How to be a Christian - Baptism of Our Lord Sunday
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
January 12, 2025
Friends, what’s one of the first things you receive when you start anew job? In most cases it’s a job description and an employment manual. That’s how you know what you’ve been hired to do, including your direct responsibilities and the limitations of your authority. Because when you show up to work for the first time, it’s an absolute necessity to know these things. Otherwise, your work will be frustrating, not rewarding or meaningful. You’ll never be able to grow or achieve your very best.
This notion of a job description and knowing how to fulfill your role is pertinent to us because this Sunday directs our attention first to Jesus’s baptism, and then our own. Baptism is the entryway by which we become members of the Body of Christ, the Church. As Luther says in his Small Catechism, baptism “brings about forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe it, as the words and promise of God declare.” 1 But isn’t it ironic, or more accurately, isn’t it tragic, that most people who become Christians have no idea what their job description is? To state the issue more plainly, after you become a
Christian, what are you supposed to do?
Now before I go any further, let’s address the obvious initial question. Isn’t baptism a gift of grace from God, one we cannot earn by our works or merits? Absolutely. So why then are we questioning what we should do when we become Christians? Well, forgiveness and salvation should have an impact on you. It should be transformative. That doesn’t mean we all suddenly become perfect. Far from it. Sin is our constant companion in this life, which is why we take advantage of confession every week, long after the baptismal water has dried, so we can continue to get back on track when we inevitably fall off the pathway of Christ.
Indeed, we aren’t saved by our works. But think more generally about a time when you received a priceless gift from someone. Didn’t it fill you with gratitude? Didn’t you naturally want to reciprocate that kindness? The priceless gift of baptism should likewise inspire in you a desire to love Jesus back and to draw closer to him, not because you have to, but because you want to. And so whether you’re a brand-new Christian or you’ve been raised in the Church your whole life, I hope you regularly feel prompted to respond to God’s boundless love and grace by wondering how you should live as a Christian.
So how do we live as Christians? Well, you might say, “just follow the Bible.” That’s not a bad first step, but the Bible is a deeply complex collection of ancient texts and not always intuitive. Remember the story in Acts where the Ethiopian official was reading a text from Isaiah and one of the disciples asked him if he understands? The Ethiopian responded, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” 2 It was true then, and it’s true now. Faithful interpretation of the Bible requires a tradition, a community, and a lens for understanding how God works. Merely throwing a Bible at someone without any guidance or structure is a recipe for disaster.
But let’s assume you have a little familiarity with the Bible. You might answer the “what next” question by recalling that Jesus named two great commandments: Love God and love your neighbor. 3 I think this gets us a little closer to an answer. But what does it actually mean to love God and love your neighbor? That gets very complicated very quickly. Without greater guidance, these two great laws of love alone are just too broad, too open-ended. They’ll overwhelm most people to the point where they’ll just give up trying to figure out what they mean.
And so the Church has tried a couple approaches to provide a more helpful answer to those wondering how we are to live when we become Christians. The ancient approach was called the “Catechumenate.” It’s a fancy word that describes a period of instruction and training to become a Christian that happens before one is formally baptized and welcomed into the faith. Some traditions like the Orthodox still take this approach, but very few Protestants do because, frankly, people are rarely willing to invest that kind of time. I see merits in such a program, but I also see drawbacks, because it can transform God’s grace into a rigorously academic or ascetic undertaking that functions more as a fence than a gateway.
The other thing the Church has done is to offer what in my day was called “confirmation.” Nowadays we call it “affirmation of baptism.” It’s a time of instruction for youth, most of whom were baptized as babies, to learn the fundamentals of the faith and assume the promises their parents or guardians made for them in baptism. It’s a good concept, and I’m proud of the job our Faith Formation team does in teaching Grace’s youth. But in all honesty, it’s often tough to get kids and families to commit to it. Sadly,
the lure of band and sports activities is often so great that there just isn’t any time left for religious formation. And in any event, confirmation programs are almost always aimed at and designed for youth and don’t provide anything for the increasing number of people who are coming to Christianity for the first time later in life, as adults.
So what is the answer? Well, I’ll venture a suggestion. It’s one that’s rooted in the Bible, but mediated and interpreted within the long wisdom and tradition of the Church. It’s more detailed than simply citing the Two Great Commandments, but not so involved or inflexible that it’ll scare people away or overwhelm them with detail.
Here's my proposal. As we consider how God calls us to live as Christians, I suggest all of us, adults and young people alike, regularly
consider, contemplate, and affirm our commitment to the covenants we make at baptism. They form a very useful and practical list of ways for us to live the most meaningful, fulfilling, and authentic Christian life possible. They are a terrific way to measure your growth as a Christian and to regularly recommit yourself to following Jesus. We’ll be doing that today, after we confess our faith through the Apostles Creed.
These promises are listed on page 237 of the hymnal and page 9 of your bulletin. There are six of them: (1) to live among God’s faithful people (because God made us to live and learn within community); (2) to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper (that’s how our faith is kindled, nourished, and sustained); (3) proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed (because Jesus calls us not to hoard his grace and good news but to share it); (4) serve all people, following the example of
Jesus (Jesus wants us to put our faith into action); (5) strive for justice and peace in all the earth (because there’s no better way to love our neighbor); and (6) support and pray for one another in our lives in Christ (because, to put it bluntly, we need each other far more than we realize or admit).
This alone isn’t the complete answer to how to be a Christian, but it’s a great start. Baptism unleashes a divinely initiated transformation of us that’s more than just a statement of beliefs; it’s a way of life as we actively follow Jesus, day-after-day. Imagine how your journey as a disciple of Jesus would meaningfully deepen if every week you reviewed this list and honestly assessed how you’re doing. Imagine if families at the dinner table talked about just one of these six things each week. Or imagine if you and
a friend committed to use this list to help each other grow, and hold one another accountable. Suddenly we would find ourselves not merely people baptized in water but, as today’s Gospel puts it, people baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. By God’s grace, may it be so. Amen.
Copyright Rev. Scott E. Schul, 2025 All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
Citations
1 Small Catechism, Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Section II
2 Acts 8:31
3 Matthew 22:34–40; Mark 12:28–34; Luke 10:25–28
Gospel Text: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
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