Brett Blair
On January 3rd, the Mars rover named “Spirit” will begin its fourth year of diligent exploration. It has been sending back so many photographs that NASA has figured out a way to teach the little rover how to detect changes in images, so that it sends only images back to Earth with new information. For example, if Rover is taking photographs of dust devils, it now pauses and waits until the image changes before taking the next photo. This will mean less work for the scientists sifting through the many, many amazing photographs ‘Spirit’ sends home. What a great name for such a small machine. I hope that it makes some great discovery. We need a bit of spirit in our world.
A young girl by the name of Sofi was born in Siberia, a bitterly cold and desolate area of Russia. A difficult place to be a child but Sofi's life was going to be even rougher than most. She was an orphan. Then suddenly at the age of 2 she was adopted, sight unseen, by Laurie Collis a single mother in Scottsdale, Arizona.
She is now doing well. So well that she entered an essay contest when she was in the third grade and out of 10,000 applicants, she won! Toy maker Lego and The Planetary Society sponsored the event. As a result of winning her family received an all expense paid trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch the lift off of the Mars Rover.
While there she was asked to read an excerpt from her winning essay. Here is part of it: "I used to live in an orphanage. It was dark and cold and lonely. At night, I looked up at the sparkly sky and felt better. I dreamed I could fly there. In America, I can make all my dreams come true. Thank you for giving me the 'Spirit' and the 'Opportunity'."
There’s something to be said about the big influence of small things. She’s just a little girl and it was just a simple story about her experience. But it struck the right cord.
It reminds me of the Scottish minister who told his congregation about dreaming he had died. When he came to the pearly gates, to his dismay, he would be denied entrance until he presented his credentials. Proudly the Pastor articulated the number of sermons preached and the prominent pulpits occupied. But Saint Peter said no one had heard them in heaven. The discouraged servant enumerated his community involvement. He was told they were not recorded. Sorrowfully, the pastor turned to leave, when Peter said, "Stay a moment, and tell me, are you the man who fed the sparrows?"
"Yes," the Scotsman replied, "but what does that have to do with it?"
"Come in," said Saint Peter, "the Master of the sparrows wants to thank you."
Here is the pertinent, though often overlooked, point: great and prominent positions indicate skill and capacity, but small services suggest the depth of one's consecration. We overlook the big influence of small things.
And so it is with Jesus' Baptism. It’s a small thing for Jesus to do. It was not necessary for him to be baptized since there was no sin in his life for which to repent. But he submits to John's Baptism of Repentance anyway. Why? To identify with our sins. He joined in the popular movement of his day. It was a grass roots movement started by a desert monk named John the Baptist. John was calling for the repentance of Israel. Jesus chooses to be baptized because he wants to participate with the people in their desires to be close to God.
It’s a small thing Jesus does but what a big influence. It forever marks baptism as the way we Christians publicly declare our repentance and dependence on God’s grace.
So the Spirit descends from the heavens, lands on Jesus and sends the following vivid snapshot:
I
First, in the backdrop of this picture all the people are baptized. Listen to how Luke words it: When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. Why were all the people going through this ceremony? Here’s why. We all need to repent. We all need to be righteous. And we all need revelation in our life. Let me explain.
Repentance is first. Repentance is Baptism’s prerequisite. What does John say? Repent and be baptized. Repentance first. Baptism second. The ritual is meaningless unless it is seen as a complete dying to self and a rebirth to a new way of life that is seldom easy. So Baptism makes us face the fact that we are a sinner. We need to repent and turn from our sins. We need to go in a different direction.
Second is righteousness. Righteousness is what is given to us at baptism. It is baptism’s gift. Monday as the first ever color pictures of the Martian landscape came in at an incredible 8 mega pixels of resolution they gave the world a stunning view of mars. The clarity of the camera on board Spirit gives us a 20/20 look, that’s what NASA says. I downloaded the pictures (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html) and stared at these awesome images, red dust and dirt punctuated by a million black rocks. I thought what a barren world. Don’t get me wrong, the scientist are having a heyday with these images. There’s a lot to learn from them but the lifeless landscape gets your attention. I also thought, “and there’re trying to find life there!” I feel that way about earth sometimes. As I look out the window of my office, or my home, or my car, I say to God, “You’re trying to find life here?” All I see is a barren people: War and hatred, greed and covetousness, pride and death all around me. Baptism reminds me that righteousness is present in this world in the form of a gift. Righteousness is baptism’s fruit.
Repentance. Righteousness. The third is revelation. We all need spiritual direction. We all have a need for revelation, for something outside of our own experiences to guide us and direct us. We need God to break in and reveal himself to us. To tell us this way you go and this person you follow. That’s what happened at Jesus’ baptism. Jesus was coming out of the water. He had just been baptized to begin his ministry and all these people are standing around watching and God tears open the heavens, descends on Jesus and announces, “You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”
Do you hear that? God is telling us—remember that this happened in a crowd not on some mountain away from everybody—God is telling us that this person, his Son, will give us the direction we need. Jesus is my Son and he will show you the way and it starts with Baptism. If you want to know the life, that many sitting here this morning have known, start with the basics of baptism: Repentance from sin, a life of righteousness, and an understanding that God has reveled himself in Christ. That’s in the backdrop of the picture.
II
Second, in the forefront of this scene stands Jesus as the focus of God’s love. Let me tell you a story. At one time in our history the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication. Now, the Mars rover sends messages that take ten minutes to reach earth—amazing isn’t it—but there’s a story from the early days about a young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, noisy office. In the background a telegraph clacked away. A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.
The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other waiting applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. Why had this man been so bold? They muttered among themselves that they hadn't heard any summons yet. They took more than a little satisfaction in assuming the young man who went into the office would be reprimanded for his presumption and summarily disqualified for the job.
Within a few minutes the young man emerged from the inner office escorted by the interviewer, who announced to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has been filled by this young man."
The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and then one spoke up, "Wait a minute--I don't understand. He was the last one to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That's not fair."
The employer responded, "All the time you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse code: `If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. So the job is his."
For centuries the Spirit has been ticking out God’s message “This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Every woman, every man’s entire livelihood, indeed his very life, depends upon his ability to discern the meaning of these words. And here’s the question: Do you have the spiritual discernment to understand them? When the world one day comes to end and we sit at the Judgment seat of Christ, it will matter, your response to this message. It will matter. Listen to me for a moment: I am not simply speaking to the lost. Christians must be reminded, and let me use the words of Paul, as he reminded the Colossians: “Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15). God was please to have all his fullness dwell in Christ. We all need to be reminded as we sit in earth’s great waiting room. The message is going out, ticking out by the Spirit, “This is God’s Son.”
Want to know what God is doing in this world? Look to Christ. Want to know how to be saved? Look to Christ. Want to know how the Spirit is moving in the Church? Look to Christ. Want to know how this will all end? Look to Christ.
III
Third, Baptism is the framework by which ministry begins. After Jesus was baptized he began his ministry (vs 23). We repent. Then we are baptized. And hopefully after a period of discipleship we too begin to minister to the world around us sharing Christ with those we know. Unfortunately there are many in the church who don’t become ministers for a long long time. As far as faith is concerned, they are late bloomers. It takes a while for them to gain understanding. Will Willimon tells about a church gathering where people were taking turns giving testimonies about their religious experiences. One man stood and said, “I was a Methodist for 38 years before anybody told me about Jesus.” Will said he scratched his head when he heard that. What the man probably should have said was, “I was a church member for 38 years before I really experienced my faith and began to live it.” That is, he had a delayed response. He was a late bloomer.
The problem, Will said, was the man sounded so smug when he said it. He made it sound as if his instantaneous experience washed away his past. Well, says Will, what about all those teachers who put up with him while he was growing up in Sunday school? What about all of those preachers who tried their best to speak the gospel to him? What about all those Christians who tried to tell him about Jesus? Will felt like saying, “Listen, pal, it’s nice that your faith is coming together, but what do you think we’ve been trying to get through your thick head for the last 38 years?”
Perhaps you are afraid of stepping out and doing something with your faith. We all have this unrealistic image that evangelism means standing around on street corners, walking up to complete strangers and asking them, “Are you saved?” Listen, pal, [said in a light hearted fashion] that’s not it. Just wipe the notion from your mind that door-to-door evangelism has any merit. It does not. Not today, if it ever did.
Let me give you a good picture, a 20/20 vision of what real evangelism looks like. As a Christian you have repented of your sins, put away the old self and taken on the righteousness of Christ, which is a gift. You are not righteous; He is. He has taken your sin and given you His righteousness. OK? That’s the first part of baptism. Now at some point you have to grow into your faith and part of that growth means you reach out to those in need. Some need help because they are poor, some need comfort because they are sick, some need wisdom and direction because they are lost, all need Christ. So here is your ministry: Be a neighbor. Don’t ask who is my neighbor like the Rich Young Ruler. Ask rather this question: To whom can I be a neighbor? Do this and your ministry, in the name of God’s Son, whom He loves, will have begun.
On January 3rd, the Mars rover named “Spirit” will begin its fourth year of diligent exploration. It has been sending back so many photographs that NASA has figured out a way to teach the little rover how to detect changes in images, so that it sends only images back to Earth with new information. For example, if Rover is taking photographs of dust devils, it now pauses and waits until the image changes before taking the next photo. This will mean less work for the scientists sifting through the many, many amazing photographs ‘Spirit’ sends home. What a great name for such a small machine. I hope that it makes some great discovery. We need a bit of spirit in our world.
A young girl by the name of Sofi was born in Siberia, a bitterly cold and desolate area of Russia. A difficult place to be a child but Sofi's life was going to be even rougher than most. She was an orphan. Then suddenly at the age of 2 she was adopted, sight unseen, by Laurie Collis a single mother in Scottsdale, Arizona.
She is now doing well. So well that she entered an essay contest when she was in the third grade and out of 10,000 applicants, she won! Toy maker Lego and The Planetary Society sponsored the event. As a result of winning her family received an all expense paid trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch the lift off of the Mars Rover.
While there she was asked to read an excerpt from her winning essay. Here is part of it: "I used to live in an orphanage. It was dark and cold and lonely. At night, I looked up at the sparkly sky and felt better. I dreamed I could fly there. In America, I can make all my dreams come true. Thank you for giving me the 'Spirit' and the 'Opportunity'."
There’s something to be said about the big influence of small things. She’s just a little girl and it was just a simple story about her experience. But it struck the right cord.
It reminds me of the Scottish minister who told his congregation about dreaming he had died. When he came to the pearly gates, to his dismay, he would be denied entrance until he presented his credentials. Proudly the Pastor articulated the number of sermons preached and the prominent pulpits occupied. But Saint Peter said no one had heard them in heaven. The discouraged servant enumerated his community involvement. He was told they were not recorded. Sorrowfully, the pastor turned to leave, when Peter said, "Stay a moment, and tell me, are you the man who fed the sparrows?"
"Yes," the Scotsman replied, "but what does that have to do with it?"
"Come in," said Saint Peter, "the Master of the sparrows wants to thank you."
Here is the pertinent, though often overlooked, point: great and prominent positions indicate skill and capacity, but small services suggest the depth of one's consecration. We overlook the big influence of small things.
And so it is with Jesus' Baptism. It’s a small thing for Jesus to do. It was not necessary for him to be baptized since there was no sin in his life for which to repent. But he submits to John's Baptism of Repentance anyway. Why? To identify with our sins. He joined in the popular movement of his day. It was a grass roots movement started by a desert monk named John the Baptist. John was calling for the repentance of Israel. Jesus chooses to be baptized because he wants to participate with the people in their desires to be close to God.
It’s a small thing Jesus does but what a big influence. It forever marks baptism as the way we Christians publicly declare our repentance and dependence on God’s grace.
So the Spirit descends from the heavens, lands on Jesus and sends the following vivid snapshot:
I
First, in the backdrop of this picture all the people are baptized. Listen to how Luke words it: When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. Why were all the people going through this ceremony? Here’s why. We all need to repent. We all need to be righteous. And we all need revelation in our life. Let me explain.
Repentance is first. Repentance is Baptism’s prerequisite. What does John say? Repent and be baptized. Repentance first. Baptism second. The ritual is meaningless unless it is seen as a complete dying to self and a rebirth to a new way of life that is seldom easy. So Baptism makes us face the fact that we are a sinner. We need to repent and turn from our sins. We need to go in a different direction.
Second is righteousness. Righteousness is what is given to us at baptism. It is baptism’s gift. Monday as the first ever color pictures of the Martian landscape came in at an incredible 8 mega pixels of resolution they gave the world a stunning view of mars. The clarity of the camera on board Spirit gives us a 20/20 look, that’s what NASA says. I downloaded the pictures (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html) and stared at these awesome images, red dust and dirt punctuated by a million black rocks. I thought what a barren world. Don’t get me wrong, the scientist are having a heyday with these images. There’s a lot to learn from them but the lifeless landscape gets your attention. I also thought, “and there’re trying to find life there!” I feel that way about earth sometimes. As I look out the window of my office, or my home, or my car, I say to God, “You’re trying to find life here?” All I see is a barren people: War and hatred, greed and covetousness, pride and death all around me. Baptism reminds me that righteousness is present in this world in the form of a gift. Righteousness is baptism’s fruit.
Repentance. Righteousness. The third is revelation. We all need spiritual direction. We all have a need for revelation, for something outside of our own experiences to guide us and direct us. We need God to break in and reveal himself to us. To tell us this way you go and this person you follow. That’s what happened at Jesus’ baptism. Jesus was coming out of the water. He had just been baptized to begin his ministry and all these people are standing around watching and God tears open the heavens, descends on Jesus and announces, “You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”
Do you hear that? God is telling us—remember that this happened in a crowd not on some mountain away from everybody—God is telling us that this person, his Son, will give us the direction we need. Jesus is my Son and he will show you the way and it starts with Baptism. If you want to know the life, that many sitting here this morning have known, start with the basics of baptism: Repentance from sin, a life of righteousness, and an understanding that God has reveled himself in Christ. That’s in the backdrop of the picture.
II
Second, in the forefront of this scene stands Jesus as the focus of God’s love. Let me tell you a story. At one time in our history the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication. Now, the Mars rover sends messages that take ten minutes to reach earth—amazing isn’t it—but there’s a story from the early days about a young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, noisy office. In the background a telegraph clacked away. A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.
The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other waiting applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. Why had this man been so bold? They muttered among themselves that they hadn't heard any summons yet. They took more than a little satisfaction in assuming the young man who went into the office would be reprimanded for his presumption and summarily disqualified for the job.
Within a few minutes the young man emerged from the inner office escorted by the interviewer, who announced to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has been filled by this young man."
The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and then one spoke up, "Wait a minute--I don't understand. He was the last one to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That's not fair."
The employer responded, "All the time you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse code: `If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. So the job is his."
For centuries the Spirit has been ticking out God’s message “This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Every woman, every man’s entire livelihood, indeed his very life, depends upon his ability to discern the meaning of these words. And here’s the question: Do you have the spiritual discernment to understand them? When the world one day comes to end and we sit at the Judgment seat of Christ, it will matter, your response to this message. It will matter. Listen to me for a moment: I am not simply speaking to the lost. Christians must be reminded, and let me use the words of Paul, as he reminded the Colossians: “Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15). God was please to have all his fullness dwell in Christ. We all need to be reminded as we sit in earth’s great waiting room. The message is going out, ticking out by the Spirit, “This is God’s Son.”
Want to know what God is doing in this world? Look to Christ. Want to know how to be saved? Look to Christ. Want to know how the Spirit is moving in the Church? Look to Christ. Want to know how this will all end? Look to Christ.
III
Third, Baptism is the framework by which ministry begins. After Jesus was baptized he began his ministry (vs 23). We repent. Then we are baptized. And hopefully after a period of discipleship we too begin to minister to the world around us sharing Christ with those we know. Unfortunately there are many in the church who don’t become ministers for a long long time. As far as faith is concerned, they are late bloomers. It takes a while for them to gain understanding. Will Willimon tells about a church gathering where people were taking turns giving testimonies about their religious experiences. One man stood and said, “I was a Methodist for 38 years before anybody told me about Jesus.” Will said he scratched his head when he heard that. What the man probably should have said was, “I was a church member for 38 years before I really experienced my faith and began to live it.” That is, he had a delayed response. He was a late bloomer.
The problem, Will said, was the man sounded so smug when he said it. He made it sound as if his instantaneous experience washed away his past. Well, says Will, what about all those teachers who put up with him while he was growing up in Sunday school? What about all of those preachers who tried their best to speak the gospel to him? What about all those Christians who tried to tell him about Jesus? Will felt like saying, “Listen, pal, it’s nice that your faith is coming together, but what do you think we’ve been trying to get through your thick head for the last 38 years?”
Perhaps you are afraid of stepping out and doing something with your faith. We all have this unrealistic image that evangelism means standing around on street corners, walking up to complete strangers and asking them, “Are you saved?” Listen, pal, [said in a light hearted fashion] that’s not it. Just wipe the notion from your mind that door-to-door evangelism has any merit. It does not. Not today, if it ever did.
Let me give you a good picture, a 20/20 vision of what real evangelism looks like. As a Christian you have repented of your sins, put away the old self and taken on the righteousness of Christ, which is a gift. You are not righteous; He is. He has taken your sin and given you His righteousness. OK? That’s the first part of baptism. Now at some point you have to grow into your faith and part of that growth means you reach out to those in need. Some need help because they are poor, some need comfort because they are sick, some need wisdom and direction because they are lost, all need Christ. So here is your ministry: Be a neighbor. Don’t ask who is my neighbor like the Rich Young Ruler. Ask rather this question: To whom can I be a neighbor? Do this and your ministry, in the name of God’s Son, whom He loves, will have begun.
