“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:27)
“having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:12)
The Sacrament of Holy Baptism (Part 2)
Do you remember your baptism?
Your Baptism may have happened years ago. Perhaps you were an infant and don’t remember it at all.
So what does an event from the past have to do with your life today?
Everything.
The catechism asks what Baptism with water indicates for our daily lives. The answer is that the old sinful nature in us should, through daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new person should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.
In other words, Baptism isn’t something we leave behind. We live in it.
Previously, we saw that Baptism joins us to Jesus’ death and resurrection. His death becomes ours. His resurrection becomes ours. Today, the catechism shows us what that means for an ordinary Wednesday morning.
Every day, the old sinful nature wants to take control again.
This is our reality as Christians who are, at the same time, sinners and saints. The Christian response isn’t to pretend those sins aren’t there or that we don’t have a sinful nature.
We repent…daily.
Repentance means turning away from sin and returning to God’s promise of forgiveness. We acknowledge what we’ve done rather than excuse it, and then we return to Christ.
That is what Luther means by returning to our Baptism.
We don’t need to be baptized again every time we sin. God’s promise hasn’t expired. Your baptism is always effective. Instead, we return again and again to what God has already given us there.
There is great freedom in that.
You don’t have to wake up each morning and wonder about your status with God or create a new identity for yourself. Your successes don’t make you more valuable to God, and yesterday’s failures don’t get the final word about who you are.
You belong to Christ.
Paul says that those who have been baptized into Christ have
“put on Christ.”
So when God looks at you, He sees someone who’s sins have been forgiven, and who is clothed with Christ and His righteousness.
That doesn’t make sin unimportant. It makes repentance possible.
You can admit the truth about yourself because your salvation doesn’t depend on pretending you’re better than you are. You can confess your sin because Christ has already died for it.
And then you can get up and begin again, living in the new life you have in Christ.
Once again, you can get out of bed and love your neighbor. You can forgive people who wrong you, follow the guidance of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, and live in the joy of your salvation. This is the rhythm of the Christian life: dying and rising.
Repentance and forgiveness.
The old sinner drowned, and the new person arising to live in Christ.
Not just once.
Every day.
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for joining me to Christ in Baptism. Forgive the sins I have commited and lead me each day to repentance. Drown the old sinful nature in me, and by Your Holy Spirit raise me to live in the new life You have given me through Jesus Christ. When I fail, remind me that Your promise remains sure: I belong to Christ.
Amen.
As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:
After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They 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. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
