Aha, There's More Than Just Water Here :: Matthew 3:13-17

Then Jesus made his public appearance from Galilee upon the Jordan toward John for the purpose of being baptized by him. Now John tried to prevent him, saying, I have need by you to be baptized, and you come to me? Then having answered, Jesus said to him, Allow it now, for in this way it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed it, and Jesus was baptized. Immediately, he walked up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I delight. 

Today is the Baptism of our Lord. That being said, today we’re gonna focus on Baptism. 

Sadly, our subject matter is a rather contentious one among Christians. We don’t agree on what baptism is. We don’t agree on what baptism does or doesn’t do. We don’t agree on when baptism happens, and how it happens. We don’t even agree on who does it ... or who should receive it. 

When I say “we” don’t agree, I’m not necessarily talking about individuals like you and me and our friends and family who attend other churches. There are many Christians attending the many other denominations who do actually agree with the doctrines of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod that you and I hold dear. Instead, when I say that we don’t agree, I am talking about the denominations themselves.

These disagreements cause all kinds of problems and lead many astray and causes all kinds of doubt about salvation. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that baptism washes away original sin, but it’s your duty to atone for your actual sin. ... The reformed of Methodist and Presbyterian traditions teach that while God gives you a promise in baptism, he isn’t the one who brings it to completion. ... Baptists, in general, believe baptism doesn’t do anything at all ... it is an act of obedience that represents your faith. ... And finally, Pentecostals believe there are two baptisms: one by water and one by fire, nevermind that scripture says you want baptism with water but not by fire (3:11-12). 

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Brothers and sisters in Christ, we Lutherans disagree with all that, and today’s Gospel reading figures prominently in that. 

Today we are witnessing that Baptism actually does something ... Baptism actually saves you (1 Pt 3:21) ... not only from the blindness of original sin but from actual sin. It saves you because God is bringing the fulfillment of righteousness to you (v 15). Our Lord has entered the waters of baptism (v 13) to become one with us (v 14). 

Baptism is not an isolated moment in your life. Baptism is something that happens and continues to happen in your life. You died in baptism and God is raising you into eternal life (Rm 6:3-4). Because of baptism Christ lives in [you], and the life [you] now live [you] live by faith in the Son of God (Gal 2:20). And there is no condemnation for those in Christ (Rm 8:1). Through baptism, God is making you holy (Lv 19:2), a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). God pours out his grace upon you richly, washing you, renewing you, and justifying you (Titus 3:4-7, Eph 5:26). He gives you new life from above (Jn 3:3).

Baptism is therefore not simply something that happened to you one time long ago. It is God’s continued work in you. God didn’t just begin the work of salvation within you, he has made you a saint, worthy to stand before him (1 Cor 12:27, 1 Jn 3:1). 

This is another reason why the Divine Service begins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In his service to us, he enables us to remember our baptism and that God has placed his name on you (Mt 28:19). He clothes you with the robes of righteousness that you wear during the Lord’s supper, to which he calls to attend every Lord’s day (Mt 22:1-14). Like baptism, this is a feast that has no end.

Therefore, to state it most simply, the power, work, profit, fruit, and purpose of Baptism is this ... to save you. ... And we know that to be saved is nothing other than to be delivered from sin, death, and the devil (Col 1:13-14). Christ has taken your punishment and destroyed death for you. We now know that to live in baptism means to enter Christ’s kingdom (Jn 3:5) and to live with him forever. Behold, he is now with you always to the end of the age (Mt 28:20b). He made that promise to you and he can’t and won’t change it (2 Cor 1:20).

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So you see how highly we should value the sacraments, including baptism, because in it, we receive an incredible treasure. Where there is no baptism, there is no church and there are no Christians ... there are no saints. Anyone who relies solely on faith for salvation apart from the sacraments ... anyone who relies on their piety and so-called humility ... anyone who is taught that they need to do something to complete God’s promises ... they are relying on something that is weak, something that stumbles and is filled with doubts. 

Essential to baptism is its origin in Christ’s death and resurrection, since his death was a death to sin and his resurrection was for his vindication. So in baptism, the faithful die to sin in his death and are raised to justification in his resurrection. As our confessions frame it: Baptism is simply the slaying of the old Adam and the resurrection of the new man (LC IV 65). 

Whoever, therefore, is baptized is no longer his or her own person. This includes Jesus, who we see today entering the water of baptism to fulfill all righteousness (v 15). 

Jesus came from Galilee upon the Jordan, which isn’t much more than a creek, for the purpose of being baptized (v 13). By submitting to something done by sinners ... Jesus sets aside his advantages as God, who is sinless. He becomes one with us, who are sinners. Our God who came to us in the flesh has united himself with us in baptism. Our weaknesses, our anxieties, our fears, our sins became his weaknesses, his anxieties, his fears and his sins. 

Jesus didn’t need any of this. He didn’t need to be baptized, as John so acutely surmises. Jesus has nothing to repent of. He has no sin to confess. His life is filled with good fruit.

But Jesus who knew no sin became our sin in his baptism. He did this to trade his righteousness for our sin, and our sin for his righteousness. He entered the waters of the Jordan River clean, and he walked out of the water filthy. We now enter the water filthy, and because of Jesus, we walk up out of the water clean. 

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So brothers and sisters in Christ, what are you waiting for?

You can see now that when it comes to repenting of sin and believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Beloved One, there is no time to wait. The Kingdom of God is actually here ... with us. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world has entered the waters of your baptism and is now leading you to the supper. 

So repent now, every one of you, and believe the Gospel. 

IN BAPTISM, JESUS TAKEN YOUR SIN AND GIVEN YOU HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

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There is no longer any reason to doubt your salvation. There is no longer any reason to hang your head in shame when you come to the Supper. Jesus is standing with you. He is giving you confidence to recognize him as Savior. 

John was so astounded by this fact that he asked Jesus to baptize him instead (v 14). But it didn't happen that way. Jesus enters the water and is baptized first, and by doing it he fulfilled righteousness for you. He is not only bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, but he takes sin from us so that we could become God’s righteousness in him. Everything that is unacceptable to God in us is drowned with Christ and destroyed in baptism. And everything that is right before God is given to us. God stretches forth his hand and brings us back to a better life than what we left behind. He preserves the faithful, just like he did for Noah ... just like he did with the Israelites passing into and through the wilderness into the Promised Land where he feeds you and cares for you, and nurtures your faith in him.

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Some still might conclude that it is no advantage that we baptize anyone. But we still have the advantage. We are in the church by the power of the Spirit. By our baptism into Christ we were placed into it and the heavens rejoice at the good news. 

And so now the Spirit is leading you to serve others as Christ has served you. He is prompting you to forgive others as Christ has forgiven you. He is moving you to sacrifice for others as Christ sacrificed himself for you. His waters of life have become the source of the Spirit’s work in you. And as the Spirit leads, prompts and moves us, we embrace the life of love that God has given us in Christ, even when it means inconvenience for us. 

When at last the divine summons comes for us to cross the deep abyss, we ... by virtue of the Christians faith given to us in baptism ... will join the ranks of saints and angels to sing the songs of eternity, feasting on the unending supper of our Lord, to the glory of his holy name.