuagesima – The Third Sunday before Lent
February 13^th, A+D 2022
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Grace Alone Saves: So Don’t Give God the Stink-Eye

Stanzas 1 and 2 of Hymn 602, The Gifts Christ Freely Gives

     Being hired into the vineyard is to be brought into the Kingdom of God, made a citizen, a member of God’s people, living under God’s rule and reign.  This hiring is a decision and act taken by the Master, the Owner of the Vineyard, the Lord God Almighty, without any merit or worthiness in us, shiftless types, idling around in the town square.  A sinner being hired into the Vineyard is what we are scheduled to witness next Sunday, with little James Oaklee, at his Baptism.  Nothing helps us see God’s grace in action better than the Baptism of an infant. 

     The works that God has planned for James Oaklee are already prepared, and they are very important to the Lord.  But they are not why God chooses him, or any of us.  His works are not part of the reason God saves him.  Salvation is pure grace, God’s free gift.  Little Oaklee will be just as much a member of God’s Kingdom as the most famous saint.  For all of us are by nature sinful, and are totally dependent on God’s generous heart for our salvation.   A humble, dependent, but eternally blessed way to live.     

Stanzas 3 and 4 of Hymn 602, The Gifts Christ Freely Gives

     Martin Luther and CFW Walther have drilled into generations of LCMS pastors that we are to preach Law first and then Gospel.  We are to preach repentance before we preach free forgiveness.  Then, after proclaiming God’s free gift, we are not to bind people under the Law again.  We are not to imply that our salvation depends on us obeying the Law, after we are saved.  God’s Law is good and we should obey it with all our might.  But all our might cannot keep the Law without sin.  So, in this life, God’s Law always points out our sin, even when it is guiding us in Christian living.  Only the Gospel, only the Good News of free forgiveness in the blood of Christ, can save.  We want people to leave Church confident of their salvation, for the sake of eternity, and so that they will be moved to freely do good works.  So preaching Law first and then Gospel is wise, for us poor miserable sinners called to preach here on earth, so that we don’t mix up God’s Law and Gospel, and so damage the faith of our hearers. 

   But it is interesting how often Jesus doesn’t feel bound by this rule.  Which of course He isn’t, since He can actually see into men’s hearts and knows just exactly what we need to hear at any moment.

     For example, Jesus ends today’s parable with Law, with a warning to the early arriving workers, who thought they deserved more for all their contributions to the vineyard than the workers who came at the last hour.  “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”   This is a stern warning to Christians against thinking that we are better than others, against thinking we have deserved or have earned what we have received from God.  The proper response of faith to the superabundant grace of God is humility and thankfulness, not pride and possessiveness.  We need grace for ourselves, every day, and we rejoice when it reaches another.    

     The original language of Jesus’ warning is actually much stronger than our translation.  A literal translation of the master’s question would be:  Is your eye evil, because I am good?  In less formal speak, the Master says to the grumbling worker, “Are you giving me the stink-eye because I’m generous, with my own money?”

     Don’t talk to God like that!  Don’t even think like that!  The Law must be preached against human pride and greed, including, indeed especially in the area of salvation, throughout the life of every Christian.  As sinners, we naturally look for some way to take credit, to put ourselves ahead of others, to avoid admitting every day that our status in the Kingdom of God is always a matter of undeserved grace.  Such thinking is an insult to God, and a threat to your salvation. 

     Our works, apart from Christ, remain as filthy rags.  But God in His grace clothes you again and again in the pure white righteousness of Jesus, who died and who lives, to bless you.  Every time you are brought to repentance and bring your sins to the Father, He forgives and restores you, for Jesus’ sake. 

     This is the Divine Liturgy, God’s saving work of service to dying sinners.   Our Divine Service, our liturgy on the page, (or screen), seeks to faithfully reflect and deliver what God has done and continues to do for you.  God grant that we revel in His service, rely only on His grace, and rest joyfully in the peace of God, which passes all understanding, and which keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting, Amen.     

Stanzas 5 and 6 of Hymn 602, The Gifts Christ Freely Gives

The Posture of Salvation - Sermon for the Transfiguration of Our Lord

Transfiguration of Our Lord, February 6^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
The Posture of Salvation - Matthew 17:1-9, 2^nd Peter 1:16-21

     When Peter, James and John heard the Father speaking from the cloud, they fell on their faces, terrified that God Himself was speaking to them.  Their posture reflected the reality of the moment. 

      God Himself comes and speaks to us also, on a weekly and daily basis.  We don’t see a bright light or hear a voice from a cloud, but God is with us.  That’s the reality of our moment.  So, how’s our posture? 

      You doubt that God is really here, speaking to us?  Listen again to what Peter wrote, some decades after his moment on the mountaintop:  For when [Jesus] received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. Then Peter continues, “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.”  

     Peter tells the Church, including us, that the Word we gather to hear, in this post-Crucifixion and post-Resurrection world, is even better, more sure than the Word, the voice of the Father he heard on the mountain, when Jesus was transfigured before him.  How is this possible?  It has to do with timing.  Because now the Prophetoc Word tells the completed story of our salvation.  On the shining mountain of Transfiguration, the Cross and Empty Tomb that were still future events.  Now, the great work is finished, and that is the most sure

thing, God’s salvation promise fulfilled in Jesus.  The promises Jesus made to His Apostles, that whoever hears you hears Me, and that wherever two or three gather in my Name, there I am with them, these promises are confirmed by Peter: The victorious Lord Jesus Himself is present whenever His Holy Word is spoken, a lamp of salvation shining in this dark and sinful world.  

      So again I ask:  Considering this reality that Peter has been inspired by the Holy Spirit to describe for us; considering the awesome fact that God comes and speaks to us, right here, today, through His Holy Word, I ask you, “How’s our posture?” 

      We Lutherans are at least known for changing our posture in worship quite a bit.  Stand up, sit down, stand up again.  Kneel, a little bowing here and there...   We sit attentively as His Word is being read.  We speak and sing along when it’s our turn to proclaim.   We stand for the reading of the Holy Gospel, and to recite the Creed, acknowledging the special importance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, which Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as the Creeds, describe in detail for us.    

    But, given that God comes and meets us here, albeit invisibly, should we be lying prostrate on the ground, like Peter, James and John?  Are we falling down on our job, by failing to fall on our faces?  Is this what God wants from us, better, more holy posture? 

   At minimum, it will be good for us to think about how we adjust our posture in worship, and how the things we do with our bodies can reflect and confess what we believe about the reality of this moment.  Such reflection will be good, for us, and for the world, as we try to communicate to everyone the amazing, wonderful work that God is doing for us through His Word and Sacraments. 

     Now, let me be clear, our posture in worship, the things we do with our bodies, are not the Gospel.  They certainly do not save anybody.  We are saved by faith in the forgiving sacrifice of Jesus, the eternal Son of God.  Our posture is not the Gospel, and neither is it God’s Law.  While in the Bible we hear a lot about how the saints of old positioned their bodies in worship, the New Testament Church is not given a law about posture. 

     Still, our posture is important.  Learning to do certain things with our bodies as we gather around God’s Word to listen and pray can help us, and help our neighbor.  The things we do with our bodies are an opportunity for us to remind ourselves of what God is doing in our midst.  Our various postures are at their best instructional aides, as we seek to teach ourselves, and especially our young people and our visitors, about Christ and His saving Word.  By our actions we can repeat and magnify our confession of faith, helping ourselves and others to hear, understand and trust the Good News, the Gospel of Christ’s free salvation. 

     Our posture is neither God’s Law nor is it the Good News of His saving work for us.  Rather our posture is a response, to both Law and Gospel.  We regularly speak back with our mouths the Truths God has taught us.  So also, with the various ways we move our bodies, we seek to say the same Truths.  For example, in humility we bow our heads or kneel as we confess the sins that still cling to us, and the sad fact that we are still sinners, through and through.  Then, forgiven and restored, we stand to sing thanks and show honor to our Savior and the Word which reveals Him to us.  We fold our hands and bow our heads as a way to focus our thoughts in prayer.  We put away our phones and give our full attention to God’s work among us, acknowledging that something greater than Google is here.  Acolytes, ushers, readers and preachers bow when entering and leaving the chancel, this space here, near around the altar, reminding ourselves and everyone watching that upon this Altar Christ comes to feed us with Himself, for forgiveness, life and salvation.  As we are able, we kneel in worship as we receive the Body and Blood of our Savior, in, with and under the Bread and the Wine.    

     It has always been this way.  The Old and New Testaments frequently describe the posture of God's people 
when they were confronted with His Word and Presence.  Take off your shoes, Moses, for this is holy ground.  So the Lord spoke from the burning bush, and Moses hid his face, afraid to even look at God.  When the Captain of the Lord’s Armies appeared to Joshua, Joshua bowed down before Him.   The Canaanite woman, seeking healing for her daughter, knelt at Jesus feet and rejoiced to call herself a dog, happily feeding from her Master’s crumbs.  The tax collector stood off in the corner of the Temple, face towards the floor, beating his breast, crying out Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner, and he went home justified, declared righteous by God.  Forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to the eleven on the mountain in Galilee, and they worshiped, which means they bowed and kneeled before their resurrected Savior, even as He sent them to every nation, baptizing and teaching.  And in this Resurrection Gospel, the Apostle Paul calls on people everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer.  

    Through the history of the Church, other actions and postures have developed, like bowing our head when we hear or say the Divine Name, the I AM, Yahweh.  Imitating Isaiah, we may bow whenever we hear the Holy-Holy-Holy song of the creatures flying around God’s heavenly throne, or when we speak the Name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

     Many kneel or bow during the Nicene Creed, from when we say “and He became man,” acknowledging the mystery of the Incarnation and Christ’s suffering in our place.  Then we straighten up in victory with Him as we confess “the third day He rose again from the dead.”   And of course, many trace the sign of the Holy Cross on our bodies as we speak the Name of God, and at other times, to remember how God has loved us, and also that we are baptized into His death and resurrection. 

     Many of us do some or most of these actions.  Others do not.  We do not have a law about posture.  We shouldn’t imagine we are earning any points by these actions.  But still, habits of posture can be very good, if we do them for good reasons, reasons we understand and can explain.  So if you wish to cross yourself, or bow at “He became man,” or kneel when we pray, you are free.  You’re free to try various postures and do them, or not.  Of course, we will be careful not to bind the consciences of others, careful not to make others feel like they are less Christian for not following the same habits.  Posture in worship has its importance.  But it is only your faith in Christ, not your posture in worship, that saves you.

     Your posture in worship doesn’t save you.  But there is one person’s posture which really does matter.  To close today, let’s consider the postures of Jesus.

     Without thinking, in a natural reaction of fear, Peter, James and John fell on their faces when they heard God the Father speak from the cloud that enveloped them.  Then Jesus came to them, in their fear, and He stooped down.  I assume He must have stooped down, because He reached out and touched them, as they lay on their faces. 

     Jesus stooped and touched them and lifted them up with His Word: “Rise, and have no fear.”   This is a pretty good analogy for the entire ministry of Jesus, stooping down, all the way down from His heavenly throne, stooping down, even taking on human flesh, He became man, the man Jesus, God’s Son, stooping down, in order to free us from our fear of God.  

     And our fear of God is right and proper, for we are sinners, and the holiness of God’s presence is dangerous for us.  Dangerous, except for one wonderful thing, the Good News that Jesus says to you, “Fear not, I am here for you.” 

     Jesus stoops and touches and says, fear not, and He can rightly do so, because of what He has done.  Jesus came bring safety to sinners.  Jesus’ mission was and is to make it safe, right and good for sinners to stand in God’s holiness, sinners like Peter, James, John, and you and me.  Jesus can rightly say “fear not,” because He came to take away the cause of our fear, by assuming the posture of love, the posture of salvation.

     Yes, Jesus stooped down and touched and raised Peter, James and John from their fear, and then He led them down the mountain, to complete the postures of salvation.  Jesus came down, and in the weeks that followed the Transfiguration, He assumed the

posture of public enemy, publicly teaching against the scribes and priests and Pharisees, in order to draw their murderous anger against Him.  

    Jesus came down and reclined at table, blessing the bread and wine of the Passover, transforming it to be His last will and testament, written in blood, effective forever, for the forgiveness of sins.  

    Later that night, Jesus knelt, in the garden, as He prayed:  Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me.  And yet not My will, but Thy will be done. 

     Then Jesus stood, arms bound, the posture of a prisoner, a criminal, as Roman soldiers mockingly knelt before Him.  Jesus assumed the posture of a staggering, doomed man, struggling under the weight of His own cross.  

     And finally, Jesus assumed the posture of love, stretching out His arms, nailed to that crossbar, loving us sinners to death, that He might share His life with us.  

   And He has.  And He does, right here, whenever we gather to hear Him, whenever we bring a sinner to the water of life, whenever we confess our sins and hear the Word of forgiveness, whenever we kneel at this altar, eating and drinking the life He has won for us.      

     And so whether in Church we kneel, or stand, or sit, whether we bow, or fall on our faces, we rejoice.  We rejoice because the posture of Jesus is the Gospel, the Good News that He stands for us, so we can stand without fear before the Father in glory.  

     Scripture teaches that Jesus will return in glory, and before Him every knee shall bow, of believers and unbelievers, friends and enemies, everyone in heaven and on earth and under the earth.  All will know and confess the Truth on that Day, for joy, or for unimaginable sorrow.  But fear not.  Jesus’ return is for your joy.  Before our crucified and risen Savior, with all believers who have been transformed by faith, we will kneel in wonder, bathed in His glory, as we enter into rejoicing, forever and ever, Amen.