Advent Baptism Series: The Benefit

The Benefit: Forgiveness of Sin

Advent 2 T Matthew 3:13-17

(Adapted From Dr. Masaki’s Baptism Series in CPR Vol. 28, Part 3 Series B)

INI

Last week, we taught of baptisms’ inexpressible gift –

Receiving the name of God.

With God’s name comes His favor and presence.

The name of God is the unique gift that baptism gives when compared to the other Sacraments.

Nowhere else is God’s name placed over us.

And since in baptism, God gave his name to us,

God commits Himself to us.

 

There’s no expiration date on God’s name.

I often teach the name of God received is like a tattoo that’s placed upon your forehead and heart.

Once God has placed it there,

You can’t just rub off God’s name.

He cares for you – all the way to the end.

 

There may be times when one won’t live up to what the tattoo of God’s name says.

One may live in unrepentance and fall out of a state of grace.

But God’s name is still plastered on them,

And His commitment to restore them never runs out.

Even when one may turn their back on God,

He doesn’t turn His back on them.

 

Tonight, Luther explains to us the benefit of having God’s name –

“Baptism gives forgiveness of sins, deliverance from death and the devil, and eternal salvation.”

This benefit is enormous.

And again, this enormous gifted in such simple water.

 

With such inexpressible gifts, it can be hard to teach the benefits of Holy Baptism.

This teaching that baptism forgives sins and gives eternal salvation is baked in very churchy- doctrinal terms.

But take that teaching into the real world,

and you can see the blessings and value of baptism.

 

For example, my oldest brother grew up Lutheran and his wife grew up Charismatic Baptist.

When it came for their newborn daughter to be baptized,

they had long discussions about baptism –

Were they going to baptize her as an infant in the Lutheran Church?

Or were they going to wait to baptize her until she reached the age of accountability to “make a decision” for Christ?

 

Of course, seminary trained brother at the time was asked to chime in and talk with the sister-in-law.

We did we start? Where we must always start: with God’s own Word.

First, we went through the passages of the Bible that taught about baptism.

1 Peter 3:21 says that baptism saves you.

Romans 6:3-4 talks about Christ’s work of death and resurrection being gifted to you in baptism.

Acts 2:38-40 talks about how baptism grants forgiveness of sins, and this promise is for the children of all those who were there!

 

Any progress? Nope.

Then we talked about Luther’s teaching in the Small Catechism,

Supplied with all the biblical references.

Any progress? Nope.

 

At various points for the next couple of months we would talk again,

But she kept getting hung up on the fact that she wasn’t choosing to be baptized,

And maybe the baptism wouldn’t be as meaningful because of that,

And how can an infant repent or have faith.

I’m sure you’ve heard similar things.

 

But if you notice, baptism wasn’t correctly understood.

Baptism isn’t something I do for God, and it’s not an event for me to commit myself to God.

It’s an event where God commits Himself to me, and never lets go.

God is the actor, initiator, the subject of the verbs in baptism.

The baptized is the object and receiver of the action.

Nonetheless, its hard to shake a false teaching when it’s taught by everyone around you.

 

Eventually, I said to both my brother and sister-in-law:

“This is what God’s Word says on baptism.

I believe God at His Word, and you should too.

Are the gifts expressed in God’s Word something you want for your child?

If God forbid, something happens to your daughter,

You will be responsible for her receiving or not receiving such eternal gifts,

because you read the Word of God and refused to bring her to the font.

Don’t you want to raise your daughter knowing that she is already God’s child,

And not just wait, hope, and see if they “make a decision” for Christ or not?”

 

This finally struck a chord.

They brought their daughter to the Holy waters of baptism,

And I am a sponsor to her baptism and her faith.

 

Luther often used Mark 16:16 to teach baptism –

“whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

This verse is helpful in showing us that the contrast is not between believing and baptized,

And then unbelieving and unbaptized.

For as Luther, and Scripture teach, our faith does not make baptism,

Rather, faith receives the gift of baptism.

 

He explained this in a sermon in which he recounted the three main things in baptism – none of which are faith.

The three things were water, the words spoken at the moment of baptism, and the mandating and instituting words of Jesus.

Faith isn’t included.

Because the question isn’t “Do you trust Jesus? “rather, “Did Jesus die for you?”

It’s not “Are you saved?” but “Do you have a Savior?”

It’s not “Do you have faith” but “Are you baptized?”

If you are asked “Are you in the kingdom of God?”

then the right answer is “Yes, I live where Jesus is living”

and not “Yes. I gave my heart to Jesus”

because that is referencing yourself as the reason you’re in the kingdom.

Faith isn’t a prerequisite for Baptism.

Rather, faith receives baptism.

And it must be understood that faith isn’t something we believe or do,

Rather, it’s a gift of the Holy Spirit – a gift that even in utero John The Baptist had.

 

In our baptismal rite, “Luther’s flood prayer” captures what the catechism tonight teaches.

The prayer goes like this: “Through the Baptism in the Jordan of Your beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, You sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin.”

 

That blessing of the waters took place in the reading from Matthew 3’s reading tonight.

John the Baptist didn’t understand why Jesus came to him to be baptized.

John’s baptism was geared toward repentance for sinners.

Yet, Jesus, the holy one without sin, came for baptism.

But in Jesus baptism, we see Jesus’ complete solidarity with us sinners in baptism.

For Jesus did not come at this point to judge but to be judged, to be the recipient of God’s wrath.

Jesus came to bear our sin and be our sacrifice.

 

Jesus came to the Jordan river’s water as the God-man.

Here in this water, Jesus’ holy body sanctified the water –

Immediately, the heavens were opened,

The Spirit came down as a dove,

the Father’s voice boomed from heaven and claimed this one as His beloved Son.

So, water isn’t just plain water, but water in which the Son of God bathes,

Over which the Holy Spirit hovers,

And over which the Father preaches.

 

So, in baptism, we receive the forgiveness of sins not because the Word of God was mechanically added to the water.

Rather, because the cost of Jesus’ body, life, and blood is involved in this water’s washing.

Jesus came noy by water only, but by water and the blood – 1 John 5:16.

 

It is not only wrong but foolish to elevate “my faith” when we recognize what a weighty thing Jesus is doing in our Baptism.

Because if we look at “my faith” or what I put into my relationship with God,

If we were being truly honest with ourselves, we’d see rebellion and denial.

We wouldn’t see what I would want people to see –

a person who’s holy and gets it right 95% of the time.

 

We’re so easily misguided by Satan’s delusions that we think if we belong to ourselves and our own devices, we’d be better off.

Nevertheless, despite our sinfulness, Jesus declares to you that forgiveness and salvation are yours because His water and His blood have been poured upon you.

Heaven is wide open for you unless you close it.

For the voice of your Father has claimed you –

“this is my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.”

 

INI