Sacraments – Page 3 – What Does This Mean?

Why Confess Your Sins?

Encore Post: After the Sacrament of Holy Baptism in Luther’s Small Catechism we find the section on Confession. Pastors get the question from time to time, “Why do we keep confessing our sins? Especially if we are baptized?” Confession is the natural extension of our Baptism because in Confession and Absolution we are brought back to the promises of our Baptism. Think back to the 3rd and 4th parts of Baptism. While we did die with Christ in Baptism, we still live in the body of sinful flesh. Only when we die do we stop sinning.

Sin is a fearful thing. And continuing to sin even after our Baptism can catch up to us. Continuing to sin without sign of contrition/repentance can lead a person to walk away from their Baptismal Identity and lose their faith. Confessing our sins is needed, even after Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of our faith.

In Confession we hear plainly God’s two words: Law and Gospel. He is the One who has given us the 10 commandments. He is the one who tells that we have fallen short of his glory due to our sins. But, He is also the One who promises us that even though we are sinners He does love us and forgives us on account of the only begotten Son. He made that clear at our Baptism, but if we don’t hear the words of absolution spoken by Pastor in the stead and mandate of Christ we tend to forget God’s love for us in Christ.

There are some Christians who say that the Pastor cannot say, “You are forgiven.” But Christ our Lord commands his apostles to speak the forgiveness of sins to those men and women who repent of their sins. Confession of sins leads us to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pastors are in the unique situation to be the very people that God uses to speak this truth to the repentant sinner. They are also the ones who are called to retain the sins of the unrepentant.

Our Lord searches us out, and calls us to the promise He made at our Baptism again. He does not want us to forget our baptism, so he speaks tenderly the same word to us each time we come to Him to confess our sins.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp

Christ Lutheran Church

Noblesville, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Stay Calm and Remember Your Baptism

Encore Post: While Baptism is a one-time event, its blessings last a lifetime. Baptism is an event outside of us, observed by witnesses and recorded in books. Especially when we are baptized as children, there is no question that God loves us, that he adopted us as his children and that we will live with him forever. When we are baptized, we realize that we are not seekers, but that God sought us and found us. We can be sure that we are saved and that we will live with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit forever.

In our sin-filled world, where we are at war with the world, the devil and our flesh, life can get confusing very fast. As we are confronted with our sinful nature, we may wonder how God can love us, whether we please him or can ever measure up to his standards. At times like these, we can remember our baptism. No matter what happens, this is the central fact of our lives. I am baptized.

St. Paul reminds us that in baptism, we are united to Christ in his death. (Romans 6:3-11) Christ bore our sins on the cross, suffered and died to pay the full penalty we deserved for them. Because we are baptized, when he died, we died. When He rose from the dead, we rise to new life. Now we can face anything that comes our way.

Each day, we can prepare ourselves in prayer for the day. We can make the sign of the cross, remembering that we are baptized, thank God for his mercies and remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

The Church has Always Baptized Infants

Encore Post: From the early days of the Church, she has baptized the infants and young children of believers. When the first Christians were baptized, their children, families and whole households were included. (Acts 2:37-40, Acts 16:15, Acts 16:33, Acts 18:8, 1 Corinthians 1:16) Beginning at the latest, in the 4th Century (300-400 AD), the majority of Christians were baptized shortly after they were born. Even today, most Christians are baptized during their childhood.

The Anabaptist movement of the 16th Century (1500-1600 AD) was the first Christian tradition to challenge infant baptism. Martin Luther pointed out that the first point to make when defending baptizing children begins here. Jesus promised that he would build his Church and the gates of hell would not defeat it. (Matthew 16:18) If infant baptism was not valid, he argued, the Church would not exist in their day and Jesus would be a false prophet. Since the Church does exist, had prospered and done the will of God to preach the Gospel, infant baptism must be valid.

As previous posts have covered, there is much more to the challenge to infant baptism by Evangelicals. Mostly in has to do with a completely different way of viewing the sacrament. Over the next few posts, I’ll consider the other reasons why Lutherans believe God wants us to baptize infants. If you want to get a head start, please review the posts linked below.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Continue reading The Church has Always Baptized Infants

Who Should Be Baptized?

Encore Post: At first, this seems like a strange question. Since God uses baptism to save, why not baptize everyone? In fact, the words Jesus used to institute baptism says: “Going, make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (my translation of Matthew 28:19) The reason why this is important question is that baptism is not some kind of magic spell that works as long as you do everything right. Baptism saves everyone who believes in its promises that God adopts them as his children, forgives their sins for the sake of the death and resurrection of Jesus and saves them from sin, death and the power of the devil. It is for everyone who is baptized in the name of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is at that point that Evangelicals object to the baptism of infants and young children. How can children believe if they do not understand any of this? This concern comes from a different understanding of faith than Lutherans have. We see faith as a trust in God and his promises. James tells us that the demons believe, too, and they shudder. (James 2:19) No one trusts more than little children. Jesus holds them up as examples of faith, in fact. (Mark 10:13-16, Luke 18:15-17) I’ll say more on infant baptism in a later post.

For the same reason, many Protestants urge people baptized as children to be baptized again. The first Christians to do this lived during the Reformation are were called Anabaptists, which means: “baptized again.” Lutherans believe that once a person is baptized in the name of the Triune God that they do not need to be baptized again. Since God himself is the one baptizing and in it he makes us his children, sealing us with the Holy Spirit forever, we do not need to be re baptized.

The only time Lutherans would re-baptize someone would be if their church was not Christian at all. So, Mormons, who believe in a false god (Their father god is a human being like us who grew to godhood. He is a separate being from his literal, physical son, Jesus and their Holy Spirit), come to faith in the real Jesus, would be baptized. Of growing concern for us are churches, including ones that call themselves Lutheran, that baptize in names other that Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These Christians might need to be baptized again so they can be sure it was in the name God himself reveals to us and with which Jesus commanded us to baptize.

In short, baptism is for people who believe in what it promises — that for the sake of Jesus and his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, we belong to him and are sealed with the name of the one and only true God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Is Baptism Necessary?

Encore Post: At first, it seems like a strange question to ask — even the wrong question to ask. Since Baptism is God’s work to save us, why wouldn’t we want to be baptized? There are several different reasons why this issue comes up. The first arose during the Reformation. The Anabaptist movement believed that children are innocent and that God does not hold them accountable until a later age. In the Augsburg Confession (Article Nine) and the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (Article Nine) firmly rejects this argument (more in a later post on infant baptism).

The other reason is that in this sinful world, sometimes people die without being baptized. Lutheran theologians answer the question by saying Baptism is necessary but not absolutely necessary for salvation. Baptism is necessary because God commands us to baptize and to be baptized. (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 2:37-38) Jesus tells us that you cannot enter the kingdom of God if you are not born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5) Yet the Scripture is very clear that the preaching of the Gospel also is a means of grace, which creates faith (Romans 10:14-17), forgives sins and brings everlasting life. (Romans 1:16)

So, God’s word can and does save, even when the opportunity for a Christian to be baptized has not come. But God is so rich in his mercy, that he gives his grace over and over again, in the form of the preaching of the Gospel, the baptizing of his children and in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and in Absolution. Each means brings forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in its own way, providing for us certainty that we are God’s own and will live with him forever. We refuse them at our own peril, for God gives them to us for our good and strengthening in the face of the assaults of the world, devil and our sinful desires. While God requires us to do so, so they are necessary, it more that we get to enjoy these blessings.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Baptism Saves You

Encore Post: Perhaps the point of greatest conflict between Lutherans and the Evangelical movement is our confidence that the Bible teaches that baptism saves you. As I noted in another post, most Protestants think of Baptism as a simple ceremony where a Christian declares that he puts his faith in Jesus as his personal savior. They think of baptism as something we do and so think that to say that baptism saves us, that it is the same thing as saying salvation is something we earn by what we do. Yet the Bible clearly says, “Baptism saves you” (1 Peter 3:21-22) and”unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5)

If Lutherans believed that baptism was something we do, we also would reject the teaching that it saves. After all, the heart and center of the Lutheran confession is salvation is by grace alone through faith alone for the sake of Christ alone. But we believe what the Scriptures teach, that salvation is God’s work, not ours. God the Father saved us, not by what we have done, but washing us and renewing us in baptism by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:4-7) Jesus gave himself for the church, cleansing us by the water and the word. (Ephesians 5:25-27) In Christ, through faith, God has buried us with Jesus in baptism and made us alive with Christ, forgiving our sins.(Colossians 2:11-14) So, when we say we are saved by baptism, we are saying that God saves us by baptism.

Blog Post Series

What is Baptism?

Encore Post: You may have discovered that Christians value Baptism a lot. Yet there are few subjects that the various Christian traditions disagree about more. Catholics believe baptism is a means of grace that removes original sin and forgives all actual sins committed before baptism. It does not forgive sins committed after that — for that you need to go to confession, be absolved and do penance. For many Protestants, it is a work you do in obedience to God’s command, showing you’ve accepted Jesus as your personal savior. For others, it is just a meaningful symbol of salvation.

Lutherans believe that baptism is a means of grace, one of the ways, instituted by Jesus himself, God uses to save us. (Matthew 28:19) It combines the Gospel of Christ’s saving obedience, suffering, death and resurrection with water to wash away our sins. (Ephesians 5:25-27, Titus 3:4-7) It is God himself who does the baptizing, using human hands.

Like the other means of grace, Baptism creates faith in hearts where there is none and strengthens faith where it exists. Baptism also marks us with the name of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It makes us his children and heirs — heirs with Christ.

Finally, it is an undeniable declaration that we are saved. Why? Because we had nothing to do with it. In most cases, it is written in record books we can see and in all cases is written in the Book of Life. When Satan tries to cause us to doubt our salvation, we can tell him: “get lost! I am baptized.” Nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And where he is, we will also be.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

What is a Sacrament?

Encore Post: The Roman Catholics have seven sacraments. Lutherans have two (or maybe three). Protestants of a variety of confessions have none. The reason why the list differs is because each has a different definition of sacrament. The word is from Latin and literally means “holy things.” It was used by Jerome in the Vulgate, the Latin version of the Bible used by the Catholic Church, to translate the Greek word μυστήριον (mystery), a word for the saving truths of the Christian faith.

The Church came to use it for the ways God gives his grace to his children. The Roman Catholic Church lists seven sacraments: Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Penance, Marriage, Ordination and Anointing of the Sick (Last rites)

Lutherans, following Martin Luther, use a narrower definition. For us, a sacrament is something that Jesus instituted, that God uses to give us his grace and so create faith and save us and that combines God’s promise with a physical element (water in Baptism, bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper) Lutheran theologians sometimes have included Absolution, where God forgives the sins of his people through the voice of a pastor. Because Absolution does not use a physical element, Martin Luther and other Lutheran theologians have been reluctant to list it as a sacrament.

We treasure the sacraments because they are gifts from God. They are objective and outside of ourselves. Because they do not depend upon us, but upon Christ who gives them, we are absolutely certain that in them we receive God’s grace, that we are saved, that he forgives our sins, that we are his children and that we will live with him forever.

For us, this changes why we go to church on Sundays and other days. We don’t go because we are doing something for God but because God has done something for us and wants to give us gifts. Here is the strength to live life in the struggle against the world, the devil and our flesh. Because of these gifts, we have the strength to do good works. For these gifts we thank him and give our lives over to his service and to care for others.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Behold, My Sheep, I Will Search You Out

A New Hymn!

This hymn text is based upon Ezekiel 34:11-16; Ezekiel 36:22-23, 26-28; Ezekiel 37:1-2, 7-8, 10-13; and Job 19:26-27. It’s certainly also suitable for Psalm 23 or another shepherd text. Check back for a video link in a few weeks.

I presented this hymn at the 2nd Annual Church Music Beautification Conference at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool on April 22nd of 2023.

Ezekiel 34:11-16 is the assigned text for The 3^rd Sunday of Easter in the one-year lectionary, The Last Sunday of the Church Year in the three-year series A, and proper 19 in the three year series C. Ezekiel 36:22-28 is the assigned text for the seventh Sunday of Easter in the one-year lectionary. Ezekiel 37:1-14 is the assigned text for the second Sunday of Easter in the one-year lectionary, the fifth Sunday of Lent in the three-year series A, and Pentecost Day in the three-year series B. Job 19:23-27 is the assigned text for Easter Day in the one-year lectionary, Easter Sunrise in the three year series C, and the service of graveside committal. Psalm 23 is the assigned psalm for the third Sunday of Easter in the one-year lectionary, Easter Day in all three years of the three-year series, proper 23 in the three-year series A, and proper 11 in the three-year series B.

Behold, My Sheep, I Will Search You Out

1 Behold, My sheep, I’ll search you out,
Rescue on day of clouds;
Though through the darkness, scattered out,
From global nations, proud;
I Myself will make you lie down,
Gathering from the crowd

2 You, O My sheep, I’ll shepherd you,
On mountain heights to feed;
Good grazing land, ravines through too,
Satisfied without greed;
Strengthened, the weak and injured, bound,
Fed fully freed from need.

3 Thus says the Lord, the God of all,
My name has been profaned.
Yoked with the pagans, since the fall,
You have my anger gained.
But, in My faithfulness ‘gainst gall,
You will be unashamed.

4 Thus says the Lord, the God of all,
I will remove the stone,
Where your heart is, instead will fall,
Flesh in its place alone,
My law, this flesh will love it all,
I’ll bring you to your home.

5 Though your bones lie in valley, dry,
In your own flesh, you’ll stand;
Before My throne, in kingdom, high,
In congregation, grand;
Restored in flesh, Me in your eye,
All this by My command.

6 On the last day, your Graves, I’ll break,
People resting in faith,
By Jesus blood and for His sake,
My children, you, I make.
Thus You will know, I am the Lord,
I’ve spoken these words great.

TRUMPET BLAST; 86 86 86
Text, Tune, and Setting: Jason M. Kaspar, b. 1976;
Text: © 2023, Jason M. Kaspar;
Tune and Setting: © 2014, Jason M. Kaspar

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
and
Mission planting pastoral team:
Epiphany Lutheran Church
Bastrop, TX

It’s a Good Friday For You

With yesterday we looked at how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, how He humbled himself to the place of servant even though He was the master, and the one who deserved to be served. He served His disciples last night attempting to prepare them for the greater service and humiliation of the very Son of God going to the cross for the sin of the world.

To suffering the Lamb goes. And all this He does willingly out of His great an amazing love for you. No sin too great no sin too small. All sins are dealt with on this day once and for all. The wrath for all the sin of the world is poured out on this one Man, the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Poured out on Him instead of you. And He loves you so much that He would rather take upon Himself the punishment than see you languish under the eternal condemnation of the Law. It’s a Good Friday for you.

Last night we heard how the Lord’s love is continual and perpetual. He loves His own until the end. And today my dear friends in Christ Jesus, this love is made even more manifest for you. Behold the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the One who takes your sin away. He is the one who pours out his blood for you and for your salvation. God became man for this very day, to serve you in this way. It’s a Good Friday for you.

The author of the sermon letter to the Hebrews speaks of our Lord going to the cross with joy. He saw the joy that would come from his sacrifice on the cross. He saw the joy of your salvation. You and the world being welcomed back into the Father’s embrace. Christ our Lord cries out on the cross, in agony and pain, but he carries it through to the end. Until your salvation is accomplished. Then like he said, he laid down his life on his own accord. He gave up his spirit and said, “It is finished.”

The great high priest, the God Man Jesus came with his body and offered it as the once and for all sacrifice for sins. This He does to fulfill all righteousness and all the words of the prophets. God with us from the womb unto the tomb. He endured it all and did it with joy because He knew what His sacrifice would win: your salvation. It’s a Good Friday for you.

Know His love, feel His embrace. See how He loves His own. How he nurtures and takes care of His bride. He lays down His life. By His stripes we are healed. He drinks the cup put before Him and fills that cup now with His own blood that we might have His life in us. And have it abundantly at that. It’s a Good Friday for you.

The cross that was a barren thing, a couple pieces of dead wood nailed together are now the place where life is given to you freely. It is your tree of life. You have your life because of the Life that hangs on the tree. He pours out His blood, and gives it you. Come and receive your life from His cross. Eat of his flesh and drink of his blood for these you have His love and His life now in you. It’s a Good Friday is for you.

See the Love of God in the Suffering Servant, your Lord Jesus, who set Himself like flint to go to the cross for you and your salvation, loving you unto the end. He has done it. The battle done. And you have life and have it abundantly for his sake.

Look to the cross and rejoice for the One who was long promised to come, has come. He has shown Himself by His self-sacrificial love, and He still showers us with His love and mercy via the preaching of His Word and Administration of His Sacraments. Sing the praise of Him who died upon the cross. And look to the cross for all mercy. Live in its shadow. By that, I mean to say come often to where the gifts of the Christ’s cross are given to you. Come then to the altar and have your eyes be fixed on Jesus on the cross. Baptism and Christ’s Supper only have their power by the event of the cross. By these Sacraments you are brought to the cross, and your eyes oriented on Christ’s sacrifice and love for you. It’s a Good Friday for you.

In the account of St. John 13 from last night, Jesus told His disciples where He was going the disciples could not come at first. He is speaking about the cross. He is speaking about his death. He must confront and battle Satan and death and defeat them for us. And by His death He conquers death once and for all. Death is swallowed up. Death took a bite of the wrong guy for He has power over death. And so now you do not need to fear death but rather look to the cross and our Lord’s passion. The cross takes the terror of death away. For your sins are taken away for the sake of Him who died for you loving you unto the end. It’s a Good Friday for you.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO