Improving your baptism

This morning the Church celebrates the Baptism of our Lord and we have celebrated the baptism of Trevor Christian. Now whenever we witness a baptism we should take the opportunity to remember our own. Our forefathers often spoke of the duty of improving upon our baptisms. You see for the Apostles, the Fathers, and the Reformers, baptism remained a focus throughout the Christian life. For them the Christian life is really nothing more than the process of being conformed to baptism. Just as someone has described the history of Western Philosophy as a series of footnotes to Plato, you could think of the Christian life as a series of footnotes to baptism. What does it mean to improve upon your baptism? In Romans 6 Paul says that it means learning to live as those who have died and risen with Jesus. He says that your baptism into the death of Christ means that you died to sin and therefore you should no longer be its slave. And likewise he says that just as Jesus rose to new life, even so you are to walk in newness of life. And beloved that is why you are gathered here this morning. Perhaps you continue to struggle with particular sins. Perhaps there are sinful patterns in your life to which you feel bound. Well, if you are in Christ Jesus, God says differently. You are gathered here as the baptized people of God, the household attendants of the King of kings and Lord of lords, to improve upon your baptism. You are gathered here to confess and repent of your sins and be raised up to walk in newness of life. Having heeded the call to worship, turn from your sins and fix your eyes upon Jesus. You are no longer under the dominion of sin and the curse of the law. Christ has borne that in your place. You are under grace, grace that abounds more than sin and empowers you to walk in newness of life. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!