Sermon for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany - Rom 1:8-17

 

          Epiphany 3

                                                                                                Rom 1:8-17

                                                                                                1/26/25

 

            The second half of the Book of Acts focuses upon the work of St. Paul.  After the risen Lord Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus and called him to faith, we learn of how Paul went on three missionary journeys.  He preached the Gospel in Asia Minor – what is today Turkey – and in Greece.  He founded churches in Asia Minor such as at Galatia.  He founded churches in Greece such as at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth.

            Of course, when Luke wrote Acts, he didn’t tell us about everything that Paul did.  That simply wasn’t possible.  Any writer must be selective in the material he is going to include.  So, while Acts tells us about the shipwreck that Paul experienced as he was being taken as a prisoner to Rome, the apostle shares with the Corinthians that in fact he experienced shipwreck on three occasions in his missionary work.

            Luke focuses on Paul and his missionary efforts.  But certainly, Paul was not the only apostle doing this.  They too engaged in mission work as they proclaimed the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And the apostles were not the only witnesses of the resurrection who went forth to preach Christ.  For example, while James remained in Jerusalem and helped lead the church there, we learn in 1 Corinthians that the other brothers of Jesus went forth as missionaries.

            We do not know how the Gospel reached Rome.  It’s hardly surprising that it did.  Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire. There was immense sea trade that supplied this largest and most important city.  The Gospel had been proclaimed, and the church had been founded there as well.

            Paul had not founded the church at Rome. In fact, he had never been there.  But the apostle hoped to change that. He says in our text, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.”

            Paul was planning on coming to Rome.  He says in our text that he wants to preach the Gospel in Rome.  But the apostle’s planned visit was about more than seeing the Roman Christians.  Paul was hoping that they would support him as he pursued mission work in Spain.

            In his letter to the Romans, Paul provides his understanding of the Gospel.  He writes with the authority of an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul begins the letter by saying, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

            In our text, Paul sets forth his central statement about the Gospel.  It is the truth that he will spend the rest of the letter unpacking.  He says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

            Why might someone be ashamed of the Gospel?  Because it was the proclamation of a man who had been crucified.  As Paul told the Corinthians, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

            The Gospel was centered on Jesus who had been executed by crucifixion.  He was a Jew who had died as a criminal.  He had died in the most humiliating and shameful way possible.  But the message of the Gospel was that this Jesus is Lord.  Paul freely admitted to the Corinthians that the word of the cross was folly to those who were perishing – it was moronic.  It appeared to be absolutely absurd.

            However, Paul says that he is not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe.  The Gospel might appear to be folly.  But instead, Paul says that is the power that comes from God to bring salvation to all who believe in Jesus Christ.  It is a power that brings salvation to all people – to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

            Why is this so?  The apostle says: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”  The righteousness of God is God’s saving work to put all things right.  Paul declares that God’s saving work has been revealed in the Gospel.  It has burst into this world bringing salvation to all who believe.  It is a revelation that his received “from faith for faith” – by faith from beginning to end.  It is received by faith, just as God had said through the prophet Habakkuk: “The righteous shall live by faith.”

            Paul says that the righteousness of God has been revealed in the Gospel – the Gospel that provides salvation.  This is needed because God’s righteousness is not the only thing that is revealed.  Immediately after our text Paul plays off the word “reveal” as he says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

            God is the holy God.  He is the just God.  He is the God who “will render to each one according to his works.”  We were created for life in fellowship with God. We were created to live in holy ways according to his will – life in thought, word, and deed. But the entrance of sin into the world through Adam has brought sin to us.  We are conceived as sinners, and then we daily live in sin.

            This sin was a power that controlled us.  Paul says in this letter that “all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.”  And sin can only result in one outcome.  It leads to God’s eternal judgment on the Last Day.  Paul says of sinners, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.”

            We know God’s will.  It has been revealed in God’s Law. The work of the law has even been written on our heart.  But knowing God’s will could not help us.  Paul says, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”  To be justified – to be declared innocent and just by God on the Last Day – one must do the law.  But we can’t and we don’t.  Instead, we sin in what we think, do, and say. Our doing can never provide us with a righteous standing before God.  Instead, Paul tells us, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

            Yet Paul declares to the Romans – and to you – that God has done something dramatic in response to this.  He says in our text that the righteousness of God – the saving work of God to put all things right – has been revealed in the Gospel.  A little later he adds, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” 

            All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  But Paul tells us that we “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”  Jesus Christ died on the cross to free us from sin. He was sacrifice offered to win forgiveness. God justly judged our sin in Christ.

            Paul says in our text: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel.  He confessed that it is the power of God for salvation because the cross was not the end of God’s saving work in Christ.  On the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead.  Paul began this letter by saying that Jesus was, “declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.”

            We now receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord.  We believe and trust in Jesus and what God had done through him. Paul says later to the Romans, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

            God has joined you to the saving death of Jesus through baptism.  Paul tells the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  You receive the forgiveness that Christ has won through your baptism.

            Your baptism also provides the assurance that you will share in Jesus’ resurrection.  You were baptized into Jesus’ death.  But Jesus did not remain dead.  Instead, God raised him up on Easter.  And so Paul says about baptism: “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

            Paul says about the Gospel in our text: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”  The apostle tells us that God’s saving work in Christ is a matter of faith from beginning to end.  Faith in Christ receives the justification that he has won for us.  This occurs apart from anything we do.  But this faith worked by the Spirit – this life in Christ – now seeks to do as it shares Christ’s love with others.

            Paul says in this letter, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

            This is what Paul tells the Romans – and us to do – in the latter portion of this letter.  He says, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”  So seek to love and support those in your family and in this congregation.  Show them respect and honor in your actions.

The apostle says, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.” Seek to be at peace with those around you.  Christ humbled himself in order to save you.  So in humility, seek to lift others up – especially those the world considers to be beneath you.

Paul says, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” He tells us, “Repay no one evil for evil.”  God has forgiven you in Jesus Christ.  And so now forgive others.  Do not hold grudges, but instead forgive those who have wronged you.  Living in the love and forgiveness of Christ, means sharing it with others.

Paul says this morning, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the power of God that provides salvation to all who believe.  It does because in Christ the saving work of God to put all things right – the righteousness of God – has been revealed in the world. Through faith in Jesus we have peace with God and are justified.  We are reckoned as righteous now, and we will be on the Last Day.  

 

 

           

 

 

           

 

           

 

 

           

      

 

           

  

  

 

 

 

             

 

Sermon for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany - Jn 2:1-11

 

          Epiphany 2

                                                                                                Jn 2:1-11

                                                                                                1/19/25

 

            John begins his Gospel by saying: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”

            The apostle refers to the Son of God as the “Word.” He tells us that the Son is God, and that he was active in the work of creation.  Then John expresses what we have just celebrated at Christmas.  He says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

            John tells us that the Word – the Son of God – became flesh.  The Son of God became flesh – became man – without ceasing to be God. This happened as Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.  True God and true man he lived in our world.

            The incarnate Son of God was in the world.  John tells us, “we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”  In the Old Testament, the glory of God was the perceptible presence of God. It was the located presence of God with his people. 

John tells us that the apostles have seen the glory of Jesus Christ – glory as of the only Son from the Father.    This is important because it is through Jesus Christ that God is revealed to us.  John says, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.”

In our Gospel lesson today, we hear the first miracle of Jesus narrated by John. We learn that in this miracle Jesus reveals his glory. He reveals that he is the Son of God as he works the miracle.  But more importantly, the miracle points to the ultimate way in which Jesus will reveal his saving glory.  It will be revealed by his death on the cross.

We learn in our text that there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.  Mary was there, and Jesus was also invited along with his disciples.  At some point during the wedding feast, a crisis arose.  They discovered that the wine had run out.  The psalmist described God as the giver of wine that makes man’s heart glad.   The wedding feast was a time of joy, and it was assumed that the celebration would be accompanied by wine.  To run out of wine would be a great embarrassment for the family.

So Mary went to Jesus and said to him, “They have no wine.” In the face of this emergency, she turned to her son whom she knew to be more than just her son.  However, Jesus’ response to her seems unexpected. He said, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Jesus’ reference to his “hour” signals to us that there is more going on here than a simple problem with wine.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ hour is the time of his death.  It is the time when his saving work reaches its culmination. Several times Jesus’ opponents are unable to seize him because we are told “his hour had not yet come.”

Although on the surface Jesus seemed to have rebuffed Mary, she did not consider the matter to be concluded. She continued to have faith that Jesus both could address the situation, and that he would in fact do so. So she told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Mary’s trust in Jesus was not misplaced.  We learn that there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification.  These were the various washings that were done in accordance with the Law of Moses, and the interpretation of that law which was present in Judaism. They were large jars, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

Jesus told the servants to fill the jars with water.  They filled them to the top.  Then Jesus gave a very strange instruction to the servants. He said, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.”  They must have been puzzled about why they were being told to take water for him to taste.

They took it to the master of the feast, and when he tasted it the water had become wine.  The servants knew what had happened. However, the master of the feast did not.  He called the bridegroom to commend him on excellent quality of the wine that was now going to be served.  He said, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

At the end of our text, John says, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” The apostle tells us three important facts.  First, he calls Jesus’ miracle a sign.  Second, he says that by this sign Jesus manifested his glory.  Finally, he tells us that the revelation of Jesus’ glory caused the disciples to believe in him.

Jesus’ miracle was a sign that revealed his glory.  Certainly, it was a miracle that revealed his glory as the incarnate Son of God.  But our Lord’s earlier reference to his “hour” leads us to recognize that this revealing points forward to the final and complete way in which Jesus will reveal his glory.

After entering Jerusalem during Holy Week, Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  Jesus said that his glorification would occur through his death.  On Maundy Thursday, as Jesus headed to the Garden of Gethsemane and the passion that awaited him he said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”

Jesus’ miracles are called signs that reveal his glory. We learn that all of the signs point to the cross.  During Holy Week Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  Then John adds, “He said this to show” – literally ‘to sign’ – “by what kind of death he was going to die.”

Jesus’ death on the cross reveals his glory because it is there that our Lord accomplishes his saving work for us. When John the Baptist saw Jesus he declared: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  The Son of God became flesh to be nailed to the cross.  Jesus said, “And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”  By his death Jesus has freed us from sin.  John said in his first epistle, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Jesus reveals his saving glory by his crucifixion.  In itself, the cross does not look glorious.  In fact, it appears to be quite the opposite.  Bloodied from the scourging he had received, Jesus hangs there helpless.  He dies the death of a criminal – nailed to a cross for all to see.  He dies in weakness and humiliation.

But the death of Jesus on the cross was not the end of his saving work.  Jesus said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

            On Easter, Jesus took up his life again.  He rose from the dead.  Peter and John found that the tomb was empty.  And then on that evening the risen Lord appeared in the midst of a locked room and said to the disciples, “Peace be with you.”  Jesus declared that they had peace because through him their sins were forgiven.  He declared that they had peace because death has been defeated.

            John says in our text about the miracle at Cana: “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”  The apostle tells us that the sign manifested Christ’s glory and called forth faith in the disciples.

            Like the disciples, we continue to encounter the signs that manifest Christ’s glory and call forth faith.  We do through the Gospel of John.  The apostle writes near the end of the Gospel, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

            We receive this witness to the signs through the work of the Spirit.  Our Lord said that the Father would send the Helper, the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Jesus promised, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

            The Holy Spirit has given us the signs found in the Gospel. They reveal Jesus’ glory to us and call us to faith.  All of the signs point to the great act by which Jesus revealed his glory - his death on the cross for you and for me.  Through them the Spirit sustains us in faith as we believe and trust in Jesus who died on the cross for us.  Yet faith in Jesus is also faith in the risen Lord who has conquered death.  It is the risen Lord who says to us, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

            The Spirit has called us to faith in the Lord who revealed his glory by dying on the cross for us.  And this death for us now becomes the pattern for our life.  At the Last Supper, as Jesus prepared to offer himself on the cross, he said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

            The sacrificial love of Jesus becomes the model for our life. We have been born again of water and the Spirit.  The Spirit leads us to put the needs of others ahead of our own.  Our faith in Christ causes us to serve and help others.  We who have received Christ’s love now share that love with others by what we do and say.

            Today we hear about how Jesus turned water into wine.  By this sign, Jesus revealed his glory and the disciples believed in him. This sign pointed to the final and complete revelation of Christ’s glory that occurred as he died on the cross to give us forgiveness and peace.  In his resurrection Jesus has defeated death as the One who will raise us up on the Last Day. The Spirit shares this sign with us today through the Gospel as he sustains us with faith in Christ, the crucified and risen Lord.

 

Sermon for the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord - 1 Cor 1:26-31

 

          Baptism of Our Lord

                                                                                                1 Cor 1:26-31

                                                                                                1/12/25

 

            “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” That’s what Paul has just said prior to our text.  He says that the message of the cross – of Christ crucified – is folly to those who are perishing.  It is mornoic.

            How could it be otherwise?  Paul and the apostles proclaimed that a Jew who had been crucified is Lord of all.  They said that a man who had died as a criminal in the most humiliating form of death possible is the Lord who is to be worshipped.

            The apostle said that this was God negating the wisdom of the world – making it foolish. Paul wrote, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” Then he added, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

            God had acted in Christ in what seemed to be foolishness and weakness. And in our text the apostle goes on to point out that the Corinthians themselves were examples of God working in this way.  He says, “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”  It was true that most of the Corinthian believers were of low status – they were poor, women, and slaves.

            However, God had called them. And this choice revealed the way God worked. Paul says, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

            Paul tells us that God works in ways that appear foolish.  He acts in ways that appear weak.  We see this truth on display today in the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord.  You see it in John the Baptist’s response to Jesus.  Jesus came to John who was baptizing in the Jordan River.  John’s ministry was calling Israel to repentance.  His baptism was a baptism of repentance – by submitting to John’s baptism people showed they repented of their sin and were looking for Yahweh’s salvation.  

            When John saw Jesus he responded, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  In fact John wanted to prevent it from happening. But Jesus said, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  We learn that when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

            Jesus submitted to a baptism of repentance – a baptism that was for sinners. At that event the Spirit descended on Jesus and God the Father spoke words that drew upon Isaiah chapter 42 as the prophet said, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him.”  Jesus is identified as the Servant of the Lord.  And the Servant is the One about whom Isaiah wrote: “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

            The cross may be foolishness to the world, but Jesus’ baptism was all about the cross.  At his baptism, Jesus stepped into your shoes – a sinner who deserves God’s judgment.  You do because you don’t always obey your parents.  You do because you don’t always carry out your vocation as parent – your calling to teach your children the Christian faith by what you say and do.  You do because in your jobs you don’t always work as unto the Lord and not unto men.

            From the moment of Jesus’ baptism, his entire ministry was directed towards one goal- it was directed towards the cross.  Jesus repeatedly declared that he would die.  But he also said each time that he would rise from the dead.  Jesus’ words found their fulfillment as he was crucified on Good Friday.  He was the Suffering Servant who received the judgment of God in our place.  But then on Easter, God raised Jesus from the dead.  He vindicated Jesus by showing that what appeared foolish and weak had in fact been God’s powerful and wise action to save us.

            After his resurrection, Jesus instituted Holy Baptism. He took the baptism administered by John the Baptist and transformed it into his own as he commanded his Church to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

            The Corinthians had received baptism when they became Christians. They had been baptized into Christ.  Paul says in our text, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”  Baptized into Christ, the Corinthians now lived in Christ.  They shared in the saving benefits that Christ had won for them.

            What Paul says about the Corinthians is also true for you.  Through baptism you now live in Christ. You have been joined to the Lord and his saving work.  Christ is the wisdom from God. What appeared to be the foolishness of the cross is the wisdom of God that brings salvation. 

            Christ is the righteousness from God.  He is the saving work of God that puts all things right.  In particular on account of Christ God has justified you.  He has declared you to be righteous – to be not guilty.  You already know the verdict of the Last Day.

            Christ is our sanctification.  Because of Christ we are now considered holy by God.  In ourselves we are people who continue to struggle with sin.  But as those who have been baptized into Christ – as those who are in Christ – God does not see us as sinners.  Instead, he sees us as those who are holy because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.  It is for this reason that Paul could begin the letter to Corinth by saying: “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.”

            And Christ is our redemption.  We were enslaved to sin.  We were held in its power.  But Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead to free us from this slavery.  Baptized into Christ, you now live in Christ.  You receive Christ’s saving work, and so you are redeemed.

            Baptized into Christ we have this new status before God.  But this doesn’t mean that we are free to continue living in any way that we want.  Paul says in this letter, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

            Paul lists these sins. But then he goes on to say, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  Through baptism the Corinthians had been made holy and had been declared righteous by God.  But of course the implication for them – and for us who have been baptized – is that we can’t return to living in these sinful ways.

            Paul teaches us that Holy Baptism is the means God uses to assist us in this struggle. He told the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

            Baptized into Christ, we have shared in his death.  But Christ did not remain dead.  Instead, God raised him from the dead.  The apostle says later in Romans, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

            In baptism you received the “washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God who raised Christ from the dead.  This means that the resurrection power of the Spirit is already at work in you.  The Spirit is the One who helps you to walk in newness of life – life that is true to God’s will.

When we fail in our ongoing struggle with sin, we repent.  We repent and turn in faith to our baptism.  In repentance we drown the old Adam.  And by turning to our baptism in faith we are directing ourselves toward the source of the Spirit’s continuing work in our life.  It is the Spirit who helps the new man to arise in live in ways that please God.

Paul said that the preaching of Christ crucified was a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.  Why did Paul and the apostles suffer and die in order to proclaim a message that they knew many would reject as moronic and absurd?  They did so because Jesus Christ had risen from the dead.

Your baptism is God’s promise that you too will share in Christ’s resurrection on the Last Day.  You have been baptized into the death of Jesus, who is the risen Lord.  Paul told the Romans about baptism, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

God acted in Christ in a way that appeared foolish and weak – he acted in the way of the cross.  The Baptism of Our Lord was the moment when Jesus took on the role of being the suffering Servant – the One who would die on the cross in our place. Now in delivering the blessings of Jesus’ work, God continues to act in ways that appear foolish and weak to many.  He uses water applied in his Triune name.  He uses water and the Word in Holy Baptism.  But because this is God’s gift, it is powerful and saving.  Baptized into Christ we live as those who are in Christ who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.