Something Happened

What happened just a bit ago? Well, you could say that a couple of kids got wet. That would be accurate as far as it went. But is that all? You could also say that we renewed a church tradition. It's our custom to get little kids wet. And that also would be accurate as far as it went. Are we done now? Have we answered the question? Well, I hope that it's obvious that we're not done. There is more to what just happened than those things. And it's that 'more' that I want to talk about. But it's important that you know that my goal in this is not for you to become experts in understanding baptism. My goal is for you to make more progress when it comes to living as faithful disciples of Jesus. That's always my goal. Understanding more fully what just happened can help you in that.

I'm going to approach our topic indirectly. So, let's talk about marriage. I'm sure that all of you adults and most of you kids have been to a wedding. And while there are all sorts of variations when it comes to wedding ceremonies there is one element that applies to them all. A wedding is the establishment of a covenant relationship between a man and a woman. Listen to Malachi.

… the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

The point of a wedding is to establish a covenant. And when a covenant is being established certain things happen. There are vows. That's just a different way of talking about promises. In a Christian wedding a man makes certain promises. He promises to be a husband to the woman that he is marrying. The woman also makes promises. She promises to be a wife to the man that she is marrying. And in a Christian wedding it's God who defines what it means to be a husband and what it means to be a wife. In a Christian wedding the man and the woman take vows to pursue God's definitions of their respective roles. These vows are witnessed by God, as Malachi reminds us, as well as the gathered community of saints. This makes it clear that those vows are binding and that they will be enforced by God and the gathered saints. Once those vows are made, then the pastor can say something like, 'I pronounce you husband and wife'. The vows have been made and witnessed. At that point the status of these two people is changed. They entered the room single but they leave married.

But, as you know, that isn't the end of the story. Actually, it's the beginning of the story. And the question to be answered at this point is whether that marriage will be a good marriage, a bad marriage or something in between. The key, of course, is keeping those promises. Will the man act as a husband should in all the different situations that he will find himself in? Will the woman act as a wife should in all the different situations that she will find herself in? The only way to find out is to live through it all. And living through it all will include lots of situations that neither of them expected. There is a marriage, but it will take a while to see if it will be a good one or not.

If it turns out to be a good one, it will not be because of luck. In a good marriage, as that husband and wife encounter different situations, both expected and not, they respond by remembering and pursuing what each is called to be and to do as a husband and as a wife. They work at keeping those promises. To be sure, there will be times when one or the other will fail at this. Those are the times when the one who failed needs to go to the other, admit his or her failure, ask for forgiveness, and renew his or her promise to be what a husband or a wife is called to be. That's how a marriage becomes a good marriage, working at those promises and being honest when you fail. So, along with 'I love you', a recurring phrase in a good marriage will be, 'Please forgive me'.

There are, sadly, marriages that aren't so good. One or the other spouse fails to keep those promises. They drop the ball at different times. But they do not do the necessary work of repairing the damage. They don't go to the other, admit their failure, ask for forgiveness and then renew their promises. Some marriages limp along like this for a long time until, formally, there is a marriage but the reality just isn't there. They are no longer husband and wife, not really. It's more like being roommates.

And then, of course, there are those times when the failure of one or the other, or even sometimes both, is so great that the marriage is dissolved. There was once a marriage covenant, but no longer. And we are back to two single people. A covenant was established. Promises were made. But the promises were not kept. The covenant was unmade. Divorce. And while God hates divorce, sometimes He pursues that course of action in His own relationship with His people. Listen to what He said speaking of Israel.

Thus says the Lord: “Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away."

And what do you think Jesus meant when He said this to the church at Ephesus?

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Israel was God's wife. A covenant had been made. But Israel did not keep her promises. She had acted so badly that God divorced her. The marriage was dissolved. The covenant was unmade. The Ephesian church was in danger of the same thing happening to them.

No one wants to think about this sort of thing at a wedding. And that's understandable. But it needs to be said that the hard work of being married starts at that wedding. Will it be a good marriage? Or will it turn out to be a sad marriage or even ultimately no marriage at all? Time will tell.

All of that goes a long way to explaining what just happened. We didn't have a marriage, but a covenant was established, a covenant between God and Millie, and God and Judah. This is simply an application of what God said to Abraham a long time ago.

And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

So, as a result, for Milles and Judah, God is their God, and they are His people. In their baptism God took a vow. He promised to be God to them. And He has defined what that means. He promised to care for them, love them, protect them, provide for them, guide them and a host of other things. God took vows, and He will keep them. Now, neither Millie nor Judah made promises. They took no vows. But vows were imposed on them. God can do that. He is, after all, God. But consider what He has done. By imposing these vows, He has given Millie and Judah a gift. And what a gift! Unlike so many other children, Millie and Judah now have God as their God. They now are in a covenant relationship where He has made amazing promises to them, promises we know He will keep. But Millie and Judah have some things they will need to do too. They will need to keep the vows that were imposed on them. They will need to live as God's people and do that as God has defined what that means. And they will need to be shown how to do those things.

So, you see, just as there is a covenant relationship established at a wedding, there is a covenant relationship established at a baptism. But will it be a good relationship? Time will tell. God will certainly keep His promises. But will Millie and Judah? Will this develop into a good 'marriage', a sad 'marriage', or ultimately no 'marriage' at all? Time will tell.

There are two key ideas that I want you to get. First, something happens when a person is baptized. He or she enters single but leaves married. Because of that baptism, there is a relationship between God and that person. And that relationship has been summarized in Scripture as, 'I will be your God and you will be my people.' God needs to act as God to that person. And that person needs to act as one of God's people. So, something just happened with Millie and Judah.

Here's the second key idea. The relationship doesn't stay the same. It changes. There is the opportunity to have a great relationship with God, a great 'marriage'. But there is also the possibility of having a sad marriage where the relationship is tepid. And it needs to be said that there can be a divorce. At a person's baptism, the relationship is established. But that's just the beginning of the story. Time will tell how it ends.

If you have been baptized you need to hold these two ideas together. On the one hand, you are married. You have a relationship with God. It's not as if you have to do a bunch of things to create a relationship. Because of God's kind grace you are established in a relationship with Him. However, on the other hand, the status of your relationship is not set in concrete. It moves. It changes. It can become better. It can become worse. It can be dissolved. There's the heart of the sermon in a couple of sentences.

So, what do you do with all of this? Well, that will depend on where you are most tempted. Let me address any of you who are tempted to coast, to presume that everything is just fine when it comes to you and Jesus. And this presumption shows. One big way that it shows is that you don't put much effort into being a disciple and developing your relationship with Jesus. After all, everything is fine. Isn’t that what you tell yourself? You just know that you're going to end up in heaven. If this is where you are tempted then this is what you need to do. You need to remind yourself that you can be divorced. If you don't work at the relationship, if you don't work at keeping those vows, the marriage will be dissolved. Jesus will do that. The story of your relationship with Jesus has not yet come to its conclusion. Who knows how it will end? There is great danger in coasting. So, if this is where you are tempted you need to consider these things. There are promises for you to keep.

It may be that you deal with the opposite temptation. You worry about things between you and Jesus. 'Am I really saved?' 'What if I screw up so badly that Jesus is going to hate me?' If this is your temptation then this is what you need to do. You need to remind yourself that you are married to Jesus. That is your status. That is a major point of your baptism. And as you remind yourself of that remind yourself that Jesus isn't like so many husbands. He loves. And His love is realistic. He knows that you aren't perfect and that you aren't going to be perfect any time soon. He is patient with you as you work at keeping your vows, even though you don't do a very good job. So, if this is your temptation, relax. Enjoy the truth that your baptism points to. You have a relationship with Jesus.

Then, for those of you who are not tempted with either of these - well, good. You're working at following Jesus and over the years you have come to see more and more clearly what that means. All that I have to say to you is, 'Keep it up'. And the key to doing that, the key to having a developing relationship with Jesus can be summarized by this: Believe the Gospel. This actually applies to all of you. It applies to you if you are doing well at following Jesus. It applies to if you are tempted to coast and if you are tempted to stress. It applies to Millie and Judah. Believe the Gospel.

Believe in the promise of the Gospel, that you have a relationship with Jesus. That is a fact and your baptism testifies to it. Believe that something happened at your baptism.

Believe in the commands of the Gospel as they describe what disciples of Jesus look like. The commands describe how we are to live, to make choices, to invest ourselves each day. They reveal what it means to be the people of God. Believe these commands and work at obeying them.

Believe in the forgiveness of the Gospel. Jesus provides forgiveness. Every sin deserves a divorce, but there is forgiveness for those who come to the Father, honestly confess that sin and ask for forgiveness. 

Believe in the hope of the Gospel. Change is possible. This is the work of the Spirit. He takes our sinful habits and, bit by bit, changes them into holy habits. It's lots of little steps, but they are all real steps. And the growing result of lots of little steps is a great marriage to Jesus.

So, what do you do? You believe the Gospel. It always comes back to that. And your ability to believe the Gospel is not something that you have to work up, which is good because you can't. Believing the Gospel is a gift from God. That brings us back to prayer. Pray that in all the little details of each day you will believe the Gospel so that your relationship with God will become something great. Pray that you will have a great marriage with Jesus.