The Baptism of our Lord January 10-11, 2026
“A Gift and a Calling” Romans 6:1-11
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Every one of us has a story. But everyone has a unique story. Your story and my story are not the same. We have different places where we were born. We have different families and backgrounds. Some parts of our stories are sad and can bring tears to our eyes. Some of our story turned dark and regrettable. Some of this story is filled with laughter and smiles and joy. We all have a story.
This past week I watched a new documentary about the life of John Elway, the retired quarterback of the Denver Broncos. John Elway played for the Broncos from 1983 until 1999. He came out of Stanford University and was the first pick taken in the 1983 NFL draft. Somehow the Broncos were able to make a trade and bring him to Denver.
The documentary showed some of the struggles in his rookie year and some of the successes in the other years, as well as 3 Super Bowl loses. As a Bronco fan I remember some of those great events, the famous comebacks and the back-to-back Super Bowl victories in his final two years.
But John Elway’s story wasn’t perfect. His marriage to his college sweetheart, Janet, ended in a divorce, shortly after his retirement. They grew further and further apart and then separated. His father, a backbone in his life, died suddenly of a heart attack in 2001. His twin sister, Jana, died of cancer in 2002. Within just a few years his story went from the top of the mountain to the pit of despair.
Everyone has a story. Let’s start at the beginning. Conception. Microscopically small. Would we make it for those nine months? No easy task. Then we are introduced to the world. Mom’s belly was nice and warm. But now we had to leave there and meet the winter of South Dakota, or North Dakota or Minnesota or Illinois or Colorado and it was much different. We needed everything done for us. Those initial days and weeks and months would be challenging.
But the story of our lives would take a giant turn because of God’s gift called Baptism. You became God’s child in Baptism. Your story was changed forever because of your Baptism. Today this message is about what Baptism has done for you.
When did you get connected to Christ? When did the story of your life change? For many it started in Baptism. Before you could start living in your soul you had to die inwardly. We need to die to self. Self-rule. Self-righteousness. Self-determination. Self-exultation. There needs to be a good death to sin and its tentacles. In our reading it says, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:3-4)
Sin is a tyrant. It wants to rule us and dominate us. It wants to strip us of freedom and hold us captive. You know how powerful it can be. We need a good death. Paul later in this chapter says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” (Romans 6:6)
Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night, was told by Jesus that he needed first to die before he could live. Jesus said that he had to be “born again”, “born from above”. “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Jesus said he had to be “born of water and the Spirit.” (See John 3:1-7)
Baptism is death. You are connected to Jesus and His death in your Baptism. That is part of the story that Jesus is writing in your life. But there is more than that in your Baptism. Baptism is resurrection. It is new life. Romans 6 is an amazing chapter with deep teaching of God’s truth. It says, “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly be united with him in his resurrection.” (6:5) And a few verses later, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (6:11)
Baptism does much more than simply forgive the sins of the past; it empowers the life we live today. In Baptism you are immersed in Christ. All of His righteousness, all of His mercy, all of His grace flow into your life. In the very little book in the New Testament called Titus we are taught, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7)
Baptism is resurrection. You died and then you rose. When Jesus died you were connected to Him and His full payment for all sins – sins of body, and sins of unbelief, and sins of rejecting the will of God in your life. In that Baptismal water all sins were drowned and were buried. And, just as He rose on the third day, you rose in confidence that He is Lord of all things, and your life is now intimately connected to Him.
Listen to words about the curse of sin through Adam and the victory coming through Jesus, “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that bring life to all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:18-19)
Baptism is a gift – both in the connection to the death and the
resurrection of Jesus. Then it is a calling. Baptism is our ordination. Baptism is new life. We get to walk in newness of life. This now is our story, written by the fullness of God’s Spirit in our life. Listen to the direction that God provides:
- What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2)
- For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. (Romans 6:6)
- Therefore do not let sin reign in your moral body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. (Romans 6:12-13)
Our story is meant to be strong and full of backbone. We are to live in newness of life showing itself by our conduct. We, by God’s Spirit, will impact the lives of others in wonderful ways.
Our story is still being written. I always wonder how the new year is going to be different from the last. Each day will exhibit something new. There will be struggles and victories. Our character will be challenged, and we will be put into some tough places, but God will be our strength. There will be sadness and tears and then joy and confidence. Sometimes it will be in that order and sometimes in the other order. There will still be sin in our life and there will be forgiveness given by Jesus.
This year we are going to be immersed in our Baptism. We will die to self and rise with Christ. We will live as a new creation. God will place His hand on our life and will grace us again and again.
We are going to end this message in song. Please turn to your blue supplement, With One Voice, Page 699. We’ll sing the first verse of Blessed Assurance:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Amen!!
