Today we have seen the Baptism of new life. We have witnessed a soul die to itself, yet be raised out of death by God.
As St. Paul writes, all who are Baptized are dead to sin, yet are also alive to God in Christ Jesus your Lord. It is in Him, not in yourself, that you are alive. You are planted together with Christ, just as a seed falls to the ground as a dead thing yet sprouts up to new life. This is the spiritual death and resurrection that has taken place in your Baptism.
Like little Derrick, you have been Baptized into Christ Jesus and His death, and buried with Him. These are the very words of St. Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and they destroy all human understanding that would call Baptism merely water or merely your commitment to God. On the contrary, Baptism is your spiritual death and resurrection with Christ Jesus. You cannot see or experience this new life directly, but only by faith.
This is the First Resurrection promised in the Book of Revelation and in other places in Scripture. When you were born dead in sin and unable to come back to life by any human power, Christ came to you. He did not wait for you to do something, because then you would never have been saved. No, He came to you and performed His miracle of resurrection in Baptism. In Titus, Baptism is called the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. In the same way, you were made new and regenerated out of death into life. You were turned by Christ from a dead corpse into a living soul, redeemed by Him.
But this was all hidden from human eyes. You seemed alive before Baptism. You moved, you made sounds, and so forth. Yet the true spiritual reality is that you were conceived and born in sin. As a child of Adam, you were begotten in the image of Adam, which is sin and death. But no earthly eye could see that in you when you were a baby.
When Christ raised you in Baptism, it was also hidden. There was no flash of lightning or ray of light from the sky. There was no earthquake and no visible dove flying down. Yet the Dove was there, the Holy Spirit who descended on you in Baptism. Although no one heard the voice, the voice truly spoke. For the Father declared, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." The Father said this about you! His declaration of Christ at the Jordan was transferred to you. At Baptism, you became exactly like Christ in the eyes of the Father.
But again, this is all hidden. To actually see the new life you received in Baptism, you should not look to things you can detect with your human senses. Do not look to your good deeds to assure you of the power of your Baptism. Do not look to your feelings of certainty that may grow or fade day by day. Instead, look to Christ on the Cross. Look to Christ, buried in the tomb. Look to Christ, resurrected and alive on Easter. That is your Baptism. That is the newness of life you possess now.
In Baptism, the Old Man was crucified with Christ. The words "Old Man" refer to your corrupted nature, also called the flesh. But this Old Man, although he was put to death in Baptism, is sneaky. He wants to be a part of your spiritual life. The Old Man does what seem to be good works, but in reality are works of the flesh. He outwardly acts righteously. He seeks after wisdom, he exercises himself in all manner of spiritual gifts, and even loves and honors God, at least by outward appearances. But the Old Man is merely using and misusing God, since he does all these things without Christ and without a true love for God. Yet the Old Man seems to be so spiritual and righteous.
So you should resist the Old Man by reckoning yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus your Lord. You should only see your life in Christ. That life is found in Baptism, as well as in the Sacrament of the Altar and in the spoken Gospel. Your life is here in the Divine Service, where Christ crucified comes to you, and where the same resurrected Christ has raised you to new life.
Some people say that St. Paul's congregation is dead. Some say that our worship is boring, so we are not alive. Others say that we do not emphasize good works enough, so we are dead. Others say that we are not successful enough. We struggle to fill the pews and pay the bills. So they say that we must be a dead congregation.
If you hear them say that we are dead, then agree with them. We are dead. We are dead and buried with Christ in our Baptism. Yet we are also alive in the grace of God. That life is the only kind of life that matters. Those other things that people use to judge us are only efforts by the Old Man to convince itself and others that it is good. But you have the real and genuine life, because you have died with Christ.
Therefore, the love of God is in you, not because you are loving in yourself, but because He has created true love in you. You yearn, you eagerly desire the gifts that God gives in this Divine Service. In faith you see your lives not in the external details, but in Christ and in Baptism.
If you examine your own life, you may see sin after sin. You remain a sinner as long as the Old Man still clings to you. But if you judge yourself according to Christ and faith, then you abound in good deeds as a saint of God. You are alive in Christ, who is the New Man living in you. The newness of life is already here. You do not need to earn it or attain it.
Because your life is in Christ, sin does not rule over you. Sin cannot force you to serve it any longer. In fact, temptation now serves you, since all things work together for your good. So the temptation to impurity, by its attack, makes the believer's soul all the more pure. Pride makes it all the more humble. Laziness makes it all the more industrious. Greed makes it all the more generous. Anger makes it all the more gentle. In this way, temptation turns out to bless you through the work of the Spirit.
The Spirit prevents you from letting sin rule over you, so long as you do not completely reject Christ and the Spirit. The Spirit who descended upon you at your Baptism stops you from willingly yielding to temptation without resistance or remorse. Although sin will continue to exist with you as long as you live in this mortal flesh, it will not destroy you. The Spirit keeps you secure upon the firm Rock, Jesus Christ your Lord.
So Christians are constantly repenting of sin and receiving Absolution. You are constantly running back to the grace of God in Christ Jesus your crucified Lord. You are constantly being fed in the Divine Service, since here there is no hard work your flesh does, but instead it is the newness of life pouring into you. The gifts of your Baptism are renewed and received over again, as God overflows with His grace for you.
And one day this Triune God will bring to final completion this new life of your Baptism by giving you the Second Resurrection. Then your bodies will be raised incorruptible, which means not only no more death, but also no more sin. Then the Old Man, your sinful flesh, will be banished from you once and for all time.
All this will be by the same power of your Father who raised your Brother, Jesus Christ, from the dead.
May this true God keep you safe forever in the Baptismal faith He has given you. In His Name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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