In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
On Tuesday my wife and I celebrated our eighth wedding
anniversary. I didn’t know what kind of
gift I was supposed to give her (although I later learned that bronze is the
traditional gift for eight years of marriage), but I was able to make an
observation.
Now that a few anniversaries have come and gone, some of the
details of our wedding day have become a little bit fuzzy. It is getting more difficult for me to
remember exactly who was there. I can’t
remember what the table decorations looked like. I don’t remember how the cake tasted. Time has blurred what were once crystal clear
images into somewhat vague recollections.
And so after eight years of wedded bliss, I decided to dig
our wedding albums out of the closet.
Some pictures were taken by a professional photographer. Many snapshots came from disposable cameras. Regardless of their quality, I am grateful
for all of them. Why? Because those pictures
allow my wife and I to remember, and in a way, relive a very important day in
our lives.
The windows that we will consider this morning serve a
similar purpose for all of us. These
stained glass pictures take us back to another very important day in our lives,
a day that many of us were too young to remember. As we view these symbols, we will review the
events of and renew our appreciation for the day of our baptism. With that in mind, let’s begin our study of…
THE BAPTISM WINDOW
I. The open Bible
II. The ark and rainbow
III. The
font and dove
I. The open Bible
Imagine that you are sitting in this church on a Sunday
morning. That sounds easy enough. After all, that’s what you are doing right
now. Now comes the hard part. Imagine that you are not a Christian. In fact, this is the first time you have ever
stepped foot inside a Christian church.
As the bells ring, a man wearing a white robe appears and
says a few words. Then the organ begins
to play and, as if on cue, the people start singing. As everyone around you stands up, a handful
of people walk over there and gather around that marble pedestal.
Once the music stops the man in the white robe makes his way
over to the place where the people are standing. He directs a few more words toward the group,
especially to the person in the middle holding a baby dressed in a white
gown. You think that the outfit is a bit
out of place (especially if it’s a boy), but it doesn’t begin to compare with
what happens next.
The man in the robe makes the sign of a cross, dips his hand
into a bowl and sprinkles water on the baby’s head three times. You wonder if the child’s parents will be
upset about this, but judging by the smiles on their faces it appears that they
couldn’t be happier.
Because baptisms are a frequent part of our Sunday morning
worship, because many of us have witnessed dozens or even hundreds of baptisms,
perhaps we don’t think about how strange our practice might look to the outside
observer.
If a first time visitor came up to you after church and
asked, “Why did the pastor pour water on that baby’s head at the beginning of
the service?,” do you know what you would say? If you aren’t so sure, perhaps the first
window can offer some assistance.
This is an open Bible.
Because we believe that the Bible is God’s Word, because we believe that
the Bible is 100% true, this book is our guide, our only guide, for what we
believe and teach. That goes for
everything, including baptism.
We baptize, first of all, because in His Word Jesus tells us to baptize. In the gospel lesson for today, Jesus said: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…” (Matthew 28:19a). The Lord commands it. Therefore we do it. It’s that simple.
But the words of Jesus provide us with even more
direction. Not only does he tell us to
baptize. Our Lord commands us to baptize
in the name of the triune God. That is
why the pastor baptizes “in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19b). That is why the water is sprinkled three
times. Perhaps that is why our
forefathers divided the baptism window into three separate windows. And maybe they incorporated into these
windows a small shamrock (a Christian symbol for the Trinity) for the same
reason.
So why do we pour water on a baby’s head? Or to put it another way, what is
baptism? This was Martin Luther’s
answer: Baptism is not just plain water,
but it is water used by God’s command and connected with God’s Word.
If Jesus’ command was our only reason to baptize, that would
be enough for us. But it isn’t the only
reason. The Lord doesn’t make demands of
us to flex his muscles or to keep us busy.
His command to baptize is connected with his promise to bless us through
this sacrament.
II. The ark and rainbow
When Noah walked on the earth, the world was a very dark
place. Corruption was rampant. Violence was everywhere. The situation had gotten so bad that the Lord
finally decided to destroy the world and start over. And so God directed Noah to build an
ark. The historical account of a
world-wide flood makes one thing perfectly clear. Sin is serious business. God hates sin. God punishes sin.
As complete as the destruction was, corruption didn’t die
with the flood. And violence is still
alive and well. I’m not just talking
about the headlines you read in the papers.
I’m talking about our wicked thoughts that translate into unkind
words. I’m talking about our dark
desires that lead to our own unspeakable actions. Even though the flood wiped sinful mankind
off the face of the earth, it couldn’t remove the sin that resides in every
human heart.
An honest self-examination forces each of us to ask some
difficult questions: If my sinfulness condemns me before a just and holy God,
do I have any hope? And if the flood
reminds me of God’s judgment against sin, how can I find any comfort in this
window?
Look beyond the ark and you will see a rainbow. The rainbow takes us back to God’s
conversation with Noah after the flood.
The Lord said: “Never again will
all life be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again will there be a
flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis (
And the Lord
set the rainbow in the clouds as a sign of his covenant with Noah. The rainbow reminded Noah and his family that
God is merciful. The rainbow symbolized
God’s love for his people. And whenever
we see a rainbow in the sky, God wants us to remember that he keeps promises,
including the wonderful promises he attaches to baptism.
While it is true that God used water to execute his divine
judgment, he used the same water to lift Noah and his family to safety. So in a sense, the flood saved the people in
the ark. The apostle Peter connects this
idea with baptism when he says: “In it
(the ark) only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this
water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also” (I Peter
What does baptism do for us?
Simply put, baptism saves. Jesus
said it: “Whoever believes and is
baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). Peter
said it: “Repent and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts
2:38). Paul said it: Baptism is the “washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy
Spirit” (Titus 3:5). And Martin
Luther summarized it: Baptism works
forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal
salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.
Baptism seals the forgiveness that Jesus won for us on the
cross. Baptism gives us the right to
look the devil in the eye and say: “I don’t belong to you anymore.” Baptism allows us to declare with confidence:
“I am God’s child and an heir of eternal life.”
III. The font and dove
But the skeptic might respond: “Come on.
How is that possible? How can a
few words and a few drops of water be that powerful? How can ordinary water wash away sin?”
Our forefathers supplied the answer to questions like these
in our third and final window. Notice
the baptismal font, similar to the marble font directly below it. The font is important because it holds the
water that is necessary for baptism.
But there is much more to baptism than water, and there is
more to this window than a font. Above
the font is a dove, but this is no ordinary bird. This dove represents the third person of the
Trinity. When Jesus was baptized by John
in the
And the same Holy Spirit is present at every Christian
baptism. He doesn’t swoop down from the
rafters. He doesn’t even make himself
visible. But he is there. He is there working faith in hearts through
the water and the Word.
To summarize this window, to silence the skeptics, to answer
anyone who asks, “How can water do such great things?,” we say with Luther: It is certainly not the water that does such
things, but God’s Word which is in and with the water and faith which trusts
this Word used with the water.
For without God’s Word
the water is just plain water and not Baptism.
But with this Word it is Baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and
a washing of rebirth by the Holy Spirit.
Of all the windows in this sermon series, the baptism
windows are unique because they help us revisit an important milestone in our
lives. For most of us, it was the day
when we became a part of God’s family.
But we should never think of our baptism as an event that happened in
the past because the blessings of baptism remain with us throughout our lives.
To call attention to this, many churches now position their
baptismal font in the middle of the sanctuary.
To remind people of this, I encourage families to frame their baptismal
certificates and display them in a prominent place in their homes. To emphasize this, perhaps it would be better
if Christians didn’t say “I was baptized” or “I have been baptized,” but “I am
baptized.”
So what does baptizing with water mean? What does it mean for me? What does it mean in the here and now? What comfort and strength can I derive from
my baptism today? Luther said: Baptism means that the sinful nature in us
should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance, and that all its evil
deeds and desires be put to death. It
also means that a new person should daily arise to live before God in
righteousness and purity forever.
Your baptism gives you the certainty of eternal life with
God in heaven, but it also empowers you to live for God on earth. Your baptism gives you the faith to trust in
Jesus, to drown the Old Adam, to forsake the world, to say “no” to Satan, to
know that with God all things are possible.
I have some homework for you today. I want you to go home after church and try to
locate your baptismal certificate. If
you are able to find it, take some time to look it over. Look at the information, the date of the
ceremony, the sponsors, the person who performed the
baptism. If you are feeling especially
motivated, you may even want to put it in a frame and hang it on the wall.
But I also want you to remember that this piece of paper is not what is truly important. Your baptism is. And so to conclude our study this morning, to acknowledge the wonderful blessings God gives us through the water and the Word, I ask you to join me in this simple prayer:
Dear Lord, thank you
for creating spiritual life in my heart on the day of my baptism. Help me to live for you each day, and I look
forward to that day when you will take me to live with you forever. Amen.