5/29/11 - Easter 6 - 1 Peter 3:15-22

LIVE IN THE WATER

The Water of the Flood

The rain had come down like it had never come down before. 40 straight days, in fact, the rain didn’t let up. Which was a little strange because the people of that time who experienced this massive amount of precipitation all at once had never even seen a raindrop before - let alone the destructive floods that it produced. Fortunately, the handful of people that lived to tell about it were sitting on a huge wooden boat called an “ark” along with a bunch of different animals that had miraculously made their way to a man named Noah over a month before. And as Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives, floated on top of the water, the Lord flooded the entire earth for 150 days. Every animal that was not safely stored away on that ark was gone. Every person that was not included in Noah’s immediately family was gone. Every bird, every insect, every living creature that needed solid ground to survive didn’t survive unless they had found refuge on that homemade, tar covered, 450 foot long floating device designed by God himself.
The Flood was the single most destructive disaster ever to be sent on this earth and it will continue to hold that title until the final and full destruction on Judgment Day. But the waters that covered this earth did not just end life, it also saved life. Those same waters that sent unbelievers to their graves lifted Noah and his family far away from death. Those waters that God used as a punishment upon millions if not billions of unbelievers separated God’s children from the evil place that this world had become; those waters truly were the means through which God showed his grace to those who believed in him.
This positive saving effect of the Flood waters was not lost on the apostle Peter thousands of years later. He clearly saw God’s love in this supernatural disaster and he used the waters of the Flood in Noah’s day to explain what the waters of baptism do for us now. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the request for a good conscience to God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

The Water of Baptism

“Baptism… now saves you also,” Peter writes. And that is clear, isn’t it? It is direct. What Peter says about the power of baptism is unmistakable. Just as the waters of the flood saved eight believers from inescapable death, so too the waters of baptism save us from death through the power of God’s promise. Baptism isn’t just a rite or a ritual of the church. It is not just a tradition that we perform simply because that’s what we’ve always done. And it’s not symbolic either; it’s not merely an outward indication of something more important. No, “baptism now saved you.” It truly saves you. And that means baptism gives you the real forgiveness of sins. It gives you the real gift of faith - the gift of the Holy Spirit himself - so that you can believe in that forgiveness. And it gives you heaven. Baptism is one of those precious few ways in which the Lord comes to you with his love. It is a means through which God shows you his grace. And there’s nothing else really quite like it in this life.
We’ve been blessed with three baptisms so far this year at Living Word. Three infant baptisms, in fact. And why would we go about baptizing infants? Because baptism saves! It’s not a reminder about salvation or a reconfirmation of salvation. Those three children have faith in their Savior Jesus right now because of the promise God made to them at their baptisms - even though they don’t understand it and even though they can’t explain it. They are God’s children as we speak, not because they are so good and not because they were able to consciously decide they wanted to be; they are God’s children right now because God promised forgiveness and faith and salvation in baptism, and we believe that his promises never fail.

Living in “Baptismal Grace”?

Whenever we have a baptism here we follow the order of worship found on page 12 in our hymnals. And after the actual baptism is performed I say to the one who has just been baptized, “The Almighty God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - has forgiven all your sins. By your baptism, you are born again and made a dear child of your Father in heaven. May God strengthen you to live in your baptismal grace all the days of your life.” “Your baptismal grace” - something we say outside of this special worship setting, but an important phrase nonetheless. It is the unending and unparalleled love that the Lord just demonstrated to person through that water and the Word of baptism - may they live in it; may they remember it and find comfort in it and be motivated by it as they live their lives out of thanks to him for as long as they remain on this earth. Baptism is certainly a one-time event, but the “baptismal grace” all of us have experienced should continue to have a profound effect on the rest of our lives. We should always have baptism in the back of our minds. We should always go back to baptism whenever our faith falters. We should always be moved by baptism to live like Christians to the glory of God. In other words: we should live in the water. We should wash ourselves in the waters of baptism every day and never dry off. It is the means of our salvation, after all. It is the point at which Christ himself affected us like he has never done before. As Christians, it is essential that we live in that water. As God’s children, why wouldn’t we want to?
And yet, despite that fact, I don’t know if I could realistically describe myself as one living in the water of “baptismal grace.” That would be far too flattering a description of the way I have lived. I have been wallowing in the sludge of my sinful nature maybe… Or I have been wading through the cesspool of spiritual sicknesses and diseases… Or I have been drowning myself underneath the slime and the grime of thousands upon thousands of disgusting words and thoughts that I can’t take back. “Living in the water of my baptismal grace” is hardly an accurate illustration of the majority of my life. Even now, even as a pastor, my life cannot be completely characterized by the clean blue waters of baptismal grace. I muddy those waters up. I contaminate them. Or I forget that they’re even there as I look for other dirty puddles to splash in for a while.
I’m sure that many of you visit the crystal clear waters of your baptismal grace more often than I have. I hope you do. I pray you do. Because it is such a sad thing when we leave it behind. It’s really unfortunate when baptism is nothing more to us than the first step we took as a child or the memorable birthday present we received as a kid - something that happened in the past, something that seemed like a big deal then, but something that we have now moved on from to bigger and better things. What could be bigger and better than your baptism? Even if it did happen a long time ago, even if you can’t remember exactly what happened, isn’t it something worth keeping in mind? Isn’t it an event from which you should never move on?

“Spiritual Tether” to the Resurrection

Because baptism is our “spiritual tether” to Christ’s resurrection. It is the cord, the golden chain that ties us to what Jesus did so long ago for our salvation. It is our connection with the tomb and the forgiveness that it guaranteed. Baptism saves because baptism puts us into contact with the only way we can be saved: Jesus’ death on a tree and his rising from the rock. The cross is where Jesus earned our salvation; the tomb is where he sealed it; and baptism is one of those very special ways he gives it to us. And so there is the irony: when we realize that we have not been living in our baptismal grace as we should, when we notice that we have kind of left our baptism behind us as if it didn’t mean anything anymore, we can jump right back into those same pure waters to be forgiven again. Not “rebaptism” of course, but a renewed sense of appreciation for the forgiveness that your baptism offered. And it’s not a new forgiveness every time we jump back in; it’s the same forgiveness we received the first time around. And it wasn’t ever taken away from us either; we were the ones who had left its shores; we were the ones who failed to enjoy its refreshment for a time. Baptism is never removed once it’s been given. Baptism is never gated to those who have been washed in its waters. That cleansing pool is always open. It always forgives. It always saves. It never runs dry.
And maybe that’s why the Lord decided to use the water in baptism as one of the ways through which he would distribute his blessings. Because water in general is necessary for the preservation of life. It is said that human beings could go without water for maybe 3-5 days if they are in a cool, humid climate and not doing anything at all. Horses can perhaps go without water for only two to three days. Camels during the winter months in the Sahara Desert, have been observed to go without drinking water for 6-7 months, surviving only off the moisture from the plants that they eat. But no matter how long (or how short) a living creature can survive without water, it will eventually die if it does not receive that essential ingredient of life. Water preserves life; it renews life; it saves life.
How much more do the waters of baptism mean to the preservation, the renewal, and the salvation of the life that you have been given? Baptism is irreplaceable. It is the one event that you can pinpoint without a doubt when the Lord gave you forgiveness and an eternity of perfection. If you were baptized later on in life, you very well may have been brought to faith in your Savior before baptism. If you were baptized as an infant, then probably not. Either way, the date of your baptism was a monumental event. More important than your anniversary. More important than the day you were physically born. Because your baptism is that day on which you were spiritually born again. So do you know that date? Do you know what day on the calendar marks your baptism? Maybe it’d be worth finding out. Maybe it’d be worth writing down. Maybe it’d be worth celebrating each year. Because you know that the Lord remembers that date and certainly considers it special! That was the day he washed you clean, after all. That was the day he adopted you as his child. That was the day he introduced you to his bloody cross and his vacant tomb. And since then, the relationship you have had with your Father has never been the same. Your life has never been the same since you were cleansed in the water and the Word. And so continue to live in those waters. Bask in those waters. Thrive in those waters as you live this life in praise to your God. There’s nothing better you could do. There’s no place better you could be.
Amen.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” - 1 Peter 1:3

5/22/11 - Easter 5 - 1 Peter 2:4-10

STAY ON THE STONE

Leaning Tower of Pisa

When work began on a free standing bell tower next to a European cathedral in 1173 AD, the construction crews thought that they were building on solid rock. But that didn’t prove to be the case. As they continued to add additional stories to the base of this large marble structure they soon found that instead of building on a foundation of solid rock, they were building on a mixture of clay and water. And because of that engineering mistake the soon-to-be famous Tower of Pisa began to sink to one side. The architect of the project immediately left town and then construction was put on hold for more than a century because of a war with Florence, and so the eight story bell tower wasn’t completed until 1319. But it was still tilting. Each year it would sink about .03 inches off of perpendicular. And so in 1930 Benito Mussolini tried to straighten the entire tower once and for all by pouring concrete into the foundation - but that quick fix just made it sink all the more. And so in the 1990s a large restoration project was undertaken by the city in which they removed several tons of soil from the base of the tower and replaced it with lead weights. They took 17 inches off of its famous tilt and stabilized the structure at a 13 ½ foot lean. It’s supposed to be done sinking, at least for another 300 years or so. But with a foundation like the one it has and with the history of structural problems that they have had to deal with over the past 838 years, who knows?
The Tower of Pisa is a clear example of how important a solid foundation is to any building. If it doesn’t have a stable base on which to rest, the structural integrity of the rest of the building won’t matter. It will tilt. It will lean. It will sink. It will be unsteady and uneven and unpredictable. And there is nothing that can ever be done to the top that will fix the problem at the bottom. This is true in the construction world just as it is in the spiritual world. If we do not have a solid foundation on which to rest, the structural integrity of the rest of our lives won’t matter. We will tilt. We will lean. We will sink. Our lives will be unsteady and uneven and unpredictable. And there’s nothing that we will be able to do at the top that will fix the problem at the bottom.
In his first letter the apostle Peter talks to us about this very thing. He speaks about a solid foundation; he gives us a picture of a spiritual structure; and he encourages us to stay on the Stone. “As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him — you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’”

Faith’s Solid Foundation

In this life there is only one solid foundation: the living Stone, the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. And he is the only solid foundation because he is the only source of our comfort, our hope, our joy, our peace, our forgiveness, and our salvation. Where else are you going to find true comfort? Your own pillow might give you a sense of relief at the end of the day and a particular food might make you feel at home, but true comfort and relaxation can only be found in the cross of Christ. Where else are you going to find true hope? The circumstances in any given situation may give you some insight into what might happen in the future so that you look forward to what is to come, but true hope can only be found in the unchanging and unbreakable promises of Christ. Where else are you going to find true joy? Your family might bring you some happiness and the various blessings in this world can supply you with little bits of pleasure at times, but true joy can only be found in the empty tomb that Christ left behind on Easter morning. And where else are you going to find true peace or true forgiveness or true salvation? You might find flimsy replicas of peace and forgiveness and salvation in this life, but you and I both know that the “real thing” can only be found in the words of our Lord and the waters of baptism and the body and blood of his Supper. There is no substitute for that solid foundation. There is no alternative to that Cornerstone. And there’s a good reason why Christ is called our “Cornerstone.”
A cornerstone, of course, meant more back then than it does today. Today a cornerstone simply sits at the bottom corner of a building and is oftentimes inscribed with the dedication date or a name or a saying. But that special stone has no bearing on the stability of the structure itself. It can be taken out or replaced and no harm is done. Back in Peter’s day though, the cornerstone was the stone on which the entire building was constructed. If that stone was removed or started to deteriorate, everything else was in danger of falling apart.
But this word can also mean the “capstone.” The capstone or the head stone was used in the construction of arches. After the two sides of the arch were assembled, the final stone, the middle stone, was hoisted up and hung in place so that it could serve as the capstone. It would fit in between at the top of the arch and everything would lean against it. And so that middle section had to be a solid rock or a compact stone that wouldn’t crack or break under the pressure. No wonder Isaiah and Psalm 118 both use this imagery to describe Christ. He is our Capstone and our Cornerstone. Without him everything would fall apart. With him everything is secure.

Unstable Stones

The man who quoted these two Old Testament prophecies for us, the apostle Peter, was not originally named “Peter” of course. His birth name was “Simon.” It was Jesus who had given him the name “Petros” because of the confession Peter had made about his Savior: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). “Petros” means “rock” and Jesus promised that on this “petra” (this rock of his confession) he would build his Church. And so it’s interesting that the man whom Jesus called “Rock,” the disciple who made that rock-solid confession on which Jesus would build his Church, would refer to us in with same terms. “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.” And so Christ is not only our living Stone, we are his living stones as well! We, along with all other Christians, are continually being placed upon this foundation, one on top of the other, to form this incredible living stone tower as part of the holy Christian Church at large. We are placed together in local Christian congregations but we are also part of a much larger structure that carries Christ’s name and carries out Christ’s mission. And we work together for the same purpose, the same goal: “to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We live on the Cornerstone and we live for the Cornerstone so that more and more people can be brought to the Cornerstone.
Around 1800, a man named Frederick Mohs developed a system that is now called the Mohs Scale. It is used to test the basic hardness of a mineral. Ten familiar minerals, each with a known hardness, make up this scale of 1 to 10. Talc is the softest at number one and diamond is the hardest at number ten. The basic process then is to take a mineral or an item with a known hardness and scrape an object whose hardness is not known. For example, a penny has a hardness of 3.0. And so if you scrape a penny on a rock and it leaves a mark in the surface of that rock, you know that the mineral is softer than three on the Mohs Scale and you can then start to categorize it. It’s not a precise measurement, of course, but it is a starting point to see what kind of rock the one you have might be.
We are “living stone” in the spiritual house of Christ. If you were to perform a spiritual Mohs Scale test on yourself as one of the “living stones” in this spiritual house, where would you fall? Sorting back through the way you have lived your life and recalling all of those things you have said and the myriad of thoughts that have gone through your head, would you be closer to the extremely soft Talc at the bottom of the scale or would you perhaps be closer to the hard and indestructible diamond at the top? Have you proved to be a dependable member of God’s house who has continued to unwaveringly “offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” or have you instead offered up lame excuses at times for why you weren’t doing what you should have been doing or thinking what you should have been thinking? Have you been reliable in your duties as a Christian, faithful in your responsibilities as a child and parent and spouse, completely responsible as a brother or sister of the spiritual family that is all around you? Or have you faltered in different ways? Have you intentionally or unintentionally let someone down? Have you skipped over a few of the commands of your God because they weren’t all that fun to carry out at the time?
God’s Word is the object with which you are to test yourself, of course. God’s Word is that which should be used to scrape your life to see how “hard” and solid you may be. And we all have plenty of scratches, don’t we? We have gouges! We have gashes and fractures in us that show how brittle and fragile we really are! We are not the smooth unblemished stones that look no worse for wear; we are crumbly porous pebbles with thousands of chips and cracks that look like they might fall apart any second. But listen to the details of this building plan: you are not part of this spiritual house of Christ because you are so strong. You have been placed upon this solid spiritual foundation because you aren’t strong enough.

The Stone is Stable

The living stones that make up this tower resting upon the main living Cornerstone are all crumbly! They are all porous pebbles! They all have thousands of chips and cracks! None of them can stand on their own. None of them can claim to be impenetrable or immovable. But the Capstone can. He is impenetrable. He is immovable. He doesn’t crumble. He doesn’t break. He doesn’t scratch. The Stone - the capital “S” Stone - is stable. And he stabilizes all who rely on him. He polishes the scuffs; he repairs the cracks; he caulks the crevices; and he bonds everything back together again. And he does that with his blood. His blood fixes that which is broken off. His blood makes us whole and new and strong. His blood solidifies us as living stones in the spiritual house he is building. And so the Cornerstone doesn’t just support us; he isn’t just a passive platform on which we have to try to build ourselves up; no, he is the foundation, the skeletal structure, the support beams, the siding, the roof, and everything else in between. And he uses us as a small part of that house. Not really to hold it together, mind you, but to build it up. And what an honor it is to be included in this grand tower of God’s love and power! What a privilege to be part of this architectural masterpiece!
Out at the new property the dirt work has been done and the micro piles have been set and the foundation work for the actual building is in the process of being put into place. Lord willing, our church building won’t be a Learning Tower of Pisa in a few years. It should be solid; it should be stable. But as you continue to watch the progress of this church building over the next few months, let it remind you of God’s Church and the foundation on which it is built. And think of this congregation and the living Stone on which we stand. Christ is the basis of what we do and why we do it. Not a building itself, not an attitude, not an opinion or a personality. But a Savior. A Savior and his Word. That will always be the foundation and the basis for the existence of this congregation. And I would pray that it will always be the foundation and the basis of your life. Stay on that Stone. Stay in his Word. He will always support you. He will not let you down. He will never let us down. Amen.

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” - Jude 24-25