Following in the Footsteps of Jesus: Believe and Be Baptised

Posted on May 10, 2009 in Sermons | Comments Off

Speaker: Andrew Brown
Key Passage: Matthew 3:1-17
Date: 10 May 2009

Sometimes it seems as if the world is going to hell in a hand basket. We have personal tragedy at home, burglary and gang intimidation, unemployment and economic recession, a mystery called ‘global warming,’ millions of people overseas starving, democracy in Fiji crumbling, and gunman shooting police officers in New Zealand (3 in the last ten months). Sometimes it seems like God is allowing the nations to be sifted, and that there has never been a time quite like this one. Some people even say that ‘The End’ is coming.

Those of you who have lived a bit longer, though, will know that this is unlikely. If I think of my own mother this morning, for instance, she experienced the after-effects of the Great Depression, practised air raid drills at her primary school in Wellington, made preparations for the Japanese invasion, heard all about Hiroshima and the atomic bomb, lived through the tensions of the Cold War, followed the fighting in Vietnam on black and white television, witnessed the rise and fall of I don’t know how many Prime Ministers and politicians, and saw the growth and emergence of a younger generation (i.e. me) and the passing on of an older one and all they had known. We must not think that we are alone in experiencing hardship, change or concern.

Israel in 30AD was also going through a very difficult time. Caught in the grip of a powerful Roman occupation the Jewish people were being bled white by Roman taxation. Roman law and Roman muscle dominated their tiny land. Freedom seemed like just a distant memory to them. Each year the evil Empire seemed to grind them further down. The only thing left for many people were their hopes and their religion, and this spawned all kinds of heightened expectations. The novelists of the day even wrote stories depicting the most cataclysmic of events happening –like angel armies invading the earth destroying the heathen nations!

Into this scene steps John the Baptist commanding the people to turn back to God because the Kingdom of heaven is near. Like a bugler sounding a call above the noise and confusion of battle, John rallied people to him in their thousands. They even did the unthinkable for Him! No mature Jew would ever be baptised. There was no point. Baptism was for foreigners joining the Jewish religion, but hundreds, upon hundreds of people came to be baptised in the muddy Jordan River by him as a way of saying that “God, we are sorry about our lives and will more serious about obeying you.” Expectations began to rise. Soon people began asking, ‘is John the Anointed One? Is He the one who will rescue us from our oppressors and our sins? Is He the Christ, the Messiah that our ancient prophets predicted? Has the day of salvation now come?’

But as our text today tells us “Then Jesus came from Galilee to be baptised by John.” Just as simple as that –Jesus presents Himself by the river to be baptised by John. No trumpets. No fanfare. No soldiers and armies. No disciples and hanger-ons. No mention of the crowds cheering. No triumphant entry (at least not yet) into Jerusalem.

There’s almost a sense of total disconnect, and it’s like John responds, ‘But what are you doing here, Jesus? Are you standing in the wrong place or something?‘ Now Jesus and John were cousins so he could talk like this to Him, but the truth is that this simply wasn’t what John expected to happen. For a start Jesus was not a sinner. He was perfect before God so He has no need to be baptised to seek forgiveness for His sins. Secondly John Himself actually needed the baptism that Jesus Himself came to bring –the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So if anything their roles should have been the other way around. Yet Jesus insists that He too must be baptised by John and eventually it is done.

Malcolm Muggeridge once said, “The coming of Jesus into the world is the most stupendous event in human history.” Parts of the Lutheran Church teach that, “Short of His crucifixion and resurrection, there is no one event more important for us and our salvation than the Baptism of Jesus.” So what is going on here and what does it mean for you today? What is the significance of Jesus baptism?

1. Well by being baptised Jesus shows that He endorses John’s message. Jesus shows that He agrees with John, “You must repent and return to God.”

Look whatever you do, don’t get Jesus wrong. Some people have the impression that Jesus came to make people feel better about themselves and that they don’t have to change. They think he says, “There, there. God still loves you. You’re not that bad. Your behaviour isn’t so bad after all. Don’t worry about your actions.” It’s nothing of the sort. Jesus expects us all to repent.

I’m reminded of the story of the prophets Elijah and Elisha in the Old Testament¹. God appointed Elisha to take over the role of prophet once Elijah was gone. So Elijah went up to Elisha while he was ploughing in a field and threw his cloak over him. The placing of the cloak on Elisha’s shoulders was a symbol that He would succeed him. In a similar way Jesus asks John to baptise Him so that He can take on the mantle of the kingdom. This means that Jesus endorses John’s call to repent; He takes responsibility for it’s fulfilment, and He also takes over from John. In other words, Jesus says, “John is right. I agree with him. You’ve heard it from me.” And you can read in Matthew 4:17 that several months later on “(17) …Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Just recently some of you may have read in Time Magazine that in these uncertain economic times many people are coming back to church. Many people it seems are returning to God. It even appears to be happening here in New Zealand. That may even be the reason why you are here at PBC this morning. Jesus would agree. You must repent He says. You must return to God.

2. But Jesus baptism also shows you that He is the means to put you right with God. Jesus baptism shows that Jesus is your pathway to God. Jesus is the solution to your spiritual problems.

The difficulty is that many people simply assume that they can have a relationship with God at any time they want to. Maybe you think this way too. It’s like a matter of personal choice. Shall I? Sharn’t I? One of the things we need to get our head around is that our offence to God, the sheer scale of our sins, is so great that not one of us has the capacity to make it right! We alone can’t fix things! Why would a holy God simply dismiss all your wrongdoing as if it means nothing? Where would the sense of justice be in that? How could a righteous God condone your sin? Just saying, “I’m sorry to God” isn’t the solution, although the right place for you to begin.

Instead what we discover is that Jesus, who is morally perfect, identifies with us in our sinful condition by being baptised. Jesus, the Son of God, says “Count me Father amongst them. I’m with them.” In a way you could say that His baptism is symbolic. Going down in the water symbolises death. Rising up again symbolises new life. What you already know is that in three years time Jesus will be killed for your sins. He will be executed, and rise again so that you and I are forgiven by God and have a new life in Him.

Jesus chooses this pathway for Him.

Someone once said, it’s like everyone who turns back to God and is baptised, issues a piece of paper called a promissory note that says, “God, I owe you. I’m sorry for my sins.” When Jesus is baptised, he takes all of those promissory notes and signs them “I will pay these in full,” and He does so on the cross. So what baptism shows you is that Jesus will fix things.

3. In fact more than that -what Jesus baptism also tells you is that He is the One. He is the Chosen One. He is the king. The long waited one, the one the prophets and Kings looked for, has finally come.

I don’t know how many of you remember the Matrix movies from a while back, but those of you do might recall how Neo, the ‘New man” is the one who fulfils the oracles predictions. He is the one who makes the prophecies come true and rescues mankind. Well this is what happens to Jesus. He is publicly recognised as this at His baptism!

For as we read on in Matthew you discover that “(16) as soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water.” While standing on the bank of the river, “at that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. (17) And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”

Now it may not be obvious to us, but the Hebrews present would have known that this was official recognition by God that Jesus is both the highly anticipated Messianic King and the Suffering Servant of God all rolled into one. The words “You are my Son” reminded Hebrews listeners of a Coronation Psalm celebrating the crowning of God’s Son as king. Psalm 2:7 says “(7) I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” The words “I am well pleased with you,” reminded them of Isaiah 42:1 which says, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.” This meant He was also the Suffering Servant of God.

It’s like God is pointing the big finger down and saying, “This is whom you’ve been waiting for. Get on your knees. This is Him!”

How many of us can honestly say that God has spoken audible words over us at our baptism? How many of us can say that heaven has opened and a dove came down? How many of us prior to knowing Jesus could realistically be called God’s Son? Yet God pronounces these special words over Jesus signifying that you keep your eyes on this man.

4. The baptism, however, also marks Jesus commission, because from then on He is empowered for ministry and mission. The Holy Spirit comes down upon Him and rests on Him in a new and special way. Now we know that Jesus is the Son of God. Chapters 1&2 tell us that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. He is fully God and fully man, yet at this point the Spirit comes upon Him and rests on Him in a new way to prepare Him for serving.

In fact Jesus becomes the model of a Spirit-filled life. He becomes the example of a person filled with the Spirit and walking in God’s power. His life becomes the example that we follow –as Jesus Himself said, “You will do even greater things.” And from now on Jesus is on mission. After His temptation He calls His first disciples, teaches the poor and heals the sick. The kingdom begins to expand. Things will never be the same again.

5. And the final reason Jesus is baptised is that He sets an example for you and I to follow. Jesus shows us where those who follow Him must go. We too must pass through the waters of baptism and submit ourselves to the King and to His Kingdom.

You see all of us must answer this question: what is my identity? Who am I really? Am I committed to God’s vision of the world, or to somebody else’s vision? Am I committed to Christ and to building God’s kingdom, or do I prefer just doing my own thing? In truth, am I God’s man or God’s woman, God’s boy or God’s girl? It’s a choice we all have to make at one stage of life or another.

For example, and this may disgust or amuse you, as a teenager I almost followed another man’s dream. Although I was a Christian I read his book. I understood his struggle. I examined his philosophy and thinking. I read everything I could get my hands on about him. You could almost say that I believed in Him, when he said, “That only power matters and that the weak must be crushed by the strong. This life is a fight to the death and only the fittest have the right to win.” I guess it didn’t help growing up in what was probably the whitest town in New Zealand at the time, but I was deeply interested in fascism. It seemed to me to be the answer to all our nation’s social problems. The only hitch was that I also believed in Jesus, and He talked about some very different things. He spoke of self-giving love, of sacrifice for the poor and the needy, of how when we are weak we are also strong, and how death to ourselves is ultimately what leads to real life, so I had to decide which one was real, and which one was ultimately worth following. In the end Jesus won.

No apologies folks, but you have to make that same decision for yourself. What or who has your heart? Is it materialism, your family, your comfort zone, and your dreams for the future or is it Christ? What would be the last thing you would want to give up? What really matters to you? You have to make a choice. As Bob Dylan once sang, “It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you are gonna to have to serve somebody.”

Jesus was baptised to take on the responsibility for His Father’s vision –to pursue the coming of God’s kingdom. And now it’s your turn. What will you do?

Jesus identified with John’s message by being baptised; you now identify with Jesus message by being baptised. Jesus undertook baptism so that He could provide salvation; you may now take baptism to show that you have received salvation. Jesus humbled Himself to be baptised; you may need to humble yourself in order to be baptised. Jesus was baptised to show His commitment to the coming of God’s Kingdom; you will need to be baptised to show your commitment to His mission of building God’s Kingdom.

It is said that a stone thrown into a pond can create ripples that go on and on forever. The ripples of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River still reverberate around this world that we live in. And the wave is drawing nearer to you. How will you respond?

I’d like to invite Yi Jian to come and share with us his baptism testimony now. It wasn’t prepared especially for today. Yi Jian was baptised late last year, but I promised him that he would have the opportunity to share his testimony with us in church one day. Today is that day. Could you give him a warm welcome. [Applause]

Hi. My name is Yih Jian Sung. I’m 15 years old. When I was 5 I came to New Zealand with my family and later on I started coming to this church. In the past I didn’t understand Christianity and I didn’t sing the songs at church with any meaning. I had a bad attitude towards others. I gave my life to Christ for the first time when I was ten years old, but I didn’t know what I was doing. Since then however I have recommitted my life to Christ. I have started now to try my hardest to have peace and to forgive others. I have started to care for others and to listen in the church services. My family has been going to church for a long time, but until I came to Christ I didn’t care very much and I didn’t like to go to church. Christ has changed me and I enjoy listening to the sermons. It teaches me a lot and using what Pastor Andrew says in life is good. I enjoy the worship and it gives me peace. I believe that I have been guided to do a lot of things like attending the Alpha Course and that is why I wanted to be baptized. It is what God wants. When I need guidance I remember that God loves me, and wants the best for me, and I’ve learnt to trust in Him and to put my life in His hands.

C. (Thanks) Jesus, me, Yi Jian, all baptised -now it’s your turn. A long string of people has committed themselves to serving the King and His Kingdom. Where do you stand? Whom will you serve? Be baptised. If you don’t understand enough, then attend the Alpha Course. Then enrol for baptism lessons. Read along with this series, and learn over these next few months about the values and attitude of His Kingdom. But above all open your heart to God. God invites you to come and join in partnership with Him.

Let’s pray.

Lord it hard for most of us to understand that to live, you only have to die.

You came and were baptised to show that you weren’t here for what you wanted, but to serve others. You died so that others might live.

Help us to die to what we want and to live for you.

Lord, I pray for anyone who has not yet committed their life to you through adult baptism….help them to have the courage and the humility to make this important decision soon.

I also pray for those who were baptised and maybe a long time ago. Help us to remember that we are characters in your cause, players in your team. Our lives are no longer our own. We are at your disposal. Do with us what you will. We will do what is ordered and at every command we will be ready. Lord, there is no greater privilege than to play our part -for Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.