Baptism of our Lord January 8, 2017
Baptism of our Lord
Matthew 3:13-17
January 8, 2017
“Making Things Right”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I was so disgusted with my Christmas lights this year. In past years I’ve tried to make these little trees out of lights in the front yard and they look really good when they’re done right. But every year I’ve had so many lights go out on those that I gave up on them this year. I’ve had several times on those trees where the light strand just completely rips in two. Almost like it was cut. Frustrating. So I gave up on those. Thought this year I’d keep it nice, simple, and perfect. Just a few lights around the porch. Put it on a nice timer. No problem.
But what happened? My timer wouldn’t work right at all. They just kept going off, on, off on. Wouldn’t stop. So I had to try and remember to plug and unplug them every night. That didn’t always happen. Then half of a strand goes out around the porch banister. Then about a quarter of a strand goes out on the icicle lights. So in the end, it looks ridiculous and half of the time I didn’t even bother to turn them on. Putting them away the other night I thought, “I can’t ever get these right. Next year maybe I won’t even bother.”
Can’t get it right. That’s our story. Do you know that there’s actually not a single thing that you do perfectly right? It might sound really harsh. But we have to realize that it’s absolutely true. We don’t do anything perfectly right. If we did, then we wouldn’t be sinners. Everything we do is at least a little bit messed up by our sin. If I help someone, I’m always partly doing it for my own benefit. If I ever set out to do something good, I’ll always break a commandment somewhere along the way.
Take something simple like going to Church. Going to church is a great thing. But you and I can’t go to Church and do it 100% perfectly right. You’re too much of a sinner. For one thing, we don’t come here fully excited about it. We can think of many other things we’d rather be doing. For another thing, half the time we’re here we’re not really here. Because our mind is wandering all over kingdom come. It’s hard to get much out of the Lord’s Prayer or the Creed or the Sermon when we’re not even listening to the words. And for another thing, we all know that deep down in our heart we often go to Church because we think God will be happier with us because of it. Or at least others will look at us better because we were here. You see what I mean. Even our best efforts aren’t even close to perfectly right.
Take another thing like loving your children. Parents love their children, right? What could we possibly be doing wrong there? Well, loving your children is a great work. But we certainly don’t love our children 100% perfectly right. None of us does. That’s why we’re often looking for time away from them. That’s why we often want our kids to do well mainly so that it will make us look better. That’s why we often skip doing prayers with them and reading the Bible with them—because we’re selfish. Sadly, we don’t love anyone—our children or anyone else—100% perfectly right.
We can drive our souls crazy trying to be perfect. Which many of us have done a time or two. We can try to do everything with a whole heart. We can try to have the right motives for everything. We can try not to be selfish in everything we do. But it’s a fight we can’t win. And thankfully for us, God has given us a much better way.
We see the way to be perfectly right in Jesus’ baptism. John the Baptist wanted to do this thing right. When Jesus comes to him for a baptism, John says, “No way, this isn’t right. You should be baptizing me, not the other way around.” But Jesus’ words should ring in our imperfect ears today, “Let it be this way. For it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.” This is how Jesus makes you and me perfectly right. He takes our place.
We’ve already established that you and I can’t do it perfectly right. That’s where Jesus comes in. He can. And He does. You don’t have to. He came to do it for you. Jesus says at His baptism, “This is how we’re going to make it right.” He’s going to take your place under the Law, under all those rules of God—like you should go to church and worship God with your whole heart…Yep, He does that one for you. He’s going to take your place under that law—“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”—Yep, He does that one perfectly right for you. He’s going to take your place under every single one of God’s Laws and do it perfectly for you. Because you and I can’t.
And then Jesus is going to take all your sins, which were placed on Him when He was baptized, and He’s going to take them to the cross to pay the punishment for them. And then He’s going to rise from the dead to win for you 100% perfectly right forgiveness and eternal life.
You’re not right because you do anything 100% perfectly right. You are right because you live in Jesus. And He’s 100% perfectly right. That means everything you do—whether it’s go to church or love your children or love your neighbor or do any good works—your work is only perfect because it’s done in Jesus Christ.
Today in Church your mind will wander and you’ll have bad thoughts about being here. You can count on it. You can also count on it that you won’t love your neighbor perfectly right today. But your work is still good—because it’s done in your 100% perfectly right Savior. He makes it good with His forgiveness.
That’s why everything we do as a Christian we do in His name. Because He makes it perfectly right. At your Baptism, you were brought into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That’s your name now. Whatever you do in His name—is done in His love and forgiveness. That’s why Luther tells us to start and end every day in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Because that’s what’s going to make your day right. Jesus is. He’s going to make your day right. Because you’re living in His name. Because you’ve been baptized into His name.
It’s very much like a family name. Around here no one really knows my family name, Boehne, or who my parents are. But where I grew up, I lived in their name. If I said, “I’m a Boehne, Curt and Ruth’s son,” that meant something. Maybe something good. Maybe something not so good. You know the same thing is true around here. You might not know someone at all. But if they say, “I’m a Krug or a Finck or a Parkhouse or a Wilkey” or any one of the other many names around here, then we say, “Oh, okay. Sure.” And we’re good with that.
Well, you and I live in the name of Jesus that we’ve been baptized into—the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That name is how God recognizes us. Yes, we are sinners and we don’t do anything 100% perfectly right. Yet God sees us living in HIS name. Not in our own. That makes us right. Even if our works aren’t all completely right. He covers our works with His grace and His forgiveness and He sees us right in Jesus our Savior. That’s living in His name.
So everything you do…do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Get up in the morning and say, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” That’s how you’re going to live today. Because you won’t do everything perfectly right. You can count on that. But you will do it in the name of Jesus. You’ll go to school in the name of Jesus. You’ll go to work in the name of Jesus. You’ll raise your kids in the name of Jesus. You’ll love your spouse in the name of Jesus. You’ll love your neighbor in the name of Jesus. You’ll talk to other people in the name of Jesus. And when you go to bed at night, you’ll lay down in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit—because He will forgive your sins and make you 100% perfectly right.
What a comforting and glorious thing Jesus’ baptism is. He makes us right. And look at the words that God the Father speaks from heaven, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Isn’t that awesome? God is pleased with you because you live in His Son Jesus Christ. God is pleased with you.
Boy, do we need to hear that every day. Because we’re not doing things 100% perfectly right. In fact, we’re doing a lot of thing really poorly and a lot of sinful things we’re doing really well. And we really wonder how God could possibly be pleased with us. Well, He isn’t pleased with our sin. But when we repent of that sin and live in Jesus, God is pleased with you and me. He is.
Don’t try to do things 100% perfectly right. God isn’t pleased with that. He’s pleased with you when you live in His name. When you live in Jesus. When you live in forgiveness. Jesus is your 100% perfectly right. He is right for you. And makes you right. Live in Him every day. And God is very pleased with you. Amen.