The Bible speaks about the forgiveness of sins in two ways. It speaks of the forgiveness that was won for us and the forgiveness that is given to us. The second article of the Apostle’s Creed tells us how forgiveness was won for the whole world: Jesus “was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.” In doing this, He won forgiveness for the sins of the whole world. Then, the third article of the Creed tells us how this forgiveness is delivered to the individual. In the words of Martin Luther’s explanation, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.” Through the preaching of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments, God delivers the forgiveness, which Christ won on the cross, to sinners.

Both of these aspects of forgiveness, that which has been won for us and that which is delivered to us, are pictured in the stained glass window we are considering this evening.

This evening as we consider this window we want to think a little bit about the meaning of Jesus’ baptism and our baptism.

In our text, we are told that Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. Now, of course, there were no cameras in those days to take pictures of the event. And so no one knows for sure how Jesus was baptized. But, some of the earliest drawings of Jesus’ baptism show John standing knee deep in the Jordan River with Jesus kneeling beside him. John has in his hand a shell like that in our window. He is using the shell to pour water over Jesus’ head. Artists in the early church apparently believed that is how Jesus was baptized. Perhaps it is out of that tradition that the shell came to be used as a symbol for Christian baptism.

So, our window, in symbolizing the baptism of Jesus, speaks a powerful message about the forgiveness that God won for us. He won this forgiveness by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to take our sins upon Himself, and then pay the price for those sins by offering His life on the cross.

But, this window also represents the forgiveness that God has delivered to us. When we speak of the forgiveness that is delivered to us, we are dealing with faith. St. Paul says in the second chapter of Ephesians, “It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith.” The grace refers to the forgiveness that Jesus won for us by His death on the cross. The “through faith” is dealing with the forgiveness that has been delivered to us.

The question is: where does our faith come from? Is it something that we do or something that God does? Is it a decision that we make or a gift that God works in us?

The Bible tells us clearly that it cannot be something that we do. For we are sinners who are born spiritually dead and spiritually blind. We cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ. It is God who must deliver the forgiveness to us.

We see this delivering of forgiveness described especially in the second part of our text. Having won forgiveness for the whole world, Jesus commissions His disciples to deliver this forgiveness. But He does not send them empty handed. He gives them the tools they would need to accomplish this work. He gives them the Word of God, which as we saw in our sermon a couple of weeks ago is “sharper than a double edged sword,” and powerful enough to accomplish God’s purpose. He also gives them the Sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper to which He connects His Word.

And because our Lord connected His powerful Word to the water of baptism, as Luther reminds us in the catechism, baptism is no longer just plain water, but is a life giving water, rich in grace, which is able to work forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and give eternal salvation to all who believe. Baptism is no mere symbol as some denominations teach, but is presented throughout the New Testament as a powerful means of grace that is able to effect real results.

Along with this, when God says that He has placed His name on you, He is saying that you now belong to Him. You are now His child.

So, baptism, first of all offers us a tremendous amount of comfort and assurance. In the preaching of the Gospel, God speaks to you as a part of a crowd. But in your baptism, God spoke to you as an individual. He took you aside and separated you from every other person in the whole world, and spoke to you personally. He even called your name and said to you personally, “your sins are all forgiven, you are My child and an heir of eternal life.” That is the wonderful assurance by God that you received in your baptism. We might say it is like an engagement ring that a young man gives to his bride to be. It is a statement that she is chosen by him, and set apart as his own, to share in his name and in all his life and work as his bride for life. In a similar way, baptism is a visible testimony to the individual sinner that he or she is chosen by God and belongs to Him as His very own, to share in His eternal kingdom as His bride forever.

But, understanding what it means that we are baptized into God’s name also helps us to understand some of our responsibilities as God’s children. We hear a lot about individual rights in our society today. We are told, for instance, that our bodies belong to us, so it is okay to practice homosexuality or have an abortion. Now, while our government may grant those rights to its citizens, as God’s children we look at things differently. In baptism, we have been given God’s name, and therefore our bodies have come under new management. We belong to the Triune God. That’s exactly what St. Paul says to Christians in First Corinthians. He writes, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.” As God’s children, whose sins have been washed away and who bear His holy name, we have strong motivation to serve and honor Him.

So, in this window that we are dedicating tonight, we are once again reminded of what a wonderful God we have. Not only did He win the forgiveness of sins for the whole world through the death of His Son, but in our baptism He has delivered that forgiveness to us personally. May this window serve as a constant reminder of this tremendous grace of our God and as a motivation to live as children who bear His holy Name. Amen.