Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent THE JESUS SUIT
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In the Epistle of the Day from Romans 13, God’s apostle Paul uses clothing imagery to speak about your preparation for the Last Day, when Christ shall return. “The night is far gone; the day is at hand,” Paul says. “Let us cast off—that is, let is disrobe ourselves or undress ourselves from—the works of darkness and put on—clothe ourselves and dress ourselves in—the armor of light… Put on—clothe yourself and robe yourself in—the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Dear Christian friends, Perhaps you get the chance, every once in a while, to visit with fellow Lutherans who are members of sister congregations somewhere in our Missouri Synod. Lutherans will inevitably tell you about their pastor and sometimes they complain. · Some complaints are humorous and picayune and actually say more about the people who are complaining: Pastor Parrothead wears sandals too often; Pastor Longwind chooses hymns with too many verses. · Other complaints are more serious: Pastor Busyboy does not seem to have time to visit the sick or the homebound in his flock; Pastor Wandereye seems to be visiting the organist or the church secretary too often. · I have even heard some Christians complain about problems that I believe are very good problems to have. For example, one of my fellow pastors a considerable distance east of here is apparently guilty of preaching too frequently about the benefits of confession and absolution. Imagine that! Some Christians find it abrasive to hear repeatedly that God’s forgiveness in Christ is for you personally and individually; that forgiveness is so powerful, so life-encompassing that you do not need any longer to limp along under your load of guilt or fear or damnable self-righteousness. If you ever have a pastor who seems to speak too frequently about confession and forgiveness, fall upon your knees and you thank your God for the sweet and undeserved gift He has given to you. Some of you probably do not need any help deciding how you could complain about your pastor, but one or two of you might still be open to suggestions. I would love to be accused of preaching too much about Baptism. I would love for God’s Christians to have Baptism come to mind when they think about the one thing they hear most from this pulpit. · No, Baptism is not in every single sermon, but that is really my fault and I must try to improve on that. The absence of Baptism in any given sermon is really more about my sin and blindness than anything else. · Yes, some people would say that Jesus should come to mind when you think about things you hear most from this pulpit, but Baptism is really just Jesus in liquid form. · No, the word “baptism” does not occur in every single Bible passage that you hear or read, but the lack of the letters B-A-P-T-I-S-M does not mean that the gift and miracle of Baptism is not present there in the passage. (Think about it: just because you might not mention the word “milk” at the breakfast table, that does not mean the milk is not right there in front of you next to the box of Cheerios. In the same way, you should consider it entirely possible that any given Bible verse will teach you about the benefits of your Baptism, even if you cannot see the word “baptism” expressly spelled out.) · Yes, I know that such things as faith, confession and absolution, Holy Communion, preaching, and the work of the Holy Spirit are also important to hear from the pulpit, but when you hear about such things, you are really just hearing about the on-going miracle and benefit of the Baptism your God has given to you. Baptism is really the only thing that God’s apostle Paul wanted to talk about, especially in his letter to the Romans. Many people know and have even memorized those well-known and essential Words of Romans chapter 6: 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 (Romans 6:3-4). · Romans begins with a discussion of Baptism, specifically your need and my need and the entire world’s need for this miracle and gift, “for you have no excuse, O man… [for] you condemn yourself” (Romans 2:1). · Romans crescendos with death-and-resurrection description of your Baptism, by which you were “baptized into [Christ’s] death” in order that you might be given a full and good place in His resurrection. · Even here in today’s Epistle, at the tail end of the letter to the Romans, many chapters and verses after the word “baptism” was last used, Paul is still preaching Baptism’s miracle and benefit for your life. (Yes, I know the word is not expressly used here, but let’s just say that the milk is still on the breakfast table.) Never one to stop talking about a good thing, Paul calls to you today: “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off—that is, let is disrobe ourselves or undress ourselves from—the works of darkness and put on—clothe ourselves and wrap ourselves and dress ourselves in—the armor of light… Put on—clothe yourself and robe yourself in—the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Today’s Epistle about Baptism has very great importance for you and for the way you think about your daily life. · First, Paul’s images of dressing and undressing, robbing and disrobing, make a strong connection to other Bible passages where Baptism is expressly spelled out for you. Specifically, Galatians chapter 3: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on—clothed yourselves in [NIV]—Christ” (Galatians 3:27). · Second, Paul emphasizes to you that your Lord Jesus Christ is not merely someone who died on a cross for you long ago and He is not merely the Savior you carry around in your heart. Your Lord Jesus Christ is a miraculous second skin that was applied for you in Baptism. Jesus is your daily suit of clothing, your “armor of light” as Paul says here today and the “whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11) as he says in another place. · When you think of armor, you generally think of protection from outside dangers and attacks. That is a good way for you to think of your Baptism: Jesus is the shell that protects you from “the flaming darks of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16). But your “armor of light,” that is, the Jesus Suit of your Baptism, does more than protect you from dangers on the outside. Your Jesus Suit will also guard and protect you from your sinfulness within—a sinfulness that neither you nor I will ever master or overcome, no matter how Christian we might try to be. (This is the third way today’s Epistle will help you.) “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” says Paul, “and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Epexegetically translated, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ; in other words, make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.”) Wrap yourself so tightly in God’s miracle of Baptism that your sinful nature and your selfish desires continually suffocate and die beneath your Jesus Suit. Keep your Baptism so tightly zipped up to the chin that the desires of your flesh will not act destructively toward your neighbor, whom you are given to love (as Paul explains in the Bible verses immediately preceding today’s Epistle, Romans 13:8-10). Realize that sin is not merely an act of error or a mistake that you make. Sin is a living force within you—a force that seeks to destroy both you and those around you and a force that only Jesus can overpower and defeat for you. Baptism blocks and imprisons and starves your sin! · Finally, Paul wants you to know in today’s Epistle that might be a sense your Baptism is more important for you today than it was yesterday. Why is Baptism most essential for you, not merely yesterday but also today? Because “you know the time,” Paul says. “The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand.” With these Words, Paul warns you about thinking of Baptism as merely an aspect of your history—as if Baptism were only an act that happened to you long ago. You must think of your Baptism, not as your history, but as your present and your future. You must think of Baptism this way because you are not getting any less sinful. If anything, you are getting worse with age. (Yes, I am speaking also about myself.) “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” Jesus’ return for the judgment of the living and the dead is closer to today than it was yesterday. We must be ready and there is only one way to be ready: “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ—clothe yourself and robe yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ—and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” If I may be guilty of preaching too frequently about Baptism, perhaps you can bear with me, dear saints. I preach Baptism because Baptism is the message of the Scriptures, because I love you dearly, and because (as my grandma used to say) I really do not want you to be caught with your pants down. The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen. ___________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author (as long as no charge is made for the work and it is not made part of a compilation), as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? Send ANY note to: sermons...@cat41.org Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: sermons-...@cat41.org Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/sermons@cat41.org/> For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at: Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <MoM [at] lists (dot) cat41 <dot> org>