Romans 6:1-4 [NLTse]
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined Him in His death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Sermon
There is a community of Christians in Africa that have an unusual baptismal practice that vividly illustrates what we believe about baptism. When the pastor dips the infant into the water, he says “I kill you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Then he again dips the infant in the water again and says, “And I raise you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Remember you’ve been baptized…
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 [NLTse]
9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Sermon
Protestant reformer and founder of the Lutheran Church, Martin Luther, struggled earnestly with overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and questioning whether or not he deserved God’s love and grace. Legend says that he had written over his desk: “Remember, you have been baptized.” Baptized as an infant as a Roman Catholic, Luther’s meditations on the fact on his baptism as an infant impressed upon him the meaning of grace and being saved by grace alone (through his faith in Christ). Martin Luther grew to realize the futility of his fretting over whether or not any of us are adequate or worthy. Luther realized that, with the exception of Jesus Christ, none is truly worthy. But we have sure and certain hope in our salvation through God’s grace and mercy so freely given to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Luther reasoned that an infant is helpless to choose God or even to move toward God, let alone able to choose to be baptized or not. His baptism as a helpless infant starkly reminded him and refreshed in him that God had chosen him; that God had brought him to faith; that God alone, according to His love for Luther from before the foundation of the world, saved Martin Luther and brought him to that zealous, saving faith that led Luther to stand against the Roman Catholic Church of his day and be a part of birthing the Protestant Reformation that we are inheritors of this morning!
God’s grace is freely poured over us like running water. And in our baptism we are united with that grace, with Jesus Christ Himself. Remembering that we have been baptized highlights to us the question, not, “Are we worthy?”, but, “Do we believe God would really choose us?” …
Matthew 3:13-17 [NLTse]
Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to talk Him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by You,” he said, “so why are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must fulfill all righteousness.” So John agreed to baptize Him.
16 After His baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on Him. 17 And a voice from Heaven said, “This is My dearly loved Son, Who brings Me great joy.”
Fred Craddock, while lecturing at Yale University, told the story of going back to his hometown one summer, to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to take a short vacation with his wife. One night they found a quiet little restaurant where they looked forward to a private meal – just the two of them.
While they were waiting for their meal they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting guests. Craddock whispered to his wife, “I hope he doesn’t come over here.” He didn’t want the man to intrude on their privacy. But the man did come by their table.
“Where you folks from?” he asked trying to be friendly.
“Oklahoma,” Craddock gave a short answer.
“Splendid state, I hear, although I’ve never been there. What do you do for a living?”
“I teach homiletics at the graduate seminary of Phillips University.”
“Oh, so you teach preachers, do you? Well, I’ve got a story I want to tell you.” And with that he pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with Craddock and his wife.
Dr. Craddock said he groaned inwardly: Oh no, here comes another preacher story. It seems everyone has one.
The man stuck out his hand. “I’m Ben Hooper. I was born not far from here across the mountains. My mother wasn’t married when I was born so I had a hard time. When I started to school my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn’t a very nice name. I used to go off by myself at recess and during lunchtime because the taunts of my playmates cut so deeply.
“What was worse was going downtown on Saturday afternoon and feeling every eye burning a hole through me. They were all wondering just who my real father was.
“When I was about 12 years old a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in late and slip out early. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in church on me. Just about the time I got to the door I felt a big hand on my shoulder. I looked up and the preacher was looking right at me.
“Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?’
I felt the old weight come on me. It was like a big black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down.
But as he looked down at me, studying my face, he began to smile a big smile of recognition. “Wait a minute,” he said, “I know who you are. I see the family resemblance. You are a son of God.”
With that he slapped me across the rump and said, “Boy you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.”
The old man looked across the table at Fred Craddock and said, “That was the most important single sentence ever said to me.” With that he smiled, shook the hands of Craddock and his wife, and moved on to another table to greet old friends.
Suddenly, Fred Craddock remembered: On two occasions the people of Tennessee had elected an illegitimate son to be their governor. One of them had been a man named Ben Hooper… A man with a great inheritance.
Remember, you’ve been baptized…
Let’s pray… We’ve died… We’re new, born again, new creations… We’ve been washed… You’ve chosen us to be Your Own, a part of Your holy family, a son, a daughter of God… Too often we believe what we see in the mirror, we forget these things, this new identity… Remind us… Refresh us…