The kindness and love of God our Savior has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. Through him you have become heirs of eternal life. Amen.

Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ 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, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

In January of 2004 the Mars rover named "Spirit" touched down on the planets surface. It sent back beautiful color photographs of the red planet. What a great name for such a small machine.

Many scientists look for this small machine to provide great discovery. They are hoping that the pictures provided by the Spirit Mars rover will produce evidence that billions of years ago Mars was a thriving, growing planet with an atmosphere, water, and even life. They are looking to this Spirit for evidence of change.

Many non-scientists also look longingly out into space – but for a different reason. These people are looking for salvation. Most sci-fi movies can be separated into two categories. The first has aliens who are bent on destruction of humanity – like in "Alien," "Independence Day," or "War of the Worlds." The second category, and far more dangerous, are those who look into space for salvation, for a higher intelligence that will come to earth to help save mankind from itself – like in "E.T." or "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" or "Cocoon." (I know I am dating myself with some of these movies, but those of you who watch newer movies get the idea.)

We don’t need to look into space for salvation or change. We do need to look to the heavens, though. We don’t need the Spirit Mars rover for evidence that salvation has been given to us and a change has taken place inside of us. That evidence is provided in a different Spirit – the Holy Spirit – who comes to us in the sacrament of baptism. The Spirit has landed! To save us and to change us, all through the miracle of the water and the Word in baptism.

A lot of NASA’s hopes are riding on this little Spirit Mars rover. There’s something to be said about the big influence of small things.

Jesus’ baptism may have seemed like a small thing for Jesus to do. It wasn’t necessary for him to be baptized since there was no sin in his life for which to repent. But he submitted to John’s baptism of repentance anyway. Why? To identify with your sins and mine.

As Jesus was crucified for us, so he was baptized for us, bearing sins that were not his own. They were ours. As he borrowed our death at the cross, so he borrowed our baptism at the Jordan. In that water he took up the cross as surely as when Pilate’s soldiers laid a crossbeam on his shoulders three years later. At the Jordan the sinless Son of God was already being made sin for us. (2 Cor 5:21) Baptism is the link between Jordan and Calvary.

Although baptism seems like such a small, minor thing – after all, it only takes a few moments, a few words, a few drops of water – but it actually accomplishes great and miraculous events in our life. Baptism is all about sin – our washing of way of sin and Jesus connecting himself with our sin. It is all about our salvation.

Paul writes, "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." Did you catch what Paul was saying there? Why did God save us? It certainly wasn’t because of anything we had done or accomplished or were striving for. How fortunate for us! Especially compared to what Paul says in verse 3: "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another." Looking at this verse, we realize that we could never have done any "righteous things." If God were to wait with granting us salvation until he saw something righteous in us, he would be waiting a really long time – an eternity. We would never be saved. It would be like waiting for certain NFL teams to win a Super Bowl (like the Lions or Vikings) – it just isn’t going to happen.

This is the way you and I were at birth. We were sinners. The Bible says: "Every inclination of [man’s] heart is evil from childhood." (Genesis 8:21) "You were dead in your transgression and sins." (Ephesians 2:1) Your "sinful mind is hostile to God, it does not submit to God’s will nor can it do so." (Romans 8:7) "You were sinful from birth, sinful from the time of conception." (Psalm 51:5) There is no doubt that we are sinners through and through.

There is no way that we could ever save ourselves. We were enemies of God. We hated him. We wanted nothing to do with his holy will or his way of life. We were destined to spend an eternity in hell with our spiritual father – Satan. But then God stepped into our sin-steeped life, giving us full and free salvation through his gift of baptism.

What moved God to save us? Paul gives us the answer: "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." Paul attributes four specific characteristics to God that account for our undeserved salvation. "Kindness" – God is inclined to bless us. "Brotherly love" – God has a deep-rooted love for the crown of his creation – humanity. "Because of his mercy" – God looked with pity upon our wretchedness, with a compassion that knew no limits. And God justified us, declared us innocent of any wrongdoing "by his grace". Certainly nothing in us moved God to save us, only his kindness, love, mercy and grace.

This salvation is granted to all people. But how can I, a miserable sinner (remember verse 3), hope to receive this amazing gift of God? It is through baptism. Paul piles up words to picture exactly what God does to us through baptism. He washes our sins away. We are now clean of the filth of our sins. We are reborn as children of God and heirs of eternal salvation. We were born sinners, born children of Satan and heirs of an everlasting hell. All of that has been changed. This is a washing that saves us (1 Peter 3:21).

There are many Christians and church bodies who deny that God gives the miracle of salvation in baptism. They view baptism as something that a person does for God, as opposed to the Bible saying that baptism is something that God does for that person. They say that baptism is a person visibly making a commitment to God, as opposed to the Bible showing that it is God making his eternal commitment to that person.

They deny the truth of Romans 6:3-4: "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ 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." Christ’s victory means death’s defeat. This victory/defeat is personally applied to every believer in his Baptism. Baptismal washing raises us to life, but it must first plunge us into death. Our Old Adam, our sinful nature is drowned in our baptismal waters and plunged into death. Our New Man, our spiritual nature, is raised to life.

The Red Sea waters came crashing down on the Egyptians, but those same waters saved the Israelites who passed through them safely. The waters of God’s great flood drowned his wicked creation, while those same waters lifted up the eight people in the ark and saved them. In baptism our sins are buried with Christ and we die to sin. Thus baptism is our grave. A grave like Pharaoh’s – a watery grave.

When the Gospel was first preached on the island of Barbados, several people accepted the invitation to be baptized. When they arrived at the water for the baptismal service the women were dressed in nightgowns and the men in striped pajamas. The missionaries were afraid this might be misunderstood and urged the people to change their clothes. They refused. The missionaries allowed it reluctantly and decided to be sure this didn’t happen the next time. Before the next baptismal service, the missionaries attended a funeral and noticed the corpse was dressed in pajamas. It was explained, "We believe when a person dies, he goes to sleep, so we are buried in our sleepwear." Then the missionary understood. Baptism had been explained as a burial of the sinful nature and a death to sin so those desiring baptism wore their burial clothes.

Through baptism, God gave us his wonderful gift of salvation. That is something for us to look forward to. He has also given us something wonderful right now – a change. A complete and utter change from what we once were.

Paul writes: "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." A change has taken place in us as Paul reminds us of what we once were, and what God has done to change us.

Paul says that we were changed through our baptism. We were reborn. He says that we were born children of Satan. We were baptized and reborn as children of God. We were heirs of sin and deserving of hell. We were baptized and made heirs of salvation and given a home in heaven. We were born decadent and full of pride. We were baptized and were made humble servants of our Master Jesus.

Many of you were baptized years ago and you may think that you aren’t really all that different because you still fall into sin. Human willpower is notoriously anemic and fickle. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, is firm, steady, and sure. I wonder – do you suppose the reason you and I have such a hard time living the Christian life is that we try to go it alone, apart from our Baptism into Christ? Baptismal renewal happens as we confess our sins and return in repentance to the forgiveness of sins we first received in Baptism, where we were joined to Christ and his risen life. "For to me, to live is Christ." (Phil 1:21) We simply cannot live apart from the life we have in Christ by our Baptism into him.

The ancient church described baptized believers as fish, conceived in water, born to swim in water. And you know what happens to fish out of water.

By Baptism into Christ we have a whole new life ahead of us. Our old life has disappeared – baptized, dead, and buried into the death of the Crucified One. A New Man emerges from your watery grave. Joined with our risen Lord, we rise to live a new life in him. Each day is a new beginning in him. The trite phrase of popular folklore finds deeper reality in Holy Baptism: "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." We are a new creation by water and the Spirit.

This baptism is also called renewal by the Holy Spirit. Paul talks about his renewal being a complete renovation, a change for the better. If your house was damaged by flooding or hail, you don’t want to leave it in that dilapidated state. You want it fixed up. You want it renovated. You want it better than it was before. And that is exactly what happens to us in baptism. The Holy Spirit makes us better than what we once were. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor 5:17)

The Holy Spirit is poured out on us in baptism. He is poured out abundantly, richly. He spills upon us. He gushes over us. He holds nothing back. Just as Jesus was anointed as the Christ at his baptism with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, so we are anointed in our baptism with the same outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The result of God’s saving us through our baptism is that we have been made heirs, possessors of eternal life. God has written us into his will. The inheritance is eternal life. We have life now and will have it forever. What blessings we have in this life! What a glorious future awaits us in eternity!

The Spirit Mars rover may accomplish great things for NASA and our world. The Holy Spirit has definitely accomplished great things for humanity through Holy Baptism – our salvation and our change. The Spirit has landed. Amen.

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