Baptism of our Lord January 13, 2019

Baptism of our Lord

Matthew 3:13-17

January 13, 2019

“Water + God’s Word”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

• Do you think you can invent something more versatile than water?
  • Water is one of those many things that God made and we take for granted…
    • But water is amazing
  • We drink it, of course (bodies made up at least half of water)
    • But also base for every other thing we drink (coffee, tea, pop, alcohol, etc.)
    • And also drink for every other living thing on earth (plants and animals)
      • Not only drink it, we sweat it, breathe it out, and expel it
  • We wash with it – ourselves, clothes, dishes, wash away waste
  • We generate power with it – almost half of the U.S. water use is for thermoelectricity

• We play in it – swimming, boating, skiing, rafting
  • We dissolve with it—water dissolves more things than even sulfuric acid
  • And it can even come to us in different forms, like our several inches of snow outside today
• And that amazing invention was from the master mind of God
  • He made water and through water He made the rest of the world
  • In the beginning God began telling water what to do and He’s been doing it ever since…
    • That’s the thing about water. As much as we use it and need it, it can also be a terrible enemy as well (when it floods, hurricanes, tidal waves, hails, etc.)
  • But God directs it what to do to actually serve us
    • God told the waters to separate in the beginning, to form the heavens above us and the oceans and rivers around us
    • God made the rivers to flow in and out of the Garden of Eden to care for Adam and Eve
    • God commanded the waters in the flood to rain and to recede
    • God told the water of the Nile River to turn to blood in the first plague
    • God split the waters of the Red Sea in two for His people to cross
    • God did the same at the Jordan River when they entered the Promised Land
    • God told water to heal Naaman from His leprosy in the Jordan River
    • God told water to stop raining from the sky multiple times in the Old Testament…and then told it to start again
    • God told water to flow from a rock
    • He told it to become bitter and then to become sweet
    • Jesus told water to become wine
    • Jesus told the waters on the Sea of Galilee to be still and quiet in the middle of a storm
  • What’s the point of all of this? God tells water what to do. He made it and He directs it. When you put God’s Word + water = you get exactly what God says
• And God still tells water what to do today. He is still directing and governing the water all over the whole Earth to do as He pleases
  • So now we come to this one day 2,000 years ago, in the Jordan River again, when God tells water to put all of our sin on Jesus
    • There’s John the Baptist, in the water, telling people to be repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins
      • That, too, was God telling water what to do…telling it to take away sins
    • But here comes Jesus, who doesn’t have any sin…
      • And John the Baptist says, “No, no, you don’t need this water”
    • But Jesus says, “We’re going to do this….to fulfill all righteousness”
      • To make everything right
      • God is going to tell that water to give to Me the sin of the entire world
        • Water, that we drink, wash with, play in, etc…versatile water
          • In this case and in this time, placed all our sin on Jesus because God told it to
• Now, in that Jordan River, you have Jesus, who has no sin, now carrying all the sin of the whole world
  • God told water to give to Jesus our sin
• And yet, even though He carries all of our sin, God the Father shouts from heaven, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”
  • How can Jesus be fully man, fully loaded with all our sins, griefs, pains, sufferings, and death—and yet He is fully the Son of God and God says He’s well pleased with Him?
    • This is a great mystery
      • That Jesus can be both of these things at the very same time—totally 100% man carrying the sin of the whole world
        • At the same time totally 100% Son of God, carrying our salvation
  • God tells water to make a great exchange for us
    • The water of Baptism takes our sin away and gives it all to Jesus
      • To the only one who can actually carry all that sin and pay for it—the Son of God
    • And in exchange, we receive His righteousness and God is pleased with us
• Now, here’s the punch line, the climax, of the entire point I was hoping to make today
  • We live every day with a very great mystery…
    • God has told water to do something for us that is quite mysterious
  • In our Baptism, water made us a righteous child of God
    • That water connected us to Jesus who was baptized with water in the Jordan River
      • So we are now one with Jesus, washed clean, forgiven, redeemed
  • Yet we’re still sinners. We still sin every single day, every single minute
    • We do things all the time that don’t please God whatsoever
      • We deserve for God to punish us 100 times over
      • Yet He doesn’t
        • Instead, because of the water of our Baptism, He calls us His children and says He is 100% pleased with us in Jesus Christ
    • This is the mystery we live with every day…you’re 100% sinner and yet God is 100% pleased with you
      • And that’s the way it will be until we get to our heavenly home
  • This is the mystery of Baptism
    • We sinners are made saints with Jesus
      • That’s what God tells water to do in Baptism
• For this part, I’m glad that we don’t fully immerse in water for Baptism
  • We certainly could, and many Christians do, the big tank or go out to the river and completely go under the water
    • But for this part, I’m glad we don’t…because it causes us even more to wonder at the power of God’s Word
      • God doesn’t need 100 gallons of water to do what He wants it to do
        • God can have a little bowl of water and three sprinkles and He’s just fine with that
    • Water always does what God tells it to do
• You are baptized
  • Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness for you and me
  • And we’ve heard God’s voice from heaven telling us that He is well pleased with us
    • That voice is in the Holy Scriptures
      • God’s Word, when you read it and hear it, tells you this great mystery
        • That even though a sinner, you are washed clean in Jesus and God is pleased with you
      • Titus chapter 3, verse 5, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
  • 1 Peter 3:21, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
• When you put God’s Word with water, you get a powerful combination
  • We see it all over nature, all over this Creation
    • But also right here in Holy Baptism, where we are made righteous in Jesus. Amen.