Matthew 5 - Part 3

 

Read Matthew 5

What about the law?  What does it mean to us?

The law was given to God’s people for their own good.  The law makes us aware of our sin. No person except Jesus has ever fulfilled the law.

Contrary to some who say the law was nailed to the tree—the cross—the actual text tells us that it was our invoice of indebtedness that was wiped clean on the cross.  The law was not done away with by any means.  Beware of claims that begin with the law being nailed to the cross.  It is sometimes used as a nonsequitur to lead people to non-biblical conclusions, noting it to be false then presenting a false conclusion that does not follow the lead.

The short version is don’t let people lead you to their conclusions.  Do your own study.

There is a longer discourse on the law not to be pursued here.  What is noted is that Jesus did not come to do away with the law.  He came to fulfill all righteousness.  He came to fulfill those things required by prophecy.  He came to fulfill the law.

So, knowing that he fulfilled it, what place does it hold in our lives?  For those who believe, it can only show us where we fall short and how much we need a Savior.  For those who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ and who have not received him as Lord, the law condemns.

For Jesus told those listening that if they didn’t live up to the standards that the teachers of the law lived by, they would not get into heaven.  If your righteousness was not better than that of the Pharisees, it was game over.

But nobody can live up to perfect righteousness.  All have sinned.  All fall short.  So was Jesus preaching a no-win scenario.   You guys are so out of luck.

There is more to come.  Jesus will hold the answer as to how to overcome our imperfection through his perfection. 

I have used the analogy of training wheels before.  The law like training wheels help us remain upright while we ride our bicycle.  At some point, we want to go beyond what we could do with the training wheels.  We want to live a life governed by love.

The training wheels did not become bad.  We just graduated to the next thing.

Paul used the analogy of a guardian.  A parent or guardian is essential until a child comes of age to live on his own. 

I have used the analogy of headlights.  If you are driving from here to Cordell at midnight and some clown has his lights on high beam or just hose new lights that illuminate up to three counties is approaching, his headlights are blinding.

If you make the same drive the next day at noon and the same vehicle is coming at you with his headlights on, you hardly notice.  The brightness of the sun surpasses the brightness of the lights.

The law did not go away or become bad.  It was simply surpassed by the glory of God that we know in Christ Jesus.

God gave us his decrees and directives for our own good.  They did not go away, but God expects us to graduate to living by love.

Do you remember last month’s memory verse? Romans 13:8

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

 

 Jesus summed up the law with two commandments.  Love God with everything you are. Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.  Before he went to the cross, he raised the bar and said love each other as much as I have loved you.

The law was given for our own good.  The law did not go away.  It is not bad.  Jesus fulfilled the law.  The law can still serve us as a guardian. It can still show us where we fall short of the glory of God.

We can never measure up to the law by our own effort or merit but in the blood of Jesus we are made right with God and by our love we can fulfill the law.

That’s a lot to chew on but as we do so, let us always remember we are on our way to living by love.  Jesus was the only person to fulfill the law in the flesh.  Living a life governed by love fulfills the law for us.

Amen.

Matthew 5 - Part 2

 

Read Matthew 5

Do you know how I know that 2020 is the craziest year ever?  I checked a package of salt that I had and it said expires December 2020.

Salt has been around at least since the beginning of the world.  How do I know?  When Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt as she looked back at Sodom, nobody commented, “What’s that stuff?”

Salt has been around.  Man didn’t have to invent salt.  It’s not like gravy that someone had to say, we need something to go with chicken fried steak.  Salt has been around.

But what is it to be the salt of the earth? Salt has many qualities.  It seasons.  It preserves.  It can make you scream if you rub it in an open wound.

Salt can make you thirsty.  Salt pills used to be the cure-all for sports-related cramps.  Then came Gatorade.

Of all of these, I think being the salt of the earth is to be the God seasoning of the planet.  People should taste the goodness of God when they encounter us. 

And then there is light.  Light and darkness are common themes in the Bible. 

Isaiah said that light was coming.  John said that the light had come.  Jesus said he was the light.  Now he tells us that we are the light. We are to be light in this world.

When we profess Jesus as Lord, his light should emanate from within us.  Unless we cover up the light, but who would do that?

What’s the point of having light and not letting it shine?

What’s the point of salt that is not salty?

Why would anyone want either of these?  Salt that has lost its saltiness should not even exist.  A light that is brought into a room and then covered so as not to illuminate the room makes no sense.

You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.

Do not deny who you are by how you live.

Be the salt of the earth.  Be the light of the world.

Amen.

Matthew 5 - Part 1

 

Read Matthew 5

Jesus was baptized, tempted, and he called disciples.  It was time to teach and he had many interested in what he had to say.  He went up the side of a mountain and sat down.

He sat down.  He was going to stay there a while.

If you come to my house to pick up something, we will probably talk at the door.  I don’t know what you might come to pick up.  All of my tools seem to leave but not return.

If you come and want to talk, we will go in and sit for a while.  We might go out back in the courtyard and sit outside for a while. 

If you stop by my office to just say Howdy and you are on your way to somewhere else, you might stand.  If you need to talk for a while, you will pick out a seat.

Jesus was going to be talking for a while.  This was going to be a drinking from a firehose sort of day, at least for the disciples and others who came to listen.

Jesus began with what we now call the Beatitudes.  A beatitude is a special or highest blessing.  It could be a statement of bliss.  Jesus was talking about blessings.

People knew blessings.  If they followed the one true God, he blessed them with flocks and fields and things of substance in this world.  Every good gift does come from God, but Jesus was going to tell those with ears to hear that there is more to life than eating and drinking and what you wear and how much you store up for yourself in this world.

For some, these blessings may not have sounded like blessings.

Let’s take this from the top.  Who wants to be poor in spirit?  Who wants spiritual poverty?  How about the one who is disposed to repent.  How about the one who knows that whatever our human spirit feels—and it can feel good on its own—is nothing without God.

Did John not preach a baptism of repentance?  Did Jesus not preach repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand?

Did we not talk about having a preexisting condition of repentance and readiness to follow Jesus?

Let’s move on.  How can we be blessed in my mourning?   How can I be blessed in my sorrow?

We know what it is to mourn the life of a loved one that we lost.  Have we ever mourned the innocence of our lives?  Have we ever mourned our death because we lived in sin?  Have we mourned our separation from God because of sin?

They—we—will be comforted not that we get what we mourn for back but that God rescues us from the relationships that we had with the sinful world.

Think to what the prophet Joel said.  Rend your hearts not your garments.  Again, we find the penitent heart ready to receive blessings.

But what about being blessed for being meek?  The way of the world is conquest.  God doesn’t want us to adopt the world’s ways.  He wants us to be gentle.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t defend your family or your nation.  It means that you don’t have to have your own way all the time.  It means that you don’t have to have everything that your neighbor has.  It means that you don’t have to play the dog eat dog game.

Consider verb—inherit.  You don’t win a prize.  You inherit that which is of great value.  Why?  It’s because of who you belong to—to God.

What good is it to acquire the wealth of the world but have to forfeit your own soul?

We should still work and earn and provide but our joy is not in our money and possessions or getting our way.  Our inheritance comes from the Lord.

The next one is a little more straight-forward.  If we hunger and thirst for righteousness then we will be filled.  We are told to seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness above all things.

Jesus was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness.  His righteousness is imputed to us when we proclaim and receive him as Lord.

We don’t follow the law to check the blocks to become righteous.  Only Jesus did that completely.  He fulfilled the law because that was among his mission objectives.

We should hunger and thirst for the right living that has been given to us so freely.  We should have an incredible appetite for what God wants to feed us.

Again, Jesus gives us a straight-forward blessing.  Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.  Jesus knew the whole eye for an eye business, but he told us that we would be blessed to practice mercy. 

Our human nature wants an eye for an eye, or sometimes it’s predecessor.  What was that?  You pluck out my eye and I will pluck out both of your eyes  and spit in your grits.  The predecessor of an eye for an eye was a one-up approach to retaliation.

Jesus tells us that we will be blessed to practice mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.  We can skip that one.  Nobody is truly pure in heart.  We can’t get there.  We all still have some depravity that we wrestle with every day.

Think to David.  He knew he sinned.  He got away with it for a time until his friend reminded him of what he had done.  If David could have sacrificed every bull and goat in his kingdom to be right with God, he would have done it.

But there were not enough animals on the planet to do what needed to be done.  Only God could do that.  David in psalm noted what he needed.  Create in me a clean heart.

So, the beatitude is not about a perfect person but one who seeks and receives and desire to sustain the clean heart that God gave us.  This blessing is for those who do not take his gift lightly.

How can you see the invisible God?  Jesus is the image of the invisible God.  No one can look upon God directly because of our sin, but one day all of our sin will be gone and God will be among us and we will look upon him and be blessed.

Perhaps maintaining a pure heart gives us an early glimpse of what we will see for eternity.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.  We can have peace that goes beyond understanding.  It’s a wonderful gift, but this blessing is for those who go beyond whats good for them and seek what is good for others.

The Marine Corps gets a lot of peace-making missions.  Raise a white flag when you are ready for peace or keep fighting and die.  It’s a simple equation.

I have been a part of a United Nations Peace Keeping force but you can’t do peace-keeping without peace-making. 

It’s the same concept here in Matthew 5 but with a different methodology.  What’s the method?  A pure heart, mercy, and seeking the life that God desires over getting even.

When we are wronged, we don’t seek vengeance or retaliation.  We seek reconciliation.   Jesus doesn’t use the word love here but this is about love.

How will people know that we follow Jesus?  They will know we are his disciples by our love.  We will be known as children of God by our love.

When it would be easier to sit on the sidelines or join the fray insisting on our way, we would seek to make peace with the love that we practice because we belong to Christ Jesus.

Jesus wrapped up this part with a really off-the-wall statement—at least by worldly standards. 

You are blessed when you are persecuted.  Hold your holy horses right there!  Blessed?  Did auto correct exist back then.  Jesus meant to say bummed not blessed, right?

He said exactly what he meant to say.  You are blessed when you are persecuted, not for any ole reason, but because you are doing your best to live in right standing with God.

If you are persecuted because you robbed a bank or shoplifted or were out throwing Molotov cocktails at various homes and stores, you are not blessed.  You are a fugitive.   You are not persecuted you are pursued by law enforcement.

But when you are persecuted because you are known by your love, then you are in good company.  The prophets who brought God’s word to the sinful people of the world were persecuted as well.

How is this a blessing?

Persecution by the sinful world is better than the best tee shirt that says I belong to God.  When the world disowns you and hates you because you love God, it is an affirmation that you are on the right course.

If you are driving 100 miles per hour in a stolen car and there are flashing lights everywhere you look, that’s a different thing.

To be persecuted by a sinful world because that world can see that you belong to the one true God, that’s an affirmation.  That’s a blessing.

Amen.

Matthew 4 - Part 2

 

Read Matthew 4

Jesus had been tempted by the devil after 40 days and nights of fasting.  In the Islamic tradition, there is fasting from sun up to sundown.  You could eat and drink after it got dark.  That’s sustainable.  When I was in that part of the world during a religious fast, when people got hungry and couldn’t wait until evening, a lot of sunglasses were donned.

I bring up Islamic fasts because I have witnessed them and they are not a burden to the participants.  They go extended periods without real hardship.

Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights.  There was no midnight snack to hold him over for the next day.  Even the sticklers for the rule—Pharisees and Sadducees—had never done this.  Your read this part of the chapter several times already and have my earlier message available online.

I don’t know if Jesus had water or not.  As he lived in a human body, I would have expected he did, but we don’t know for sure.

The ministry of Jesus was commissioned at baptism and was launched like a ship at this point.  The nautical command is Underway.  Shift Colors.

 Jesus began preaching repentance for the kingdom of heaven was at hand.  John preached repentance.  Jesus preached repentance and good news.  What you have been hoping for has arrived.

Jesus would not journey through this world alone.  He knew he was headed to the cross and he knew there would be work to be done after he died and was resurrected.

He called disciples.

This account takes place in Galilee.

The first two were fishermen.  There was Simon who was also called Peter, and Simon’s brother Andrew.  They were casting their nets.  Why?  They were fishermen.  That’s what they did.

They were not taking seminary classes at night or online.  They were fishermen.

Perhaps they had met Jesus previously at the Jordan as we remember from John’s gospel.  Perhaps John the apostle just remembered things differently.  It would make sense that Jesus swore them in at the Jordan and their orders to active duty didn’t come until Matthew 4. 

Perhaps it's similar to the Spirit being given in John but not externally manifested until Acts.  You might wonder if Thomas had to wait until Pentecost to receive the Spirit.

Whether John and Matthew or John and Luke remembered things differently or just told sequential parts, that’s not the focus of this message.

Jesus called to them and said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

That’s got a ring to it:  Fishers of men.

We could look at Jesus using something familiar to these men to call them to follow him.  He did that a lot as we will note when we come to his parables.

We could look at fishing in general.  Some days are better than others.  You never catch all the fish. And I’m sure every fisherman had a story or two about the one that got away, even if you were using nets.

What I ask us to look at is the response of these two men.  They left their nets at once and followed Jesus.

There is nothing about what they did with their catch or their boat or even if Peter got to shoot off a quick text to his wife telling her that he wouldn’t be home for supper.

They left their nets at once and followed Jesus.

Next, Jesus called two more brothers—James and John.  They were working on their nets in the fishing boat.  Their dad was Zebedee.  If you are named in the bible, you are usually a figure of some prominence.

Jesus called these two brothers and they immediately stopped what they were doing, left the boat, and followed Jesus.  At least dad was there to know that his two sons wouldn’t be home for dinner either.

The key word here is immediately.  How do you just drop everything and go?

You could ask Joseph and Mary.  They got up in the middle of the night and moved twice.

You could jump ahead to the parable of the talents and see two servants put their master’s money to work at once.  We have other examples of what it is to just go.

Firemen may lounge around the fire station but they can be dressed and out the door in a moment’s notice.

A sprinter can be nearly motionless in the starting blocks and at the sound of the starter’s pistol be running full speed in less than a second.

A fighter pilot can be sitting on strip alert with his engines on but going nowhere, until the order is given.  Then he is only a couple seconds away from hitting the afterburners and announcing his departure with a sonic boom on his way to the threat.

All of these have one thing in common—a state of readiness.

How can you be ready for something like Jesus calling you to leave your life that you have known for years and follow him and fish for men?  How can you be ready for that?

John would say to repent.  Turn away from and leave behind the things of this world and seek the things of God.  Heart, mind, soul, spirit, and flesh must detach themselves from the gods of the world and the age and seek God.

It’s not just a pivot move.  It’s a let go and then pivot—turn around and seek God.

And so, when God or his messenger or his Son show up in a dream or on the shore and call you to action, you do not delay.

We see that it was not so much education that prepared these men.  It was not their occupation or trade.  It was not their geography.  It was not their lineage.  It was not their income.  It was not that they knew when to wear a mask and when not to.

It was that there was a readiness to hear the Lord.  It was that they had been seeking the Lord even as they fished day after day.  It was that they were ready and willing to follow the Lord, whenever he called.

What we see here is a health care issue.  These men had a preexisting condition.  It was repentance and readiness.  They were predisposed to follow the Lord.

Are we?

We sing, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus, but do we stand ready to go where he calls us?  We say we want to follow him but at the same time are afraid he will get on the expressway and go pedal to the medal.

Following Jesus on the back roads is one thing, but doing 80 on the interstate with him is another.

We sing Jesus take the wheel, but we want to control the navigation system.

Are we ready to follow Jesus where he calls us?

That doesn’t always mean that we must leave our jobs, but we must be ready to do what he calls us to do.  Sometimes that is to leave your job.  Sometimes it is to do what he calls you to do in the course of your job. Sometimes, what he calls us to do seems to be completely out of our comfort zones.

But will we follow him?  Will we do it at once?  Will we do it immediately?

People have many requests for us and often we say that we will pray about it.  But when God calls us to something, will we tell him that we will pray about it?

If we know it’s God.  If we know that it is the voice of the Good Shepherd.  His sheep know his voice.  If we know it’s him, will we do what he has called us to do at once?

If I were to label this current time as far as Christians go, I might call it the age of hesitation.  Perhaps the age of continued deliberation might also work.

How about the age of incarceration?  Have we become prisoners of the world’s expectations?  Are we immobilized when the Lord calls to us at act?  Could this be the age of immobilization?

We read about 4 men who by all standards of worldly wisdom should have thought things through.  They should have done a cost-benefit analysis.  They should have conferred with their families. They should have given somebody two weeks’ notice.  If you are under 30, you probably don’t know what that is.

There were a bunch of things that should have caused these men to think about their next steps, but they followed Jesus immediately.  Their own understanding should have said, “Let’s slow down here for just a minute.”

They followed at once.  They responded to the Lord immediately.  If you are seeking God and his kingdom and his righteousness, don’t balk when he says follow me. 

I know there are a few gamblers among you.  I don’t think we have any gambling addicts but occasional football or basketball pool usually makes the rounds come bowl time or for March Madness.  So, I can say with much certainty, that I know there is a betting pool out there somewhere on whether or not I can bring Proverbs 3:5-6 into the sermon of the day.

Those who had “yes” for today are winners.

If you trust in the Lord with all of your heart, you are predisposed to respond to his call, even over your own understanding.

This is a wonderful chapter in which we see these fishermen follow Jesus and we get the phrase fishers of men, but this is a challenge to us.

Are we predisposed to follow the callings of our Lord?  Are we still entrenched in our own understanding?  Are we still conformed to the patterns of this world?  Are we really seeking God and his kingdom and his righteousness?

I think we have read about 4 men who knew this proverb and were trying to live this proverb.  I think we read about 4 men who were ready to follow the Lord when he called.

My challenge for us today is to take a quick medical survey and list our preexisting condition.  Is it our own understanding or is it trust in the Lord with all your heart?

Are we ready to do what our Lord and Savior has called us to do when he calls us to do it?

Chapter 5 is considerably longer than the first 4, but don’t start reading it until Monday.  Take today to assess your preexisting condition.

Is it our own understanding or is it trust in the Lord with all your heart?

Are we ready to respond to our Lord at once?  Are we ready?

Amen.

Matthew 4 - Part 1

 

Read Matthew 4

Sometimes, looking at the original language is helpful.  Sometimes it is confusing.  Language is no currency exchange where on any given day there is an exact exchange rate.  Language is always an approximate fit.

Even today, language varies from decade to decade.  Sometimes it seems to vary year to year.  There are new words and new idioms and of course, there is slang.

When I was in the United Nations, we had officers from 32 different nations.  English was the official language.  We had 10 radio channels of which not all were assigned.  Channel 1 was not assigned, so if a Russian in the Southern Sector wanted to talk with one of his countrymen in the Northern Sector, he would ask that officer to switch to Channel 1 for a national conversation.  Then the two officers would speak in their native Russian.

One evening we were passing the time in the desert talking about all manner of things, and I mentioned that the Americans could never have a private conversation because everyone had to speak English and it didn’t matter what channel we were on, anyone could listen in.

I was surprised when many officers told me that when two Americans were talking to each other, nobody else knew what they were saying.  Language is not always as straightforward as it might seem.  Exploring various translations of the original language can be helpful or sometimes a rabbit trail that does not produce much fruit, but it is interesting to consider some various translations of a few words in this first verse.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

The root word here is anagó.  It is a verb that means, by most translations, to be led or led up, but consider the other meanings attached to it:  bring, brought, launched, led, put out to sea, putting out to sea, set sail, setting sail.

Last week when I talked about the baptism of Jesus being like the commissioning of a ship, many of your just thought I was using nautical analogies because all of my cruises were canceled.  Consider the validity of this analogy.

The ministry of Jesus set sail.  He was underway.  The Spirit put him out to sea.  In this case, the sea happened to be the wilderness, but Jesus was underway in his ministry and his ministry began with a head-to-head encounter with the devil.

Jesus fasted 40 days and nights.  That will bring you to the point of physical weakness that none of us have experienced.  He was as weak in the flesh as a person can be, and then he faced the temper—the devil.

We know what comes next.  Jesus was hungry.  There was no way he was not starving at this point and the devil said, why not just make some bread out of these stones?  C’mon now.  You’re the Son of God.  This would be easy stuff for you, C’mon!

You know the response.  Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.   

Think to John 4 when Jesus tells the disciples that he has food they know nothing about.  His food is to fulfill the will of his Father, to do the things he was sent to do.

Think to his baptism.  Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness.  It all comes down to doing what God says to do, even if you are starved and could turn rocks into rye bread.

The devil didn’t pack up and leave, he took Jesus to the highest part of the temple in Jerusalem.  He double dog dared Jesus to jump off.  C’mon, you know that your Father will dispatch angels to save you.  You won’t even hit the ground hard.  The angels will set you down gently.  C’mon.

The devil knew God’s words as well, at least one psalm. 

Jesus Knew his Father’s words as well.  Do not put the Lord, your God, to the test. Read all of Deuteronomy 6 to get the full context.  Here’s the short version.  God gets really angry if you test him by putting other gods before him.  Just do what he says.

Is there ever a time to put God to the test?

This part is prelude to the next temptation.  The devil took Jesus up on the highest mountain and told him to take a good look around.  For the simple act of bowing down and worshipping his tempter, Jesus could have everything that he saw. 

C’mon man.  This is the deal of deals.  Whatever your Father has sent you to do is going to be difficult at times.  This is all yours for one simple act of worship.  C’mon.

What’s the real offer here?  Skip the trip to the cross and take the immediate payout.

Jesus told the devil to hit the road.  It is written:  Worship the Lord, your God, and serve him only.  Deuteronomy 6 was a popular chapter in this encounter.

Perhaps these temptations remind you of Jacob and Esau.  Esau was famished and sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.  Imagine being 40 days famished and staying the course of what your Father in heaven sent you to accomplish.

It would be so much easier to take immediate gratification.  Who could blame a starving man for eating?  Who among us could have held out a moment longer?

But Jesus would fulfill all righteousness. The devil hit the road and angels came to attend to Jesus. 

Understand that Jesus could have done everything he was tempted to do.  We know the 4 gospels.  Jesus turned water to wine.  He fed multitudes with a couple fish and a few loaves of bread.  The wind obeyed him.

Jesus could have done a triple backflip off the top of the temple and landed more gently than if he was diving into a pool.

Of greater importance to Jesus was to do the will of his Father.  He did.  Now it was time to preach and minister.  Jesus identified himself as the light of the world in John’s gospel.  Isaiah told the world that this light was coming.

Jesus—the light of the world—has come.  Hear the message of the Lord as he began to preach.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

Amen.

Matthew 3 - Part 2

 

Read Matthew 3

In the first service I went through all of the Old Testament scriptures concerning baptism.  It took no time at all.  Literally, it took no time.  There aren’t any.

There are some general analogies we might make, such as Jonah and his time underwater in the great fish, but upon further examination; we see Jesus use the Jonah reference with regard to resurrection.

But by the time that Jesus had come into the world, baptism was common enough that none of the religious leaders questioned the baptism part about what John was doing.  They were more focused on being called a bunch of snakes and defending their righteousness based on the fact that they had Abraham as their father.

I suppose that you could count the flood noted in Genesis as a huge baptism, but those who went under the water here did not reemerge.

There is ritual cleansing but not the baptism that we know today, at least in Christianity.  Pagan religious, mainly eastern religions, had a water purification which may have included immersion.  In fact, the Sumerian tradition from some three millennia earlier was adopted into the Greek culture and mythology and accredited to the god Ioannes which in English is John.

You might see why some consider the baptism of John a continuation of this myth.  You might also see why the religious leaders were interested in what John was doing at the Jordan.

In any case, John was real and not a myth.  He baptized with water.  He drew quite a crowd and then Jesus came for baptism. 

We don’t’ get the words that we do in John’s gospel.  Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

We do have a little insight into the words that preceded the baptism of the Lord.  John did not ask Jesus if he repented of his sins.  That would have been awkward.

How do you ask the one who has not sinned if he repents of his sin?

Instead, John inquires if instead of him baptizing Jesus, that Jesus should baptize him.  That would make more sense, wouldn’t it?

It would!  Absolutely it would make more sense from John’s perspective and probably from ours, except that Jesus was on a mission from his Father that was about to jump into high gear.  His baptism was like the commissioning of a ship.  The journey was about to begin in earnest and it had to begin the right way.

Jesus would not only go to the cross as a lamb that had not sinned by refraining from doing things he should not have done; he must arrive at that point doing everything that he was sent to do.

He must live a life that continued in right standing with his Father for the duration of his time in the flesh.

He would fulfill the law.  He would fulfill the prophets.  He would fulfill all righteousness.

Baptism was one of the first things on that bucket list and Jesus hit the target.  How do we know?

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Dad said, You nailed it, Kid.

Jesus did this not because he needed to repent, but so that while he was in this world, he would do what no person had ever done.  He would do everything right in the sight of his Father, not because he needed it.  It was all for us.

Let’s see how that fits into our lives.  Do we do things because other people have expectations?  Sometimes, we do.  Sometimes the expectations of others are like a prison that we build for ourselves.

Do we do things because God has called us to do them and, whether others see them or not, we want to be right with God and his expectations for us.

Yes, we will fall short, and God promises forgiveness with every confession, but we want to hit the target that God has given us.  That’s really had to hit if the expectations of the world are in opposition or even just in competition with God’s direction.

Whose expectations influence our decisions?

How can you hit a target if you can’t decide where to aim?  Which expectations influence our decisions?

Jesus told John that he had his marching orders from his Father and baptism was on that list.  Do you want to do this your way or God’s way?  Sometimes all expectations are in sync with God’s way and there is no dilemma, but often we must choose.

There is a question that should hit home with us today.  Do we want to do what we think is the best course of action or do we trust God that his way is best?

It’s a Joshua sort of question.  Choose this day whom you will serve.  You have plenty of choices of who or what you put first in your life.  Some may seem very attractive and profitable.  Some may help you blend in with the crowd.

Some may make you appear unique and feed your esteem.

Jesus had no personal need for a baptism of repentance.  He did it because it was the right thing to do before his Father and he was on a mission to do everything right.  That would ruffle some feathers along the way, but it brought a lamb without blemish to the cross.

That’s bigtime for us, so let us celebrate this simple display of doing what was right by his Father in heaven that we might have an unblemished sacrifice offered for our sins.

And let us consider our own lives.  What do we do out of the expectation of others and what do we do because God has revealed his will to us?

We did not earn our right standing but we should live up to it as best we can.  We should do our best to hit the target.

Amen.

Matthew 3 - Part 1

 

Read Matthew 3

Let’s begin with a review of all of the Bible verses in the Old Testament about baptism.  Do you remember in which part of the Torah we find the instructions on baptism?

Exodus?  Leviticus?  Or did those instructions not come until Joshua entered the Promised Land?

There is no biblical instruction on baptism available to us from the Old Testament; yet, this chapter begins with John the Baptizer earning his title.  He was baptizing at the Jordan.

His baptism was one of repentance.  Now repentance was and is a concept that we can get our heads around with Old Testament precedent.  Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh because the people there might repent and turn away from their evil ways and God would spare them the punishment and destruction that they so richly deserved.

But there is no mention of baptism.  Wearing sack cloth and putting ashes on your head might have been the thing to do, but baptism never entered the conversation. 

Repentance was a dry land experience as far as the Old Testament goes.  John does something different, but obviously familiar to the people of that age.

The Scribes and Pharisees say nothing of the fact that John is baptizing people.  Somewhere along the way, baptism became a part of Hebrew life.  The New Testament is full of baptism references, but John is the first instance that we note of this practice.

John baptized with water.  He promised one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.  John’s mission was to prepare the way for Jesus.

How do you prepare the way?  If a king was coming, you fixed the roads.  If the tin horn had washed away, you got a new one and smoothed out the crossing over the gulley.  Detours were not acceptable to the king.  He would not want to go around the problem.  You were supposed to fix the problem before he got there.

Get rid of the detour and keep the road straight. 

Today we complain about our roads and then we complain about construction when somebody starts to fix them.  While I’m sure that the new Diamond Interchange makes it easier for trucks and large vehicles to access and exit (especially left turns); I don’t think it fits the model of make straight the way.

John prepared the way for Jesus by calling all to repent of their sins.  If you want salvation, you must first repent.

We must still prepare the way to receive our Lord and Savior.  Sometimes that takes years.  Sometimes it is a moment, but however long, we must realize that our life lived only for ourselves is not one that has readied the way for our Lord.

We are not ready for grace without repentance.  The world wants that.  The world wants sin in one had and forgiveness in another.  While God is a forgiving God; we must not become cavalier to his lovingkindness. 

We are called to repent.

John called all and baptized those who came to repent of their sins.  The One greater than him who would come after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit, but would also call for repentance.  As we will see in the next chapter, Jesus called people to repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.

And I can’t leave out John’s treatment of the Pharisees and Sadducees who had come just to watch.  They were spectators and arm-chair quarterbacks but we know  of none who came to repent or for baptism.

Why should they repent?  They were sons of Abraham.  They had their ticket punched.  Or did they?

John warned these snakes—you brood of vipers—that God could take the rocks around them and make new children of Abraham if he so desired.

John warned them that they better invest less in their lineage and more in their lives proved worthy by the fruit they produce.

John came before Jesus and would continue his ministry concurrently with Jesus for a time and at different locations, but the message remains for all.

Prepare the way for the Lord.  How? Repent of your sins.

What is the message that you hear from me at Ash Wednesday?  It’s a reminder.  There is no Ash Wednesday in the Bible.  The apostles didn’t partake of Ash Wednesday.  The ashes have no power.

The message of that time which I believe is a reminder to us should be life for the world. 

REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS!

We should not only hear these words but share these words with this lost world.  Amen.