LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 96

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On the day of St. Martin of Tours, 11 Nov. 1483,
in Luther was baptized. He was baptized into the
of Jesus Christ and was raised in Him to newness

‘The words of our Scripture lesson and its context in
fifth and sixth chapters of Romans and all that
r taught about Baptism affirm for us that it was
‘ough God’s intervention at the baptismal font at St.
7’s Church in Eisleben that life really began for
rtin of Wittenberg. There, in his baptism, Luther was
forporated into the body of Christ’s death and then

ith Him forever.” He teaches us according to Holy
pture that through Baptism God places all our
Iness onto the crucified Christ and thus hides our
way in the tomb of Christ forever. He tells us that
# enter Christ’s kingdom and we enter life with Christ
se God exchanged our sinfulness for the gift of a
life in the resurrected body of Jesus.
s obvious from his writings that Luther frequently
editated on his baptism and its significance for his
Hly life. These meditations were occasions for him to
ind himself of the need for daily repentance and a
wed' dedication to the struggle against sin and
. With blessed memory we recall his clear words in
Small Catechism that we learned in our childhood
id confirmation: “[Baptism] signifies that the old
in us, together with all sins and evil lusts, should
wned by daily sorrow and repentance and be put
th; and that a new man should come forth daily
'rise up, cleansed and righteous, to live forever in
od’s presence” (SC IV, 12). Luther communicates
ional experience in his many spiritual struggles
n he writes in his 1519 treatise on The Holy and
essed Sacrament of Baptism: “There is no greater
mfort on earth than baptism. For it is through
aptism that we come under the judgment of grace and
ercy, which does not condemn our sins but drives
m out by many trials.” Then he bequeaths to you and

97

DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS ON THE LUTHER THEME

Alive Through Baptism
Romans 6:1-11
(Sunday Morning Sermon)

me for our comfort the following words in his Large
Catechism: “In Baptism...every Christian has enough.
to study and to practice all of his life. He always has
enough to do to believe firmly what Baptism promises
and brings—victory over death and the devil, forgive-
ness of sin, God’s grace, the entire Christ, and the Holy
Spirit with His gifts. ...To appreciate and use Baptism
aright, we must draw strength and comfort from it when
our sins or consciences oppress us, and we must retort,
‘but I am baptized! And if I am baptized, I have the
promise that I shall be saved and have eternal life....’”

That’s being alive through Baptism! The salvation
delivered in his baptism freed Luther to live the baptized
life day by day. It freed him from the need constantly to
justify himself and to protest his own worthiness. Now
he could preoccupy himself with what God wanted to do
in his life. He could in faith and by the power of the Holy
Spirit put away those “habits of hell” that he had grown
to practice when he still lived in that defensive posture
which he later described as “being curved in upon
yourself.”

You and I, too, really can be alive through Baptism
when we have such assurance as that. We are no longer
slaves to sin and Satan but free to be servants of Christ
and to do what He wills in our lives.

Vernon Gundermann, one of the authors of the
newly published volume Martin Luther, Companion of
the Contemporary Christian, captures these thoughts
on Baptism in these words: “[Baptism] means that we
are free to commit ourselves to the most Christlike
living, not by retreating from life, but by entering into
the midst of life with courage and hope.”

Baptismal courage and hope, baptismal vision and
assurance, these are the blessings Martin Luther of
Wittenberg would bequeath to the delegates of this
convention. He also gives to each of us great comfort as
he explains from Holy Scripture what it means to be
alive through Baptism.

We truly are comforted! But being a comforted
delegate does not mean the same thing as being a
comfortable delegate. Being alive through Baptism
doesn’t mean being comfortable in our faith. What it
does mean is that we, like Luther, find ourselves free of
the baggage of sin, death, guilt, struggle for self-
justification, and slavery to good works that the devil
laid on our consciences. We are free to serve our Lord
Jesus and the purposes for which He commissioned us
when He commanded us to ““Teach all nations, baptiz-
ing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost.” Nothing in this great challenge makes
us comfortable. Nothing in what He has given us to do