“Water That Fuels the Fire” Luke 3.15–17, 21–22 Baptism of Jesus C, Jan. ‘22

 

 

1.                Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen.  The message today as we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord is taken from Luke 3:15-22. Water that fuels fire. Now, there’s an interesting thought! I don’t know where you’re from, but where I’m from, “water that fuels fire” is called gasoline. And only a fool adds this kind of water to a flame. It’s deadly. It kills. It scars. It burns. And it consumes, leaving nothing!

2.                Today’s Gospel from Luke 3 is also about a water that fuels fire. But this water is a water of grace—Baptism. When the water of Baptism comes into our lives, we’re fueling the fire that purifies us from sin. Yet this gracious water comes with the same explosive power that one sees when adding gasoline to a flame (but in Christ, without the same deadly effects). Because of Christ Baptism destroys, kills, and consumes our sin with explosive power, and, in grace, it also gives off the explosive power of new life in you.

3.                Water that fuels the fire. Is that a picture of heaven or hell? God or the devil? Saving or damning? Judgment Day’s lake of fire or the Baptism of Christ? What do you see? What kind of fire is it? It depends upon what is being burned. Our Gospel lesson for today speaks of the fire of God’s wrath that will burn in judgment forever. But there is another fire that also burns—the fire of his grace, brought into our lives through Baptism, that burns away our sin.

4.                I wonder what people living in the portions of our United States saw as, day after day  they gazed into the fires consuming hundreds of thousands of acres of forest lands last year and even the recent fire in Colorado that destroyed many homes and caused cities to be evacuated? Superstitious people often believed that many of the sounds and sights of nature (thunder and lightning, for instance) were the voices of the gods speaking to them. How would primitive people have interpreted lightning burst after lightning burst that set acres of forests on fire? Certainly, this voice from heaven would seem to be unappeasably angry.

5.                Today’s Gospel lesson from Luke 3 also has a message coming from the heavens. Only this time it really will be a voice of grace. Something is going to be consumed, and much will be burned away. Darkness will lead to light. Life will start all over again. But note that the voice of God wasn’t the only thing that came down. At just the right time, so did God’s Son. And in timely arrival, so did God’s Holy Spirit. For when you see Jesus in the the Jordan River and the Spirit of God coming down, you see the beginning of our Lord’s public ministry. Someday heaven will be full of saints, saints who were once sinners. They will be there because of the work he accomplished in his ministry. Because of Christ the sinful will be perfectly cleansed. This is the same cleansing that comes to us now through the Word and Sacraments.

6.                When people feel as though their lives are being consumed by the world around them, do you think they ask for help? “Who’s going to help me? I’m tired of getting burned by my life, my world, and even my God! Sometimes, it seems that he disappears just when things are getting rough. God, don’t you have anything to say to me?”

7.                Sometimes I feel that I too am just one of many in the crowd: unnoticed, unimportant, and uncared for. A crowd of people came out to John the Baptist. Why? Could it be that they, too, were afraid of getting burned? How many had already been scarred by life? How many had become numb to any hope of healing or future? How many had sought ways to deaden themselves to the pains and tragedies of this world? How many of us would have been found coming out to see John the Baptist that day, wondering if he had a word of hope for us?

8.                Sometimes people in the world are real snakes. You’ve got to watch out. “You brood of vipers,” John the Baptist called them. Sometimes I wonder if God really understands what it’s like down here in this fallen, sinful world. Does Jesus have a clue as to what I’m going through? Yes, he does! Listen to how Jesus prays at Gethsemane, in Lk 22:42 he says, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” At Gethsemane (Lk 22:41–44) the thought on Jesus’ mind is about a cup that he must drink. Normally, a cup to drink from is a cup of refreshment, but this one that Jesus will drink will not add to life but take it away. At this point, not drops of Jordan River water fall from his body recently baptized but the water of sweat like drops of blood. In Gethsemane Jesus is again at prayer, as at his baptism (Luke 3:21b). His baptism in the Jordan has finally brought him to face the fires of hell. It will soon be time for the cross.

9.                From the Cross of Calvary Jesus says in Lk 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Here again, Jesus is surrounded by a large crowd coming out to see what can be seen. Again, he is in the midst of vipers. Each viper accuses him, spewing insults with a deadly strike. But at the cross there are also those who followed, weeping and wailing for him. Could there be any believers who were baptized by John in that crowd of mourners? Jesus prays: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” For Jesus knew that these are some of the people for whom he took up this mission when he was baptized. So, he asks the Father to remember his good pleasure and have mercy on them through him now. If only those mourning could have understood his mission. After Jesus rose from the dead some would understand more clearly. But for now, Jesus prayed. So, what was Jesus praying about when He was being baptized in the Jordan River? If Gethsemane and Golgotha are any clue, it could have been that Jesus knew already that this is the water in the Jordan that fuels the fire, the water that leads to a hellish cross.

10.             Jesus “joins with the crowd.” Jordan water fuels the hell fires of the cross as it is the first step in our Lord’s public ministry that takes him to the cross. Remember Jesus’ prayer. Our Baptism in Christ also purifies and saves.

11.             A little boy loved to get dirty as he played outside on a regular basis. One day he received a good scrubbing. But, his mom could only clean the outside. She couldn’t clean the inside. Although one time she tried with her son. She said, “If I hear that word comes out of your mouth again, you’ll be washing it out with soap.” But soap can’t clean what comes from the sinful heart and then out of the mouth. The boy’s mom handed him the bar of soap, and he said, “You’re kidding, right?” She wasn’t. Childlike cursings didn’t stop coming out of his mouth because Dove soap did such a good job. A different dove was needed—a heavenly one, the Holy Spirit. That Dove cleansed the boy’s heart and mind and put a new desire within him—the desire to speak for God, rather than against him.

12.             Sometimes you, too, may have stood wondering and waiting, one among the crowd. “God, where are you? Will you save and rescue me?” Today’s baptism of Christ is the Gospel’s promise of power. The power that brings grace to gather you as God’s field and raise you up to new life. This Gospel comes through Baptism in Christ. It brings the power of the Spirit. It brings forgiveness. It forgives the good we didn’t do for our neighbor (Lk 3:10–14) and what we did to God on the cross (Lk 23). It empowers us to live this day differently than we lived yesterday. Because today we’ve been reminded that our Christian Baptism gives us freedom from sin so that we can love one another, even as Christ loved us. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

“Jesus- The Way, the Truth & the Life” (John 14:1-6) Funeral Sermon for Greg Puetz, Grace Lutheran Church Oak Creek, WI, 1-28-22

 

1.                In the name of our crucified and risen Lord and Savior Jesus.  Amen.  Dear family and friends of Greg.  On behalf of the congregation here at Grace Lutheran we offer to you our deepest sympathy.  In this hour of grief and sorrow we look with hope & joy to the promise that our Lord Jesus gives to us in the Gospel of John 14:1-6.  The message is entitled, “Jesus—The Way, the Truth & the Life,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                When I speak at a funeral service, there are often young people, and maybe some not so young, who are trying to find the place for religion in their lives. They ask themselves, “Does this mean anything to me? Is this just something my parents cared about?” But then, at some point, everyone faces something he or she can’t handle, something that scares us. Maybe it’s the biggest stress we’ve faced in this life, or maybe it’s the realization that we have to face the end of this life. And suddenly we wish there could be some place to turn, or Someone to turn to, outside ourselves. Then, maybe those who’ve gone before us can teach us something after all, like how they dealt with those fears. As they learned and grew, their faith in Christ became absolutely foundational. It’s not an old-fashioned thing. It’s not a generational thing. Each of us needs a foundation so we know how to face the fears of life and beyond.  Greg, is one of those from whom we can learn. As I ministered to Greg these last few months as his health declined, I can tell you that Greg knew where his faith fit into all this.  He knew he could face his fears because his Redeemer Jesus promised to deliver him from them all.  Greg knew that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that by believing in Jesus he would have the assurance of eternal life.

3.                Greg was greatly loved by his family and friends. He loved to boat, hunt, and fish. Greg had fond memories of deep-sea fishing in Florida. He was a member of the South Milwaukee Yacht Club. In fact, when I first met Greg and Karen, they told me about a time that Greg had to navigate his way back from Sheboygan after a fishing trip during a great storm on Lake Michigan. Greg owned two businesses here in our community, he was a master technician and mechanic. He selflessly gave to his community and to his family and he was a loving husband and father. He showed his patience and faith to me as his pastor as he went through his kidney diagnosis and dialysis.

4.                Let’s get to the text for Greg’s funeral sermon.  In John 14:1-6 Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

5.                What was ailing the disciples in our text from John 14?  Their hearts were troubled because Jesus had just told them that He would soon leave them and that they couldn’t follow where he was going.  The thought of separation after many months of companionship was a source of grief and pain to them.  I’m sure right now for us today the thought of separation from Greg is a great source of grief and pain too, but we know it’s not the end.  Here in our text Jesus chose words to soothe his disciple’s and our sorrows and silence all our fears.  Martin Luther says this about John 14, “Here we find the best and most comforting sermon preached by Christ while on this earth…a jewel and treasure not purchasable with the world’s goods.”  May God grant us believing hearts that this treasure which can’t be purchased with gold or silver, may be ours by simple trusting faith. 

6.                Who among us here today hasn’t been troubled in their hearts?  I would think that no one here today would say that they live a carefree life without any worry, pain, or suffering.  All of us have probably experienced anxious, trying hours—hours of sickness, sleepless nights, the fear of death, loneliness and friendlessness.  Maybe even hours when our debts seem greater than our God.  Hours when our enemies seemed closer than our Savior.  Days when our hearts were troubled, and we cried to God for help.

7.                It was then that the divine prescription of our Savior for troubled hearts has provided for us the healing medicine.  Jesus says to us, “Let not your hearts be troubled…  In My Father’s house are many mansions…And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.”  With these words our Savior Jesus says, all our sorrows, heartaches, disappointments, grief and heart troubles lose their bitterness in His dear promise, “I will come again.”  Jesus will come again to turn your sorrows into joy, your heartaches into gladness, and your grief into heavenly reunions in His Father’s house above.

8.                Jesus also tells us in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  Greg knew that the only way to heaven was through the blood our Savior Jesus shed on the cross to forgive him all his sins.  But, we live in a politically correct world that can’t tolerate such a claim.  They contend that there must be many paths to God, that truth is found in all religions and that eternal life can be obtained through any number of belief systems.  But, that’s not true!  Jesus is the only way to eternal life!

9.                Jesus is the only way.  These words of Jesus and this confession by the early Christians placed believers in opposition to both the Jews who had rejected Jesus and the Gentiles who worshiped many false gods.  For all who claim that there are many ways to heaven, all the other so-called ways are ultimately the way of good works and self-centered individualism:  Do your best.  Live a good life.  Try your hardest.  Follow these principles.  Obey these commandments.  No matter what the religion or belief system, if it’s not Christianity, the way to eternity is always focused on what the individual does or doesn’t do.  And, trying to follow the law can’t save you.

10.             This is why Jesus is the only way.  Trying your hardest is never good enough.  Even your good works are tainted by sin.  The Bible tells us that there is no one who is righteous, no one who does good, that we are conceived and born into sin within our mother’s womb (Rom. 3:10; Psalm 51:5).  Sin is a terminal disease that we inherited all the way back to the first people who disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, Adam & Eve.  That’s why those who believe in a false religion are never certain if they’ve done enough to be saved.  They always feel that there is something that they have left undone, some good work that they have failed to do to earn them salvation.  But, you know that what you could never do, Christ has done for you.  Greg knew this too and he put his hope and trust in this great promise of our Lord!  Jesus lived the perfect life.  He walked the way of the cross, and by His death and resurrection has opened the way for you and me to the Father in heaven.  In fact, when Jesus promises that He’s preparing a mansion for us in the Father’s house, you can be certain that there’s a place waiting for you there.  When He promises you the gift of the Holy Spirit, you can be certain that His Spirit dwells in you.

11.             If Jesus is the way, he’s also the life.  Not only does He make this claim, he reveals its truthfulness.  Jesus is your life, just as He is Greg’s life, because He rose again on the third day!  Death has no power over Him. And because he lives, you will live also if you repent of your sins and believe in him as Your Lord and Savior.  Because he lives, you will see the Father.  Because he lives, you will dwell in the place of life and light prepared for you by Christ himself.  Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in Jesus as your Savior from sin, death and the power of the devil, as Greg did, and you will join him in heaven for that happy reunion as you await the resurrection at the end of the age and the final fulfillment of all things accomplished in our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen. Now the peace that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.