Sermon in Rockford 10.01.2010

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Let us join our hearts in opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this new day of grace and for this occasion where we once again are able to gather together around your holy and precious undying word. We pray, dear Father, that you would open your word unto us to comfort us this day, to teach us and guide us, to provide we who, through your grace, are able to dwell in your kingdom with heavenly food that strengthens our faith and gives us nourishment as we walk this earthly pathway toward heaven's home with you one day.

And we also pray, dear Father, remembering loved ones in times of illness and distress, in lonely places of watching, places where they are unable to gather as we are today, that wherever they may be, you would guide and protect and feed them also, dear Father.

And as we remember this season, how you have caused, given your Son to be born into this world as a light unto the world, that you would allow this light to shine in the world around us which we find to be ever so dark, falling away from your word and your teachings and in all manner of sin. Let your light be seen. Let your word be heard. And may, hearing of your word, touch and prick those whose hearts and consciences have become hardened, that they would feel the distress over sin and desire peace and joy of the conscience, a peace which can only come from you, dear Father, when you, through your spirit, through your children, are able to preach forgiveness of sins in the name of your Son, even the sin of unbelief.

And we pray and thank you, dear Father, for your great and abundant blessings, blessings which we do not even comprehend and certainly which we have not deserved, but yet you have loved us so greatly, dear Father. We thank you and pray as your Son has taught us.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

We will read for our service this morning the gospel text for this day, the first Sunday after Epiphany from the gospel of Matthew chapter 3 verses 13 through 17. The words are in Jesus' name as follows.

Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water and lo, the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Amen.

We sang in our two opening songs this morning, beautiful songs or hymns which related of the theme or message of today. Today the message of Epiphany and that of baptism. And they join together when here we've read about the time when our Lord Jesus Christ himself was baptized.

So the theme for today is the gift of baptism. We've enjoyed a festive season here early in the new year and yet early in the new church year. We've celebrated Advent and waited and prepared for the birth of Jesus and remembered how we are living a time of Advent when we wait and prepare for his second coming as he himself our Lord Jesus said would happen and as scriptures also relate.

And we enjoyed the festive Christmas celebrations remembering the birth of our Lord Jesus. And we remembered how at eight days as was the custom and commandment in those days that he was circumcised and given a name.

And we remembered how the wise men from the east at the time of Epiphany, which means appearing, saw a new star and knew that it was the sign of a newborn king. And followed that star which led them to Bethlehem where they were able to behold, to see the newborn king and to bring gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh unto him.

And even through this event we remembered how the news of Jesus' birth quickly spread beyond the Jewish people unto the Gentile nations. And he was a king for all mankind.

And we've remembered the early life of Jesus when he was in this flesh the son of Joseph and Mary already at the age of twelve in the temple visiting with the chief priests and the scribes.

And now we have remembered yet how he was baptized. At this point a man age of thirty years old and at a time now when his period of life as we refer to the public ministry was to begin.

But yet thinking of this gift of baptism we, I know in our area this congregation which has been blessed with so many young families and so many children where God has given the gift of children into so many of your homes. We've had many occasions to gather for baptismal festivals.

There as parents in obedience of faith, obedience of faith, you've brought your children unto these occasions. And family has gathered, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters and godparents have gathered around a newborn child to bring them into the covenant of good conscience with God.

Holy baptism. It is one of the two sacraments that we believe in and observe as God's children. The other one being the sacrament of the altar or the Lord's holy supper.

And I suspect perhaps it's the same for you as it is for me. When I think of these sacraments and I think of baptism, baptism, I always feel there's an element of mystery there that I can't understand or satisfy my mind what does it fully and truly mean.

But as we remember baptism, as we gather for those festive occasions, we on one hand celebrate the birth of a new child into a home. We pray and we sing songs that reflect the heart's feelings of a parent that this child who is an innocent child, pleasing and righteous before God and in this way an example of faith for us all, that they would always remain in God's kingdom and always be able to be a child of God and inherit heaven's home.

That is the prayer that goes forth on behalf of this child.

And we remember on those occasions how Jesus used the little child as an example of faith and he said that unless you become as a little child, he shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

And we also remember how Jesus himself instituted this sacrament and gave the commandment, the command to baptize as he said when he appeared unto his own after his resurrection and before his ascension that when those disciples saw him they worshipped him but some doubted and Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world.

This was Jesus' baptismal command and we in obedience of faith wish to fulfill, carry out that command and in this way we baptize.

But we also remember and teach how baptism in this New Testament time in which we live had its Old Testament counterpart, that practice as God had commanded to Abraham of circumcision.

And I think when we remember there what happened in Abraham's time when that commandment of God was instituted it also helps us to understand a little about the baptismal covenant which we observe today.

For we know that Abraham was pleasing to God, he was a righteous man and God had greatly blessed him and had given unto him great promises.

In Genesis it relates how God spoke to Abraham said that his name wouldn't anymore be called Abram but Abraham and that he would be a father of many nations.

God said I will make thee exceeding fruitful and I will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee.

And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God.

And God said unto Abraham thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after thee in their generations.

This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man child among you shall be circumcised and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

When we think of this brothers and sisters what a promise God gave to Abraham to one who was righteous before him that he would be a father of many nations.

Elsewhere it says that Abraham was told his seed would number like the stars in the sky and how God said that from his seed kings would arise and how he promised a new land, a land of Canaan.

But perhaps even the greatest promise was this that he says I will be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee and again he says referring to his people and the land that they would inherit I will be their God.

This is the same kind of promise that Jesus made in the baptismal covenant when he said lo I will be with you always even unto the end of the world.

This promise that he would be a God unto his people, a God unto us who are his children today, to the seed which follows and always forever that he would never forsake us but always be our God.

What a wonderful beautiful promise, a promise of great comfort to know that as God promised to Abraham and renewed throughout time it belongs to us today that he will be our God and we are his people.

But yet we are so prone to forget and God knew this and Abraham and his people also were flesh and blood so he told them that this is my covenant which ye shall keep that every man child among you shall be circumcised it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

And so when we think of that covenant instituted at that time again this word circumcision to size means to cut and circum like circumference means around so it means to cut around to clean or remove an unnecessary portion.

So when we speak of circumcision of the heart we speak of repentance of washing sin away of cleansing one's heart removing that which is unhealthy dirty unacceptable so that we would be clean and righteous before God.

And so this was given as a sign to Abraham a covenant to keep that through this sign they would remember the promise which God had made the promises which he had made unto Abraham and his people of a bountiful seed of kings of a new land of always being a God unto them and them being his people.

So today when we think of baptism as Jesus instituted it now in the New Testament times it also is a sign when we have these festive occasions we remember the promise which Jesus made we remember the promises which God have made to be a God unto us and that he would never forsake us but be with us until the end of the world.

And it too helps us when we are so prone to forget to have these baptismal occasions to remember God's promises but also to remember that we ourselves were baptized and whenever we think of that we remember how we were given a name and we were baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

And it means as we say on those occasions as we read the baptismal rites that we wish to make this promise from our part to deaden the powers of sin in ourselves daily and to keep faith and a good conscience.

When we are able to put sin away and believe them forgiven wash sin away and believe the preaching which comes from our brothers and sisters through the power of the Holy Spirit we renew this baptismal covenant into which we have been brought again making that promise each day that we wish to deaden the power of sin in ourselves and keep faith and a good conscience.

And also we find I think a hidden blessing in these baptismal occasions these festivals we don't stop to think about one that they give us more occasions to gather and we need those occasions to gather together to pause from the everyday life with these festive moments our families and friends our brothers and sisters in faith for a few moments it refreshes us.

And each time we have these occasions we also create a time to remember so as the years go forward the godparents remember the godchildren and the godchildren remember the godparents and the children remember even though as babies they don't personally remember those occasions yet they know as the years go by that they were baptized.

Parents and family remember the occasions and every time we remember we remember that they were festive occasions with beautiful prayers and remembering God's promises.

So we read this morning this portion from Matthew that tells us about the time when Jesus himself was baptized says Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan and to John to be baptized of him but John forbade him saying I have need to be baptized of thee and thou comest to me.

Jesus answered said suffer to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.

We know that John the Baptist here was the forerunner of Christ he was the one who had been preaching in the wilderness saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent.

He was the one who said behold the lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world the forerunner of Christ but he too was flesh and blood and on this occasion when Jesus came to him and said now he must baptize Jesus he questioned he says I should be baptized by you you should be baptizing me not me John the Baptist baptizing you.

I think we can easily relate to what John the Baptist must have been feeling we all as God's children feel our own sinfulness our own unworthiness and so often when we're asked to serve it's hard for us to serve we don't feel that that duty belongs to us or that we're worthy to serve in this way.

I know when the speaker brothers visit about their role in serving as pastors or ministers in the congregations we often lament we have so little understanding we are but sin corrupt ourselves how is it that we should preach the word of God unto the congregation.

Brothers on the board who were asked to assist with serving communion the Lord's Holy Supper filled with doubts feeling that I should I should do this truly me.

And I think you and your roles brothers and sisters as teachers as one serving each other in many ways often question is it true that I should do this because who am I to speak to teach who is so sinful and has so little understanding even when it comes to helping each other in our lives of faith instructing what is what is good and wholesome and correct or even warning when we are concerned that the enemy of the souls is tempting a brother or sister and the path is not going in a healthy direction and we feel we must speak on one hand but on the other hand we feel oh who am I to speak I know so little I understand so little I myself am no example for I too have been tempted and so often fall.

So this reaction of John this psalm of John the Baptist is very familiar to us when he questioned is it is it true that I John the Baptist should baptize you my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but Jesus said suffer it to be so allow it to happen and that's what we often hear too in our duties our brothers and sisters say it's okay serve with the gifts that God has given you allow it to happen let it be his work and not yours.

This is the kind of instruction the kind of encouragement we need to go forth and to serve.

And then when we think of this matter that Jesus was baptized he was already the son of God he was 30 years old he was tempted but without sin he didn't need baptism for himself so why was he baptized?

And he was baptized in the same way that John had been baptizing the other shouldn't say other the sinners along the way as he served and did his work in the wilderness.

But it's another example of how our Lord Jesus Christ on one hand lowered himself to be as we are he was born humbly in the manger he was baptized he on the night of the last supper washed the disciples feet in this way serving them and then he said as I have done to you then you do likewise to each other.

So we see how he lowered himself to himself receive this baptism and to be an example for us that as he was baptized so also when he gave that command to go forth and baptize we too would want to partake of this sacrament.

And in sight of the doubt of John the Baptist to serve and baptize Jesus we see what happened here for it tells us that Jesus when he was baptized went up straightway out of the water and lo the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.

And lo a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

Scriptures don't say or I don't have an understanding about who all may have been gathered to witness this event when Jesus was baptized but truly it had to be a marvelous festive an amazing event that the heavens opened the spirit of God came down like a dove and landed upon him and then a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

We see here the whole triune God was present the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and it was a powerful sign unto those who witnessed that again this was the will of God this was the Son of God and it was through God's Son that his glory would be made known unto man.

And this occasion took place now when Jesus was going to begin his time of openly working among the people to teach and to preach and to perform miracles and all manner healing.

God wanted to show that this was his will and this was his way to work through his Son to help remove the doubts that sin corrupt man would have to question is this truly the Son of God and is this truly God's will.

And so also we see how Jesus again submitted himself unto the will of the Father as he testified that he wasn't here to do his will but to fulfill the will of the heavenly Father which he did throughout his life and even in his manner of death.

And so when we think of baptism brothers and sisters and this beautiful sacrament festive occasion that we have been given to observe in our lives we remember the promises of God we have the prayers for our children and we remember how Jesus himself was baptized and was an example for us and in this way the glory of God was shown through him.

Think of those words that we sang this morning in the baptismal song sing to the Lord glory and praise how each verse ends dear one for you we pray stay in his grace each day always secure in the family of God kingdom and God remain in God's grace and secure in the family of God in God's kingdom.

We pray this for our children our loved ones and we pray that each one of us ourselves would in this way be able to live and dwell name in precious atoning blood lift up your hearts to believe your sins forgiven.

Dear brothers and sisters and I ask feeling my own doubts and sins that you would preach that gospel of forgiveness unto me I want to believe with you in Jesus name Amen.

Let us close with the Lord's benediction.

The Lord bless us and keep us the Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us the Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost Amen.