Sermon on Holy Baptism [2 Corinthians 5:17-21] (15 December 2013)

Taking the fine example of many Lutheran preachers, today's sermon is on the catechism.  This sermon was preached at St. John's Lutheran, Karoonda (9 am) and Trinity Lutheran, Tailem Bend (11 am).

The Six Parts of the Catechism are the six chief parts of Christian doctrine. And that means every Christian ought to know them, including the 4^th part which is Holy Baptism. And today's text allows us to bring in our Lord's institution of Baptism as well as answer the question why so many churches have eight-sided baptismal fonts. If they have that many sides, that has to be on purpose, because no one would go to all that effort if it wasn't.

St. Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ – new creation.” We sort of supply the rest of that sentence in translation – if someone is in Christ, well that person is a new creation. But the Word of God as God puts it has that new creation front and center. Now as we know, the creation, that is the creation of the world, is all wet. First, it's all wet because water is a large part of the creation of the world in Genesis chapter 1. The Holy Spirit hovers over the face of the waters; God separates the waters, putting them in their place. And in Eden is the river that splits into four and waters the earth. None of this is surprising, because water is necessary for life. We drink it, water the crops with it, wash with it, try and get fish out of it, and even play in it. You can't do without water.

But creation is all wet in another sense. Looking around, water is also dangerous, dangerous enough to drown in whether it's the middle of the ocean or a bathtub. It's dangerous enough to wash away whole communities by flood. You look around and you see that. You look around and see that creation is all wet meaning all of creation is a mess. But what you can't look around and see is that the sin that was brought into this world by Adam and Eve is the cause of the mess that the whole creation is in, even down to today. Even down to your heart. You can't look around and see that death is the wages paid for the price of your sin. God's Word makes all the difference to show the root of the problem clearly, of what's happened to the good creation because of sin. God's Word makes all the difference to show where the rescue of the creation must come from. Because of sin you can't do without God and his Word.

Transition: But death is the price paid out to Christ for your sin, so when he rises it may be made clear what he has done for his creation.

But Paul mentions the new creation, the reconciliation that is only through Christ's work, so that you may see that the new creation too is all wet. It's why many baptismal fonts are eight-sided. The final day of God's creation was the seventh day when he rested. On the last day of the week Christ rested in the tomb, having been crucified. So the day when he rose, the day of resurrection, is the first day of the week, or the day that comes after the seventh day: the eight day of creation, the new creation by the victory of his shed blood. When you were baptized you were put into that eighth day!

You have been made a new creation!

When God created the heavens and the earth, his Word made all the difference. He spoke, and it was so. The same goes for Baptism. Christ himself instituted it, as we hear in the last chapter of Matthew “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Christ instituted it; it's his idea, his invention, so to speak. And because God's Word makes all the difference, Baptism isn't just plain water. It's the water that has God's creative Word attached to it, so that it is, as the Catechism explains, “a baptism, that is a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new (!) birth in the Holy Spirit”. And because God's Word makes all the difference, here's who needs Baptism: Whoever needs the new creation! That includes adults and infants. Luther adds, “Note well, therefore, that baptism is water with the Word of God, not water and my faith. My faith does not make the baptism but rather receives the baptism, no matter whether the person being baptized believes or not; for baptism is not dependent upon my faith but upon God’s Word.”

Baptism is God's work of the new creation just as much as heaven and earth are his work of creation. So why did God give Baptism? Is there a purpose to it? The answer, of course, is yes. Luther says this: “[To] state it most simply in this way: the power, work, profit, fruit, and purpose of Baptism is this [Fasten your seat belt!]—to save” (LC IV 24).1 Pet 3:21, “Baptism . . . now saves you”. That’s why God gave it to you, to give you the blessings of salvation won for you by Christ on the cross. Martin Luther goes on to say, “To be saved is nothing other than to be delivered from sin, death, and the devil . . . to enter into Christ’s kingdom . . . and to live with Him forever” (LC IV 25).

Baptism saves, so when we baptize infants, we trust in God's Word and promises that faith receives this salvation, even though we can't see any faith in infants. For that reason, we can't call Baptism an empty thing; we must call it what it is: the Gospel (which saves).

Baptism is then a present reality treasure for the Christian. That's because the water of your Baptism is dangerous, dangerous to sin, death, and the devil. It's a treasure that is presently there for you, so you say “I am baptized”. Let me illustrate. Now if someone said to you “Are you married?” and you said “I was married”, what would they think? That in the past you were married but now that's over. 

And if someone says to you “Are you baptized?” and you say “I was baptized”, that's the same sort of thing. “I am baptized” is a confession to the world and against the devil, a confession of the new creation by water and the Word.

Conclusion: Creation is all wet because water is so important to everyday life while at the same time everyday life shows the terrible effects of sin in the whole creation. But it is in Christ that the new creation is given, and it is given to you through the Baptism he has given, so that you have been made a new creation. It's his Word, his creation, and his gift. It's your new birth, your joyful confession, and your treasure. Amen.

Advent 2 [Matthew 3:1-12] (8 December 2013)

This sermon was preached at Trinity Lutheran, Tailem Bend (9 am) and St. John's Luthera, Karoonda (11 am).

Okay, so the kingdom of heaven stands near, and I'm supposed to repent? What does one have to do with the other? Good question, just realize this is the same question as the Pharisees and the Sadducees, which is never a good thing. But John's preaching is a very good thing because he's preparing the way for Jesus.

The answer to “do I have to repent?” is yes because Jesus reigns by the forgiveness of sins.

Repent is a word that has stopped having any use outside of the Church, it seems. Sure, you may hear a news story about an “unrepentant” criminal on trial, but that seems to be as far as that goes. But that doesn't mean that John the Baptist was afraid to take this very word on his lips. And when he does, he uses it to mean “be converted from unbelief to faith”.

Now what gives John the authority to stand up before the children of Israel and say such a thing? He is, as Matthew shows, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.”. That's John, that's who he is – he's preparing the way for Jesus by what he is doing, and fulfilling the word of the prophet Isaiah in doing it. That means he's not going to be paying attention to the opinion polls because he has to preach repentance to the very people who have and believe the Old Testament.

And as this is the only thing that John the Baptist can do, the only answer that people can give to “Repent!” is “Ok” (the only good answer at any rate). “Repent, for the reign of heaven stands near.” It's as though John were saying “stop believing in the coming Messiah”, to which the people would reply, “what are you saying, that we should abandon the promises that the Lord gave to our forefathers for so long? How can you say such a thing?”, so that he can say “believe in the Messiah who stands near”. . . “ok, we're listening”.

See, this was an extremely important job that John had to do to prepare the way of the Lord, and it all depended on what Jesus was doing. Jesus had been born, had grown up, but he wasn't “on the scene” yet. And when he comes on the scene, he does so by being baptised by John (which is a sermon for later in the Church Year). And when Jesus comes on the scene, he also says “Repent, for the reign of heaven stands near” - because the reign of heaven is where Jesus is. So John is preparing the way for all of this. He's saying, “this is an important time of fulfillment of Holy Scripture. So believe the Scripture.”

And for you, don't believe in a Savior who is far away from you, but one who stands near where his Word and Sacraments are. This is saying the same thing as John did: worship the Christ in truth. For him, it was, “You can't trust in the coming Messiah anymore, because he has now come.” For you, it's “Don't trust in a Savior who isn't here, but trust in the Savior who comes to you as humbly as he was born in Bethlehem and died on a cross – in the preaching and hearing of his Word, in the washing with the Word that is Baptism, and in the Word joined to the bread and wine so that they are his body and blood. Seek him there or you won't find him.”

So back to John. John says repent, and people did that. “Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶ and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” They did that, except for those who didn't: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” Again, the answer to “Repent!” can only be “okay”. The answers that say “no” fall into two types: one group says “we've already done that” and the other says “we need no repentance”. Yet both groups still need the forgiveness of sins. You can't say “I've taken care of this and that sin/offense” (as if you could do such a thing with works or anything), and you can't say “I don't need this” because then John the Baptist thunders at you “who told you that you will escape the wrath to come? How do you know this is so, that you don't need to repent?” But the sinner says “I have no righteousness apart from Christ. None. He is all in all for me.”

And don't say, “I don't want to go to the divine service today”, as if that's a reason. This is saying I don't need to go to church today. This is a different thing than saying “I can't make it to church today because of illness or emergency or travel” or things like that, but it's saying “I don't need to”. How far away from that is saying “I don't need to repent”, which again is what the Pharisees and Sadducees said?

John says repent because you too need to repent (and that shouldn't be so offensive since the Law constantly does its work in leading us to confess our sins (every Sunday) by the 10 commandments (learned in the Small Catechism). He says this to you not because you don't know that Jesus has indeed come but so that you may believe only in him and in no other (because your heart doesn't want to believe in him alone). To believe in him is to be converted by him from unbelief to faith. To believe in him is to receive his righteousness alone as that which counts before the Father. That's because all you can manage is self-righteous, but that's not the reign of heaven.

You need to repent. Me? Yes, you. Otherwise, where does it lead to say you don't need to repent? “But that's for bad people. I”m good”. Either way it's a misunderstanding of what sin is.

We're angered by evil, but God isn't? We're angered by self-righteous [jerks] but God isn't? The difference is that God is righteously angered by the sins of sinners while at the same time wanting them to be saved. And so repentance – to turn from sin and unbelief and believe the promises of the free gift of forgiveness of sins for Jesus' sake – this must be preached.

Part of the confusion with the word repentance is that “Repent!” is something you say to someone outside of the Church. You say “Hey, buddy, repent.” But it's also to be said to those who in the Church. And that's because in the Church you have mighty enemies in sin, death, and the devil (who don't want you to trust in the promises of Christ). But do not despair, for

Jesus reigns by the forgiveness of sins. Let me explain why I've been saying the reign of God instead of the kingdom of God. You say “kingdom” and you think, okay that's a place. But this word in the Bible has to do not with a place but with what the King does. And a king reigns. So when John says “the reign of heaven stands near”, this points you to Jesus, where the word kingdom doesn't need automatically make you think Jesus.

And that explains why the reign of God must go with the preaching of repentance. It all looks forward to, and brings you safely through the Last Day. That's because Jesus reigns by the forgiveness of sins. That's how he reigns. So if someone says to you, “How do I see Jesus reigning?”, you don't say, “Go stick your head up in heaven and see”. You say, “Look to the cross of Jesus Christ where he has won the forgiveness of all sins. And, by the way, you look to that cross by hearing his Word read and preached in faith and by receiving the Sacraments.” And to do that, you first hear what your sins are, why Christ your King went to the cross.

And all this is of great help to the Church together and individually when your sins accuse you. All the anger for your sin is poured on Jesus so none is left for you. All the claims that sin, death, and the devil have on you are declared invalid by Christ's cross which covers all your sin, rescues from death, and delivers from the accusations of the devil. The reign of Christ is also personal – as personal as the word of forgiveness that is spoken to you for all your sins.

And since John baptised in a way that prepared for Christ and the Baptism that he alone brings, this Christian Baptism must also be preached to prepare for Christmas. Christmas gifts cause stress, but the gift of Baptism doesn't and shouldn't, because it's a gift that you can never be done getting use out of or done appreciating. Christmas is part joy but because you live in a fallen creation, there is always stress or sadness or all manner of things that are wrong. Good thing your baptism delivers you from the fallen creation and joins you to Christ's death and resurrection, joining you to the Last Day and eternal life with Christ who has given you this Holy Baptism.

Conclusion: Since the reign of heaven stands near because Christ does, you repent. You repent because you have no righteousness of your own, but Christ is the one who reigns by the forgiveness of sins, and he reigns all the way to the Last Day, which he has joined you to in your Baptism. Amen.

Advent 1 [Isaiah 2:1-5] (1 December 2013)

This sermon was preached at St. John's Lutheran, Karoonda (9 am) and Trinity Lutheran, Tailem Ben (11 am).

Well it's Advent, but the readings this week aren't about the birth of our Lord. They're about readiness for Christ's second coming, and about how special Jerusalem and the house of the Lord is. It's like sticking two different things together. But, since Christ has come to be born, that includes that he must come again, not in humility as a baby, but as the One who is to judge the living and the dead. So it's a time of anticipation and repentance – the perfect setting for Isaiah chapter 2.

Repentance is first on the list, so that you know who the nations are that Isaiah speaks of, and what's up with the Jerusalem he addresses. Isaiah prophesies that “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it”. The city of Jerusalem is built on top of a mountain, but it's not the tallest mountain that there is. That's not what God is promising when he says it will be established as the highest of the mountains, the head of the mountains. Because it doesn't say “Jerusalem will be the highest”, it says the mountain that has the house of the Lord on it will be the highest. And it says it will be established. So who will establish it, who will make it the head, the chief mountain? The way the text talks, this can only be God who does this. (And as we'll see, the way he talks can only be talking about the Christian Church).

And why is this such a big promise? Because God describes the nations and Jerusalem itself very differently than he describes this promise in the latter days (which start with the incarnation of Christ). This is in Isaiah chapter 1, and the rest of chapter 2. The nations are described as devouring the land of Judah and burning its cities with fire. They surround Judah as a constant danger, not as happy visitors. And Jerusalem is described “And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.”, as once faithful but now unfaithful, a land filled with idols. They chase after the idols of the surrounding nations, and seek security in alliances with other nations and not in the Lord. Both are idolatry, and by it Jerusalem is brought low, not raised up.

The Church during Advent and always is in need of repentance because you make other gods all the time. When you make gods, they like what you like, and they call good what you call good. You're not perfect, but you think you're good enough, tried enough? Congratulations, that's all the god you made up wants of you anyways. You don't think it's right to tell someone else what is right and true, or what marriage is, or that human life should be protected? Congratulations, your homemade god also thinks those things are just personal, they don't apply to everyone. You have a righteousness that you can take credit for? Congratulations, your god says that's all you need. Your god doesn't want to take a lot of time revealing who he is or what he's done, so that you can keep the focus right where you want to: yourself. But take a look at what the nations say when they come streaming in to the place where the Lord dwells: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”. They're not there to believe in a god that they can make up, but in the God who reveals who he is and what he is like. Your heart would deceive you on who God is. His Word puts the spotlight on your heart so that the better spotlight would go on his promise of forgiveness through the blood of Christ.

You see,

From beginning to end, the Church lives only from the work of Christ.

That involves a lot of anticipation, even as it involves the faith that believes that the only life is the life that is given to you by the work of Christ, the work that is for you. The Christian Church is raised up above every false religion because of what Jesus has done, received by faith alone. You anticipate, you look forward to, when you will see this with your eyes, but the prophecy that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains only takes place in the Church which is bought with Christ's own blood shed for you on the cross. But you believe now that only Christ's work is where your faith can rest. Your conscience is restless without Christ and his cross, either restless or so out of tune that it's numb. Either way is a way without comfort. But with Christ's cross you're daily lifted out of the darkness of sin, until the day you repent no more, which is the day you see the Church in all her holy glory in heaven. Then you'll see the truth of that glorious picture of the mountain that is the highest, except in elevation it isn't, but by God's pure grace and mercy it is.

The nations stream in because of what Jesus has done. It's his work that there is a Christian Church on earth for Christ to return and gather to himself. In the Gospels he says, “but when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” If it were up to you, no. But it's not, it's his work from start to finish. That's the other part of the picture in this reading – the nations stream in, that is they flow in like a river. But what direction do they flow to get to the mountain? Up! Streams don't flow up, unless God wills it. The Church, right down to this congregation, doesn't exist because it has things we want in it, but because it has the only needful thing in it – that Christ is here, with the precious gifts of his cross, to hand them over to you by the work of the Holy Spirit. Here are the things you need. And if the Lord is here to do these things, then by his incarnation, his suffering and death, here is Mount Zion. The epistles to the Hebrews doesn't lie: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven”.

 

And it's all because the Word of the Lord has gone out. It's only because of that, just as you are saved only by Christ, saved only by grace alone through faith alone. The Word of the Lord goes out and the people come in, this is as amazing sounding as the raising up of Mount Zion; usually we hear of people being sent out to bring people in, and that's true, but here Isaiah puts all the emphasis on the Word of the Lord, and no wonder, for only that could bring in such different people from such different lands and times into the Christian Church. And usually we think so small that all we see is congregations shrinking, but this picture here in Isaiah describes the entire life of the Church, for all its ups and downs in the world it is still described as a streaming, that which comes in like water, without needing to be pushed.

Daily repenting, the Church doesn't despair even when looking toward the future because of what Jesus has done. If the Church had a righteousness that was her own, then that wouldn't be so. But the Church has a righteousness that comes from outside of her. And my goodness, think of Christ's mercy here. If you were God, you wouldn't save you, knowing how wicked and self-righteous you are. But God is more merciful than you are, to forgive your sins. So in your life, morning and evening, is where repentance and anticipation come together this Advent. You look ahead by repenting, by confessing your sins daily before God, each other, and your pastor. You look ahead by looking backward to Christ's cross and all his promises to you of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. You look back to your baptism, you receive the forgiveness of sins in the Lord's Supper, and you look ahead for Christ to return soon, meaning at any time. And you do that by looking ahead to celebrating a past event in human history: that God himself took flesh, became man, and was born. And so you look ahead to the future without despair because the Holy Spirit keeps the Church with Jesus in the one true faith.

Conclusion: We start Advent by looking way way ahead, to the second coming which is part of the whole history of the Church, even the parts that haven't happened yet. But we do so by examining ourselves in repentance. And it's all about the cross which has brought about the forgiveness of sins and all righteousness for the Church. It's how we prepare to sing about the manger of Jesus. Amen.