"Dying to Live in Our Baptism"
The Baptism of Our Lord—First Sunday after the Epiphany
Romans 6:1-11
January 12 and 13, 2008
(First sermon of the vacancy at Concordia Lutheran Church, Brockport, New York)
1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound? 2Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer
in it? 3Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4Therefore we were buried
with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life.
5For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death,
certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body
of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of
sin. 7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died
with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing
that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no
longer has dominion over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died
to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but
alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
IN NOMINE JESU
Death. It marks the end of life. We witness this earthly reality
each time we are at a funeral or committal. We also witness this
spiritual reality each time we witness a baptism. It is in Holy
Baptism that we witness the death of a heathen—the Old Adam that lurks
within each of us. Baptism also marks the beginning of the new life
the baptized now has with and in Christ. This Sacrament brings us
into the Church as a rite of initiation. This has been the Church's
means of initiating her children into the Kingdom of the Father, God
Almighty, since the Lord gave His bride, the Church, the instructions
to make disciples of all nations, "baptizing them in the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" and to teach them in all
things as He has commanded, as we hear in the last chapter of Matthew,
for, as Luther teaches us, "Baptism is not just plain water, but it is
the water included in God's command and combined with God's Word." In
the baptismal rite found in our new hymnal, the newly baptized
receives formal recognition of being included in the Church's
membership, as we hear in these words:
In Holy Baptism God the Father has made you a member of His Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, and an heir with us of all the treasures of heaven
in the one holy Christian and apostolic Church. We receive you in
Jesus' Name as our brother/sister in Christ, that together we might
hear His Word, receive His gifts, and proclaim the praises of Him who
called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. [LSB 271]
The congregation responds, saying, "Amen. We welcome you in the Name
of the Lord." In Holy Baptism we celebrate the birth of the new life
in Christ…after we celebrate the death of the heathen.
It is not only the death of the heathen at the font we are to
celebrate but our own deaths as well, for we were killed at the font
as well. The Old Adam drowned that day as water with God's Word
poured over our sinful bodies. However, the Old Adam keeps coming
back—every day. He comes, along with his cohorts the devil and the
sinful world, to bring us back from light into darkness, the darkness
of eternal death. This stark and dark reality cannot emphasize enough
our need to daily live in our Baptism, which "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
live before God in righteousness and purity forever" (Baptism IV).
Luther points to our text here, citing verse 4: "Therefore we were
buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life." We are to walk in this newness of
live every day, for we need to confess our sins every day. There is
not one day that goes by in which we do not sin and can forget about
God's forgiveness. We pray in the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." To ask the
Lutheran question, what does this mean? To get the Lutheran answer,
Luther says,
We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at
our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy
of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask
that How would give them all to us by grace, FOR WE DAILY SIN MUCH AND
SURELY DESERVE NOTHING BUT PUNISHMENT…. [Fourth Petition, emphasis
added]
There is not a single person among us who can claim to be without sin
and therefore without a need to make confession. We cannot, and dare
not, cast the first, or any, stone, for we are not without sin. The
blessed Apostle and Evangelist St. John reminds us, "If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not
sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (1 Jn. 1:8-10).
For this reason we need to live in our Baptism each and every day, so
that the Old Adam in us would drown and die and that the new man in
Christ would daily come forth and live. Luther continues to teach us,
this time from his Large Catechism:
Lastly, we must also know what Baptism signifies, and why God has
ordained just such outward sign and ceremony for the Sacrament by
which we are first received into the Christian Church. The act or
ceremony is this: we are sunk under the water, which passes over us,
and afterward are drawn out again. These two parts, (a) to be sunk
under the water and (b) drawn out again, signify Baptism's power and
work. It is nothing other than putting to death the old Adam and
affecting the new man's resurrection after that (Romans 4:4-6). Both
of these things must take place in us all our lives. So a truly
Christian life is nothing other than a daily baptism, once begun and
ever to be continued. For this must be done without ceasing, that we
always keep purging away whatever belongs to the old Adam. Then what
belongs to the new man come forth. But what is the old man? It is
what is born in human beings from Adam: anger, hate, envy, unchastity,
stinginess, laziness, arrogance—yea, unbelief. The old man is
infected with all vices and has by nature nothing good in him (Romans
7:18). Now, when we have come into Christ's kingdom (John 3:5), these
things must daily decrease. The longer we live the more we become
gentle, patient, meek, and ever turn away from unbelief, greed,
hatred, envy, and arrogance. …
And here you see that Baptism, both in its power and meaning,
includes also the third Sacrament, which has been called repentance.
It is really nothing other than Baptism. What else is repentance but
a serious attack upon the old man, that his lusts be restrained, and
an entering into a new life? Therefore, if you live in repentance,
you walk in Baptism, which not only illustrates such a new life, but
also produces, begins, and exercises it. For in Baptism are given
grace, the Spirit, and power to suppress the old man, so that the new
man may come forth and become strong (Romans 6:3-6).
Our Baptism abides forever. Even though someone should fall from
Baptism and sin, still we always have access to it. So we may subdue
the old man again. But we do not need to be sprinkled with water
again (Ezekiel 36:25-26; Hebrews 10:22). Even if we were put under
the water a hundred times, it would still be only one Baptism, even
though the work and sign continue and remain. Repentance, therefore,
is nothing other than a return and approach to Baptism. We repeat and
do what we began before, but abandoned.
I say this lest we fall into the opinion in which we were stuck for a
long time, imagining that our Baptism is something past, which we can
no longer use after we have fallen again into sin. The reason for
this is that Baptism is regarded as only based on the outward act once
performed and completed. [LC IV, 64-67, 74-80]
Our Lord graciously invites is to live our Baptism each and every
day. In fact, He has taught us to do so when He teaches us to pray,
"Forgive us our trespasses." Our Lord calls us to repentance so that
our heavenly Father would forgive us for His Son's sake. The Lord
does not desire the death of the sinner, except in the daily
confession and forgiveness of sins, when He brings the new man to
life. He who has killed the Old Adam in us at the font and in the
confession of sins has raised the new creation at the same font and in
the forgiveness of sins, for our God is a God of life and of love,
with a love so deep that He sent His own Son into the world to become
baptized into His own death, the death into which we became baptized.
St. Paul reminds us in our text: "Do you not know that as many of us
as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life" (vv. 3-4). Christ
became baptized into His own death for us, placing His human nature
under the curse of the Law for us, tasting eternal condemnation so
that we would not have to. He gave His body and shed His blood on the
cross, washing us clean with His blood, for the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has
lovingly, willingly, and willfully gone from the Jordan River to
Calvary's cross to die for our sins. You see, "Christ also loved the
church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse
her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her
to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such
thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Eph.
5:25b-27). In the words of one of our Easter hymns we confess:
Death's flood has lost its chill
Since Jesus crossed the river;
Lover of souls, from ill
My passing soul deliver:
Had Christ who once was slain,
Not burst His three-day prison,
Our faith had been in vain:
But now has Christ arisen, arisen, arisen;
But now has Christ arisen! [LSB 482:2]
Since Christ has risen from the dead, we are baptized not only into
His death, but we are baptized into His resurrection! His victory of
sin, death, and hell is ours as well! As Paul writes in our text:
"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no
more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He
died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He
lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed
to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (vv. 8-11). We
die, even as Christ Himself died. We live, for He lives and reigns to
all eternity.
Daily we are dying to live. Our Lord gives us what we need to live
in His Word and Sacraments, as He has given His bride, the Church, the
charge to administer. She births and washes us through Holy Baptism,
continues to wash us through Holy Absolution, feeds us with every word
from the mouth of God through His spoken Word and with the body and
blood of her Bridegroom. Our Lord does not desire that we suffer or
live as orphans, for He has given us to be part of His bride until He
comes again to gather us to Himself in heaven. Indeed, we are dying
to live, thanks be to God!
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
--
The Rev. Pr. Mark A. Schlamann, Niagara Falls, NY
Vacancy Pastor, Concordia Lutheran Church, Brockport, NY
Sermons available at http://lcmssermons.com/Schlamann
"When you are baptized, partake of Holy Communion, receive the
absolution, or listen to a sermon, heaven is open, and we hear the
voice of the Heavenly Father; all these works descend upon us from the
open heaven above us. God converses with us, provides for us; and
Christ hovers over us--but invisibly. And even though there were
clouds above us as impervious as iron or steel, obstructing our view
of heaven, this would not matter. Still we hear God speaking to us
from heaven; we call and cry to Him, and He answers us. Heaven is
open, as St. Stephen saw it open (Acts 7:55); and we hear God when He
addresses us in Baptism, in Holy Communion, in confession, and in His
Word as it proceeds from the mouth of the men who proclaim His message
to the people."--Martin Luther (1/19/1538)
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