One day Jesus came from
Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the
heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my
dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”
The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he was tempted by
Satan for forty days. He was out among
the wild animals, and angels took care of him.
Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he
preached God’s Good News. “The time
promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God
is near! Repent of your sins and believe
the Good News!” Mark 1:9-15(NLT)
There is a story about the 41st
President, George H. W. Bush. It seems
the senior President Bush was touring a nursing home. As he walked down the hall with his entourage
of aides and reporters, he came upon one old man who was slowly making his way
in the opposite direction. The president
reached out, took the patient’s hand, and asked gently, Sir, do you know who I am?
The man stared back blankly for a
moment; then his eyes focused. Slowly he
shook his head from side to side. No,
he admitted, I don’t know who you are. But
if you ask the nurses, they can tell you.[2]
When the voice from heaven spoke no
one had to guess who Jesus might be. The
Holy One of Heaven said MY Son, the beloved; with you I am
well pleased.
In this season of Lent we walk with
Jesus in preparation, learning to be a disciple, and finding that it isn’t all
that easy. Whoever said that being a
Christian is so wonderful because all your problems melt away and people are
all so kind to you, also probably said a lot of other stupid stuff. If you’re considering joining with the Jesus
tribe, and you have that kind of thought that it’s a picnic of joy and
lightness 24/7, run…do not walk…run away now!
Friends, spiritual warfare is not for
the faint-hearted. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
said, When Christ calls a man, He bids him to come and die. You need spiritual strength to live like
that. Lent is where we build strength
for the tough days ahead. Here are some
of the…
Strength
Builders
1. Willingness – obedience to the pull of the water
Because there’s pressure ahead that
wants to weaken our resolve.
People join churches every year and
eventually drop-out, complaining that Christianity doesn’t work or isn’t
worth the effort. Soldiers
understand opposition; they were taught to fight because their main purpose is
conflict. Many people join the church
because they’re under the impression it is a safe haven from trouble, and
then they find out they’re supposed to be a soldier in the middle of it; they
go AWOL.
Obedience is certainly a
characteristic of humility, but in Mark’s gospel there is a special
significance. In verse 10 it says that
as Jesus came up from the water of his baptism the heavens were torn
apart. The word[3] means a violent
rip. The only other time
Mark used the word was the crucifixion scene[4]
where the temple veil is ripped from top to bottom at
Christ’s death.
When Jesus went into the water, he
walked up to his cousin, John the Baptist.
I’ve often wondered if being baptized by his cousin helped Jesus any
during his ministry. I got to wondering
so much about it with this text I asked the four members of my family that I
personally baptized that question – what, if anything did it mean to have me
take you to the water?
Carrie’s take: In a way I think it helped, especially as a
child, because you always want to please your parents (most kids anyway!) so by
obeying your parents and striving to stay on the straight and
narrow, you were also pleasing God.
Jesus was certainly all about
pleasing His father…and He did!
Samantha’s take: During the baptism, I remember thinking how
special it was to be baptized by you.
Everyone else had the preacher and I had you. Also, when it came time to be baptized,
everything we said seemed more binding or more real. Kind of like the difference between making a
promise with someone you just met and making a promise with your best
friend. I guess it all just felt a little
more sacred than if it had been with the pastor of that church.
Ken's take: No...not really. I was just trying to be obedient to God.
Remembering your baptism is something
we are pushed to do. The water calls to
us as we remember the where, when, why and what of our baptism. We remember what Christ suffered, and how
sacred it is, and that willingness to live out our baptism call with courage is
deepened.
2. Witness – Learning to Trust God with results
Because there’s opposition and
loneliness ahead
All you have to do is read a few
verses past our text and you find that Jesus is not only tempted in the
wilderness – his cousin, John the Baptist is arrested and thrown in
prison. Eventually he is beheaded for
preaching his message of repentance – the same message Jesus would later
preach. Opposition and isolation are the
twins you will know well if you will preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Opposition and loneliness are
genuinely part of the Christian life, because that is what Christ
experienced. Jesus said to his
disciples…
Remember the word that I said to you,
‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will
persecute you; John 15:20 (NRSVA)
John had drawn a huge crowd to the
wilderness. They came in great
multitudes to be baptized. It wasn’t
because John was seeking notoriety; in fact he was more a recluse than a
publicity hound. But those people who
witnessed Jesus’ baptism that day became an affirmation that John’s baptism
offered in a small wilderness didn’t mean a small impact for the Kingdom of
God. Opposition and loneliness can make
you feel that way. Satan understands
human feelings and will manipulate you into a pity party in a heartbeat. But, from that small place with no followers,
the baptism of Jesus, and the voice of the Father from above started the most
powerful force for good the world has ever seen!
3. Wilderness – Facing life’s temptations
Because developing
toughness is needed to overcome temptation
When Jesus came out of the baptismal
waters the Spirit led him right into the wilderness to be tempted for forty
days.
God instructs us in Scripture to run
from temptation the minute we see it. The
reason is that the Lord knows we’re not very good at resisting it.
You remember the account of the
skinflint preacher who reluctantly agreed to let his wife take the credit card
shopping. He warned her over and over to
resist the temptation to buy things they couldn’t afford. She promised, and left for town. She came back with a red dress by Balenciaga
and a charge slip for $2400. The husband
hit the roof.
He yelled, I told you to resist the
temptation; you should have turned and run from that old devil!
She replied, Dear, I did just as you
said. I heard Lucifer whispering in my
ear how good that Balenciaga looked on me, and I turned and ran!
But you still bought it!
whined the preacher.
I couldn’t help myself!
she cried, When I turned around to run he said, ‘sho’nuff looks good from this
side too, darlin’!
Baptism always leads to
temptation. Jesus was drawn into the
wilderness with wild animals and all the elements necessary for a horror
movie. It would have been easy to give
up.
Satan understands common sense, and
movement towards God (like baptism) is movement away from Satan and the things
of this world. The devil will truly use
any manipulative trick possible to combat a believer’s declaration of love for,
and faith in God. What Satan never seems
to learn is that kind of temptation is exactly what God will use to strengthen
his children. Our wilderness experiences
are a training ground for spiritual warfare.
Don’t be misled…the battle can be
ferocious! The first year I travelled with
the Methodist tribe being a pastor at my first appointment was like a wonderful
dream. Everything we did turned to
blessing. But after a year of
substantial growth and joy in the church it came time for the new appointment
season, and I got news from the District Superintendent that I was being
replaced, and there was no other appointment available. Not only was hard work and more than a little
growth forward to not be rewarded…I was being canned.
The D. S. had a reputation for being
stern, hard, demanding and like a general in command. I assumed it was over…ministry-wise,
economically losing our home was a distinct possibility, and everything about
being a pastor for 25 years just plain stunk!
Elizabeth and I cried. Then…out
of the blue two weeks later the D.S. called and told me she’d had a
heart-to-heart with the Bishop about every good thing happening at the church,
and he had said: well, we had better not mess with
this – it sounds like that’s a God- thing going on; leave him there!
Now that’s how we talk about it in
Methodist terms…in Scripture it tells us when Jesus resisted the devil it was
angels who came and took care of Jesus.
I still call that D.S. my angel!
Willingness, Witness, Wilderness,
and…
4.
Water-mark
The words ringing in everyone’s ears
that day, as they watched Jesus emerge from the water were with you I am well-pleased. It is the same phrase in the teaching of
Jesus’ parable, when he told about the coming kingdom – well done, good and faithful
servant.[5]
Jesus encouraged us all in the words
of John the Revelator when he told the persecuted church at Smyrna to be
faithful right up until death, and there would be a crown of life waiting[6]. In that same book, faithful Christians are
promised a new name and a new mark. I
call it the water-mark.
Our baptism leaves an indelible sign
for all to see…we are His!
I was asked a question by a teacher
when I was in grade school. The question
was: What are you going to do with
your life? Now, like any other
boy-child, I began to respond in terms of job or career; most of us men
identify ourselves as that which we do, instead of who we’re
called to be. The teacher
stopped me dead in my tracks….No…not how you’ll earn a living – what are you
going to do with your LIFE?
That question haunted me until I began
to understand that a career isn’t life.
The decision to serve God with who you are is what life is all about. But it’s much more than being baptized; much
more than a ceremony. It’s like
marriage. People get married at a point
in time. The parson says will
you? The couple says, Yup! And that’s it….right? Of course not; that was just the marriage
ceremony. After the ceremony is over the
marriage then begins to unfold day-to-day, week-to-week into decades
(hopefully).
Marriage is much more than a ceremony
on one given day. Marriage is a journey
of faithful living, giving and loving.
There is thoughtfulness and struggle, anger and joy. If it’s a Biblical marriage there’s
servanthood and soldiering. There are
times of plenty and times of scarcity.
Marriage is the metaphor Jesus chose
to identify the relationship we have as baptized believers. We, the church, are the bride of Christ. And it isn’t so much that we were
baptized, it is more that we are baptized.
With my bride I don’t think in terms
of the fact that I got married; after more than fifty-one years it is
still: today I will live-out this
covenant called marriage.
So, like the question my teacher
posed, what are you going to do with your baptism? Have you messed it up? You can re-enlist as a soldier, come home as
a servant.
You can come to this altar and ask
God to help you with all that. That’s
what altars are for. That’s how we build
strength for the trials.
Let the church say Amen in
the Name of the Father, Because of the Son, Cooperating with the Spirit…Amen!
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