Third Sunday after Trinity

If someone asked you to talk about the moment you became a Christian, how would you answer? Many people would say, “On such and such day, I committed my life to Christ. I remember the moment that I invited Jesus into my heart. When I was twelve, I made a decision to follow Jesus. I was lost in sin, but then I found Christ.” But what would you say? If you grew up in the Lutheran church, chances are you would say, “On this day I was baptized.” Probably you don’t remember it, because you were a baby.

One of my professors used to say that the theology is in the grammar – particularly the verbs. If you want to see whether someone has good theology or not, listen to what they say and see who is doing the action of the verbs. If you’re not a grammar enthusiast, don’t worry; it’s actually quite simple. “I committed my life to Christ.” Who is doing the action in that sentence? Who is driving the verbs? I am. “I committed my life. I invited Jesus. I made a decision. I found Christ.” Do you see what’s going one here? Every one of these statements betrays the underlying theology in which I am the work of salvation depends on me.

But what about, “I was baptized.” That’s different. Who’s doing the work now? Not I. I didn’t baptize myself. Someone else did. Baptism happened to me, but the action originates from outside of me. If this sounds like a nerdy grammar distinction, it’s not. It’s important! Who is driving the verbs? Who is doing the work of salvation? If we get this wrong, we have lost the Gospel!

So here we have two conflicting ways that Christians speak of conversion: “I made a choice for Christ” or “I was baptized into Christ.” Some people will tell you that these are two equally valid viewpoints, two different ways of basically saying the same thing. They’re wrong. One of these statements is biblical, the other is dangerous false doctrine. Let’s look at what Jesus teaches us in our Gospel text. I invite you to follow along with your bulletin:

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’” (Lk 15:4–6). Here we have a lost sheep, representing a lost sinner who needs salvation. Jesus is the shepherd. Look through the passage and answer this question: “What did the sheep do to get saved.” Look carefully. There must be something. Surely it contributed to being found in some way. Did you read the verse about how the sheep knew that its master was near, so it bleated very loudly? Not in the Bible. Who is driving the verbs here? Who is doing all the work? The shepherd. He leaves the ninety-nine. He goes after the one that is lost. He finds it. He lays it on his shoulders. He carries it home. He calls his neighbors and says, “I have found my sheep which was lost.”

What does the sheep do? Nothing. It gets found. And here’s the amazing thing: What does Jesus call “getting found”? He calls it repentance! Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (Lk 15:7). Jesus says that repentance is getting found. Did you catch that? This is amazing.

Surely, there’s more to repentance than that. Repentance is when I make a choice to follow Jesus, right? Repentance is when I feel in my heart that I’m sorry for what I’ve done and purpose to turn my life around? Repentance is when I realize that I’m lost, and decide to come back to Christ, isn’t it? Notice the verbs here: “I make a choice. I feel. I purpose. I realize. I decide.” That may be what many Christians believe, but it’s not what Jesus says. Repentance doesn’t happen when you find God. Repentance happens when he finds you.

Let’s look at the second parable. Just in case we had any false ideas about how the sheep may have contributed somehow to getting found, Jesus basically tells the same story again, but this time he uses an inanimate object: a coin. He’s driving the point home. “What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’” (Lk 15:8–9).

What did the coin do to get found? Not a thing. The woman lights a lamp, sweeps the house, seeks diligently, and finds the coin. Did the coin help? No. Did the coin say, “Over here… you’re getting warm, warmer, warmer…” Nope. The coin just laid there being lost until it got found. And Jesus calls this repentance! “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk 15:10). Repentance is a gift from God. Unless he gives it, our hearts would remain hardened by sin. Unless he finds us, we would remain lost. Unless our Good Shepherd did all the work necessary for our salvation, we would be without hope.

So how would you describe the moment you were saved? When did you become a Christian? The answer that lines up with what Jesus teaches us in the Scriptures is, “I was baptized.” Who did the work? Not you, that’s for sure. Jesus is the one running the verbs. If you were a baby, he gave you parents who carried you to the font. If you were an adult, he engineered the circumstances that brought you there. But no matter what age you were, one thing is certain: Jesus came looking for you. He found you lost in sin, unable to reach out to him, unable even to desire him. When you were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God the Father adopted you as his dear child. God the Son washed you clean from every sin with his own blood. God the Holy Spirit took up residence within you and gave a new heart that is capable of loving him and desiring to serve him. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, did everything necessary for your salvation. And what did you do? Nothing. You were found, and Jesus calls this repentance.

This is good news! Why? Because if our salvation depended at all on something we must do, none one could be certain of heaven. If you ask a Christian, “Are you going to heaven?” many of them will answer, “I hope so.” But you can answer, “I know so. I was found by my Shepherd. God granted me the gift of repentance. He washed away every sin—past, present, and future. He plucked me from the jaws of death, and placed me safe and secure within the Ark of the Holy Christian Church. I was lost, but now I am found. I was dead in sin, but now I am made alive in Christ. I am baptized. That is the moment I became a Christian.” You didn’t do it. The pastor didn’t do it. Jesus found you. Jesus baptized you. Here is the gospel! We can do nothing for our salvation, but our Lord has already done everything. Amen.