LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1995, Page 78

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by joining with you in the prayer that is found on page 17,
which introduces the study on Holy Baptism. While you're
finding your little booklet, may I remind you again that this
is the first of three series of lessons, this one titled “Into
God’s Word.” Two more booklets will be available to our
congregations in connection with the 150th anniversary,
one on outreach and one on our management, our caretak-
ing of God’s bountiful gifts, Christian stewardship. So we're
looking at our second study in series 1 on Holy Baptism,
and at the middle of page 17 you'll see the responsive
prayer based on one of the two passages of Holy Scripture
that we will be looking at.
Participants: “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
Leader: Our thanks to You, O Lord, for a death to sin, for a

death to death.
Participants: Not through anything we did,

Leader: But through the working of the Holy Spirit in our
Baptism.

Participants: “Baptized into Christ Jesus ... into His death.”

Leader: A death that brought life.

Participants: “Buried with Him through Baptism into death in
order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, we too may live a
new life.”

Leader: Splashed with water and new possibilities!

Participants: “Our old self was crucified with Hun so that the
body of sin might be done away wi

Leader:. Splashed with water and with forgiveness!

Participants: “No longer ... slaves to sin ... freed from sin ... if
we died with Christ, we ... will also live with
Him.”

Leader: Splashed with the water of life—a more abundant
life here on earth!

Participants: “For we know that since Christ was raised from the
dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has
mastery over Him.”

Leader: Or over us! For we have been splashed with the
water of life—life eternal—life without end. -

All: Our thanks, O Lord, for our Baptism in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

A few years ago I was guest-preaching at one of our con-
gregations in the Milwaukee area, and I noticed that about
halfway through my sermon there was a young woman in
church who appeared to be weeping. And I thought, This
may not be my best effort, but I don’t think the sermon is
bad enough to cause one to come to tears.

After the service, she sought me out and talked to me

about her tears, what kind of tears they were and what
brought them about. Toward the close ...
rest of the story.

Luther says in the Large Catechism, “The blessings of
Baptism are so boundless that if timid nature considers
them, it may well doubt whether they could all be true.
Suppose there were a physician who had such skill that
people would not die, or even though they died would after-
ward live forever. Just think how the world would snow
and rain money upon him. Because of the pressing crowd
of rich men, no one else could get near him. Now here in
Baptism there is brought free to every man’s door just-such
a priceless medicine which swallows up death and saves
the lives of all men” (LC IV 42, 43).

So as we look at Baptism today, we also look at the ob-
jectives which our authors have suggested to us on page 16

I'll give you the

150TH ANNIVERSARY BIBLE STUDY 79

of the study guide. Again, there are three of them. In con-
nection with “On Your Mark!” we read,

“By the power of the Holy Spirit working through God’s
Word, we will

1. affirm the forgiveness, life, and salvation God provides
through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism;
2. explain God’s teaching on Holy Baptism, including infant
Baptism;
3. celebrate the gifts God has provided to you through Holy
Baptism.”

How can we exhaust such a glorious subject? Neverthe-
less, we hope to touch briefly on each of those three objec-
tives. To do that, we look at Holy Scripture and the first of
two Bible passages. If you have your Bible with you, turn it
please to John 3, a very familiar story, and I'll read the first
eight verses.

“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a
ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said
to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from
God, because no man can do the miracles that You do unless
God is with him.’ Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Ver-
ily, verily, I say to you, except a man is born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a
man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Ver-
ily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You
must be born again. The wind blows where it wants and you
hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell from where it
comes and where it goes. So is everyone that is born of the
Spirit.”

Here’s Nicodemus. The cautious inquirer, he has been
called. St. John tells us that he came to Jesus by night. If the
reason for coming to Jesus by night was really the fact that
he was afraid that someone would see him in the presence
of this controversial rabbi, it appears that his shyness and
his fear were later erased. Indeed, in the seventh chapter,
just four chapters later, we’re told that he defended Jesus be-
fore the leaders of the Jews. And when they condemned Him,
castigated Him, Nicodemus said to them, “Does our law
judge any man before it hears him and knows what he does?”

. Then you will recall that toward the close of our Lord’s min-

istry, indeed after His death on the cross, Nicodemus is the
one who comes to give belated service with Joseph of Ari-
mathea. He brings myrrh and aloes, and the two lovingly
wrap the body of the Lord and place it in the garden tomb.

But hear his statement again: “Rabbi, we know You are
a teacher come from God. Nobody can do the miracles that
You do unless God.is with you.” Sounds a little like the rich
young ruler that we heard about the other day, doesn’t it,
where he says, “Good Master.” Nicodemus does not call him
Savior, God, but here, “Rabbi, You must be a teacher sent
from God. God must be with You.” And indeed, we know He
was, as St. Peter explained to Cornelius in the tenth chap-
ter of the book of Acts, where he says that God “anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power,
who went about doing good and laying healing hands on
those who were oppressed of the devil.”