Sermon
for Quinquagesima Sunday, February 14, 2021
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. Amen.
1 Peter 3:18-22 18 Christ also suffered once
for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to
God. He was put to death in flesh but
was made alive in spirit, 19in which he also went and made an
announcement to the spirits in prison. 20These
spirits disobeyed long ago, when God’s patience was waiting in the days of Noah
while the ark was being built. In this
ark a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. 21And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body
but the guarantee of a good conscience before God through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. 22He went to heaven and is at the right hand of God, with
angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
(EHV)
Christ
suffered to bring you to God.
Dear blood-bought
friends,
In this world, we are often afflicted by people telling
us what to do. From little on, parents
tell us how to behave. Later, our
teachers tell us to do this or do that, as our parents still do. When we are in our teens, we chafe under
these instructions and we eagerly look forward to escaping from others’
control, only to discover that the same thing continues in adulthood. We all have bosses who tell us what to
do. Even the president of the country is
answerable to the people. The government
seems to never stop coming up with new ways to tell us what to do, and don’t
get me started on peer pressure and social media, because those two things
might be the most overbearing of all.
Now, as
much as we might chafe under the burden of all these commands, our human nature
sometimes seems to like being told what to do.
Of course, it is especially true that we like telling others what they
should do. Something known as “the
opinion of the law” runs deep in us, and therefore, it is often the opinion of
people that the Bible tells us what we must do to please God. That opinion of the law often leads people to
many false notions about the Bible and its purpose. Therefore, you must know first of all, that
while the Bible does bring law, its main purpose is to teach us how Christ
suffered to bring you to God.
The words
of our sermon text come in the context of Peter explaining why we should endure
persecution and suffering for our faith.
Peter recognized that being a Christian believer usually doesn’t lead to
being popular in the world. The fact of
the matter is Jesus said,
“‘A
servant is not greater than his master.’
If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too.” (John 15:20) Thus, we shouldn’t be dismayed if the world
hates us; that simply indicates that they see Christ on us.
Peter
reflects Jesus’ words here as he writes, “Christ also
suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to
bring you to God.” Truly, this
is the message of the Gospel, and the core of the Scriptures. The Son of God came into this world, not to
be served (Matthew 20:28), but to do everything necessary to bring us into
God’s kingdom of grace. Jesus didn’t
come to give us a list of heavenly demands that must be met before God would be
satisfied. Rather, Jesus came to do what
we could never do.
Many
people in our world want to burden you with commands designed to appease their
idea of what God wants. This affliction
also troubles many even in Christian churches.
What they don’t realize is that whenever someone teaches that you must
do your part in order to be saved, they are really working for the devil’s
side. Hear again what the Holy Spirit
caused Peter to write, “Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the
righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” Jesus suffered once for all—the one righteous
Man for the whole unrighteous human race.
If there remains anything you must do to merit God’s grace, Jesus
suffered for nothing. Even just
demanding that you must make a decision to believe involves denying what the
Scriptures clearly teach about the inability of a sinner to make that decision.
If any part of salvation involves us
accomplishing it, then God is a liar.
Because
God cannot lie, Christ suffered to bring you to God. The Son of God coming to earth to live and
suffer and die for you and me is the culmination of all God had promised
throughout history. In the Garden of
Eden, God told the serpent, “I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed. He
will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) The wall of hostility between God and all
people, that the devil built when he brought sin into the world, would be moved
by God Himself from between us and God to between us and the devil, so that
reconciled with God, we will be separated from the devil forever.
God
promised Abraham, “In your seed all the nations of the earth will be
blessed.” (Genesis 22:18) One
descendant of Abraham would bring peace between God and mankind. We could quote many more prophecies that
point to God’s plan to rescue us from the predicament of sin and death by the
Son of God and Man, but finally Jesus declared, “The Son of Man did not come
to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew
20:28) And, on the cross, He cried out, “It
is finished!” (John 19:30)
Therefore, there is nothing for us to do to win peace with God. Jesus has done it all, and Peter’s letter
confirms that everything needed is accomplished because Christ suffered to bring
you to God.
Now,
there are many in our world who might even agree with what I have said so far
who will still tell you that you must do something to come to Jesus or to show
God that you really do believe. One of
the things they pick on is baptism. Even
many who believe in Jesus claim that baptism is something we must do to show
God that we believe. I have two study
Bibles that both claim Peter’s words here do not mean what they say. The translations both agree that Baptism
saves, but in the notes down below they tell the reader, “No it doesn’t.” How ridiculous and audacious it is to call
the Holy Spirit a liar.
“He [Jesus] was put to
death in flesh but was made alive in spirit, in which he also went and made an
announcement to the spirits in prison.
These spirits disobeyed long ago, when God’s patience was waiting in the
days of Noah while the ark was being built.
In this ark a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves
you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee of a good
conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Nothing here speaks about us doing anything
for God; rather, it teaches what Jesus does for us.
Jesus was
put to death to pay the penalty we owed for sin. Jesus was also raised from the dead so that
death could no longer have any hold over us.
Jesus preached to the spirits in hell to show the devil that the victory
of God’s Son is complete and unchangeable.
Never again can the devil accuse us before God. Never again will Satan be able to claim
ownership over mankind. Never again will
anyone have any reason to doubt God’s commitment to saving those who believe in
His Son. Furthermore, Jesus commanded
baptism because this is the way God welcomes us into His kingdom of grace. The power isn’t in our decision, or the
baptizers skill, or any other human work.
Instead, in Baptism, God brings forth—gives birth to, we might say—a new
living spirit connected with Christ Jesus in each sinner who believes, and that
brings salvation to a formerly lost soul.
“Baptism
now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee of a good
conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” One of my study Bibles says that baptism
symbolizes the salvation we believe in.
Hogwash! The water of Noah’s
flood didn’t symbolize God saving them.
Rather, God used the water that was destroying the unbelievers and every
living thing from the earth to lift and carry the boat in which eight lives
were preserved. God decided long before
the rains fell to have Noah build a boat in which to ride out the flood. God instructed Noah in how to build the boat,
and God sealed Noah and his family in that ark for their year-long stay that delivered
them to new life.
Likewise,
Peter reminds the believer that baptism isn’t commanded to remove filth from
our outsides, but rather that through the water and the word of Baptism, God
moves us from certain death and destruction to a new and lasting life connected
with Jesus Christ. As St. Paul wrote, “You
were buried with Christ in baptism. And
in baptism you were also raised with him through the faith worked by the God
who raised Christ from the dead.” (Colossians 2:12) We have “the guarantee of a good
conscience before God” not because of anything we do, but because in
baptism, God has connected us with His perfectly holy Son with whom He is
well-pleased.
You and I
have to live with many people who want to tell us what to do—politicians,
bankers, parents, teachers, and even many well-meaning Christians, but no one
dare tell God what He must do. Likewise,
no one dare tell Jesus that what He did for us is not enough. Because Jesus truly has finished all the work
His Father ordained Him to do here on earth, “He went to heaven and is at
the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to
him.”
All
things in heaven and earth are now under Jesus’ authority just as the
Scriptures prophesied. As the psalmist
had foretold, St. Paul reports, “God also placed all things under his feet
and made him head over everything for the church.” (Ephesians 1:22) Jesus too said, “Everything has been
entrusted to me by my Father. No one
knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27) And again, “All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Therefore go
and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all
the instructions I have given you.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
Yes, I
know, I know, Jesus tells us what to do, but He tells us not as someone
demanding we do something to preserve our good life or to be saved, but rather,
He speaks as One who loves us and will never abandon us, inviting us to share
the amazing grace, life, and salvation we have been given with the many more
who are still trapped in the devil’s deceits, but for whom Christ has paid.
In our
lesson this morning, Isaiah prophesied of the Christ who was coming to end our
torment at the devil’s hand. Isaiah was
told, “Look! Your God will come with
vengeance. With God’s own retribution,
he will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35:4)
Jesus, God’s own Son born of Mary, came into this world to rescue
you. He endured the vengeance that was
due for every sin and every rebellion against the Creator of us all, and with
God’s burning vengeance, Jesus crushed the devil’s head. By suffering the punishment we each deserved,
Jesus has set you free from the devil, death, and sin. He set you free, and in baptism, He gives you
a new life to dwell with God forever. Christ
suffered to bring you to God. Amen.
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