This morning it’s really special to be able to baptize
Wren, even though she has no idea of what was going on, or
why this stranger poured so much water over her. Wren doesn’t realize yet that
her mom and dad love so much that they want nothing more than for her to know
Jesus; that they are so excited to accept and obey Jesus’ invitation to “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Wren doesn’t need to
know what is going on here because her baptism isn’t about anything she’s done,
it’s happening because she is part of the church family, because God is the one
who chooses us even before the world began; it’s all about God reaching down
and drawing us closer to him. I also love how Jesus shows us how important it
is for us as adults to have the wondering, awe-inspired, completely trusting
heart of a child as we receive the kingdom of God, “anyone
who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Jesus’ invitation here always reminds me of how
special baptism is and how baptism
reveals to us the depth of Jesus’ love for these children and us, and the kind
of relationship he invites us and our children into. This relationship centers
around the cross, as the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us in Question and Answer
69, “How does holy baptism remind and assure you that Christ’s one sacrifice
on the cross benefits you personally? The answer is, “In this way: Christ
instituted this outward washing and with it promised that, as surely as water
washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly his blood and his Spirit wash
away my soul’s impurity, that is, all my sins.”
This is all about being able to get a new beginning in
life because of Jesus. If any of you have walked down hard
roads and gotten beat up, scarred, and feel as if your soul can never really be
clean or acceptable, the sacrament of baptism reminds us that Jesus’ sacrifice
and the Holy Spirit can wash away all our sins. This is the hope that comes
from following and accepting Jesus as your Lord, the place where you can find
the strength and courage to go through life on Jesus’ path. Paul shows us the
depth of Jesus’ love and what his sacrifice means in his letter to the church
in Rome, Romans 6:4,
“We were therefore buried with him through
baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
The image of being buried with Jesus through baptism so that we may have a new life comes out of the
stories of the Exodus and entrance into the Promised Land. Baptism is a sign
that we’ve become new people, we’ve gained new identities in Jesus, just as
Israel went down into the Red Sea as a throng of slaves with little to no
self-discipline and came out the other side of the Red Sea a freed people that
the world now knows belong to God. Then 40 years later, after learning more of
who God is and who God is calling them to be, shaping them through their time
wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites went down into the Jordan River as
nomadic wanderers and came up the other side of river into their new home, even
though they still had a lot of work to do in claiming it with the help of God.
It’s the same for us, in the same way, baptism shows us that we are freed from the hold that
sin and Satan have on us and that we are now children of God, a sign that we
are washed clean and being made pure. When we come to Jesus, we come to him
with our whole selves, we really don’t have a choice since Jesus knows us
better than we know ourselves. Jesus knows every deep and dark secret we have,
every stain on our soul and heart, with all our brokenness and hurt, and he
welcomes us anyway. We’re all in that place, though some of us have a need for
more healing and cleansing than others, but none of us come to Jesus without
needing some washing clean, some healing, some need for hope and grace.
What I’ve learned over the years is that many people want to be able to clean themselves, to not have to
rely on anyone, not even Jesus to get things right with God. They will try to
change themselves; they will focus on doing all kinds of good things to change
God’s image of them, they will be more generous so that God will look at them
better. But the reality is that we cannot clean ourselves, that no matter how
much we might become more like Jesus in one area of our lives, there are always
other areas in our lives where we may not even be aware of how much needs to
happen for us to become more like Jesus. Often, the more we become more like
Jesus is some areas of our lives, the temptation for pride to grow because we believe
it’s because of our efforts that we’ve become better people, becomes stronger. This
is why Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit, to work with us on our life long
journeys of becoming more like Jesus, and this is why the Holy Spirit also
keeps pointing us to Jesus and grace and how much we need Jesus to clean our
hearts, minds, and souls through his sacrifice on the cross.
As we come to meet Jesus at the foot of the cross, we discover that this strange phrase, “to be
washed by Jesus’ blood” means, as the Catechism reminds us, that “God,
by grace, has forgiven our sins because of Christ’s blood poured out for us in
his sacrifice on the cross.” As we come and receive the kingdom of God like
a child, confessing our sin and need for Jesus, the Holy Spirit is working in
us, washing away the dirt that stain our hearts and souls with, renewing us and
transforming us as we begin walking on the path that Jesus has laid out for us:
this is what repentance looks like. The Holy Spirit draws us into a new life
filled with cleansing, healing, and building us up in strength and hope to
become more and more like Jesus: this is what sanctification is all about,
another churchy word.
This all happens as we’re part of this church family, a part of the Body of Christ. Bowen and Rebekah know
that as Wren has been baptized into Jesus and the church, they also need all of
us to walk alongside them as they raise Wren and all their other children to
know and love Jesus and accept the call Jesus gives them to come to him. Bowen
and Rebekah were deeply touched when August Luymes challenged us as a church to
remember our baptismal promises as a congregation and church family to
welcome Wren in love, and to promise to pray for, encourage, and help nurture
Wren, and all our children and youth in the faith.
We baptize our children as part of a church service to remind us that each one of the children in our
church is part of each one of our families too as we are all together Bethel
Church family, that our parents need and rely on each one of us to help them
raise their children to know and love Jesus and accept Jesus’ call to come to
him. Raising children today is hard because there are so many influences from
outside the home and faith community that are filling our children’s hearts and
minds with things are only partially true, or sometimes even outright lies.
There is so much in our culture that is good and wonderful, but also many
things that hurt our children, and us as adults.
Our value or worth is not determined by our looks, our popularity, by what we have or wear, or the
identities that society has determined are most important for us to accept. Our
value comes because we’re created in the image of God, our value comes from
knowing that God loves us so much that he sent Jesus to take our sin on himself
and wash us clean through his blood. We are precious because God has chosen us
to be his and will never un-choose us. This is why we make the promises to
parents like Bowen and Rebekah that we will be part of helping their children
to see their worth, and to find the truth of who they are, through the eyes and
heart of Jesus first.
Christian
artist David Crowder sings in his song, Come as You Are, “There's hope
for the hopeless and all those who've strayed. Come sit at the table, come
taste the grace. There's rest for the weary, rest that endures, Earth has no
sorrow that heaven can't cure. So lay down your burdens, lay down your shame;
all who are broken lift up your face…. Come as you are, come as you are, fall
in his arms. Come as you are, there's joy for the morning.” The invitation
this morning is to come to Jesus just as you are; he can wash you clean and
give you new life and a new identity in him.
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