The world has been riveted by the news out of Ft. McMurray. That beast of a forest fire has altered the lives of thousands. What amazes me is how quickly events unfolded. Many still went about their business on a Tuesday morning—attending school, visiting friends, putting in another day at the office—even as firebombers buzzed the community. But by 6 pm that evening everyone was ordered out of the city and just like that 88,000 people were on the run.
Fire has a way of getting people moving, as one St. Albert firefighter knows all too well. About a week before the Ft. Mac fires, there was a brush fire at Big Lake, just outside of St. Albert. Fire crews were on hand to douse the flames when the wind shifted and the fire whipped up into a tornado forcing one firefighter to seek refuge in the waters of the Sturgeon River. I doubt it was the most refreshing bath he’s had, but it must have been the most powerful, as those waters saved his life from the fire.
Have you ever taken a bath like that—a plunge into water that saved your life? If you are baptized, you’ve received such a bath—a better bath than anything else because baptism saves you from the fires of hell. As we continue our sermon series on baptism today, we want to find out what makes baptism so powerful. Listen to our text from Acts 2:37-39. “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ 38 Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.’”
Our text fits well with the church event we are commemorating today: Pentecost. It was on this day 2,000 years ago when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in visible form. Who is the Holy Spirit? He is God, along with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit’s job is to point us to the work Jesus did to win salvation for all. But the Holy Spirit does more than point to Jesus, he actually works in our hearts so that we come to believe and trust in Jesus. You could say that the Holy Spirit is like an IT tech who enables your computer to connect to the internet by making it sure it has the right network key. Without that network key, your computer won’t be able to surf the net, no matter how advanced the computer is. Likewise without the Holy Spirit, you can’t come to believe in Jesus, no matter how smart you are.
It was this Holy Spirit who descended on the disciples in what looked like tongues of fire that danced on top of each of them. The Holy Spirit was perhaps illustrating how he was about to make each one of the disciples’ tongues dance with languages they had never studied before. And so John started speaking in Latin perhaps, Andrew in Arabic, and Thomas in Persian. Why was there a need for these communications skills? Because many non-Hebrew speaking people had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost, which was originally an Old Testament harvest festival. And now by giving the disciples the ability to communicate to these strangers in their own language, there would shortly be a harvest of souls as they would come to faith in Jesus.
Although we don’t know what language each disciple spoke, we do know what their message was. It must have been similar to the message Peter shared with the residents of Jerusalem that day. Peter told the crowd that had assembled that since they had agreed to have Jesus crucified, they were guilty of killing their God and Lord. Our text describes the crowd’s reaction: they were “cut to the heart.”
Every time we gather for worship here, the Holy Spirit endeavors to recreate the events of Pentecost. No, he hasn’t enabled me to preach to you in a variety of languages, but he works through the message to cut open your heart and mine. You see, our purpose in gathering for worship is not to slap each other on the back and congratulate each other on how much more righteous we are than everyone else out there. Rather we want to be reminded first of how often we have failed to live as righteous people. For example we often fail to control our selfishness when we heave a big sigh when asked to complete our chores. We fail to show forgiveness when we give way to that rant that has pent up inside of us. We fail to show concern when we don’t bother to pray for anyone else other than for ourselves and our immediate family. We also show that we’re not really committed to God’s ways when we put off dealing with those pet sins of ours.
How are you reacting to what I just said? Are you cut to the heart like the people of Jerusalem? Or has your sinful nature been quick to mobilize its defenses and launch its counter attacks saying things like, “So what if I sighed. You don’t know how much my parents expect of me!” “Of course I laid into that guy, he had it coming!” “And what about my pet sins? They’re not nearly as offensive as what others are up to!” Such reactions, however, grieve the Holy Spirit and cause him to turn away from us. But without the Holy Spirit’s presence, we cannot have true faith in Jesus. And without faith, there can be no salvation.
No, instead let your hearts be cut open. Acknowledge your sin as did the crowd at Pentecost. They knew that they were in trouble, and so they asked Peter what they should do to fix things. There was of course nothing they could do, just as there was nothing that St. Albert firefighter could do to fight the tornado fire. He simply needed to turn away from it! And that’s what Peter told the crowd when he said: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children…” (Acts 2:38, 39).
Peter told the crowd to repent of their sins. To repent means to turn away, like that firefighter turning away from the fire because he knows that to keep moving forward is to be consumed by the fire. But turning away from sin isn’t enough. The sins that we’ve engaged in have already set our souls on fire and those flames need to be doused. So just as that firefighter found relief by jumping into the Sturgeon River, we find relief from our sins in the water of baptism.
But how can the water of baptism forgive sins? That was the question that Martin Luther addressed in his catechism when he wrote: “It is certainly not the water that does such things, but God’s Word which is in and with the water, and faith which trusts this Word used with the water. For without God’s Word the water is just plain water and not baptism…But God’s Word makes it a washing through which God graciously forgives our sins and grants us rebirth and new life through the Holy Spirit.”
It might disappoint you to learn that when we perform baptisms here, we don’t use “holy” water—at least not water that has been blessed by the pope, or water that comes from the Jordan River. No, our baptismal water comes straight from the tap. What makes it special is that it used in connection with God’s promise that when we wash with water in the name of the triune God, miraculous things happen. I suppose it’s like what happens when you take aspirin to get rid of a headache. You usually wash the aspirin down with water don’t you? But when the headache goes away, you don’t credit the water. You credit the aspirin. And so in baptism it isn’t the water which cures us, it’s God’s promise that does.
Our text brings out that truth when we hear Peter say, “The promise [of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit] is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). And note well how this promise is not for a select few. It’s not just for adults, but it’s for children too including babies. Yes, Jesus instructed that babies too be baptized when he told his disciples, “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Since babies are born with sin, they need the forgiveness that baptism offers. But shouldn’t we wait until the little ones can understand what is happening to them in baptism? Well we don’t wait until they can understand what we’re doing when we change their diapers, so why should we wait to give them the cleansing of forgiveness they can receive through baptism?
And what a cleansing it is! Peter literally described the forgiveness in baptism as a “sending away” of sins. Do you see how that makes baptism a better bath? I mean who really enjoys taking a traditional bath? I don’t, at least not the way most North Americans bathe. What’s the sense of washing yourself in the tub and then sitting in that grimy water? At least in Japan where I grew up, you thoroughly wash and rinse first before you soak in the tub. But even then you’re still surrounded by dead skin and other bits that float off one’s body. Isn’t that why most people prefer to shower? The grime you wash off disappears down the drain with the running water.
That’s what baptism does with our sins—it washes us clean and sends our sins away. This is another reason I love our new baptismal font. The water that continues to cascade down the rock reminds me of the ongoing blessings of baptism, that my sins are continually being washed away through faith in Jesus—faith I received at baptism.
The residents of Ft. McMurray, and that St. Albert firefighter who escaped into the river all have some good fire stories to tell. And so do we. We have escaped the fires of hell by running to the waters of baptism. Talk about this better bath you’ve received to family and friends who may not be baptized yet. Ask them what’s keeping them from being baptized. And don’t think that such a conversation is a waste of time. On the day of Pentecost alone, 3,000 people were baptized after listening to Peter’s message. Such is the power of the Holy Spirit who works through the witness of faithful believers like Peter, and like you. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
Summarize the background of today’s sermon text. On what day did it take place? Where did it take place?
List at least three facts about the Holy Spirit.
What did the Holy Spirit do with the disciples in our text? Why did he do this?
The crowd in the text was “cut to the heart” when they heard Peter’s message. Why is it important that we feel that way also when we listen to a Sunday sermon?
What does it mean to repent?
What remedy did Peter offer the stricken crowd?
Peter said that baptism offers forgiveness. What does the word “forgiveness” literally mean in our text? Why is that comforting to you? List at least two reasons.
So what makes baptism a better bath?
