"The promise in Baptism gives you the name of the only Son of God" Holy Trinity 2025

15. June 2025

Holy Trinity

John 3:1-17

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Today, we honor all fathers, giving thanks to God for their service to us in their vocations. In a world turned upside down, where a Satanic move is underway to destroy what God has created—male and female, husband and wife, father and mother—it's more important than ever that we confess and celebrate what God has instituted. It’s not merely a “culture war,” but a defense of what is good, right, and true. And that includes fathers.

But I want you to remember that the reason we are gathered here today is to talk not about this world, but about the next world. That is, not the world of this earth, the world of flesh, but the world of the Spirit. And when I speak to you about the world of the Spirit, I recognize how challenging this is. We struggle to find the words to confess what Scriptures reveal, no more and no less. For that reason, we must learn what it means to have a God who gives Himself not once, not twice, but three times to you.

But when He gives Himself in each and every time and place, we do not want Him as He gives Himself. When God first gave Himself as the Father who created you and everything that was created, we did not want him there, hence the rejection of male and female, husband and wife, father and mother. And when He sent His Son, even to die on the cross, we did not want Him there.

And so for the third time, the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit. Now we learn what it means to live in a kingdom of the Spirit. As wonderful as your life is now in this world and in America, this is not your heavenly home. This is not your permanent place. This is not where you truly belong. This is simply the place you are passing through. As you journey through, remember that you are a resident alien here, prepared to live in another realm.

And for that, we now read the story of Nicodemus, which will help us understand what the Holy Spirit does, who the Holy Spirit is, and what, therefore, we are talking about when we are talking about the world of the Spirit. One night, Nicodemus came to Jesus after hearing about the mighty signs that Jesus had already performed in the city of Jerusalem, in the temple. And Nicodemus came saying, “You must be sent by God because no one would do such great things as you have shown in the signs that we have all been waiting for.”

A good Jew, especially one like Nicodemus, who is the greatest of the teachers of the Jews, as Jesus Himself says, is looking for signs of the end of time because these signs will reveal what lies in the future—not what has happened in the past, nor what you have lost in the past, but where all of you are headed in the future. The future, now, is what this world constantly wants. And Nicodemus is approaching Jesus Christ, hoping that he has seen the signs of the end.

But Jesus also knows something about Nicodemus. At the end of the second chapter of John, Jesus had just cleansed the temple. He had performed miracles that people believed were signs of the end times. Then Jesus realized that He could not trust Himself with these people. It states explicitly that He could not trust Himself to man because He understood what was within man. Anthropoid, what is in the anthropoid. And there is something in the anthropoid that Jesus Christ knows He cannot trust, so He cannot commit Himself to them and make His life belong to them.

So, when Nicodemus comes that night, Jesus knows what is already in the man. What is in this man? What is inside Nicodemus? Nicodemus is a teacher. He's a great man who knows a lot. He is waiting for the signs of the end and anticipating what it will be like in heaven. Now he comes to Jesus with a question: How do you get into heaven? That's what I'm here to tell you about. That's why you bother coming to this place to hear how you get into heaven. If you're not interested in that, then we need to wake you up a little bit.

Nicodemus acknowledges that this is not his eternal home. However, he is counting down the hours, hoping to stay in this world just a little longer. He is waiting, anticipating, and preparing himself for the next world. He believes he knows the answer to the question: How does one get into heaven?

And this is what Jesus understands about humanity. What resides within human beings is what Luther refers to simply as the law. The law exists within humans and even in the heart, leading Nicodemus to believe that Moses is the key to entering heaven. He thinks, "That's how I'm going to get into heaven." For Nicodemus, Moses is nothing other than the Ten Commandments. He is a teacher who knows them inside and out. He can recite them time and again.

And not only can he recite them, but he also thinks something else about these Ten Commandments. That is that if anyone has followed them, I, Nicodemus, have followed them. If this is the way into heaven, then I am more likely than anyone else to enter there. All he wants from Jesus, then, is one more sign. “Jesus, I want one more sign, which is recognition of me. Let me stand before you, Jesus, the one who comes from heaven, and I want you to recognize me. I want you to identify me as righteous and confirm that I'm right about myself. That, according to Moses and according to the law, I am going into heaven.”

And Jesus says, “Let me tell you something, Nicodemus. No one goes into the kingdom of God unless he is born anew.” Nicodemus replies, “What kind of strange talk is this? Born anew is not recognizing me for who I am. It does not recognize what I have accomplished and done. It does not reward me according to the law, and it is not telling me what I want to hear.” Instead, Jesus states, “No one goes into the kingdom. No one enters heaven unless he is born anew.” “Ah,” Nicodemus says, “How does that happen?”

And of course, this is the great question every teacher poses. How does one do this so that one is born again? So Nicodemus thinks, “Since I was born by my mother the first time, maybe I have to enter my mother again the second time.” Now, of course, he is learning the difference between the Spirit and the flesh. Jesus says, “Well, of course not. This is not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about anything you're doing. When you say, ‘How does one do this?’ The answer is, ‘You do not do it.’”

Well then, how does this happen? How is anyone going to enter heaven? Jesus ends his conversation with Nicodemus on this very harsh note. There is not a single person who has ascended into heaven. How do you like that? Except for the one who has descended, who has actually come to you. And when He comes to you, He will say something to you. You are to listen to Him. And what is He saying?

He says, “Unless you are born again, that is of the Spirit and water.” Spirit and water? Spirit was bad enough. Now you've got water mixed up in this whole matter. And now what am I supposed to do? Nicodemus says, “This is strange talk. Is He giving me allegories? Is He giving me analogies? Is He giving me illustrations that I am somehow to unpack and then figure out what the riddle is so that I can reply and answer and do what He's commanding?"

And Jesus says, “No. Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you will not be born again.” Then Jesus makes this even worse. He says, “You know the Spirit. The Spirit blows wherever He wills.” Well, what is Nicodemus supposed to do with that? The Spirit blows wherever He wills. I don’t know where He comes from, nor do I know where He’s going. And then all of a sudden, one day, He blows right to me. What am I supposed to make of that?

Nicodemus says, “How am I supposed to make a life out of that? What am I to do with something like that? Spirit and water and born again and the Holy Spirit blowing wherever He wills. What am I supposed to do? Just sit here and wait for the Spirit to blow my way?” And of course, Jesus says, “Finally! Now you're getting a little warmer.”

But here is the crux: all of us seek to take one thing or another upon ourselves, reborn, born of water and the Spirit. We want to turn the Spirit into a means by which I can perform and act. But Jesus says, “That is not who the Holy Spirit is. And that is not what the Holy Spirit is doing.” Your life is not in this world; your life is in the new world that is coming. Your life now is in the flesh. It is old, as Nicodemus says. He knows what this is like now. He’s an old man, and an old man now says, “Well, what am I supposed to do after all I've done in my whole life, according to the law?” Just lay the law aside now? Is that what I'm supposed to do after I have done all these things, set it aside, and wait for the Holy Spirit?

And Jesus says, “Of course! The Holy Spirit blows where He wills, and now you want to figure out where the Holy Spirit is blowing? Where does the Holy Spirit want to blow? Well, right into baptism, which is water and the Spirit.” And what is baptism, after all? Nicodemus looks at it. “What am I supposed to make of this?” It says in our English translation, “He marveled.” This means he's completely bamboozled. He has absolutely no idea what Jesus Christ is talking about. And now Jesus is laying out for him what Baptism is, because Baptism is the Holy Spirit blowing on you. And when the Holy Spirit blows to you, the Holy Spirit is going to do with you what He wills.

And what will he do? He will give you a promise, not a command. The promise in Baptism provides you with what you otherwise do not know and could not understand—the name of the only Son of God. Jesus says, “Unless you have this name, how will you ever get into heaven?” As the great promise from Joel puts it, Joel chapter 2, “The one who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” and shall enter into heaven. But Paul says in Romans 10, “How will you know that name? How will you ever say it unless someone comes and gives it to you? And how will they come and give it to you unless the Holy Spirit has sent that one? Oh, how beautiful are the feet of those who come across the mountains and come down and bestow upon you a particular promise.”

And what do you think that promise of water and Spirit means? It means this: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is your way to heaven. This is the entrance into heaven. And this life never dies. This life does not end. This is not a life in which you are constantly timing everything and trying to complete whatever it is that you need to do from your bucket list before you finally leave this world. Instead, now, you live according to this promise.”

And I tell you right now, I have water. I have the word the Holy Spirit gives. If any of you need baptism, I'll provide it right here. That’s why the font is right here before the pulpit. This is the entrance into heaven. For those of you who have already been baptized, not only do you remember this, but you also use the promise, day in and day out, to say, “Dear Lord, how do I know how to get into heaven?” And our Lord says: “By water and the Spirit!” And how do I get this water and the Spirit? It has been bestowed upon you in Baptism.

And when you know this, you have the promise of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the only name of the Son of God. Now, listen to this final word. What does Jesus do with his disciples after Nicodemus goes home, mystified and completely bamboozled? It's outside our text today, but you need to hear it. “After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside.” Nobody should have to live in a city for the rest of their life. I mean, goodness sakes, you need to get out into the countryside. This is how heaven will be. So what are they doing out in the countryside? And he remained there with them, and He was baptizing.

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School - Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin