1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word this Trinity
Sunday weekend in which we also happen to observe Father’s Day is taken from Matthew
28:16-20. It’s entitled, “Baptized into the Holy Trinity,” dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Well,
a happy Trinity Sunday & Father’s Day to you! On this day we worship God our Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. Just as our earthly
fathers have given us life, so how much more has God our Father and Creator has
breathed His life into us through His Holy Spirit and redeemed us from sin,
death, and the power of the devil. God
the Father and Jesus the Son have sent to us the Holy Spirit to teach our hearts
to believe and to confess that in three person of equal glory and majesty, the
Triune God is the one and true eternal God.
On this Trinity Sunday we pray that our Triune God would keep us in this
saving Christian faith through His Holy Word and Sacraments and that He would
bring us at last safely into the inheritance we have in heaven as children of
God through His Son and the Holy Spirit.
3.
But,
just as we remember our Triune God this day, we also remember our earthly
families this weekend, in particular our earthly fathers and guardians the Lord
has entrusted to us for our good. On
this day we pray that God our Heavenly Father would bless us with godly fathers
who have a healthy fear and reverence for our Triune God. We pray that fathers who provide for the
physical needs of their families would also provide for the spiritual needs of
their wives and children as well. We ask
that our earthly fathers would be diligent students of the Word of God so that
they can be spiritual leaders in their homes, who lead their families to God’s
Holy House within His Church. O Heavenly
Father forgive for Jesus’ sake, fathers who have failed to be godly leaders,
wives who have resented the leadership of their husbands, and children who have
dishonored their fathers. We pray this
Father’s Day weekend that God’s Holy Word would be the solid foundation on
which fathers and their families are built.
4.
Speaking
of families have you ever wondered how you have become a Christian and a part
of God’s Heavenly family? Sure, you have
an earthly family, but how has God the Father become your Heavenly Father? God made you a part of His Heavenly Family
through your baptism into His triune name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus our Lord says to us today in Matthew
28:16-20, ““16 Now the eleven disciples went
to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped
him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” And,
1 Peter 3:21-22 says, “Baptism…now saves you also--not the removal of
dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It
saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is
at God’s right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him.”
Jesus who has all the power in the universe. Jesus who died and is alive
again. Jesus who lives and reigns with our Heavenly Father. This
same Jesus has spoken His powerful Word in your Baptism and has marked you as
His own. As Martin Luther puts it in the Small Catechism, “Baptism
works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal
salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.”
5.
So, what does it mean to be baptized into the Holy
Trinity? That’s a question a lot of folks are asking these days, and the
answers can be very confusing. Some answer that Baptism is an act of obedience
that the believer must perform. Others say that Baptism is like a “get out of jail free” card and that it’s
impossible for anyone who is baptized to fall from faith. Some even claim that
Baptism is nothing, or worse, a hindrance to true faith. So, what does it mean
to be baptized into the Holy Trinity?
6.
The word “baptize” in the Greek New Testament
simply means to wash or apply water, but the Baptism that Jesus institutes in
Matthew 28 is not just plain water, it’s water included in God’s command and
combined with God’s Word. Baptism is water and the Word—not just any word,
but the living Word of God. We confess this in the Nicene Creed, “I acknowledge one Baptism for the
forgiveness of sins.”
7.
Most Christian
churches agree on who Jesus is and what He’s done for us. Jesus Christ, true
man and true God, lived a perfect life for you, died the death you deserve, and
rose victorious over the grave for you. This is salvation achieved. Where the
differences become glaring is on how this salvation achieved by Christ gets to
you, the sinner. For many, Baptism becomes the decision or choice you make to
bring yourself to God. You must somehow ascend to God and claim this salvation.
8.
But, our Triune
God clearly teaches that this is impossible in Ephesians 2, since St. Paul
reminds us that we are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. Baptism
isn’t something we do for God but just the opposite. Baptism is pure gift. At
the font God delivers Good Friday and Easter to you--one Baptism for the
forgiveness of your sins. Here God places His Name on you and robes you in the
righteousness of Christ. Here God fills you with His Holy Spirit and adopts you
into His family Here, in your Baptism, God gives you the gift of faith.
9.
Did you notice that
word adoption when it comes to
baptism? This is very applicable for us
this Father’s Day weekend. Baptism makes
you an adopted child of God to God your Heavenly Father. It’s important for
you to see God acting on your behalf in your Baptism, not you acting to please
Him by being baptized. Baptism isn’t an act of obedience that you or your
parents performed. If it were, all you would have now is an old
certificate months or years later. Instead, baptism is God’s official act
of adoption. God the Father choosing you to become His own son and
daughter. At one time you were a spiritual orphan. But, now you’ve
received what the Bible calls, “the adoption of sons.” This
is what Titus 3 and Galatians 3 teaches us. As the
Heavenly Father’s rightful heirs through this washing of regeneration we’re now
destined to live and rule with Christ to all eternity!
10.
The
picture here is something like the new life an orphan receives when it’s
adopted. Homeless, alone, and helpless, the infant who has done nothing
to deserve it, suddenly has the attention of the adoptive couple. They
choose to make that child a part of their family. Such a couple spend a
great deal of effort, time, and money to meet the legal requirements in order
to adopt that child. Then comes the formal adoption proceedings. If
all goes well, the judge will declare the infant to be the legal child of the
adoptive parents. Now the child has a new name, a new identity and
family, a new future and home, a brand new life! In the same way, God has
claimed us in our Baptism. We have a new Father, a new family in the
Church, a new name called Christian, a new identity as a child of God, a new
future of heaven as your home. We’ve received a whole new life.
11.
As we
think about who should be baptized, let’s extend this adoption metaphor a bit
further. Suppose that instead of an infant, the adoptee is a 10-15 year
child. Before a social service agency would agree to an adoption in such
a case, the young person would meet the adoptive parents and would get to know
them. The adoptive parents would lavish love on the young person.
There would then come a time when that acceptance and love would melt the
child’s heart that he would think of his parents as mom and dad. At
that point, the parents would take the legal initiative--for its theirs, not
the child’s. They’d fill out the documents, pay the fees, sit through the
interviews, face the judge, all with one end in mind--adopting the young person.
At one point in the interview the adopted child would be asked whether or not
he or she wanted to be adopted. Few courts would let children be adopted
against their will. The young person would assure the judge with words
like, “I’ve come to know these people. They love me.
They’ve taken me in and made me part of their family. I want to live with
them forever.” Once the gavel fell, the young person would have
a new name, a new father and mother, a new home, identity and family.
12.
This
shows what happens in the Baptism of older children and adults. They hear
the Gospel. They learn of their Heavenly Father’s love. The Holy
Spirit convinces them of their sin and calls them to faith in Jesus as their
Savior from sin. Won over by the Father’s love and anxious to have the
status He promises them as His children, they present themselves for
Baptism. In Baptism older children and adults receive the same blessings
God promises to infants--a new name, identity, a new destiny, a new Father, a
new home and family, and a brand new life! Can a young person in this
situation tell you about his or her adoption? Of course. It may
even be hard to avoid hearing the story dozens of times! The infant, on
the other hand, can’t explain to anyone what it means to be adopted. Does
the infant’s inability to discuss the meaning of their adoption change the fact
that they are now adopted into God’s family? No. The infant belongs
to his adoptive parents despite his inability to tell anyone what has happened.
Praise God that our adoption doesn’t depend on our ability to speak of it, but
solely on God’s promise to us in our Savior Jesus.
13.
So what is
Baptism into the Holy Trinity? It’s Water connected to God’s Word of promise:
the delivery of God’s deliverance to you through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.
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