Promised Treasures: Water that Renews John 3:1–8; Genesis 7:11–23; 1 Peter 3:17–22
Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God, our Father, and our baptized Lord, Jesus Christ.
Our midweek Lenten series is, Promised Treasures. Tonight… we’ll talk about water, the Gift that Makes and Renews Us, from John 3:1–8, the story of Jesus and Nicodemus.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind
blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
God blesses us with a promised treasure, the water from the wind.
Sometimes, often, with a heavy rainstorm, the wind will blow. Typically the wind comes first, and then the rain.
Sometimes there’s the calm before the storm -- everything is still… and then the wind begins to blow… and then comes the rain… sometimes in sheets… and then sometimes comes the ice, hail… and then, rarely but sometimes, comes an even stronger, circular wind, a tornado.
When I say God blesses us with the water that comes from the wind, I don’t mean physical wind, but spiritual.
By wind I mean the Holy Spirit, and by water I mean Holy Baptism.
In Scripture, the Holy Spirit is sometimes associated with wind. When the Holy Spirit came on the disciples on the day of Pentecost, it was with the loud sound of a rushing wind, we’re told in Acts 2.
The Greek work for spirit is pneuma, from which the English word, pneumatic, comes, which means, powered by air or wind.
The pneuma we’re empowered by, is not natural wind, but Divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
What a wonderful gift to be empowered by, a promised treasure, the Spirit of God within our spirit!
In nature, God often sends the wind with the rain, or the rain with the wind.
In salvation, God sends the Spirit with the water and the Word.
In nature, God gives us water for the body. In Baptism, He gives us water for the soul.
In our text, Jesus revealed these things to Nicodemus, in secret at night.
But the treasures He spoke of are secret no more: the Word, and the Spirit,
and the waters of Baptism are shared and received by countless children of God all around the world…
… and have been ever since Jesus told His apostles to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Nicodemus was thoroughly confused by the amazing things Jesus was revealing to him.
When he asked how a mature person could possibly re-enter his or her mother’s womb to be born again, Jesus directed him to the Spirit of God… and the Sacrament of God, Baptism, one of the treasures He gives His Church.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, (Baptism) he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
In Romans 8:9, Paul reminds us, a very timely reminder in our immoral culture that flaunts sin and elevates worldliness: You are not of the flesh (not of sin and the world) but of the Spirit (of God), if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Jesus continued, Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
From water in nature, God renews the body and keeps it alive, and with it we wash ourselves, and are cleansed and refreshed.
From the water and the Word, Holy Baptism, God renews and cleanses and remakes our spirit through His.
It’s much harder to wash sins away from the soul, than it is to wash dirt away from the body, but that’s what the Holy Spirit can do and does, through the water and the Word.
But it also takes blood, the blood of God’s Son, His death to win our forgiveness.
1 John 5:7 says, For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
Without the blood, Jesus’ death, and then His resurrection, the water and the Word, Baptism, would be meaningless; and faith and the work of the Holy Spirit would be in vain.
But Jesus died and rose, indeed; and now the work of the Spirit is powerful and impacting, and faith now saves, and Baptism can now cleanse the soul.
As John says, these three agree; they work in concert for our salvation – the redeeming blood of Christ, the cleansing water of Baptism, and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit, that we might live and believe.
Our Epistle says, 21Baptism, which corresponds to this, (to Noah and his family being kept safe on the ark) now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, (not a bath), but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, (forgiveness) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In our Old Testament reading, we heard the story of the Great Flood, but even more, it’s the story of the Ark, God saving Noah and his family during the flood.
By water, God cleansed the entirely corrupt world. But also by water, God saved humanity… because it was on water that the Ark floated, keeping alive that one last faithful family, so that the line of the Messiah would continue, and God’s Son would be born to save the world.
Now, through the water with the Word, Holy Baptism, God, through the gift of faith, gives us the salvation won by His Son, which is why Peter can say, Baptism now saves you… through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And the waters of Baptism form you, through the Holy Spirit.
When you take dry dirt, or clay, and mix in some water, you have something that can be molded and shaped.
When in the waters of Baptism, the Holy Spirit is added to your spirit, it makes something that can be shaped into the image of God…
… in the shape of faith to follow Christ, and loyalty to never leave Him …
… in the shape of love to serve God and help your neighbor…
… in the shape of forgiveness, to forgive others as He has forgiven us…
… in the shape of courage, to confess and proclaim Him and His Word to the world…
… in the shape of hope, to look forward to being with Him in glory forever…
… in the shape of joy, to rejoice in His many wonderful gifts…
… in the shape of gratitude, to give thanks and praise to Him, and to give generously, as He has so generously given to us…
… and in the shape of so many more blessings that make us so much better, so much more like Christ.
May God bless you always in the waters of your Baptism, that promised treasure which renews us by the Holy Spirit, and remakes us to be like Christ.
And may His peace, which passes understanding, guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, who saved us by His blood, and renewed us by His Spirit, through the water and the Word. Amen.