“Fear Not, You’re Mine!” Isaiah 43.1-7, Baptism of Our Lord Series C, Jan. ‘15

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 morning is taken from Isaiah 43:1-7 and is entitled, “Fear Not, You’re Mine!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
2. Early every year at this time the church celebrates the Baptism of our Lord.  Many people have just taken down Christmas decorations, returned from holiday traveling, and resumed the routine of school and work. Only a couple weeks into the New Year, many may be battling with New Year’s resolutions they’ve made and not yet fulfilled. For many across our country, days are cold and dreary this time of the year. Counselors and psychologists say they see increased signs of depression and anxiety just after the first of the year.  What better time for us as Christians to clarify what’s our real identity in life? Our identity isn’t found in the “new me” because of the weight I lost as a result of my New Year’s resolutions. Our identity isn’t wrapped up with holidays of Christmas & New Year’s, as great as they were. Our identity isn’t connected to what gifts we gave or received at Christmas. As wonderful as they are, our identity also isn’t only found in our connections with family and friends we visited during the holidays. Rather, our identity is with God, who came to identify himself with us. In the Baptism of our Lord, Jesus identifies himself with us because his baptism was to fulfill all righteousness on his way to the cross. Christ wasn’t baptized for his benefit, since he’s without sin. Instead, he was baptized for our benefit as he connects himself to us.
3. In our Epistle lesson from Romans 6, Paul makes clear our true identity. “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. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. . . . If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. . . . You also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (6:4–5, 8, 11). Again and again Paul connects our identity to Christ’s through his death, resurrection, and new life.  In our Gospel lesson from Luke, we read that the people were trying to identify themselves with John. But John is quick to point them to Christ, the more powerful one. At the Baptism of Jesus, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit identify with God the Son. The Spirit doesn’t just appear but actually descends on Jesus. Likewise, the Father connects himself to his Son: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Lk 3:22). Father, Son, and Spirit are connected to one another in the unity of the Trinity.  Finally in our Old Testament reading we see God identifying himself with us his people reminding us to Fear Not, for we are His!  God says to us through Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 43:1, “I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”   As Christians our true identity in Christ isn’t because of who you are or what you’ve done.  For no one can earn their way into heaven by their own works. It’s always because of who God is and what he’s done for you. In the Baptism of Jesus, God identifies himself with us and in him we have our identity. He does it all as an action of his grace in our lives.
4. More than 2,700 years ago, God inspired His prophet Isaiah to record a most comforting message in Isaiah 43:1-7, “ “1But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. 6I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
5. Notice how Isaiah refers to God as the one who created Jacob.  That is, who created mankind.  Having God as our Creator reminds us that we definitely belong to him because he’s given us life and breath.  This statement is as clear–cut as it could be. God addresses the nation Israel in this entire section, and I don’t think you could misunderstand Him unless you deliberately wanted to misunderstand.  He speaks of their origin: “the Lord that created thee.” God took a sad specimen like old Jacob, whose name means “crooked or deceiver” and made a nation out of him.  God took the dust of the ground, breathed into it the spirit of life, and it became a living human being. And that human being rebelled, but now God makes sons of God out of those who will trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I don’t accept the evolutionary theory that I evolved from a monkey. I came from something worse than a monkey! I came from a rebellious sinner who on the physical side had been taken from the ground. That first man passed on to me a sinful nature. But God has given me a new nature through my baptism into Christ.
6. The Lord’s promise through Isaiah must have seemed incredible. Instead of walking on the Lord’s path, instead of following His way, the Israelites walked “in a way that [was] not good, following their own devices” (Is 65:2). The Lord’s path was one of light and safety and certainty. Rather than walking on His path in the light of His Word, Israel chose to leave His path and walk in the darkness of self-centered sin. By wandering off the Lord’s path, they had wandered into great danger. Off the path, in the darkness of sin, prowled Satan, “seeking someone to devour” (1Pt 5:8). Off the path, “on every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man” (Ps 12:8).
7. For more than 800 years, the Lord sent His prophets out to call His people back to Him, back to His path, back to the light. But they wanted it their way, wandering away from the Lord’s way, doing what was “right” in their own eyes, loving other gods who were incapable of love, and ignoring the one true God, who is love. As stubborn and stiff-necked as these people were, they remained God’s people, a people called out of darkness. So in love, God sent them walking into exile (587 BC) far from the temple, far from His promised place of presence. They may have thought He had left them to walk alone, but He remained their God and they remained His people. He loved them despite their sin, and through His prophet Isaiah, He promised them they would not walk alone through the trials and tribulations they faced. They would not walk alone as they left captivity in Babylon and returned to Jerusalem (538 BC). He would walk with them, because He had redeemed them and called them by name. They were His.
8. Often, we’re like these ancient Israelites. We want it our way instead of God’s way. We want to walk our walk instead of His. But, the Lord is patient. God promises to walk with you as you walk through the hazards of this life. He promises you, His called and chosen people, that you shall never walk alone. He promises to be with you as you endure fierce storms and fiery trials. This is a sure and certain promise for you.
9. You can be certain of this promise because the Lord has redeemed you. He’s purchased and won you with His Son’s holy, precious blood poured out for you on His cross. He’s bought you with “His innocent suffering and death” that you may “be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness” (Small Catechism, Sec. Article). You are of great value to God because your redemption cost Him dearly. As a consequence, when you endure the fiery trials of this life, He promises you will never be lost (Is 43:2b).
10. You can be certain of this promise because the Lord has called you by name. He’s washed you clean in the waters of Holy Baptism and given you His name (Mt 28:19). You’ve been baptized into Him; therefore, you are His.  God says to you, “Fear Not, You’re Mine!”
11. But, as Christians we can expect to suffer much in this life. St Luke wrote, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Ac 14:22). Satan will assault you and afflict you in body and soul. He will cast uncertainty on God’s certain promises. He will attempt to lead you off the Lord’s lighted path into certain danger and destruction by urging you to do what is right in your own eyes and to walk your own walk in the darkness of sin.  In this hostile world filled with sin-wrought suffering, when you stray from the Lord’s lighted path and attempt to walk in dark danger, God will never abandon you or give up on you. He will walk with you to the gates of heaven. He promises to take the same stormy circumstances in life that Satan plans to use for evil and use them instead for your eternal good (Rm 8:28; Is 43:1b–3a).  So fear not my friends, God has called you by name, you’re his.  Amen.