Dan Herold | Mark 1:4-11 | January 10, 2015
(Sermon begins at 22:48)
Have you ever thought about how awesomely powerful water is? Water can give as well as take away life. Water can shape the land around it and drastically change landscapes. Water is one of the most simple substances on earth, but it is extremely powerful. The same could be said of God’s Word. The almighty Word of God is both simple and powerful. So, when the two are joined together in baptism, they form something of unimaginable power. They form a means of grace by which God creates and sustains faith in our hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit. Water is powerful on its own, but the true power of baptism comes from the Word of God being used with water. So, since the power of baptism comes from the Word this morning we are going to look at the words that God spoke when our Savior, Jesus, was baptized. Listen as God speaks in Baptism as he speaks to Jesus and to us.
Mark chapter 1 gives us a brief description of the ministry of John the Baptist. As John baptized and preached he taught this message which is summarized in verse 7. John taught that,
“After him will come one more powerful than he.”
John recognized the purpose of his baptizing was not that the people needed to do something, but rather that he was preparing the way for Jesus, the one who would be more powerful than John. John’s focus was on God, on Jesus, and never on himself. In the accounts of Jesus’ baptism in the other gospels John is reluctant to baptize Jesus because he recognized that baptism was about God’s forgiveness coming to us, not us doing something for God. But nonetheless, Jesus needed to follow God’s command to be baptized even though he was without sin in order to show that he had come to take man’s place.
At his baptism God the Father voiced his approval of his Son and thus began Jesus’ public ministry. After Jesus was baptized by John, the heavens opened and the voice of God the Father was heard saying,
“You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
This simple sentence is packed full of wonderful Gospel comfort. First of all, God says that this man Jesus, who was standing before this whole crowd of people who had come to be baptized by John, is his Son. God is publicly identifying Jesus as God’s Son, and therefore God himself is testifying publicly that Jesus is God.
Next, God says that he loves Jesus and is pleased with him. While God loves all of us as his dear children, we know that as sinful creatures we are not pleasing to God. So when God says that he is pleased with Jesus he is saying that Jesus is without sin and that Jesus was perfectly carrying out his mission as our Savior.
It’s comforting for us to hear God’s testimony here that Jesus was without sin because leading up to his baptism we don’t know a whole lot about Jesus’ life. The last time we heard about Jesus was when he was 12 years old and visiting the temple at the end of Luke 2. There’s about a 20 year gap in the history of Jesus’ life that we aren’t told much about in Scripture, but God reassures us here at Jesus’ baptism that during that time Jesus still lived a perfect life and was without sin. Hearing God’s words here reminds us and reassures us that Jesus did live a holy life and fulfilled all the requirements to be our Savior.
Furthermore, God uses the occasion of Jesus’ baptism to show us the Trinity. All three persons of the Trinity are present at Jesus baptism, and all are united in their affirmation of Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus was physically present and submitting to God’s will by being baptized. The Father was present and his words were heard by all the people there as he voiced his approval of Jesus and his work. And we are told in verse 10 that the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove, thus showing the unity of the Trinity. Though there are 3 persons in the Trinity there is one God who is unified in purpose, and that purpose is to save souls through God’s Son and our Savior, Jesus.
It’s interesting to note that Scripture never describes how Jesus was baptized, but rather always focuses on what happens in baptism. God comes to us in baptism. God comes to us as the whole unified Trinity. The Holy Spirit creates faith and God marks us as his own dear children through baptism. God never tells us how Jesus was baptized, other than that there was water and that it was according to God’s command, because baptism is not about what we do. Baptism is entirely about what God does for us.
Medical science has invented many solutions for generic viagra for woman this. A doctor won’t have any problem in prescribing anti-impotency drug to Tadalis then maintain australia viagra buy http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/1482467975_add_file_1.pdf a gap and start fresh course. * If you realize that you have taken an overdose of Kamagra. Despite many opinions and formulations of PE definition, PE is commonly characterized by the inability to delay ejaculation, which occurs during sexual intercourse before or exactly after dispersion. http://icks.org/n/bbs/content.php?co_id=2011&mcode=30&smcode=3090 order viagra This time, only the external and internal conditioning maintenance and minor build in order to truly change generic levitra cheap the face, skin ruddy gloss.
So now having heard about Jesus’ baptism, apply it to yourself… Now that you have looked at what God said to Jesus, what does God say to you?
First and foremost, God speaks to us in baptism by sending his Holy Spirit to create faith in our hearts. God has chosen to work through means, and those means are the means of grace; the Word and the sacraments. Through this sacrament of Holy Baptism, God comes to us and creates the faith through which we receive the blessings his Son died on the cross to win for us.
In baptism we are joined together with Christ in his death and resurrection. Baptism creates the powerful bond that holds us together with Christ and makes the blessings of Christ’s death and resurrection available to us. The power of that bond does not rely on a promise that we make or on anything that we do, but the power of that bond is based on the water combined with the promise of God’s Word. Without the Word the water of baptism is powerless. The power of baptism doesn’t depend on us…on how strong our conviction is, or where we are baptized, or how much water is involved; but depends entirely upon the Word.
A prematurely born baby that is baptized with a few drops of water in the intensive care unit of a hospital receives the same baptism as an adult who stands at the baptismal font here in church to be baptized. Both are baptized with water and the Word and both receive the same benefits of baptism. Both are welcomed by their loving God and given the assurance of their salvation through this means of grace.
In baptism God marks us as his own dear children as we receive the sign of the cross over our heads and hearts. He marks us as his own, just like a shepherd marks the sheep of his flock to let others know they belong to him. Through baptism we become God’s own, not because of anything we do, but entirely because of what God does and says to us.
Through the waters of Holy Baptism, God has called us to be his own. However, that is just the beginning of the story. Just like Jesus’ baptism began his ministry, our baptism is the beginning of our Christian lives. It is the sure foundation upon which our life of faith is built and since it is such a sure foundation we can go back to it for comfort in hard times.
When the troubles of life are attempting to shake your faith remember the solid foundation of your baptism. When you are faced with the possibility of losing a job remember that your salvation is certain. If your health is failing remember the promise God made to you at your baptism, that your sins are forgiven and no disease can take your Savior from you. If the uncertainty of the future seems like too much to bear, fall back on the foundation of your faith…the relationship you have with your Savior through your baptism. In all situations we are sure of our salvation because God says we can be. God voiced his approval of Jesus as our Savior, so since we are joined together with Jesus in baptism you can live securely knowing that, because of Christ, God has voiced his approval of you.
Our focus in baptism should always be like Mark’s in his account of Jesus baptism. One of the characteristics of Mark’s Gospel is that he focusses on the action in his accounts, and in doing so he focuses us on God’s action in baptism because that’s the only action there is. By nature we are spiritual roadkill, unable to move and get across the street. But through the life-giving water and word of Holy Baptism, we are made alive in Christ. In baptism God reassures us that we are no longer slaves to sin and death, but we have been made alive and free through the bond we have with our Savior.
Baptism creates a beautiful image of the incredible power that is found when an awesome natural force like water is coupled with the even more awesome supernatural force of God’s Word. It’s a beautiful image because of its power, but also because it is entirely the work of God’s grace. The focus is always on God’s action; on his words to his Son, and on his words and actions toward us, his children. In all of life’s troubles we can fall back on the solid foundation we have with Christ through baptism. Thanks be to God for the wonderful gifts he has given us, and the awesome assurance we have through baptism.
Amen.