Well, this whole bla(g)h-ing every day thing has grown increasingly harder as time progesses. Currently, I'm in the middle of 36 awesome 8th graders in our Confirmation retreat. Good fun. Seeing as I don't have too much time, I've decided to allow you read the final point of my last paper on Baptism in Luther's Catechism... :) Lucky you.
So... Enjoy :)
V: The Meaning of Baptism for our Daily Life
What does baptizing with water mean? It means that our Old Adam with his evil deeds and desires should be drowned by death contrition and repentance, and die, and that day by day a new man should arise, as from the dead, to live in the presence of God in righteousness and purity now and forever.
Where is this written? St. Paul says in Romans, chapter 6, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
The 13th amendment of the U.S. Constitution officially and completely outlaws slavery in our nation. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for those who in their lives had only known the bonds of slavery only to one day finally be set free. Thankfully, I’ve never known what it is like to be released from jail; to go from constrained to liberated. That is, I’ve never known that feeling in my physical life. At the age of 12 days, however, I was spiritually set free at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in St. James, MN. It was there, through the waters of baptism, that the Holy Spirit entered my heart and gave me new life in Christ Jesus. Just as a prisoner’s life is different after he is set free, so too our lives as Christians are changed after being set free from sin, death, and the Devil.
We have the ultimate comfort and peace in the assurances baptism gives us. “Thus we must regard Baptism and make it profitable to ourselves, that when our sins and conscience oppress us, we strengthen ourselves and take comfort and say: ‘Nevertheless I am baptized; but if I am baptized, it is promised me that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body.’” (LC 4th, 44) “I’m but a stranger here”, the hymn states, and it is that very assurance that comforts us in the darkest of days. We know without a doubt that our eternal salvation was sealed on the cross and made ours through baptism. Romans 8 assures us that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, and the faith that was gifted to us at our baptisms holds that assurance close to our hearts.
It is a daily struggle to live the sanctified life God calls us to live. “Day by day a new man should arise, as from the dead, to live in the presence of God in righteousness and purity now and forever.” Baptism isn’t a one-and-done kind of deal. Certainly, the act of baptism is only required once, as the Apostle’s Creed professes, but the work of living as Christ’s ambassadors is a daily task. It is a constant struggle between grace and pride. Paul says,
“For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15-19, 24-25)
Daily contrition and repentance is the mark of a person of faith. The terror of true contrition concerns our relationship with God. We often are sorry, not for our sin, but rather that we got caught, as it were. We repent not because we humiliated before our perfect God, but rather we are upset we hurt someone or ourselves. True repentance is not about what sin does to us, but what it does to our relationship with God.
The Small Catechism defines repentance as, “A ‘change of mind’ about one’s sin. The Bible uses this word in two senses: 1- sorrow over sin and desire to stop sinning; 2- sorrow over sin and faith in the forgiveness of sins” (346). We need to have a genuine and deep-felt terror of that which separates us from our God followed by an indisputable sorrow because of it. For a Christian, that terror and sorrow leads you to the cross. How lonely and desolate we are without Jesus! If it had not been for His sacrifice on Calvary, we would be the epitome of despair.
Our desire to live a new and holy life is renewed daily. “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gal 3:27) Since we are clothed in Christ, His “love compels us… He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Cor 5:14,15) “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Truly our very lives are to be as thank-offerings for the blessings that we received at our baptisms: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Rom 12:1) May this be our prayer now and forever—to honor God with our thoughts, words, and actions in response to the awe-inspiring gifts bestowed upon us at our baptisms.
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