Sermon for the Baptism of our Lord – January 11, 2026

by Jeffrey Spencer | Jan 11, 2026 | Sermons

CLICK HERE for a worship video for January 11

Sermon for Baptism of our Lord Sunday – January 11, 2026

Matthew 3:13-17

Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

In recent weeks we have seen how water has the power to destroy. The great atmospheric river of 2025 brought flooding to our neighbors in the Skagit Valley and across western Washington, and while the flood prevention systems held up remarkably well there, there was still a lot of damage to homes and businesses. Things were worse up north in Whatcom County, where powerful flood waters from the Nooksack River lifted an entire home up off its foundation and carried it along until it collapsed into itself, totally demolishing it. Further up into the mountains we saw how tremendous amounts of water destroyed huge chunks of Highway 2, splitting the concrete and sending long stretches of entire lanes tumbling down the mountainside. To be sure, water has the power to destroy.

Water also, of course, has the power to bring life. In fact, you can’t have life without it. That’s true for human beings, who are 60 to 70 percent water, and can’t live more than a few days without it. And so that same atmospheric river brought life for us as it filled up our aquifers, giving us the water we need to live. Water is what keeps things green and makes the trees around here grow so tall. Irrigation on the other side of the mountains is what makes our state such a powerhouse producer of life-giving foods such as apples and potatoes and wheat and hay. To be sure, water has the power to bring life!

In the Bible, God used water to destroy sin. The story of Noah’s ark is often thought of as a children’s story – just look at those cute animals, lining up two by two! When you look deeper, however, you can see that the story is actually pretty dark. It is the story of a deadly flood, sent by God to destroy sin. But the same water that destroyed also brought life. Those floodwaters carried the righteous Noah and his family along until dry land appeared, signified by the appearance of a dove. When that dove appeared, it was a sign that they were delivered. They were rescued. They were saved. They were given life. And those two by two male and female pairs of human beings and animals alike all disembarked to be fruitful and multiply, repopulating the earth with life.

We see God using water in a similar way through the ministry of John the Baptist. John offered a baptism for repentance and the forgiveness of sin. This was a baptism which echoed the Great Flood as sin was destroyed and drowned through ritualized repentance, with people being submerged in the muddy waters of the Jordan River. This was also a baptism which also signified a new beginning, a new start, a new life, as the repentant came up out of those waters to live differently, to live in righteousness, to live in right relationship with God. John the Baptist used water just as God did in the Great Flood – to destroy and to give life, to drown sin and to grow righteousness.

John’s ministry was for sinners, and so it was a little confusing when Jesus came to him asking to receive his baptism. In fact, John didn’t want to do it. St. Matthew tells us that John “would have prevented him” from receiving this baptism. John said to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Why would Jesus, the sinless Son of God, need to be baptized? What did he possibly stand to gain? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? That’s what John thought.

But Jesus insisted. And he insisted for a very important reason that is important for all of us to understand. Jesus said to John, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”

Jesus wanted to be baptized by John because it was the first step in fulfilling all righteousness. This is what Jesus had come to do. He had come to make things right once and for all. Jesus had come to destroy sin once and for all. Jesus had come to bring life to all. This was his mission. This is what it means for him to “fulfill all righteousness.”

The first step in doing this was for Jesus to come near to sinners, meeting them where they were. Jesus didn’t “need” to be baptized with John’s baptism of repentance, strictly speaking. He had no need to repent! There was no sin in him!

But Jesus didn’t do it for himself. He did it for us. He did it because going down into that muddy water would show us that he had come to take the sin of the world upon himself in order to destroy it, breaking its curse. He did it because coming up out of the water would show that he had come to deliver his people into a new and eternal life. He did it because it illustrated how he had come to fulfill all righteousness.

So, John relented. He baptized Jesus. And as Jesus came up out of the water the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove. That’s right, a dove – the very same bird that brought assurance and peace to Noah and his family, the very same bird that signified a new beginning and new life.

And just in case this sign, this symbol of a dove wasn’t obvious enough, there was also a voice from heaven which said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” God the Father saw his Son receiving John’s baptism, and it made him happy! It made God the Father happy because it was fulfilling all righteousness. Everything prefigured by the Great Flood was being fulfilled. Everything promised in John’s preparatory baptism was being fulfilled. Jesus had come to make things right between a sinful humanity and a holy God. Jesus had come to destroy sin and bring life, and God the Father was pleased by it all. God the Father put his blessing over it as the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus like a dove.

Our middle son lives down in Fife now, not far from the Puyallup River. There were areas down there where dikes failed, resulting in flash flood warnings. Of course, as a protective dad I had to text my son, telling him to make sure he never, ever drove into any standing water. And of course, as a newly independent twenty-something, he had to push back a little. I could sense him rolling his eyes as he texted me back that he would never do anything that dumb.

But the thing is, it isn’t always as obvious as that. Those waters can be deceiving. From a certain perspective, it can seem like it isn’t too deep. It can seem like it won’t be a big deal, like you can make it through. That’s when people get stuck in the water. That’s how people drown.

This is what sin is like too. It can seem like it isn’t a big deal. We see others go into it full steam ahead and seem to be fine, and so it doesn’t seem so threatening. On a surface level it seems like we can handle it. That’s how people get stuck. It happens all the time. That’s how people drown.

My sister-in-law lives up in Lynden, so we were keeping tabs on the flooding up there too, and on Hannegan Road, which is a major thoroughfare in the area, there was breaking news about a water rescue underway. A family of six ended up stuck in a submerged vehicle in the rapidly rising floodwaters. Floodwaters can be filthy with silt and debris and sewage, but those first responders jumped right into the water to save them. They went into those dangerous and dirty waters to rescue this family that was at risk of drowning.

In going into muddy waters of the Jordan River, this is what Jesus has done for us. He insisted on receiving John’s baptism so that he might come to us where we are. He has met us in the floodwaters in order to rescue us from everything that threatens to sweep us away from God, everything that threatens to pull us under. As we find ourselves trapped, both by our own foolish decisions and the world’s great deceptions, he comes to save us. He jumps right into the muck of our lives in order to pull us up into a new life with him.

The Baptism of our Lord foreshadows what Jesus would go on to do for us on the cross, where he fulfilled all righteousness by going down into death for us in order to destroy sin and death once and for all, and then rose again to lead us into eternal life.

The Baptism of our Lord also foreshadows our own baptism into Christ, where God uses water to destroy and to give life. When we are baptized into Christ, St. Paul tells us, we are joined to his death and resurrection. God destroys our sin through Christ’s forgiveness and gives us life through his resurrection.

Because of Christ’s saving work, the same dove that appeared to Noah now hovers over us, bringing us assurance and peace. We have been rescued! We have been redeemed! When we come up from the waters of our baptism, the same Spirit of God that descended upon Jesus like a dove descends upon us, so that we too can live as God’s beloved sons and daughters, today and forever.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer

Oak Harbor Lutheran Church

Sermon for the Epiphany of our Lord (observed) – January 4, 2026

by Jeffrey Spencer | Jan 6, 2026 | Sermons

CLICK HERE for a worship video for January 4

Sermon for the Epiphany of our Lord – January 4, 2026

Matthew 2:1-12

Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Follow the crowd.” I’m not sure anybody really thinks this is good advice, and yet, we all seem to do it over and over again in one way or another.

“Follow your heart, or your gut, or your instinct.” This is the theme of just about every romantic comedy and every Disney movie ever made – many of which I enjoy very much. It seems to be the guiding principle of our age. Sometimes following our heart, or our gut, or our instinct, is helpful. Other times, not so much.

“Follow the science.” This isn’t as simple or easy as it sounds. While science is affirmed in the Lutheran Christian tradition, it is seen as a good way to deepen our understanding of God’s creation, and as a tool for serving our neighbors, it doesn’t take too much looking to see that science is always a work in progress. For instance, for a while the science said eggs were bad for you. Then the science said no, only the yellow part is bad for you. Now the science says, actually the whole thing is good for you. It makes it hard to know what to believe.

Follow the crowd. Follow your heart, or your gut, or your instinct. Follow the science. These are the guideposts that often influence our lives. These are the guideposts which seem to have influenced the magi as well.

The magi followed the crowd, at least in a way. In their journey from the east, probably Persia, they are sure to have followed major thoroughfares. We often see the magi depicted as traveling across a barren desert alone, but it is more likely that they followed trade routes, which were safer and faster and teeming with people.

The magi followed their heart, their gut, their instinct. They knew they were headed to Israel to worship a newborn king, and their gut led them to Jerusalem. That seemed to be the right place to go. It’s the big city. The temple was there. The current king resided there. Their heart told them that surely this is where they would find the newborn king.

The magi followed the science. “Magi” is where we get the word “magic,” but these magi were not magicians who did card tricks. They weren’t pulling rabbits out of hats. These were astrologers. They were the scientists of their age. They looked to the skies above and made complicated calculations which they believed could guide them. And when they saw a new star at its rising, signifying for them the birth of a new king, they followed it.

These magi, or wise men, followed the crowd. They followed their heart, their gut, their instinct. They followed the science. And where did these guideposts lead them? It led them to Jerusalem, not Bethlehem. It led them to Herod, not Jesus.

It was not until they heard a word from scripture that they found what they were looking for. Herod consulted with the chief priests and the scribes about where the Messiah was to be born, and these students of the Word came back with a passage from Micah, chapter 5:

“‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

Herod, with a dark ulterior motive, shared this word with the magi, and now the wise men showed true wisdom as they trusted this word. The star now alighted over Bethlehem, and they followed it to Jesus. Overwhelmed with joy, they entered the house. They saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they knelt down in homage and worshipped him, offering him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

In writing about the detour of the wise men to Jerusalem, Martin Luther wrote:

“Why did the star not take the Wise Men straight to Bethlehem without any necessity of consulting the Scriptures? Because God wanted to teach us that we should follow the Scriptures and not our own murky ideas.”

There are many kinds of knowledge, many types of intelligence – and God can use them! God DID use them to draw these eastern astrologers to worship his Son! These guideposts at least got them in the vicinity! But what ultimately got these wise men where they were trying to go was the scriptures, the word of God.

So too for us, there can be ways to pursue knowledge that is helpful. You can be smart as a whip and ask a lot of questions. Christianity is not anti-intellectual!  But to be truly wise is to follow the scriptures and not our own murky ideas. The scriptures lead us to the deepest spiritual truths about ourselves and our world.

Today these very scriptures lead us to the Christ child, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.

The scriptures lead us to the newborn king, who was given a tribute of gold by the wise men, which was a common way to honor a king.

The scriptures lead us to the one who is our great high priest, our great intermediary between a holy God and a sinful humanity. The wise men gave Jesus frankincense, which was burned by the priests in the temple as their prayers and sacrifices rose up to God.

The scriptures lead us to the one who is our savior, to the one who would give himself for us as an atoning sacrifice. The wise men gave Jesus myrrh, which was a fragrant ointment used to prepare bodies for burial.

Our own murky ideas can lead us astray. But today we join the wise men on their course correction as the scriptures lead us to Christ, who is our king, our priest, and our savior.

Let us join the wise men in worshipping him. Let us join the magi in offering our gifts.

And let us commit in the new year ahead to following the scriptures, that we might continue to know the overwhelming joy he brings.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer

Oak Harbor Lutheran Church

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent – December 21, 2025

by Jeffrey Spencer | Dec 21, 2025 | Sermons

CLICK HERE for a worship video for December 21

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent – December 21, 2025

Matthew 1:18-25

Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

When my oldest son was little, maybe six or seven years old, he was an angel in the Christmas program. After the program we were in the fellowship hall. He was still in his angel costume when an older gentleman from our church came up to him and with a twinkle in his eye asked him, “So, are you always a little angel?” And our son looked up at him and said, “No, sometimes I’m Joseph.”

This is a Sunday for Joseph. It is easy to overlook Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father. We live in a culture where fathers are often dismissed as unimportant. I’ve had pastoral conversations with fathers who tell me they feel invisible and unappreciated. In popular culture fathers are regularly ridiculed as fools or reviled as patriarchs. We have gone from “Father Knows Best” to fathers being seen as an optional accessory. In a time when fathers and fatherhood aren’t as valued as they should be, it is easy to overlook the importance of Joseph.

But this is a Sunday for Joseph. We get one Sunday for Joseph every three years, so I’m going to lean into it. Today we hear the story of Jesus’ birth from Joseph’s perspective. In this story we see the great lengths God went to in order to keep Joseph in the picture. We see how God helped him take up his vocation as husband to Mary and as the earthly father of Jesus. We see how God intervened in order to form what the church from the very beginning has called The Holy Family. God thought Joseph was important, and so we should too!

One of the first things Matthew tells us about Joseph is that he was engaged to Mary. Engagement, or betrothal, in those days was a legally binding contract in which a bride and a groom were joined together legally. It might be a year before they moved in together and consummated their relationship, but once the betrothal was made, the marriage was official.

So, Mary and Joseph had already committed themselves to one another. Joseph had promised to be Mary’s husband. Mary had promised that she would be Joseph’s wife. They had promised each other that they would give themselves to each other in that special and exclusive one-flesh relationship. It was just a matter of time. But then Mary came to him with a baby bump and a story that had to be very hard to believe.

We don’t actually know what Mary might have said to Joseph or what he might have heard, but we do know that Joseph was aware of Mary’s pregnancy, and because he knew that he had nothing to do with the pregnancy, he assumed their relationship was over. The scriptures tell us that he planned to dismiss her, cancelling the betrothal and ending the marriage.

It isn’t a stretch to imagine Joseph being deeply hurt by Mary’s unplanned pregnancy. It isn’t hard to imagine him feeling confused and betrayed and heartbroken at this turn of events. What else could he do but end the relationship?

But God intervened to keep Joseph in the picture. God values fatherhood. God knows what babies need in order to thrive and knew that his own Son would need an earthly father. God knew that Mary would benefit from having a husband in her life to help her carry out what he was asking her to do. And so God sent an angel to Joseph to keep this Holy Family intact.

My wife and I have been supporters of the Whidbey Island Women’s Clinic, our local pregnancy resource center, pretty much since we moved here 15 years ago. We have attended many of their Fall fundraising banquets along with several members of OHLC. Every year at the banquet one of the staff from the clinic tells a story of how they helped a client experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. The stories they tell are full of complicated and difficult life situations. Obviously, the stories are usually about the women they serve, which is understandable and appropriate, but some of the stories have also involved men. There is a lot of care provided by the clinic to scared young fathers too. Some of these men want to help, but they are confused. Some of them want to do the right thing, but they aren’t sure where they fit. Some of them want to step up, but often lacking fathers of their own, they don’t know how. And so the clinic also provides support for the fathers. They offer mentoring. There are parenting classes. More than anything, there is accompaniment. They come alongside these fathers-to-be with support and guidance and love to help keep them in the picture.

This ministry is a good illustration of what God is up to here with Joseph. This is a complicated and confusing situation, to say the least. Joseph is in a tough spot. We can see that Joseph is one of the good guys, because despite any hurt feelings he might have had, he was still kind towards Mary. He didn’t want to expose her to public disgrace. He didn’t want her to face the possibility of being stoned to death for adultery, which was the punishment prescribed by the law. Can we say that despite what looked like a terrible betrayal, he still loved her? I think we can. And so, he decided to make it easier for Mary. He decided to end things quietly.

But God intervened to keep Joseph in the picture. God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream. This messenger from God told him to take Mary as his wife, explaining that the child conceived in her womb was indeed from the Holy Spirit. The angel told him that this was exactly what the prophet Isaiah said would happen – that a virgin would conceive and bear a son, a son who would be called Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” Emmanuel is more of a description than a proper name in this case, because Joseph was further instructed to name the baby Jesus. “For he will save his people from their sins,” the angel said.

And, remarkably, when Joseph woke up from this dream, he said, “Okay!” Joseph said, “I’ll do it!” Joseph trusted the word of the Lord and obeyed it. He took Mary as his wife. And once Mary delivered her baby, Joseph claimed her child as his own. In the ancient world, a father established parentage by naming the baby. This is what the angel told him to do, and this is what Joseph did. With God’s help, he stepped up. With the accompaniment of the angel encouraging him along, giving him guidance, he carried out God’s will. He took up God’s calling to be a husband to Mary and an earthy father to Jesus.

God’s intervention to keep Joseph in the picture in order to form this Holy Family is important for how it lifts up the vocations of husbands and fathers. St. Joseph is a beautiful image of kindness and mercy and sacrificial love and obedient faith for husbands and fathers to follow.

But Joseph’s story is for everyone – male or female, single or married, parent or child. Joseph’s story is for everyone because we all have life situations that come along which are complicated or confusing or painful. Granted, Joseph is the only person in the history of humanity to be asked to marry a pregnant virgin and then raise the Son of the holy, Almighty, and ever-living God. So, there’s that. But even so, there are so many stories which are like Joseph’s, stories like the ones told at those banquets, life stories that are fraught with uncertainty and anxiety, with turmoil and complexity, full of knotty problems and twists and turns. There are so many stories like that in our congregation. In fact, I’ll bet each of you has a story like that. Maybe it is a story you are living through right now.

Joseph’s story shows us that God accompanies us through these difficult situations in life. God comes alongside us. God sends messengers into our lives, which is what angels are – supernatural or otherwise. God sends messengers to give us encouragement and guidance and support. God intervenes in our lives through his Word, teaching us to do his will, guiding us into obedient faith. The God we come to know in Christ is truly Emmanuel, God with us!

And not only that, but Joseph’s story is our story because along with Joseph, God has given us Mary’s baby. Just as God laid Mary’s baby in Joseph’s arms, so too has God given us his Son. God has given us Mary’s baby to be our savior. Mary’s baby was named Jesus because he saves us from our sins.

And so, no matter how complicated or painful your own life is, or has been, in Jesus there is hope. In Jesus there is forgiveness. In Jesus there is new life. No matter how messy or broken your own family life might be, through Jesus God calls us all into the Holy Family of the church, where we are loved and cared for by brothers and sisters and live in communion with our Father in heaven, who loves us and will never let us go.

“Are you always a little angel?”

“No, sometimes I’m Joseph.”

Sometimes we are all Joseph. Life gets messy. Life can be confusing. But God has intervened to keep you in the picture. God sends his Word to guide you into obedient faith, and God has given you Mary’s baby to save you from your sins. Through him we have all been made part of his Holy Family, today and forever.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer

Oak Harbor Lutheran Church