The Reason You Were Baptized

Sermon for the Day of Pentecost
April 24^th, A+D 2026
Our Savior’s, Our Redeemer, 
Emmanuel and First Lutheran Churches
Hill City, Custer, Creighton and Wall, South Dakota

Audio of the Sermon is available HERE. 

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

      Why did you get baptized?  In Jerusalem, on the Day of Pentecost in the year 33 A+D, 3,000 souls were baptized.  We often refer to this as the Birthday of the Christian Church, and it was certainly a big re-birth day, a spectacular born-again and born-from-above day.  So, what about your re-birth day?  Why did you get baptized?  There are a number of different ways we could answer. 

     Do you remember your baptism?  Perhaps not, because I bet most of you were baptized as infants, God be praised.  If so, then one good answer to “why did you get baptized?” is this: “Because my parents loved me.”  A very good and true answer.  Baptism is the most wonderful gift one can receive, and parents who bring their babies to Jesus are doing a tremendous good work, even if they do not fully realize it.  We should understand Baptism, for ourselves and for our children.  God never intended His holy washing to be separated from His Holy Word and Faith.  But, just because we do not understand everything exactly right does not change what God does in Holy Baptism.  Because, at its core, Baptism is God’s Work, not ours. 

     Were you baptized as an older child, or as an adult?  God be praised.  If you were, then it probably seemed more like your decision, and in a surface sense, it was.  When I have had the privilege of administering baptism to an adult or older child, we certainly talked all through what the Bible teaches about Baptism and the Gospel, and the candidate for Baptism did have to come to Church and walk up to the font and get baptized.  They decided to go through with it. 

    But, at the same time, even an adult Baptism is something God does to us.  That is to say, forgiving sins and re-creating souls always requires the Holy Spirit to act, albeit through the Word and through His ministers.  And even more, all the things that led you to decide to seek and go through with being baptized were orchestrated by the Lord.  There is an old hymn that gets it right: I sought the Lord, but afterward I knew, He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me.  It was not I that found Thee, Savior True.  No, I was found by Thee.

     Why did you get baptized?   Because the LORD confused the languages at Babel, and forced mankind to fill the earth.

 

     The confusion of languages at Babel was in part a preventive measure by God.  Mankind was getting organized and very cocky.  Much like when the LORD expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden and posted the angel with the burning swords to guard the way to the Tree of Life, so also, God confused the languages and scattered the people at Babel to prevent them from cutting themselves off from God, permanently.  These descendants of Noah had agency and intelligence, but it was all taking them in bad directions. 

     They directly disobeyed God’s instruction to fill the earth, and instead gathered into one great city on the plain of Shinar.  Then they decided to make a name for themselves, and to build their own tower to ascend into heaven. 

      Their efforts were humanly impressive, but God knew better what they needed, what we needed.  By scattering them, the Lord was working out His better plans for them, and us.  He came down and confused their language, which led them to move apart from each other.  He scattered these new language-groups to the ends of the earth, to become every nation to which Jesus would send His Apostles.  Your Baptism is part of God’s plan to extend His Gospel to all peoples.  Your baptism is part of His comprehensive, merciful, eternal plan.  

 

     Why were you baptized?  Because God knew you needed it.  The people on the plains of Shinar were not bigger sinners nor more pitiable fools than we are today.  We are blessed to know the fullness of God’s plan of salvation.  We know the Good News of the Resurrection, and we are blessed to have received Baptism.  But still, look at us. 

      I pray that the Word of Christ and His amazing mercy are guiding and shaping you a bit more every day.  But, certainly a lot of sin and foolishness still persist within the Church.  We know that more than anything else, God’s Word and loving our family and friends directly, face to face are the things that ought to fill our days.  But still, we allow so many distractions to crowd out God’s higher callings, His higher blessings.  Addiction to work, recreation, entertainment, gossip, politics, (but I repeat myself), fashion and displays of wealth, the list of lesser things that fill the time of Christians goes on and on.  We may not imagine that we can build our own tower into heaven, but are we pursuing a false heaven-on-earth through wealth, comfort, pleasure or distraction?

      We all want to make a name for ourselves, and that’s o.k. in earthly terms.  The world needs successful people.  But do we remember that the Good Name we truly need has already been placed upon us at the font?  The temptation to seek a good name in our accomplishments is at least as old as Babel, but today the internet especially tempts us with the illusion that we can curate a certain image, a good name, through our screens.  And we can make a name for ourselves, but it will not be a very good name in God’s eyes.  It will not be a life-giving, everlasting Name.  Remember, dear friends, that a TRULY GOOD NAME is what God wants for you, the best name, His Name, placed upon you by the Holy Spirit.  Through the washing of water and the Word, God has graciously re-defined who you are and what your future will be. 

 

     You were baptized because of Peter’s preaching, his proclamation of Christ on Pentecost, of which we’ve only heard the first bit this morning.  Peter goes on to tell how God’s Son came to win salvation, through the treachery of His own people, and the cruelty of a Roman Cross.  “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!  Cut to the heart by this Word of the Cross, Peter’s hearers cry out: “Brothers, what must we do?”  And Peter replied, “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 and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 

    This is the promise that has reached you and me, in our day.  Peter preached this message because of Jesus’ command and promise, declared at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, to “make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And lo, I am with you, to the very end of the age.  (Matthew 28:19-20) So, we can also say that you were baptized because of 2,000 years of the Holy Spirit’s faithful work through the Church of Christ, where our Lord is always present to teach, correct, invite, forgive and bless.  

      You were baptized.  (By the way, if by chance there’s anyone here who has not been baptized, after the service, let’s talk).  You were baptized, and you are baptized.  That is to say, Holy Baptism happens on a certain date in a certain place, and it is an ongoing reality, the beginning of the work of God in you.   

     You are baptized, and that matters.  For salvation, and more.  You know, of course, that Baptism is not for doing and forgetting, but rather it is incorporation into the life of Christ’s Church on earth.  Baptism is given by God as the beginning of a new life, in and through Christ.  As Luther answers his own question about Baptism:

     What does such baptizing with water indicate, what does it mean for our lives?  It indicates that the old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

     Where is this written? St. Paul writes in Romans chapter six: “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:4)

    Baptism makes you God’s own child, and brings you into His new life, through His Church, and for your daily Christian walk.  

 

     One more question:  Why should you live like a Baptized Child of God?

      First, because you are not out of danger yet.  We still live in a very fallen world, and we are still very much sinners.  To live as an idolater, to ignore God and His Commandments, is corrosive to saving faith.  If we ignore God and His Word long enough, we can fall away.  We can cut ourselves off from Christ, completely, as the people of Babel were trying to do.  Seeking to live as a Christian will guard us against uncontrolled sin, and also leads us to return to Christ daily to be forgiven and renewed.   If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  But, if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)  Forgiven and cleansed, just like we were the day we were baptized.    

     Second, you live like a baptized child of God because the Christian life is the good life.  Not always easy, but truly good.  Even when following Christ leads to struggles, or persecution, or rejection by friends and even family, still, the good life is the life lived close to Jesus. 

     Do not believe the lies of the world and Satan, nor the lies of your own weak flesh.  Sinful living is not better.  It always wounds, hurting you, and others.  It always disappoints, and leads you away from God and His blessing.  The best life possible in this fallen world is the life lived in Christ, led by His Spirit, seeking to please our Father. 

     Third, you live like a baptized child of God because you want to.  This is who you are, in Christ, who God has made you to be.  Your new heart, the new creature God has made you to be, wants to follow Jesus closely.  So go ahead.  Hear Him more.  Pray more.  Worship more.  Serve more.  It will be great.     

     That part of you that does not want to live as the Baptized?  That is your sinful flesh, and sadly it will be with you until you die, or Christ returns.  And so the baptized life is a struggle, but it is the good struggle.  So repent, and flee to Jesus.  By God’s grace, you are struggling, your are wrestling, you are in the fight.  Embrace it.  Be who you are by your baptism into Christ.  Stay strong, by staying connected to Jesus, through His Word.  For the baptized life is properly life in the Word, from the Word, and by the Word. 

     Now, I know that actually letting God’s Holy Word direct you day by day, hour by hour, might seem frightening.  God will tell you to do things that you would prefer not.  But, fear not, the same God who has baptized you is also eager to walk with you, picking you up when you fall, keeping you safe, teaching you, and helping you grow.  

     Why were you baptized? 

Because your parents, or grandparents, friends or family, loved you, and wanted you to receive the very best. 

Which is also to say that you were baptized because the Church of Jesus is faithful to her calling to baptize and teach, until Jesus returns on the clouds. 

Which is also to say that you were baptized because God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit loves you. 

     God has loved you, perfectly, in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of His Son, Jesus Christ.

     The Triune God continues to love you, through Word, Water, Wheat and Wine. 

     Receive His love. 

     Rest in the peace of His Forgiveness. 

     Go forth to live as His child in this world.  

     And the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting, Amen.