Dear Friends in Christ,
How many of you know the answer when some medical type asks, “Date of birth?” I will bet all we parents know our children’s birthdays. Would we do just as well were I to ask, “Date of baptism? Dates of your children’s baptisms?” Lawyers say you never should ask a question without first knowing the answer. My parents brought me to the baptismal font on May 2, 1948. I know the dates for my children’s baptisms because I baptized them. And, I looked them up.
Baptism ought to hold a prominent place in my daily life. We give the baptismal font prominence in our worship space because we do not want our baptisms to be but a distant memory. Historically the font is near the entrance to the sanctuary. This sends the message that we use water and the Word as Christ commands and for the purpose Christ instituted this sacrament.
What is that purpose? Paul wrote to the Romans in 6:4“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.”
Peter describes it as Baptism That Now Saves You Also.Baptism grants the pledge of a clear conscience before God. Baptism saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Early Christians often had an eight-sided baptismal font to remind them of Noah and his family. The water of the flood saved these eight people from God’s destructive wrath by lifting them up above it.In that sense, Peter wrote, the water of the flood “symbolizes baptism.”Peter did not write that baptism is symbolic as some misinterpret his words. No, the water of the flood is symbolic of “Baptism that now saves you.”
Luther describes the meaning of Holy Baptism in our daily life this way. “Baptism means that the Old Adam in us should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance.” I am not baptized every day of course. That is why we did not baptize Samuel again but publicly recognized that he is baptized already. Though any number of days has passed since my baptism once for the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit continues through the gospel connected to simple water to daily drown my Old Adam.A New Man arises daily in us who trusts Christ and is eager to love God and neighbor.
Holy Baptism saves me because it is “not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience before God.”This is not some outward removal or washing. Jesus said, “It is nothing outside a man that makes him unclean…it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.”[Mk7:15]
What makes me unclean by birth is my sinful heart and sinful actions.Holy Baptism saves me because the gospel washes away the power and guilt of my sins. That is God’s pledge or promise. I am not the one who makes “the pledge of a good conscience before God” through baptism. In baptism, God pledges, God promises, that now my conscience is clear because he has removed the guilt of my sin.
Holy Baptism gives me a clear conscience. No matter how I sin, or how often I sin God has removed the guilt and condemnation of those sins. My baptism empowers me to resist when tempted to sin. My baptism keeps me from despair when I sin.
Holy Baptism saves me because God grants the pledge of a clear conscience. That salvation through baptism comes by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This morning we confessed the Apostles’ Creed in close connection with Holy Baptism. This statement of faith grew out of the confession of faith a person made when baptized. We confess the person of Christ, and the work of Christ that is ours through this sacrament. Think about your baptism as you confess the Apostles’ Creed.
Peter wrote of baptism, “It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand-with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” Do you notice how close those words are to the thoughts and words of the Second Article?
Against the black cloth of my repeated transgressions of God’s holy will all the days of my life, Peter holds up the radiant, perfect and priceless diamond of Jesus’ resurrection from death and the grave. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”
Then, as part of his exaltation in victory over sin, death and the grave, “he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.”Jesus descended into hell after he came to life in the tomb not to give the unbelievers from the days of Noah a second chance. He went to show his glory as the Savior they had rejected.God had called them to repentance and faith also but they did not believe and were condemned. It is very much like Jesus will appear to unbelievers on Judgment Day. They will see him, know him, and know they are lost without him and it is too late.
The Holy Spirit’s inspired words through Peter closely connect Jesus’ resurrection as the Savior to Holy Baptism. Jesus’ resurrection saves us and the Spirit connects us to that resurrection through Holy Baptism. Baptism is not something I do to show God I am committed to him. Holy Baptism is something God does to show that he is committed to me.
Take note of the baptismal font as you enter the sanctuary for worship. If you do not know the date of your baptism, please find out. If you or your children have a baptismal candle, take it out on that day, light it and talk about the meaning of Holy Baptism. Have your life show others that you are a baptized child of God. Know that God has pledged to you a clear conscience through the forgiveness of your sins. Holy Baptism saves you because its power is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Amen. <SDG>