Listen here.
Welcome to
Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for
the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
in Hudson, OH.
Thank you for
being with me today.
On Monday we read
about Jesus’ baptism, on Tuesday we read about God bringing created order out
of the nothingness of the deep, yesterday we joined in ascribing glory to God
because He spoke over the waters of our baptism, and today we delve into the
significance of our baptism. Paul teaches on this topic in Romans 6, so we turn
there.
The Reading:
Romans 6:1-11 (ESV)
What shall we say
then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no
means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into
death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a
death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like
his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order
that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be
enslaved to sin.
7 For one who has died has been set
free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from
the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10
For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives
to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and
alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 6:1-11 ESV)
The significance
of Baptism is this: You have been buried in Christ’s death and given a new
life. Baptism delivered Jesus’ death to you, so His death becomes yours … you
have died in Christ … so that His resurrection can be yours as well … so you might
walk in newness of life.
Baptism is an
incredible gift that delivers life and salvation. It is not merely a symbol, nor
does it symbolize our commitment to God or our determination to be Jesus’
disciples. God works in baptism to unite us to Jesus in His death and
resurrection. The result of this is our salvation from sin. This impacts the
way we live each day, and we are urged, “… you also must consider yourselves
dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
To count
ourselves dead to sin is to turn conscientiously away from our sin and to
intentionally live according to God’s will. We call this repentance. Now, to be
sure, repentance is something that the Holy Spirit empowers in us, and no
amount of conscientiousness or intentionality is possible without Him or apart
from the salvation Jesus has won for us.
But you are in
Christ if you believe in Him. You have the Holy Spirit within you. So consider
yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let your baptism lead
you into repentance – a new way of living. As Luther says in the Small
Catechism, “[Baptism] indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily
contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires,
and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in
righteousness and purity forever.”
Meditate on these
images today. (Remember that meditation is like day dreaming, allowing a
thought to ruminate and wander through your mind.) Meditate on these images
today: Your sinful nature drowned in the waters of Holy Baptism, and a new you –
holy, filled with God’s love and grace – arising to live as God’s child today
and forever.
Prayers
For our prayer
today we will modify a prayer from the Baptismal liturgy in Concordia
Publishing House’s Lutheran Service Book. We pray:
Almighty and most
merciful God and Father, we thank and praise You that You graciously preserve
and enlarge Your family and have granted us the new birth in Holy Baptism and
made us members of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and heirs of Your heavenly
kingdom. We humbly implore You that, as we have become Your children, You would
keep us in our baptismal grace, that according to Your good pleasure we may
faithfully grow to lead a godly life to the praise and honor of Your holy name
and finally, with all Your saints, obtain the promised inheritance in heaven; through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Memory Verse:
Romans 6:4
We were buried
therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead / by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness
of life.
Thank you so much
for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you
and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle
around in your brain – for the rest of the day.
Would you do me a
favor? If you got something out of this devotional time, would you like and/or
share it on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you do social media? That would help
me get the word out, and hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to
others.
Look this podcast
up on
iTunes!
God bless you!
Comments