May the peace and blessing of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, be with you all today, as we meditate upon His Word.
Acts
22:12-16 “Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a
good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, 13 "came to me; and he
stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.' And at that same hour
I looked up at him. 14 "Then he said, `The God of our fathers has chosen
you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of
His mouth. 15 `For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and
heard. 16 `And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away
your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'“
Anyone who’s been around the Christian
faith for even a small amount of time can most likely recognize the significance
of the Sacraments. A Sacrament is a word we use to describe something
significant that God has given to mankind in order to build and strengthen our
relationship with Him. We have two such blessings which earthly means that fit
this definition, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In these simple activities, God
promises to attach His blessing of forgiveness to us. You see, God is the Creator
of everything but He doesn’t use everything to establish faith in His Son,
Jesus. The Sacraments, as we call them, are very special and unique because of
this quality.
Sometimes, though, the Sacraments can
dominate a person’s thinking, so much so that they block out other important
parts of God’s Word. There are many dangers which allow this to happen. For
instance, over-focusing on the Sacraments is not beneficial if it leads us
ignore or forget other parts of God’s Word. Another danger is that people
fatigue of the Christian faith because of constant arguments about the
Sacraments. This latter point has caused many offenses among people throughout
history. Because of the special nature of the Sacraments, long-standing
divisions within Christianity have formed because of difference in
understanding and practice. We shouldn’t overlook these differences; they are
important. But it’s sad when, because of their historical prominence, people
will think only and always about these things when they consider the basis of
the Christian faith. The Sacraments are only good for us if they lead us to
Christ, not when they become so prominent that they even overshadow Him.
Today, we have a rare opportunity to
witness the use of both Sacraments in the worship service. Actual, we will
witness the entire package of God’s means of grace, as we combine the preaching
and hearing of the Gospel with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Therefore, as we
share in these blessings today, it is fitting that we would look at them in a
deeper context. With everything that has been said about Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper throughout the ages, we could study these things for the entire year.
But today, let us set aside the temptation to focus only on the factional
alliances based on the Sacraments, and return to the simple testimony of God’s
Word.
We look first at Baptism, since God uses
this Sacrament as a way to establish faith in a person’s heart. We see examples
of this in John the Baptist’s ministry and in the work of Jesus and the
disciples, as baptism was a regular part of their work among the people. We
also get a glimpse of the power of Baptism to create faith on Pentecost Sunday,
as Peter, and other apostles, added 3,000 souls to God’s Church that day,
through the Sacrament of Baptism. Everywhere that Baptism is mentioned in the
Bible it is connected with the ability to create faith by attaching an
individual to the redemptive work of Jesus.
But, there were also times when those
who already believed were baptized. It’s fitting that we consider such a
circumstance since that is the very event before our congregation today. We
take our discourse from Paul’s own recollection of his baptism. Last weekend we
read the account of what happened on the road to Damascus when he was converted.
Today, we hear it from Paul’s own words as he recounted it for some of his
fellow Jews.
From the context of these words and
other sections of the book of Acts, there’s little doubt that Paul was already
a Christian at this point. Ananias calls him, “Brother Saul,” a term of affection used by believers to other
believers. The earlier record in Acts 9 tells us that Saul called Jesus “Lord”
well before his baptism. Whether Paul believed at this point or not may never
be answered, but there’s no doubt after the moment of His baptism. Ananias
tells Paul: “Arise and be baptized, and
wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
Whether these words came before or after
the beginning of Paul’s faith matters very little. What remains unchanged is that
through Baptism, the Lord Jesus washed away Paul’s sins. This is the quality of
Baptism that shows us how it is unique in comparison to other Christian
practices. The Lord attaches this tremendous blessing to it, no matter whom it
is for.
If we wanted to we could choose to focus
on everything that isn’t said here.
How does baptism do this? Why would God choose to bless us like this? What did
it matter so much if Paul already believed? Couldn’t he have believed just fine
without baptism? The list of questions could go on and on, but God simply gives
us the bare facts. Baptism was important, even though Paul was already an
adult, possibly already a believer. And baptism granted Paul forgiveness of
sins by the power of Jesus. And really, that’s all we need to know.
Given this knowledge it’s easy to let
the Sacrament itself become more important than that which the Sacrament
connects us to. In other words, making baptism more important than the Gospel
itself. For some that happens. I’ve spoken with many Christians, from many
different backgrounds, who look at Baptism and the Lord’s Supper on a higher
level than other teachings from God. Some even think that the Sacraments are
the only major difference between Christian churches. And even some have given
up the discourse entirely. That’s the caution we must recognize if we allow one
part of God’s Word to dominate too much. People will weary and tire of it. And
to a large extent that has displaced the joyous descriptions of Baptism as we
are given from Paul in sections like Acts 22.
Care must be exercised. Fatigue from
papers, studies, and debates on Baptism is not healthy, but equally dangerous
is giving up the truth of the matter. We must also understand that the
historical differences of teaching of the Sacraments continue to exist to this
day, and therefore they are just as important to us as they were to the first
Lutherans. And these differences are often the cause of other divergences from
God’s truth as well. When Baptism is questioned as an effective means through
which God delivers salvation and forgiveness to us, whether as an infant or as
an adult, we begin to question when and why we believe at all. If I can’t be
assured that it is God’s power alone that is working, then I must take some
amount of responsibility of the gift that is being forgiven. Every notion to
that end leads us away from Christ. And, therefore, every notion of that sort
is worth fighting against.
The single blessing of Baptism, namely
that it forgives our sins through Christ, does not change across time, culture,
age, gender, or anything else. We can take stock that God is speaking through
Ananias to us, just as much as he was to Paul when he said, `The God of our fathers has chosen you that
you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His
mouth. 15 `For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and
heard. 16 `And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away
your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'
You may live in different circumstances
than Paul did. You may serve God in different ways. But everything that applied
to him in those words, applies to you, and you should remember that when we
think of you Baptism. It’s easy for that simple truth to be overshadowed,
whether because we over-emphasize the institution, the practice or we de-value
the significance of Baptism. But, that’s why we return again and again to the
Word of God. It re-corrects our focus, it helps us understand the truth, it
guides us in the way of God, and it attaches us to the righteousness of our
Savior, for strength, peace, and life.
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