In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On Reformation Day, we Lutherans give special thanks to God for His servant Martin Luther, who boldly stood up for the truth of the Scriptures even in the face of grave personal danger. When we hear about Luther’s speech at the Diet of Worms in 1521, and how he refused to compromise on God’s Word despite the threat of his own death, famously saying, “Here I stand, I can do no other,” it sends chills down the back of every good Lutheran’s spine. But not everybody, of course, feels the same way that we do. Not everyone views Luther as a hero. In fact, many people, still to this day think of him as the villain. “Luther is the one,” they say, “who destroyed the Church.” “If it wasn’t for Martin Luther,” some argue, “then there wouldn’t be so much fighting among Christians today and so many different denominations.” “It’s Luther,” they maintain, “who was the real problem.” Many people in our time see Luther’s insistence on fighting for the truth of the Scriptures down to the very last teaching not as admirable, but as arrogant and misguided. They say that about him, and they also say that about us too.

So, in today’s sermon, as we celebrate once again the great Reformation of the Church, allow me to explain to you all on the basis of our Gospel lesson from John chapter 8, why we must never give up fighting for the truth of the Scriptures.

The first reason why we must never give up this fight, regardless of how difficult it might be, or what kind of things we might have to go through on account of it, is because there is only One truth that exists, and it is not our possession but God’s. As Jesus told the Jews so clearly in our text this morning, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth.” Here our Lord reminds us plainly that when we are defending the things that are taught in the Bible, we are not defending our own ideas, but the very Word of God. 

Yes, it would be one thing for us to fight over what we think, or about what we believe, but it is another matter entirely when it comes to fighting for what God says. And the content of the Bible does not consist in the thoughts or opinions of any mere man. It is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Everything that we learn from the Scriptures, down to the smallest of details, is an accurate and reliable account of God’s very own truth. As we read in 2 Timothy chapter 3, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

The truth of the Scriptures, therefore, is not our property or possession that we can simply give away or give up if it is too inconvenient or too burdensome for us to hold on to. It is God’s property, which we are called as His servants and stewards to protect and administer faithfully. Even though it may be easier to ignore certain teachings of the Bible, so as to avoid conflict, we would do so at the peril of our own souls and the souls of others. We would do so at the cost of losing out on the fullness of the truth, and turning it in to half-truths, or partial truths, which are really no truths at all.

There is no such thing as an unimportant or unnecessary teaching of God’s Word. There is no such thing as something that God tells to us in the Bible that doesn’t really matter. Those individuals in our day who maintain that we should only talk about the basics, so as to avoid conflict in the Church, may have good intentions, but they are still wrong. Who gets to determine what the basics of the Bible are in the first place? Which one of us has permission from the Lord to stand over the Scriptures and pick and choose which doctrines are essential and which ones aren’t? Where in Old or New Testament does God ever tells us to minimize anything that the Holy Spirit has chosen to reveal to us? He doesn’t tell us that anywhere. In fact, one of the very last things that God says to us in the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is this, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city.”

Saying that we Christians should stop fighting about the things in the Bible that we have trouble agreeing on is just another tool of the devil to get us to stop studying God’s Word and suppress His truth in the process. And for those who argue that the full truth of the Scriptures can never really be known, and that striving for pure doctrine is a naïve and impossible pursuit, that is not what the Bible says either. Again, as Jesus tells us in our text today, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth.” Through the humble study of God’s Word, where we allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves, and interpret themselves for us, we can come to the knowledge of the truth. We can understand exactly what God wants us to believe.

And again, that is the first reason why we must never give up fighting for the truth of the Scriptures. Because it is not our truth, but God’s.

The next reason why we shouldn’t give up this fight is because the loss of the truth of the Scriptures would be something far worse than all of the strife that we experience now on account of defending it. According to Jesus, not only is the Bible God’s very own truth, but it is also the instrument that He uses to set us free from our sins and save us. As He says in our text, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” God uses everything that is written in sacred Scripture to guide us to eternal life. Through the various teachings of the Bible, we learn what we need to know in order to be saved. We learn about what God wants from us in our lives, and how we have failed to do it. We learn about what Jesus Christ has done in our place to make satisfaction for our sins. And we learn about how we receive God’s forgiveness through faith alone.

Every single false doctrine that exists is an attack not only on Divine truth, but on our faith in Jesus. It is an attack on our salvation. Since all of the teachings of the Bible are intended to lead us to Christ, every time that something from the Bible is ignored or contradicted, it leads us away from Him instead. Even the smallest of errors, over time, can corrode our trust in Jesus and cause a person to fall away from the faith. Remember what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 16. He says, “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees.” And what does Saint Paul write in Galatians 5, “A little bit of leaven, leavens the whole lump.”

What happens when you teach that salvation doesn’t come by grace alone, but that our own good works need to contribute to it too? Eventually, people will trust in themselves instead of Jesus, or they will despair that that they haven’t done enough to be saved. What happens when you claim that conversion is not entirely the merciful work of God but an act of our own free will? Either people will rely on their own decision to follow Christ, as if their decision is what saved them, or they will doubt that they were sincere enough when they supposedly made it. What happens when you deny that Baptism saves, or that the Lord’s Supper is the true Body and Blood of Christ, despite the clear passages from the Bible that say so? You take away the comfort of the Gospel and you deprive people of the certainty of God’s love when they are burdened by their sins. And what happens when you declare that the earth evolved over billions and billions of years, that marriage isn’t the life-long union between one man and one woman, and that life doesn’t begin at conception? You contradict the plain witness of Scriptures, cause people to have a low view of the Bible, and sometimes even make them reject the forgiveness from Jesus that they so desperately need.

Even though all of these examples are different false teachings, if left un-checked, or embraced, the result of every single one of them has the potential to be the same. All of them can enslave us. All of them can put us back in bondage to our sin and rob us of the freedom that we have in Christ. All of them can lead us away from Jesus. It's not that a person is saved by knowing every teaching of God’s Word perfectly, but God uses every teaching in His Word to save us. He uses all of it to build up our faith in Christ. And that is why, we should never stop fighting for any of it, regardless of how unimportant or trivial it might seem to others.

And the last reason why we must never give up the fight for the truth of the Scriptures is because defending that truth is commanded by God Himself, and has His blessing. Jesus tells us in John chapter 8 to “abide in His Word.” To abide in something means to stay as close to it as possible and never leave it. Obviously, if fighting for the truth of the Scriptures and defending the pure doctrine of God’s Word was an activity that we came up with on our own, it wouldn’t be necessary. But who would ever say the same thing about something that God Himself tells us to do? Who would be so bold as to reject the clear command of our Lord and Savior?

Jesus tells us to abide in His Word. He tells us to stay close to the Scriptures and not to depart from anything that they teach us. This is not just something that God’s Word tells us in one passage but in many other passages too. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, we read, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers.” And as Saint Jude tells us, “Contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.”

We do not have a promise that things will be easy for us if we hold fast to God’s Word and refuse to compromise on the truth of the Scriptures. But we do have the promise that God will bless us. God always blesses those who do His will. Even if they should suffer for doing the right thing, He promises to use their suffering for good, and strengthen their faith in the midst of it.

Many times today we hear people argue that the reason why our church, or even our own congregation, is shrinking is because of what we teach. They say that if we only would stay away for those topics that make people uncomfortable, churches like ours would be bursting at the seams. And perhaps they are right. But that wouldn’t mean that they are in the right. Just because a lot of people go to a certain church doesn’t mean that the things that it teaches are true. Just because a lot a people agree on something, doesn’t mean that what they agree on is correct. Truth comes from God. And He reveals that truth to us in the Bible. Therefore, the mark of a good church is not how many people attend it, but whether or not it is faithful to the Bible. 

When you are the faithful to the Bible you can expect to suffer for it. You can expect people to call you names and not understand why, in their mind, you are being so arrogant and stubborn. But it is not arrogant to submit yourself to the Word of God and confess it boldly no matter what anyone else says. It is not arrogant to fight for the truth of the Scriptures and reject everything that contradicts them. In fact, that is what every true disciple of Jesus does. We do it is because the truth is not ours but God’s. We do it because losing out on other things isn’t as bad as what we would lose out on if we lost the truth. And we do it because God tells us to. 

So, may the Lord bless us as we do it. May He strengthen us to be faithful unto death and never give up the struggle of fighting for the truth of the Scriptures. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

All of the teachings of the Bible from the both the Old and New Testaments can be divided into two main categories: the Law and the Gospel.  The Law is God’s Word of command that tells what to do and how we’re supposed to live. The Gospel, on the other hand, is God’s Word of grace through which He teaches about what Christ has done for our salvation. Understanding the difference between the Law and the Gospel is so essential that without it, it’s actually impossible to read the Bible. If a person doesn’t know what parts of the Scriptures are Law and what parts are Gospel, he or she will become easily confused and think that God’s Word is full of all kinds of contradictions. In one place, for example, the Bible offers forgiveness for all sinners, and in another place, it condemns all sinners. In one place, the Holy Spirit tells us to do certain things if we want to be saved, and in another place, He tells us that salvation is a free and unmerited gift. This puzzle can only be solved if we know the difference between the Law and the Gospel.

And one place where we get to see this difference shown to us very clearly is in our Gospel lesson today from Matthew chapter 22. In Matthew chapter 22, we are presented with two different questions that get at the heart of these two main teachings. First, the Pharisees ask Jesus what the greatest commandment is, and then, Jesus asks them who the Christ is. So, on the basis of these two questions, allow me to explain to you all a little bit more about the differences between the Law and the Gospel and how these teachings go together.

Again, the first teaching of God’s Word that we get to see in our text this morning is the teaching of the Law. After our Lord silenced the Sadducees, who asked Him about the resurrection of the dead, the Pharisees sent one of their own representatives to ask Him a question too. But just the like Sadducees were trying to trap Jesus and prove that He was a false teacher, that’s what the Pharisees were up to as well. As we read, “And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him. ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law.’”

If you remember, the Pharisees loved to debate with one another about which one of God’s commandments was the most important. They had identified 613 different ones, and each Rabbi, and each school of theology, would identify themselves by which one they saw as the most significant. Are the Sabbath laws the most important or are the food laws? What about the cleansing laws and the laws about tithing? Some said this, and some said that. The Pharisees were not actually concerned with which commandment Jesus picked, but rather they simply wanted to draw Him into a debate in order to demonstrate that He was just like all the other Rabbis who each had their own opinion. But notice how quickly Jesus answered their question. Without any hesitation at all, He responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

As is always the case, our Lord’s answer was perfect. And the reason why it was perfect was because Jesus did not pick out one commandment over another, but rather He summarized all of the commandments at once. He got to the heart of what each commandment is really all about. What do the first 3 commandments, for example, in the Ten Commandments have to do with? They all have to do with loving God. That’s why God tells us not to worship other gods. That’s why He tells us not to take His Name in vain. And that is why He tells us to remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy. Those are the ways that we show Him love. And the same is true for commandments 4 through 10. Do you want to know what it looks like to actually love your neighbor? It looks like honoring your father and mother, not killing people, not cheating on your spouse, not stealing, lying, or coveting things that don’t belong to you. Just as no one wants any of those things to be done to them, God tells us not to do them to our neighbor. Jesus was exactly right.

But what made Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees so perfect, was not just that He summed up all of the Law at once, but also that in doing so He showed us what the main purpose of God’s Law even is. The main purpose of God’s Law is to uncover our sins and teach us that we need a Savior. As Saint Paul tells us so clearly in Romans chapter 3, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

Yes, knowing which one of God’s commandments is the greatest is a very important thing to know. But that knowledge by itself doesn’t actually save a person. In fact, that knowledge condemns a person. That knowledge reveals to us even more that we cannot save ourselves by the things that we do. The Law tells us what God wants from us, but it does not give us the ability to do it. On the contrary, it proves that we haven’t really done it at all.

Which one of us has loved God with his whole heart, soul, and mind? To love God with your heart means that you love Him with your will. It means that you always want the things that God wants and you never want anything different. To love God with your soul means that you love Him with your emotions. You always feel exactly the way God feels about everything. You despise the things that He despises. And you are happy with the things that make Him happy. And to love God with your mind, means that you love Him with your reason. In every situation, you always think the way that God thinks, and you never doubt His Word. Only the most delusion kind of person could possibly believe that he or she has loved God in that kind of way.

And that is only half of what it means to keep His law. The other half has to do with loving your neighbor. Who has truly loved his neighbor as himself? Loving your neighbor as yourself means putting the needs of other people always before your own. It means treating others with the exact same kind of respect that you want to be treated with by them. Whether it is your friend, or your enemy, or someone that you just met, it doesn’t matter. Anything that you wouldn’t want others to say about you, God says don’t say it about them. Anything you wouldn’t want others to think about you, God says don’t even think it about them. And anything that you would want others to help you with, if you were in the same situation as they were, God doesn’t just tell you to do it, He tells you to do willingly and gladly.

When a person examines himself according to this standard, that is, God’s standard, if he is being honest with himself, he must confess along with the Psalmist, “Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You.” He must admit that he has not kept God’s Law. And again, that is the main purpose of the Law. God gave us His Law not so that we would try and save ourselves through it, but so that we would learn that we need salvation from it. We need the forgiveness of our sins.

And that leads us to the second question from our text today, the question that Jesus asked the Pharisees. After our Lord showed them how God’s Law demands perfect love toward Him and perfect love toward our neighbor, thereby proving that no one can be saved by keeping the Law because every one of us has broken it, Jesus said, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is he?” In response the Pharisees said, “the son of David.” Then Jesus added, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls Him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

The reason why Jesus asked the Pharisees who the Christ is was because that question gets to the very heart of the Gospel. When you know who the Messiah is, and what He has come to do for you, then, and only then, will you know the real answer to how a sinner can be saved from his sins.

The problem with the Pharisees was not only that they had a completely false understanding of God’s Law, where they thought that God gave it to us so that we could be saved by keeping it, but they also had a completely false view of the Messiah. They thought that the Messiah would be someone just like them. He would be a man just like they were, except that He would finally deliver them from their earthly trouble. He would save them from the oppression of the Roman government and restore the Jewish nation to the same level of success that it had in the time of the Old Testament.

And yet, Jesus shows them from their own texts that they cherished, how the Messiah was much more than that. How could King David call the Messiah His Lord, even before the Messiah was born? How could God speak to the Christ, if the Christ didn’t already exist? And that is the point. He did already exist. And David could call Him his Lord even before He was born, because even though He had not yet been born in the flesh, He was begotten from all eternity. David’s Son and David’s Lord is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. He is the very Son of God Himself.

If the Pharisees would only recognize the true identity of the Messiah, then they should also have been able to recognize that He has come to do more than what any other man can do. In fact, He has come precisely to do what all men fail to do. He has come to fulfill the Law. He has come to keep all of God’s commandments on our behalf and then suffer the punishment for breaking those commandments as our substitute. The Christ puts all of our enemies under His feet, by allowing those enemies to kill Him. He takes His seat at the right hand of God, by first taking His seat on a cross, and dying for the sins of the whole world. That is how the Messiah ushers in His Kingdom. That is how He delivers us from our sad situation, we brought upon ourselves through our failure to keep God’s Law.

When you know the answer to the question, “what is the greatest commandment,” all that that does is bring you shame. You know what God wants from you, but you don’t have the ability to do it. But when you know the answer to the question, “who is the Christ,” then you can have true peace in your heart. Then you can have confidence in your salvation, even though you are still acutely aware of your sins.

That is the difference between the Law and the Gospel. That is the difference between these two distinct teachings of the Bible. The Law and the Gospel are not contradictory to each other, they are complimentary to each other. Through the Law, God shows us our sins, and through the Gospel, He shows us our Savior. Through the Law, God makes us realize that we need forgiveness, and through the Gospel, God gives us that forgiveness. Through the Law, God tells us how we are supposed to live, and through the Gospel, God tells us how Jesus has lived a perfect life in our place.

No, we have not loved the Lord our God with our whole heart, soul, and mind. And no, we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. Anyone who says otherwise is not telling the truth. But there is One who has. There is One who is like us in every way except that He is without sin. We have a Christ. He is David’s son and David’s Lord. And He is the answer to everything that we need. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Saint Paul tells us in our Epistle lesson today from Ephesians chapter 4 that there is “one Lord, one faith, and one Baptism.” There are so many different things that we could say about this verse, but since we had the privilege of getting to see a real-life Baptism take place this morning in Church, I thought it would be a good idea for us to reflect a little bit more on that aspect of the text. What can we take away from the fact that, according to God’s Word, there is only one Baptism?

First of all, the fact that Saint Paul tells us that there’s only one Baptism, obviously means that only one exists and that there’s only one that we Christians should seek after. Lots of times today, especially in Evangelical and Pentecostal circles, you will hear people talking about more than one kind of baptism. They’ll say that there is “the baptism of the spirit” and then there’s this thing called “water baptism.” The baptism of the Spirit, they argue, is when a person has an intense spiritual experience which culminates in them giving their heart to Jesus, and sometimes manifests itself in the speaking of tongues. Water baptism, on the hand, is what they refer to as the first act of Christian obedience. In their minds, it is a ceremony where a person shows that they are dedicated to God by being submerged in water while a religious leader speaks the Trinitarian formula.

The problem with this line of thinking though, is that the Scriptures a very clear that not only is there just one Baptism that we need, but also that our Lord Jesus Christ has only instituted one for us to receive. In Matthew chapter 28, Christ Himself tells us, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” That is how a person becomes a Christian. That is how they get adopted into the family of God. It’s not through some special conversion experience, that culminates in doing something that the Bible says not every has the ability to even do. It is through water and the Word. Remember what Jesus also said to Nicodemus one time in John chapter three. He didn’t just say to him that “unless one is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” He added that, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, He cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Where does God join together the physical element of water with the Spirit filled Words of the Scriptures? There is only one place. And that is when a person gets baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit like little Gregory did this morning. That is the only Baptism that God tells us to receive and that is the only baptism that we need.

I’ve always found it to be ironic that some people will pressure others to receive the so-called “baptism of the spirit,” which again, is not something that we recognize as valid, when on the very day that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Apostles in a miraculous way, Saint Peter got up and said this, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Notice that on the day of Pentecost, when the people asked what needed to happen for them to have the assurance of their salvation, Peter told them to get baptized. And He told them that when they got baptized, they would actually receive the Holy Spirit. Peter didn’t tell them to get “water baptized,” and then wait for some special conversion experience later on when they would get really baptized. He just told them to get baptized. He pointed them to only one Baptism, the Baptism of water and the Word.

The reason why Baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit has the power give a person the Holy Spirit and save us is not because the water in Baptism is special, but because the Word of God in the water is. The Bible tells us that God’s Word can do amazing things. Through His Word, God created the heavens and the earth. He literally spoke it into existence. Through His Word, Jesus raised people from the dead and cured them of incurable diseases. And through His Word, the Holy Spirit calls us to faith and makes us Christians. As Saint Paul alludes to in our text, “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” 

When someone gets baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, they hear the Word of Christ are called by the Gospel. They hear the same Words that came out of Christ’s own mouth right before He ascended into heaven. And those Words are particularly important. Those Words are none other than Name of God itself. Even when we put our own names on things that means something special. If my name is on the deed to the house, that means that legally I own it. If my name is on the check, good luck cashing it at the bank without me. And in Baptism God puts His Name on us. God gives us His Name so that now we can rest assured that we are actually part of His family. The forgiveness that Jesus secured on the cross, now belongs to us. The salvation that He procured when was forsaken by God in our place, now is laid into our lap. The perfect obedience that avails before God as righteousness, which Christ alone achieved, now covers us like a garment. Baptism is the Gospel. Saying that Baptism cannot save is the same thing as saying the Word of God cannot save. But that is ridiculous. Of course, the Word of can save. It is the only thing that does save.

Yes, a person can come to know of the salvation that is theirs in Jesus simply by listening to message of the Scriptures. And yet, in Baptism God goes out of His way to give us something even more personal and more tangible so that there will be no doubt in our minds that everything that Jesus did, He did for us. And we get all of it through this one Baptism, the washing of Water and the Word.

Now, besides reminding us that there is only one Baptism that we need, and only one Baptism for us to seek after, the words of Saint Paul in our Epistle lesson from Ephesians chapter 4, also remind us that we only need to receive that Baptism one time. Again, there is “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

It has become increasing popular these days for Christians to get baptized on more than one occasion. Sometimes this happens when an individual who was baptized as a baby gets involved with a group of people who deny infant Baptism and convince them that their first Baptism didn’t count. In other instances, people try and get rebaptized when after getting baptized in the past, they start living a godless life in the present, and then come to realize just how far they have strayed from God’s will. So, in an effort to fix it, they go back to Church and try and do it over again.

All of this though, stems from the same sad misunderstanding that Baptism is something that we do to show our commitment to God. But where in the Bible do we learn that Baptism is something that we do to show our commitment to God? It doesn’t teach us that anywhere. Rather, it teaches us that Baptism is God’s work through which He shows His commitment to us. That is why almost every time the word baptism is used in the Bible, it appears in the passive voice. It’s always “be baptized” not “baptize yourself,” because baptism is something that happens to us, not something that we are accomplish for ourselves. Remember what Jesus says in John chapter 15. He says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” And what does it say in Isaiah 43, “I have called you by name, you are mine.” Just like God called the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and led them through the Red Sea on dry ground, which the Scriptures teach us elsewhere was a pre-figurement of Holy Baptism, when we receive the washing of Water and the Word, God calls us out of slavery too. He calls us out of bondage to sin, by giving us the forgiveness of our sin. He chooses us and sets us apart as His own son or daughter. As we read in Galatians chapter 3, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Teaching someone that they need to get rebaptized because at one point in time they fell away from their Baptism, is like if a child who got adopted, and ran away from home because he found out about it, then came to his senses later on and returned back only to tell his parents that they needed to re-draft the adoption papers. Not only would that be unnecessary, it would be insulting. And the same thing is true for those who try and get rebaptized. It is unnecessary and it is insulting to God.

The work of God cannot be undone. The promises of God cannot be revoked. Yes, it is possible for a person to turn their back on their Baptism and reject it. Sadly, that happens all of the time. But it doesn’t mean that their Baptism is destroyed. It doesn’t mean that their Baptism is not still there waiting for them to make use of it again. In John chapter 4, Jesus told the woman at the well that He has to power to give us a drink of water that will make us never thirsty again. Baptism is like a drink of water that takes away out thirst. It is like a well dug into the very heart of God, which we can draw from whenever we need His forgiveness. The water never runs dry. The well never needs to be dug again.

The is not greater comfort in our life as Christians than the gift that God gives to us in our Baptism. Many people today limit that gift, and say that you should only give it to adults. They say that little children cannot understand what is happening in their Baptism, therefore we should not let them have it until they are older. But you tell me what parent or grandparent doesn’t give gifts to their kids until they can appreciate them? You tell me what one year old, or even what new born baby, doesn’t get presents long before they can explain them. That’s not how it works. You give the gift and then you show the child how to use it. You baptize your kids, and then you teach them to love it more and more.

There will never be a time in little Gregory’s life when he will not have something to remind him that Jesus loves him. He may have to go through some very hard things as he gets older. I look around at the world we live in today and I would be lying if I said that I was not concerned for my boy. But now I know that my boy belongs to Jesus. Now I know that He is not just my son, He is a son of His heavenly Father. Now I know that no matter that happens him, He has been joined to Christ.

And so have all of you. If you have been baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, you are God’s beloved child. Even if you don’t feel like it sometimes. Even if you can’t see it sometimes. Even if the devil, the world, and your sinful nature tell you otherwise. You can be certain that it is true. For as Saint Paul tells us, there is “One Lord, one faith, one Baptism.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.