St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Baptism of our Lord January 7, 2007

Titus 3:4-7

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

On the Internet the other day they had a slide show called Joy—Images of Happiness! I thought that might be fun to see. There was a picture of children dancing in the ocean—dancing in water just deep enough to splash. Kind of like stomping in the world’s biggest puddle. There’s a picture of a little girl laughing—holding a puppy—one of those really wrinkly little puppies. There’s a man—just his face and hands—in the middle of a whole bunch of daisies. There’s children at a movie—all sitting sideways in their seats—laughing. There are two older men—probably brothers—with their arms outstretched—running toward each other—like you see at the airport—the international gates—where people who have been separated for years—finally are together face to face. More people in the ocean—a dad swinging little children by their arms. A family gathering—in an old small dingy home—again—dad with little children. There’s a picture of a baby on a bed—with the mommy—face on the bed—looking at the baby—from the point of view of the baby. Did you ever do that? Try to look at the world from the point of view of a little person who is just learning how to crawl? It’s a different world from inches off the carpet or the grass. You can do the same with little puppies. Look at the world from their level! Joy—Images of Happiness! What a concept! Could you take photographs of happiness in your day to day life? There is reason for a joy deep inside—because of Jesus’ unconditional forgiving love. Today God’s Word says:

We Are Justified By Grace!

1. Not because of righteous things we do…

2. But because we are born again!

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on—is from the Apostle Paul’s letter to his co-worker Titus. It isn’t often that we have Bible readings in Church from Paul’s letter to Titus. If you look closely—to the Bible readings—printed on the back of your bulletin. Or if you come to breakfast Bible Class on Thursday mornings at 7:00 a.m. at Perkins—you know that we follow the ILCW—the Inter Lutheran Commission on Worship series. That’s a 3 year series—A, B and C. There are three lessons each Sunday and for Christmas Eve and Day—Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Ascension. Each year—A, B and C—for Christmas Eve—the Bible Reading is from Titus. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Titus 2:11-14 Sound familiar? I didn’t think so!

That’s the reading for Christmas Eve—if we had a Gospel, Epistle and Old Testament Lesson Christmas Eve. What we usually have is the children’s service—the Christmas account from Luke chapter 2—and a whole bunch of prophecies and fulfillments—Micah—“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Micah 5:2 And Isaiah—“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end…” Isaiah 9:6,7 So—other than this Sunday—Series C and Christmas Eve--if we aren’t reading Titus in Church—when will you hear it? Doesn’t this mean—we need to read our Bible at home? We need to read the Scriptures in our homes. We need to turn off our TV and our DVDs and our video games—not forever—but for 15 minutes or half an hour. Instead of watching re-runs where you already know all the punch lines. Instead of watching endless hours of pregame discussion—where people who don’t know who is going to win—try and tell you who is going to win. Instead of watching people reveling in the fact they are living lives of painful hurt because of “hugs and kisses” outside of marriage—with drug and alcohol abuse and unfaithfulness and molestation. Instead of watching the lies and deception of politics and the endless news reports of murderous and suicidal evil in our world—read God’s Word!

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on—from the letter to Titus. What does this mean to us? Titus was someone who heard God’s Word as an adult—and by the power of the Holy Spirit—working through the means of grace—believed it! Think about Titus with Paul in Jerusalem. Titus was not a Jew but a Gentile—a Greek—someone who was not circumcised—and would not be. Why? Because Jesus was born—and fulfilled all the Old Testament law—about Sabbath rest—and what you could eat or drink. Jesus fulfilled everything that had to do with clean and unclean. Old Testament law was the shadow. Jesus is the body. We are free from the requirements of the ceremonial law—forever free! Think about Paul’s 3^rd missionary journey. Think about Titus working with Paul in Ephesus. Think about Titus preaching in the Greek city of Corinth. Think about Paul and Titus working on the Island of Crete—then Titus remaining—to carry on that work. People who lived on Crete were not famous for good behavior—quite the opposite! God’s Word says, “Even one of their own prophets has said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith…” Titus 1:12,13 Liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons? People still today will call people Cretans if they are rude, crude and boorish! That’s not me—we are quick to say? Stop and ask yourself—am I polite at the dinner table? Do we reach and grab for food—scooping out as much as we want—with little or no regard for the rest of our family? Do we chew with our mouth open—talk with food in our mouth—play with our food—complain about our food—waste food—make rude noises at the table? Do we sit at the supper table—and tell lies about what happened today—what we did today—what we are responsible to do for tomorrow—so that we can watch TV and play video games—instead of doing a very good job on our home work? Sad to say—there may be more than a little Cretan in each of us. But that doesn’t mean we need to be that way this whole new year. The fact is—the same Savior who forgives us—makes us strong to act like Jesus’ brother this new year!

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us! He saved you! It happened again the other day in Nigeria—by Lagos—the biggest city in Nigeria. Robbers—thieves—broke into a gasoline pipe line. Gasoline began to pour out—onto the ground. Word spread and people came running with buckets and pails and containers—anything they could find—to fill up with this stolen gasoline! People are stealing more and more. They are standing up to their ankles and beyond in gasoline—concentrating on getting more and more. You know what’s going to happen! There is the smallest spark. There is that unmistakable woof sound. In moments the flames are everywhere! People perish. In a moment almost 300 people lose their lives. In the days that follow more people die. These are people who suffered terrible burns—yet escaped. They went home. They were too ashamed to go to the doctor—who would—they fear—ask, “How did you get these terrible burns? Were you stealing gasoline?” So they don’t get medical treatment—and suffer terrible pain—horrible infection—and then they die! It is terrible beyond words—to imagine being in fire like that forever—forever! Jesus suffered unspeakable hurt on the cross—the innocent suffered in our place. So we won’t have to suffer an eternity cut off from him!

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Again—Jesus saved us—not because we earned it. Not because we deserved it. But because of his mercy! Did you hear about the man who was standing on the platform—waiting for the subway train—when he saw a young man suffer a seizure—and fall down on the tracks. As fast as that happened—he realized the train was coming. What was to be done? Could he pick this guy up—and lift him to safety? Jump down by this poor guy—take hold of him—and you realize the train is too close. Hesitate even a moment too long—and you both will perish. There is only time for this—to push the teenager into the small trench between the rails—and hold him down tightly! That’s what he did—and the train came hurtling over them. The margin of error—2 inches! Imagine that! Two inches—between your head and your spinal cord—and the thousands and thousands of pounds of train! Again—someone risked their life—to save one person! Jesus gave up his life—to pay for the sins of the world. How many will know this and believe this? How many will ultimately be saved? What am I doing—to tell people I know—that Jesus is their Savior, too? When something goes painfully wrong in my neighbor’s life—I have a powerful opportunity—not to say, “Good luck with that!” I have opportunity to tell them, “God bless you! I will pray for you! Jesus’ forgiving love will sustain you!” Use those most painful opportunities to share in the most simple yet powerful and profound way—the Gospel of Christ crucified and risen!

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Babies are born sinful. They are sinful from the time they were conceived—conceived by a sinful father and sinful father. We are conceived flawed—fatally flawed by sin. Sometimes you can see the ravages of sin—already in an ultra-sound—a photograph of you—weeks—even months before you are born. God’s Word says—the wages of sin is death. If we were not sinful from birth—sinful from the time our mother conceived us—then little babies would never die. And we all know—from most painful experience that little babies do sometimes die! The good news is—we have baptism. The miracle that simple water—made powerful by the Word and promises of God—washes away your sin—plants saving faith in your heart—and adopts you as a child of God! What a wondrous gift of Jesus’ forgiving love!

Joy—Images of Happiness! There was a picture of a grandma—with white whispy hair—playing dominos with a little girl—about 3 years old. A picture of Martin Luther King Jr. smiling. People in the stands at a ball game—cheering. Dancing—little children dancing. Did you ever watch little people dancing at a wedding? Little children jumping. When’s the last time you were so happy you jumped up and down—like Tiger? Or are we forever Eyore—oh, dear, oh, no, oh, my! The picture of a man resting in a convertible—with the top down—all waxed and polished! Children—joyful in Africa—in Korea—in China—in India. A bunch of babies—giggling—small bodies and pudgy little cheeks—no teeth—giggle! A jazz band—where people play the piano and the drums and the bass—their heads thrown back—smiling so hard their cheeks hurt! There is reason for the Scriptures to be true in our life this new year. Be joyful always. Pray continually. Give thanks under all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus! Because we are born again through the washing of holy baptism. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz