I. Jesus, Once with Sinners Numbered <\/p>\n
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He\u2019s everything they\u2019re not. And more. <\/p>\n
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They\u2019re that crowd on the banks of the Jordan River, listening to John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-17). They\u2019re the kind of grubby sinners that the world just doesn\u2019t get. Just look around and you\u2019ll see what I mean. If you\u2019re a sinner, what are you supposed to do about it? The old-school notion is that you pick up the pieces, ignore the past and get on with the future. In terms of psychology and sanity, that may be a pretty good way to live. The popular option today, of course, is to parade your sin as blatantly as you can. You can boast in it, daring others to call it wrong. You can use it for personal gain, claiming that you\u2019re a victim who needs others to lift you up. If you play your cards right, you might even become the star of a cable reality-TV show. If you choose the right sins to be enslaved to, iniquity can pay quite well these days. <\/p>\n
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Those are the kinds of sinners that the world gets\u2014those who are models of recovery, and those who dwell on it for their own personal comfort or financial gain. But these sinners by the Jordan River are a different bunch entirely. They\u2019re not bluffing or trying to profit. They\u2019re\u2014believe it or not\u2014they\u2019re sorrowful, contrite about their sins. They\u2019re humbly confessing their weaknesses, their failures and their sins. Each one is saying in effect, \u201cI do not do what I should do, and I am not who I should be. I need to be forgiven. My sin is killing me, and I need God to take My sin away.\u201d One by one, they\u2019re baptized by John in the river\u2014a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. <\/p>\n
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You\u2019re not going to see them on the red carpet or Entertainment Tonight anytime soon. Don\u2019t waste your time on the likes of them. Losers, the world says. <\/p>\n
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But He\u2019s everything they\u2019re not. They\u2019re weak\u2014He\u2019s all-powerful. They\u2019re failing\u2014He\u2019s eternal. They\u2019re mortal\u2014He\u2019s not. They\u2019re unrighteous\u2014He\u2019s holy. Their sin is offensive to God\u2014He is God. He\u2019s the ultimate winner, completely unlike all those loser-sinners on the banks of the Jordan River. This is like night and day, apples and oranges, AM-FM. One of these is not like the others, and His name is Jesus. <\/p>\n
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But Jesus doesn\u2019t stay away. He walks down among them, brushing shoulders as He works His way through the jostling crowd. He\u2019s not slumming or on a joyride to show how much better He is. He goes to John and asks to be baptized. John objects. Of course he does. Baptism is for sinners, those grubby losers in need of forgiveness. The Son of God has no need to be baptized\u2014He has no need for repentance or forgiveness because He is without sin. <\/p>\n
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So why is He there? He\u2019s there to be one of them. He\u2019s there to be numbered with them. He\u2019s become flesh\u2014He\u2019s been born of Mary to do this. At the Jordan, Jesus declares to sinners, \u201cYou are indeed sinful and you do need forgiveness. You can\u2019t save yourselves. But I can. I\u2019ve become man like you to save you. I\u2019m numbered among you today because I\u2019m taking your place. As your sins are washed off of you, I\u2019m washing them onto Me. I\u2019m going to haul them all to the cross, and I\u2019m going to die for them there. I\u2019m going to take your place and be judged by My Father for your sin. And because I\u2019m going to die your death, you\u2019re going to have My life\u2014 My eternal life.\u201d <\/p>\n
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So Jesus is baptized by John. His Father approves: He declares from heaven, \u201cThis is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.\u201d This is the plan of salvation: not that God should stay far away and hold His nose at the stench of sinners. He becomes man to be numbered with man, to stand with man, and to die in his place. <\/p>\n
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2. Joined in Death and Resurrection <\/p>\n
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Jesus stands with you, and more. In fact, He stands you with Him\u2014that where He is, you may be also. That\u2019s the Good News of our epistle. <\/p>\n
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There\u2019s Law in this text to set the stage: namely, you were enslaved in sin. It\u2019s important to study what that means. Last Sunday we talked about what it means to be dead in sin, which is how we were born into this world. To be dead in sin is to be completely dead, unable to give yourself life. Remember: it does not mean \u201cmostly dead, but alive enough to kick a little.\u201d It means dead. It means that the only way you can be alive is if Jesus does all the work to make you alive. <\/p>\n
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To complement the image of being dead in sin, our text adds the image of being a slave to sin. Don\u2019t underestimate the extent: it means to be fully enslaved. It is not that one has to try very hard to do God-pleasing things or say God-pleasing things: it means that apart from Jesus and His grace, no one can do or say anything that is God-pleasing. In fact, if one is enslaved to sin in thought, he cannot think anything that is God-pleasing apart from Christ. Thus, in Romans 3 we hear, \u201cThere is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God\u201d (Romans 3:10-11). That\u2019s slavery to sin. <\/p>\n
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American Christianity is full of the idea that you\u2019re born as a slave to sin\u2014but with plans to escape. Sure, you think sinful thoughts and do sinful things\u2014but there\u2019s a part of you yearning to be free, to do and say and think the right thing. You\u2019re considered to be stuck as a slave for now, willing to be holy but not strong enough to do it on your own\u2014but if you decide to heed Jesus\u2019 call for your emancipation, then you\u2019ll make your escape and be free. <\/p>\n
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The Bible doesn\u2019t give you that much credit. You\u2019re fully enslaved to sin, it says\u2014\u201cthere is none who seeks after God.\u201d You may be appalled by some facets of evil, some varieties of sin, and you may want to be free from them; but by your own reason and strength, you\u2019ll only run from one sin to another. You will not escape to holiness. See, that\u2019s what the crowds in the Gospel lesson have figured out: they can\u2019t make themselves alive, and they can\u2019t make themselves free. They need a Savior. The same is true of you\u2014you need a Savior to make you alive, to set you free. That is precisely what Jesus has done for you. <\/p>\n
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\u201cWe 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.\u201d This is why you rejoice: even as Jesus went to the Jordan to be baptized and to be numbered with those sinners, He has come to be numbered with you. In fact, in Holy Baptism, He has visited you just as really and truly as He visited those people at the Jordan, in order to number you among His people. <\/p>\n
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This is a truth worthy of long meditation: in Holy Baptism, Jesus has joined you to His death\u2014His death for your sin. He takes the forgiveness He won at the cross and gives it to you by water and the Word. In Holy Baptism, He declares, \u201cThe wages of sin is death, and apart from Me you would suffer God\u2019s judgment\u2014eternal death\u2014for your sin. But I have died that death for you, and I join you to that death in your Baptism. At the cross, I made your sin My sin, your death My death. Here at the font, I make My death your death. I felt the scourge, the nails, the wrath of My Father. You feel a splash of water, nothing more, because all the wrath is done and gone. Don\u2019t be deceived by the ease of the gift. You are baptized at the cost of My body sacrificed, My blood shed\u2014so that you did not have to pay that price for your sin.\u201d <\/p>\n
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In Holy Baptism, you have died with Christ. You have been crucified with Him. You have been buried with Him already. The judgment for your sin has already been carried out. That is why death has no claim on you. That\u2019s why hell has no claim on you. Jesus hasn\u2019t just died for your sin: He\u2019s come to you\u2014to you!\u2014and joined you to that death, so that you don\u2019t have to die it for yourself. <\/p>\n
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There\u2019s more: Jesus has joined you to His resurrection. He declares, \u201cAlthough I died and was buried, I rose from the dead. My time in the grave was short, and I live again. I join you to that new life: the grave is a resting place, not the end. Death is a sleep and a shadow, nothing more. Sin causes death\u2014those who are holy live forever. And because I have died your death and risen again, I give My holiness and eternal life to you. Rejoice, dear friends. Jesus hasn\u2019t just saved you from: He has brought you to. He hasn\u2019t saved you from hell so that you remain unconscious in the grave for eternity. He has saved you from hell to heaven. From death to life. From a slave of sin to a child and heir of God. And how can you be sure that He has given this to you? He promises that He\u2019s given it to you in your Baptism. He\u2019s joined you to His death and resurrection. <\/p>\n
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This new life has begun now. Although your body still faces death before it is raised to perfection, even now you already have eternal life in Christ. Even now you are set free from sin. Even now you are set free to live the life of one redeemed. In the words of our text, you are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. <\/p>\n
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That is why you do good works. That is why you say good words. That is why, although you are constantly tempted, you strive\u2014by God\u2019s grace and strength\u2014to avoid sin and do what is right. You\u2019ve been made alive in Christ by Baptism\u2014to return willfully to sin is to say, \u201cI\u2019d rather be dead.\u201d You\u2019ve been set free from sin by Jesus in Holy Baptism\u2014to return willfully to sin is to say, \u201cI\u2019d rather be back in chains.\u201d It is a frequent error for people to say, \u201cI have been baptized and forgiven. Therefore, I can still cling to this sin or that one and be a Christian.\u201d It simply isn\u2019t so. It is the equivalent of saying, \u201cSince I have been born, I can stop living and still be alive.\u201d It is not so. If you are dead again, you are no longer alive. If you return to be a slave of sin, you are no longer freed child of God. That is why our text begins, \u201cWhat shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!\u201d (Romans 6:1-2). <\/p>\n
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Daily, though, you\u2019ll still sin. Daily, Old Adam will rear his ugly dead head and coax you back towards slavery and grave. That is why, daily, you remember your Baptism. Daily, you confess your sins before God and rejoice in His forgiveness. Daily, you say, \u201cI\u2019ve acted once again like a dead, sinful slave. I\u2019ve proven once again my complete unworthiness for God\u2019s mercy. But that is not who I am anymore. Jesus has joined me to His death and resurrection, made me alive in Him. Therefore, I confess those sins which would enslave me again\u2014and I rejoice that I live by the grace of God, because Jesus has joined me to His death and resurrection. <\/p>\n
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Perhaps it is because we are baptized only once, often in infancy, that we do not give Holy Baptism the credit it deserves. Or perhaps it is the devil and our Old Adam that despise it and numb us to its wonder. For this, too, we should repent. Remember the sinful crowds along the banks of the Jordan in our Gospel lesson: Jesus does not shun sinners, but comes to be numbered among them. In your Baptism, Jesus has come to you, to number you with Him. He has declared, \u201cI do not shun you for your sin. I have died to take your sin away, and I am risen again. I have joined you to My death and resurrection, and so you have eternal life. I do not shun you. I am not ashamed of you. You are Mine.\u201d <\/p>\n
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And because you are His, His Father delights to add of you, \u201cThis is My beloved child, in whom I am well-pleased.\u201d <\/p>\n
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All of this is yours, because Jesus has joined you to Himself, to His death and resurrection. All of this remains yours, now and forever, because you are forgiven for all of your sins. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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