Do You Know the Power of Baptism?

Romans 6:1-11

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

Do You Know the Power of Baptism?

Knowledge is power.

I have always lived in a northern climate. I have never gone a year without snow. But I have also never gone a stretch of three straight days where the temperature never rose higher than -30 C… until today. I know that winter is cold. I know that there is the constant threat of frostbite and hypothermia, but I didn’t know that with some of the wind chills that we’ve had this weekend I could have gotten frostbite in as few as 2 minutes. I walk a paper route every Thursday that takes 30 minutes. If even a single square inch of skin were exposed – even just the tip of my nose – I could have been in for a world of hurt.

But, armed with this knowledge, I could still go out on my paper route properly prepared – bundled up from head to toe, but safe and still able to function. So, that’s what I did. Knowledge is power. Without that knowledge I could have either gone out and hurt myself, or done nothing and gotten fired. This knowledge empowered me to do my job safely.

Today we read a portion of Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Rome, where Paul made it clear that he wanted them and that he wants you to know a few things – not about weather, not about snow, but about baptism. And this knowledge is power too. It’s not just an intellectual exercise. It’s not a piece of Bible trivia or a dusty doctrine that you have to know to pass confirmation class. It’s a truth that gives you power. It’s a truth that makes an actionable difference in your life.

Here’s the first knowledge nugget that Paul drops for us today:

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.[1]

What’s the first thing that Paul wants you to know about baptism? Paul wants you to know that your baptism connects you to Jesus. He says it a couple different ways here: we were “baptized into his death;” we were “buried with him;” and then he even draws the conclusion that because we are so connected to Christ that also means that we will even rise to new life with him. In other words, because of our baptisms we get to look forward to the resurrection from the dead and eternal life with God in heaven.

All that started at your baptism, where you were baptized into Christ’s death. The central figure – the central symbol of Christianity is the cross, and for good reason. That’s what Jesus came to do. He did not come to this earth to teach us how to be good people. He did not come to this earth to make our earthly lives better. Jesus came to die, because that’s what you and I deserve for our sin.

Paul starts this passage with a question:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?[2]

Do you follow Paul’s logic here? Paul is writing to Christians – like you – who know that God forgives sin, who know that there is no sin so great that God cannot forgive it. Paul is writing to Christians – like you – who know that God’s grace and his patience and his love are unlimited. You cannot out-sin God’s capacity to forgive you.

In a perverted world some people might take that grace for granted and abuse it and say blasphemous things like, “Well, if God is just going to forgive me anyway, does it matter how I live my life? Wouldn’t it actually make God look even more gracious if I were even more sinful. If he could forgive someone as bad as I am then that would make God really look good.”

You wouldn’t dream of saying anything like that, would you? But has the knowledge of God’s love for you ever made temptation and sin seem that much less serious? Even if you don’t say this out loud, maybe you say it subconsciously in your heart: “It’s just gossip; it’s just the occasional swear word. We’re not talking damnable offenses here. God has forgiven a whole lot more than this. I’m sure he’s not going to keep me out of heaven for the occasional slip of the tongue.” “It’s just pornography. It doesn’t hurt anybody. Everybody does it. I’ll just pray for forgiveness later. God is good that way.”

Even if you don’t consciously, publicly proclaim, “I’m going to sin more to make God’s grace look better,” sometimes your actions say that for you. But that’s why Jesus came and that’s why Jesus died on a cross – to take your sin in his body and to pay the penalty for your guilt with his blood. Jesus didn’t just assume that his heavenly Father would treat sin lightly or shrug it off as if it didn’t matter. No, Jesus knew exactly what it would cost him and he willingly paid the price, because he loves you.

And because he loves you, Jesus wasn’t content just to leave you a word of promise that survived 2,000 years since his sacrifice. He wanted to give you the assurance that his promise wasn’t empty. He gave you baptism too – a sacrament that shared the same promise as the cross but engaged your senses here and now, and allowed you to feel the water that was connected to his Word that connected you to Jesus.

Through your baptism, it is as if you were joined to Jesus, and by your baptism you receive the benefit of all that Jesus did for you. You were baptized into his death, which means that your sins were paid for – your sins, i.e. the person whose forehead dripped with water, your sins were on his cross.

You were buried with him, i.e. your sins were taken away from you and laid in his grave where they will lie – away from you – for the rest of time.

You will rise with him – to the glory of a heaven that you never deserved, by the grace you often took for granted, but by the grace that was shown to you anyway through Jesus.

Your baptism is powerful. Your baptism effects your salvation. Your baptism gives you the assurance of heaven, because your baptism connects you to your Saviour Jesus.

That’s what Paul wants you to know. That’s the powerful piece of knowledge he wants you to cherish. But there’s more:  

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.[3]

Paul says that in baptism your old self was crucified, i.e. the body ruled by sin was done away with. That’s your sinful nature. That’s the natural inclination inside each of us that craves sin, e.g. that hears a juicy conversation and wants to join in; that sees an attractive figure and lets the mind wander. In baptism that old self is stripped from you and nailed to the cross of Christ. It’s crucified, done away with, killed. Because of baptism you are no longer a slave to your sinful nature.

Now, that’s not to say that after your baptism you never even have the urge to do a sinful thing ever again. In reality, it’s quite often the opposite. That’s when trial and temptation truly begin, as the devil tries ever so hard to disrupt the connection that baptism forms between you and Jesus. But what this knowledge does is remind you that after your baptism you are not a slave to sin anymore. Sin isn’t the only thing you can do. Now you can fight. Now you can resist. Now there can be godly desires in your heart that want to do what is good and right, godly desires that fight against the sinful ones. And baptism can help with that!

Luther quotes this passage from Romans 6 when he comments on the meaning of baptism for our daily lives:

Baptism means that the old Adam in us should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance, and that all its evil deeds and desires be put to death. It also means that a new person should daily arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.[4]

It starts with baptism. Baptism connects you to Saviour and assures you of your salvation. But baptism also equips you to live a godly life by drowning your sinful nature with daily contrition and repentance.

That’s one of the reasons I love our tradition of the baptismal stones. Everyone who has ever been a member of or been baptized in this congregation has their name on a rock under the water of the baptismal font by the door. It’s the same font that you saw last week be used to baptize James and two weeks before that to baptize Nathaniel and two weeks before that to baptize Freya. That stone with your name on it is constant a reminder that remains immersed in the blessings of your baptism every day. It doesn’t matter if you come here on a Sunday or a Monday or a Friday, your stone is still there. You, as a Christian, are still in the state of being baptized. That’s why we even sometimes change the way we say it: not, “I was baptized,” but, “I am baptized.” You are and always will be a baptized believer, connected to Christ, whose old self was crucified with him, so that you could go and live a new and godly life every day.

Baptism isn’t just a symbol. It isn’t an act of dedicating ourselves to God. It is a gracious gift from God to us that accomplishes our salvation and gives us power to live our lives of faith. You are connected to Christ. You are free from sin. Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Romans 6:3,4

[2] Romans 6:1

[3] Romans 6:6

[4] Luther’s Small Catechism; Baptism: The Meaning for Daily Life

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God's Patience Is His Passion

2 Peter 3:8-14

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

God’s Patience Is His Passion

“Soon” is a relative term. If you tell an almost 3-year-old that we’ll be there “soon,” when he asks, “Are we there yet,” you can be sure that he’ll ask the exact same question again within the next 30 seconds. If Canada Post tells you that you can expect your Christmas package to be delivered “soon,” you probably shouldn’t expect it until sometime next week. If the Department of Transportation tells you that construction on the stretch of road that you take to work every day will be done “soon,” set a reminder on your calendar for five years from now and see if they’re not still working on it.

“Soon” is a relative term. But if we’re being fair, I think we often forget how gargantuan an effort it is to pave a road or build some hypothetical bridge, maybe on the southwest corner of the Anthony Henday over the North Saskatchewan River just before you get to Terwillegar… It takes literal tons of materials and tools and heavy machinery and expertise and engineering and manpower, not to mention the financial resources to pull it all off. 5 years might actually be “soon” for a big construction project like that.

On the other hand, for that 3-year-old, the day it takes for you to travel over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house for Christmas represents about 0.0009% of his entire life. That might not seem like much to you, but that same percentage for the 3-year-old’s 36-year-old dad would come to almost two weeks of his life. That’s almost a whole month for his 74-year-old granddad. Proportionately speaking, that one day is not “soon” at all, is it? It’s a long time!

“Soon” is a relative term. It depends on who you are and what you’re talking about. If what you’re trying to accomplish requires great effort, we can usually find it in us to be patient. If you are short on time, however, patience can be harder to come by.

Peter talked about patience in our second reading for today – both our patience with God and God’s patience with us. And what Peter found was that God is much more willing to be patient with us than we often are with him. In fact, Peter would suggest that patience is even God’s passion.

We’ll get to that in a second, but first I want you to understand why Peter writes what he does. A few minutes ago, you heard Rob read these words:

With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.[1]

What we didn’t read is what prompted this passage. Earlier in this same chapter, Peter writes:

In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.[2]

Peter is addressing the fear that because Jesus has not come back, as he promised he would, that means that Jesus is a promise-breaker and that our faith has been founded in a fairy tale, that should be believed no more than Santa Claus, Jack Frost, or Buddy the Elf.

Jesus promised Peter that he would come back soon. It’s been 2,000 years! I mean, I know that “soon” is a relative concept, but is there any circumstance in which 2,000 years can be considered soon? At what point should our Christian patience in God run dry? What if it has already?

Think about it. Do you wake up every morning thinking that this might be the day that Christ comes back? What would that even look like? Would you make your bed? Would you dress up, get a haircut, shave? If Jesus were coming today and this was your last day on earth before an eternity in heaven, how would you feel while you were eating breakfast?

I honestly don’t know what I’d do. I know some things that I wouldn’t do, though. I wouldn’t get frustrated that my son woke me up an hour earlier than I wanted. If I knew that Jesus were coming back today, I wouldn’t feel panicked at breakfast thinking about all the work that’s been piling up on my desk. I wouldn’t stress out over retirement plans, RESPs, TFSAs, etc… I wouldn’t get upset about whatever petty thing my neighbour or family member did to me. I wouldn’t let my depression or anxiety spin me into a cycle of sinful coping mechanisms. I wouldn’t go the whole day without thinking about or praying to God – he’d be about the only thing I could think about!

Or maybe you could think about it this way. When you hear Peter say,

“The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”[3]

Does that make you happy or sad? Does that make you hopeful or fearful?

Are there things in this life that you’re not ready to let go of yet? If your sports team is currently on a heater, would you rather that Jesus not come back until after the championship so that you could enjoy going out on top? Are you looking forward to Christmas so much that you’d rather Jesus wait until all your presents are opened and your family goes home before he destroys the world? If Jesus came today, would you be disappointed that you didn’t get to see your children grow up, or your career blossom, or get your chance to ask that special someone out on a date?

Maybe we’re not as ready for Jesus to return as we thought. Maybe our patience for God to keep his promises is or has already dried up.

But that’s why I’m thankful that God’s patience is his passion. Listen to what Peter said at the beginning of this passage again:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.[4]

It’s been 2,000 years since Jesus promised to come back. Is there any circumstance in which 2,000 years can be considered “soon”? Yes! Remember what we said before: If what you’re trying to accomplish is worth it, then it doesn’t matter how long it takes.

What is God trying to accomplish? Your repentance and therefore also your salvation.

God doesn’t want anyone to perish. Put yourself in God’s shoes. If he had pulled the plug on this world at any point in the last 2,000 years, how many people would have perished? If God had initiated the self-destruct sequence on this planet at any point within the last 2 millennia, how many believers and therefore also future residents of heaven would never have been born?

Or, let me ask the question this way: what if, the only reason that this world is still spinning – that Jesus hasn’t come back yet – is because he wanted you to come to repentance, to believe and be saved; or for you to bring the good news of salvation to someone you haven’t spoken to yet, but who, because of you, will believe in him? What if that’s the only reason that we’re all still here, i.e. because God is patient with you?

How would that make you feel? Honoured. Humbled. Loved. Empowered.

We talk a lot about the cross of Christ, and we should. That’s where our God demonstrated his incredible love for us. He sacrificed his sinless Son for sinners like us. Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to give his life for people who are often too wrapped up in their own lives to love him. God loved you so much that he saved you from your sin and gave you real reason to look forward to the End – not to be afraid, not to regret or resent the missed opportunities or unfulfilled dreams, but to eagerly anticipate the day that this world and everything in it will be gone and we will be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him in a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

We talk a lot about the cross of Christ, and we should. But there is just as much of God’s love on display in the patience he has demonstrated these last 2,000 years. God is patient with you. He does not want you to perish. He wants you to repent and be saved. He wants you to look forward to the day of God with eagerness in your heart.

That is only possible by faith in Jesus. Without the forgiveness he won for us, the day of the Lord would be a terrifying and dreadful prospect. But because he has taken away your sin, you can live every day as if it will be your last.

So, I’ll ask it again: What would it look like to wake up every morning thinking that this might be the day that Christ comes back? Would you make your bed? Would you dress up, get a haircut, shave? I don’t know that those really matter. Would you repent? Would you apologize for the sinful way you’ve spent your days and the selfish ambitions you sometimes allow to exceed your eagerness to be reunited with your Saviour? Would you strive to spend the rest of that day living a holy and godly life? I pray you do.

But when you inevitably fail and at the end of the day take stock of your standing with your God, put your hope and confidence in the Christ who is coming back. He’s the same one who came 2,000 years ago to take away your sin. And he’s coming again to take you home to heaven, where you won’t have to deal with frustrations and fears from the outside, or guilt and shame on the inside. He is coming again to take you to heaven where you will live in his righteousness and be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him because of him.

2,000 years may not seem very soon to you. But I am eternally grateful that God has waited this long so that you and I could know his love; so that you and I could repent and be saved; and so that you and I could learn to change our prayers from, “Wait, Lord, I have so much left I want to do,” to, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Amen.”

[1] 2 Peter 3:8

[2] 2 Peter 3:3,4

[3] 2 Peter 3:10

[4] 2 Peter 3:9

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