Baptism our Lord

Matthew 3:13-17

January 7, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Yesterday, January 6, was the annual celebration of Epiphany when the Church remembers the Magi who travelled afar led by a star. The next we hear of Jesus in the Gospel is when he was 12 years old, the account of which is the Bible reading in our bulletin.  Then we jump to when He was 30 and goes to John to be baptized in the Jordan River. All are part of the season of Epiphany. At Christmas we celebrate a historical event, the birth of Jesus, God become man. The idea of Epiphany is the Christ who was born in Bethlehem is recognized by the world.  At Christmas, God appears as man. During Epiphany, man recognizes Him as God.

And so today, we begin our observance of the Epiphany season with one of, if not the, clearest revelation of Jesus’ divinity: His baptism. At His baptism, heaven opened up, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove, and the voice of the Father declared, “this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” In His Baptism, the true God reveal Himself in Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ baptism points towards our own, but we must not confuse the two either. Your baptism is not Jesus’ baptism. He is not baptized into His own name, but by John in a baptism of repentance.  His baptism is to fulfill all righteousness. To fulfill the righteousness that you cannot.   Jesus receives a baptism for those who need to repent, even though he has done nothing wrong.   Jesus goes into the water of His baptism and it is His entrance into a way that leads directly to the cross.  He is baptized because as Jesus said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus’ baptism leads to death and the grave.  But it also leads out of the grave on the third day.  Jesus’ baptism led to His resurrection, and from there it has led to your baptism. Jesus entered into the water in order to die for you.  And in the water of your baptism, you have shared in Jesus’ saving death. 

You see, John’s baptism gave the forgiveness of sins, but it was in anticipation of Jesus’ saving work and the Baptism that Christ would institute before His ascension into heaven, which is received until the end of the age. And yet, Jesus’ baptism is yours.  That is, the benefits of His baptism are given to you. Not in a baptism like His, not in a baptism by John for repentance. But a baptism into His name, into the Triune name, into His death and into His resurrected life. Nothing is more certain than the name which He places on us, the name by which He reveals Himself to us.

Your baptism was not just an idea or thought or an empty ritual. Baptism is God’s work, and what He does is sure and certain. Baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we have God’s own pledge and promise that we are delivered from sin, from death, and from the devil. In the Te Deum, a song we normally sing at Matins, but will also sing during Communion today, we confess that God opens the kingdom of heaven to all believers.  When heaven opened up at Jesus’ baptism, it wasn’t to let God out. Rather, it was to let us in. By virtue of your baptism, God opens heaven to you. God does not belong to you.  You belong to Him.  Maybe that does not seem like a very important distinction but it is. In Baptism, God takes a sinner and gives Him Jesus. He then takes the newly baptized and declares the same as He does for Jesus, “you are My beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.”  

It not only imparts a spiritual reality but it also gives a holy character and an identity that shapes the baptized believer into the life and revelation of Jesus Christ.  This is how St. Paul can write in Galatians, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). In a world that so confused over its own identity, our baptismal connection to Christ, our identity as a child of God, equips us to live a new life, a life that belongs to God, a life of repentance and faith in Christ. You do not get to decide what is relevant or not, what is the Gospel or what it is not, where God meets His people and what God gives to His people.  God defines it all.  He does so not with some random purpose but for us men and for our salvation.  You do not get to pick and choose the God who saves you or how He saves you or what you like or do not like, what you can believe in and what is too far out for you to believe.  The God we have, the God who has it, is none other than the one revealed by the Father and the Spirit as the Son.

Jesus as the Son of God is revealed in His baptism, and He uses His church to reveal this to the world. The Lord has called you in your baptism to be a light to reveal Him to the nations and the glory of His people. Now, as much as ever, the Church needs to proclaim the revelation and the work of Jesus Christ though His Word and Holy Baptism.  We need to teach the truth of God’s Word. We need to live the life of Christ who lives within us, as St. Paul says, again to the Galatians, “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  

Christmas Eve

Lord, Give Me a Sign

December 24, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Funeral for Welton Stanley

Death of the Joy Killer

Christmas Day

Tell the Story

December 25, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Advent 4 

December 24, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Commemoration of Katherina von Bora Luther

Advent Midweek 3

December 20, 2017

Isaiah 40:1-11

Go Up to a High Mountain

3^rd Sunday in Advent (Gaudete)

December 17, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Today, on the third Sunday of Advent, we remember and head the preaching of the greatest prophet and preacher.   John the Baptist was that great forerunner of Jesus, announcing the Good News of the coming Messiah and the salvation He brings with Him. He is the one of whom Isaiah spoke about. A voice in the wilderness crying out, the one sent by God to prepare the way. John doesn’t prepare for another man, another prophet or king.  He prepares the way of the Lord Himself. He prepares the hearts of men with the Lord’s words, harsh words calling for repentance and tender words of comfort and peace.

Now, we know how well that turned out for John, with his head separated from his shoulders. At the time of our Gospel reading, John has been in prison for about a year, jailed by King Herod Antipas. He had heard about the words and works of Jesus and so sent some of his followers to verify these reports. If Jesus was the One who John had been preaching about, then Jesus wasn’t quite living up to the hype.  He witnesses heaven open up and the Spirit descend on Jesus at His baptism, yet the fire and brimstone preaching of John didn’t quite seem to be fulfilled in Jesus. And so John wanted to know if there was someone else that He should be waiting for, or if Jesus was the One.

This certainty isn’t a new feeling. Ever since the first promise of Messiah to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God’s people had been waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Sometimes their patience was not so good and they would complain to God that He wasn’t holding up to promises, that He was ignoring their prayers, or not acting as fast as they would like, or differently than expected.

This isn’t a new feeling for us either. We wait for God’s answer to our prayer and when we get it, our reaction is sometimes, “Is that it?  That’s all I’ve been waiting for?” We see this especially at Christmas time. There’s so much expectation and hype and stress and worry, that by the time Christmas shows up we are exhausted and worn out and almost disappointed.  It’s over as soon as it comes. All we’re left with is a dying tree and credit card debt from too many presents.  Is that all there is to Christmas?

Jesus doesn’t mince any words in His response. As in the way that John was fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah of the messenger coming out of the wilderness, so too was Jesus fulfilling the promises of God. He points to His mighty works of healing, proclamation of the good news to the poor. And He ends with a beatitude, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.”  These deeds and these words verified that Jesus was the long expected Messiah – the One who speaks comfort, comfort ye My people.

God desires to speak tenderly to us. He knows that our hearts are broken, that we have been beat up and dragged down by the devil, by the world, and by our sinful nature. So He tells His prophets, Isaiah and John the Baptist and all who are set into the office to bring His Word to His people, to speak comfort, to tell her not to be afraid, that her warfare is ended and iniquity pardoned, her sin paid for.

Today is the third Sunday in Advent, Gaudete Sunday, which means “rejoice.” With all the stress and heartache and worry at this time of the year, we are reminded that is nothing compared to the joy we have in Christ coming to us.  Even when you don’t feel it, even when you are so overwhelmed by everything, Jesus comes for you. Nothing that steal that joy away.

This salvation which you have received is not just so that you can bask in God’s glory. It is also for the sake of the world. This begins at Zion, seeing the Lord’s approach, and shouting the good news to those around you.  Zion is called to become the Lord’s means of announcing the Good News.  In Isaiah’s day, the Lord’s choice of Zion, of Jerusalem, which would be destroyed and then restored, as His witness to the Gospel doesn’t seem to match the glory of people’s expectations. Though she will lie in ruins and mourn over the Lord’s absence, she will be resurrected. Then she will be able to get up to a high mountain and announce her glad tidings.  Zion’s future is clarified in Isaiah 2, where the prophet foresees the day when Zion will be lifted up to the highest of all mountains and the Gentile nations will stream to her.

This is all foreshadows Christ, the one who was lifted upon Mt. Calvary. The One whom even a Gentile Roman soldier declared upon His death, “Truly, this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). By the cross, your comfort is declared. By the cross, your peace with God is accomplished. By the cross, the your warfare is ended. By the cross, we have received from the Lord’s hand good things in double proportion to the punishment we deserve for our sins.

The Lord’s grace and commission to Zion foreshadow His plan not only for the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also for the baptized living under the cross.  The Church is the Lord’s chosen Zion, the heavenly and eternal Jerusalem already now in this present age. Isaiah proclaims, “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news.” We must boldly announce the Good News, “Behold, your God!  He is here, now, for us in grace in the Word of Christ, in Baptism into Christ, and in the Holy Supper of Christ’s body and blood.  Zion’s message is not to behold just any god, but to gaze upon your God, to look to Christ. A god who is powerful but unloving would have little concern for us. A god who is loving but not powerful would have no power to help us

At times, we may feel as lonely or isolated as John the Baptist. We may question whether this Jesus is worth it, whether He really is the Son of God.  When faced with such questions, when wondering about your faith and the point of it all, follow the example of the greatest man born of women: go to Jesus with your questions, with your concerns, with your fears, your tears. Look at His deeds. Hear His answers.  Our God is both sovereign and saving. And then go up to a mountain and shout it out.  This Jesus is the coming one who has come for you.