January 10, Baptism of Our Lord
Lesson: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Sermon Title: Ratification
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His mission is ratified by a disembodied voice that may have been understood by a few. Do we understand his mission and the extent of his work?
Looking Heavenward1
The temporary Sunday School teacher was struggling to open a combination lock on the supply cabinet. She had been told the combination, but couldn’t quite remember it.
She went to the pastor’s study and asked for help. The pastor came into the room and began to turn the dial.
After the first two numbers he paused and stared blankly for a moment.
Finally he looked serenely heavenward and his lips moved silently.
Then he looked back at the lock, and quickly turned to the final number, and opened the lock.
The teacher was amazed. “I’m in awe at your faith, pastor,” she said.
“It’s really nothing,” he answered. “The number is on a piece of tape on the ceiling.”
I. Well, its not to be found on a piece of tape stuck to the ceiling.
A. You find the story in the Gospels.
B. This morning we consider the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
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MAIN BODY:
I. Jesus comes to be baptized by John.
A. He doesn’t need to, but he does seek baptism.
B. He comes after all the people have been baptized.
1. The crowd of people is still standing around.
2. John is a curiosity.
3. No one has seen anything like John the Bapitist.
II. Jesus comes to be baptized.
A. What if he is not baptized?
B. What are the people who are there watching going to think.
C. Many of the religious leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, came to John to be baptized.
1. There were those who would not be baptized.
2. Would Jesus be considered to be one of them.
III. Jesus is baptized for the crowd of people who are watching.
A. Jesus is baptized also for us, for you and me.
B. He does it with the intention of sanctifying the ordinance.
1. His disciples will baptize.
2. His final word before his ascension is to go, make disciples, and to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
IV. Baptism is significant.
A. It pictures one’s dying and resurrection to a newness of life.
Romans 6:3-11 (NRSVA)
3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
B. Jesus does not need to be baptized.
C. He has nothing of which to repent.
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V. It is what happens after his baptism, as he comes out of the water, that is vitally necessary for our understanding of ourselves.
A. As he comes out of the water, he stops and prays.
1. He is praying and looking up to heaven.
2. There is a brilliant ray of light that spotlights him.
a. The Holy Spirit descends in this ray of light upon Jesus.
b. The voice of the Father is heard proclaiming: You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.
B. What is happening is the ratification of Jesus person in preparation for his ministry that will begin immediately.
1. What does it mean to Ratify2
a. to confirm by expressing consent, approval, or formal sanction: to ratify a constitutional amendment.
b. to confirm (something done or arranged by an agent or by representatives) by such action.
c. Synonym: To validate
C. Jesus needs this ratification, this validation.
1. It is the final confirmation of who he is
2. It defines the scope of his ministry.
3. Ratification creates the content of his mission.
VI. We also need that ratification, that validation, by the Trinity as it is represented in this event.
A. The Trinity that consists of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father.
B. Without this ratification, this validation we have nothing.
1. We have Jesus, but no Christ.
2. We have Jesus, but no Messiah.
3. We have Jesus, but no salvation.
4. We have Jesus but no ratification of our identity.
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VII. Without him I do not have the ability to relate to all people.
The story is told that on a British Airways flight from Johannesburg a middle-aged, well-off white South African lady found herself sitting next to a black man. She called the cabin crew attendant over to complain about her seating.
“What seems to be the problem, Madam?” asked the attendant.
“Can’t you see?” she said. “You’ve sat me next to a kaffir. I can’t possibly sit next to this disgusting human. Find me another seat!”
“Please calm down, Madam,” the stewardess replied. “The flight is very full today, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do — I’ll go and check to see if we have any seats available in club or first class.”
The woman cocks a snooty look at the outraged black man beside her (not to mention many of the surrounding passengers). A few minutes later the stewardess returns with the good news, which she delivers to the lady, who cannot help but look at the people around her with a smug and self-satisfied grin: “Madam, unfortunately, as I suspected, economy is full. I’ve spoken to the cabin services director, and club is also full. However, we do have one seat in first class.”
Before the lady has a chance to answer, the stewardess continues ... “It is most extraordinary to make this kind of upgrade, however, and I have had to get special permission from the captain. But, given the circumstances, the captain felt that it was outrageous that someone be forced to sit next to such an obnoxious person.”
With that, she turned to the black man sitting next to the woman, and said: “So if you’d like to get your things, sir, I have your seat ready for you ...”
At which point, the surrounding passengers stood and gave a standing ovation while the black guy walked up to the front of the plane.
A. Without him I have nothing.
Without Him I could do
nothing,
Without Him I’d surely fail;
Without Him I would
be drifting,
Like a ship without a sail
Jesus, O Jesus, Do you
know Him today?
Do not turn Him away!
O Jesus, O Jesus, Without
Him
How lost I would be
Without Him, I would be
dying,
Without Him I’d be enslaved;
Without Him Life
would be hopeless -
But with Jesus, Thank God I’m saved.
Jesus, O Jesus, Do you know Him today?
Do not turn Him
away!
O Jesus, O Jesus, Without Him
How lost I would be
B. If I am lost I cannot answer the basic questions of life.
1. Who am I?
2. Where did I come from?
3. Where am I going?
4. How am I going to get there?
5. What will be there for me, if I get there?
6. Why go anyway?
C. Jesus offers ratification of our relationship to himself, the Father and the Holy Spirit
John 14:23, 26 (NRSVA)
23Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them...26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
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D. With Jesus I am a somebody.
1. Not in terms of the standards of the world, but in the eyes of God.
2. With him I have a new birth.
The poet Sandra McPherson wrote a poem entitled, “Helen Todd, My Birth Name.”
In her poem, McPherson wrote about being adopted. Her biological mother wrote the name “Helen Todd” on her birth certificate; then two days later her adoptive parents renamed her “Sandra McPherson.”
McPherson wonders how life might have been different if she’d lived it as Helen Todd. Perhaps having a different name might have completely changed who she was. If Sandra McPherson had gone through life as Helen Todd, maybe she would’ve turned out to be someone quite different. Instead of being the poet Sandra McPherson, perhaps she might have turned out to be the math teacher Helen Todd.
Names are powerful in shaping who we understand ourselves to be. Names tell us something about who we are and where we come from. Names tell us who claims us.
E. With him I have identity and a new life
Ianther Marie Mills tells about the time she was “marked.” She writes: “On our plane trip to Hawaii, accompanied by my mother and mother-in-law, I had the unfortunate experience of being marked. In this state of increased security, don’t be surprised if you are one of the individuals who is randomly selected to be searched at the security checkpoint, not once, but at every checkpoint. A code is attached to your name and ticket identifying you for special attention. For me that meant from Baltimore to Los Angeles to Hawaii I was detained and searched at every checkpoint. I was marked.
“In Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ identity is publicly declared by the heavenly voice, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ For Luke, our Lord’s baptism is a mark, an affirmation of Christ’s special mission in the world.
“Jesus’ baptism signifies his identification with broken humanity, taking on the sins of the world. His baptism announces that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah through whom God’s righteousness will be fulfilled. What will be fulfilled through Christ is the salvation of the whole world. His baptism marks the beginning of that ministry.
“In effect, all are invited to witness who Christ Jesus truly is. As we hear the good news of Jesus being inaugurated into his ministry through baptism, we are reminded of our own beginnings, our own baptisms, that we, too, have been marked, for we are baptized into new life with Christ Jesus.”
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CONCLUSION
I. With him I know to whom I belong, that is besides myself.
Who Am I? by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Summer, 1944
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young theologian of great promise, was martyred by the Nazis for his participation in a plot against the life of Adolf Hitler. His writings have greatly influenced recent theological thought. This article appeared in the Journal Christianity and Crisis, March 4, 1946. Used by permission. This article was prepared for Religion Online by Ted & Winnie Brock.
Who am I? They often
tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly,
cheerfully, firmly,
Like a squire from his country-house.
Who
am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
Freely
and friendly and clearly,
As though it were mine to command.
Who
am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equally,
smilingly, proudly,
Like one accustomed to win.
Am I then really all
that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of
myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a
cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were
compressing
my throat,
Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of
birds,
Thirsting for words of kindness, for
neighborliness,
Tossing in expectation of great
events,
Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite
distance,
Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at
making,
Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?
Who am I? This or the
other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at
once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptibly
woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten
army,
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am
I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine!
Amen
1Beliefnet Religious Jokes [BeliefnetReligiousJokes@partner.beliefnet.com]
2ratify. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ratify (accessed: January 04, 2010).
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