Fire and Water

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

January 7, 2007

John the Baptist was the key figure connecting the dots between the Old and New Testaments. His message and His mission were clear and definite - to prepare the way for Jesus – and Christ’s baptism by John marked the beginning of His public ministry.

Baptism is one of many things in the church that most everyone is familiar with; we’ve heard the word, we’ve seen it done, we know that it is an important part of the Christian experience. But I wonder if we really understand what it’s all about. When did it begin? Why do we do it? What’s the purpose of being baptized? There are several things that we recognize as a part of “church-life” but may not really understand, baptism being one.

So let’s begin with today’s scripture: Why was Jesus baptized?  Scholars have debated this question over and over again, and have found no single answer.

But Jesus came to John the Baptist in order to be baptized.
John’s baptism with water was calling people to repent from their selfish ways, and to instead lead a life of righteousness.
So the very fact that the Son of God would be baptized is startling.  You see, Jesus needed no repentance; He was already perfectly righteous.  

And while Christ’s baptism did not have the same significance as our baptisms, there are some points of commonality:
Both baptisms are acts of obedience through which the baptized experiences God’s grace and favor.

It’s an affirmation that is both personal and public, and both the person being baptized and the people who witness the baptism are made aware of God’s grace.

The difference between Jesus’ baptism and our own is that Jesus had earned God’s favor, and we have not and can not.
So for us, it is an experience of unmerited grace.  This is the way that God’s grace works.

Also, baptism generally occurs at the beginning of our spiritual lives.

If we are baptized as infants, this is a sign of what John Wesley called God’s Prevenient Grace.

This is God’s grace that goes before us, that surrounds us by the community of faith, that gives us roots, and shows us love.

This grace works within our lives--calling us, forming our spiritual lives and bringing us to the point where we are convicted by the Holy Spirit to give our lives completely over to God, usually at confirmation.

Once we have accepted God’s grace for ourselves, and confessed our faith in Christ Jesus as Lord we enter a new stage of grace.

This stage of grace is what John Wesley called Justifying Grace.

This is the point at which we are born again, or saved, and strike out on our Christian journeys. Maybe for you it was at confirmation, maybe at a camp, or like myself, at a later time in life.

If a person was not baptized as an infant, their baptism is the point where they make their public confession of faith, and are baptized in order to witness to the world the outward and visible sign of God’s inward and invisible grace in their lives!

But whether we are baptized as infants or adults, God bestows His grace upon us.

And Holy Baptism is the foremost sign of God’s grace or favor.

And through the amazing grace of baptism God provides us with acceptance, identity, and purpose.  We become part of God’s family.

As a member of God’s family, God gives us the name Christian, and all Christians are called to fulfill God’s purpose here on earth.

But being justified, or saved, is just the beginning.

After Justifying Grace, we enter a new stage of grace that John Wesley called Sanctifying Grace.  This is where we spend the rest of our lives.

This means that now that we have been saved, it’s time to get on with the journey.

And as we get on with the journey, God’s grace moves us toward maturity in the Christian faith as we study His Word, live according to His Word, devote ourselves to a disciplined life of prayer, participate in worship, and serve in the life of the community of faith.

And though there are peaks and valleys in our Christian walk, through God’s grace we continue to grow in our faith, in our knowledge of God, and we become more and more like Christ.

This then, is the Christian journey--the journey toward Christ-like perfection.

None of us will ever obtain perfection in this life, but you begin to notice that you are not the same person that you were a year ago, or even six months ago.

And as we continue to walk hand in hand with Jesus, we find ourselves being more and more transformed into the people we were created to be.....and there is nothing more exciting in the entire world than to realize that you are living your God-given purpose!

Historically, many of our Christian traditions—including baptism—have Jewish roots, exemplified by Jesus and the disciples in Scripture, and baptism finds its roots in the ancient Jewish practice of proselyte baptism.

In our context here, a proselyte is a non-Jewish person becoming a Jewish person.
There was process through which a non-Jew could become a Jewish proselyte, and that process involved three things: a sacrifice, circumcision, and baptism.

Once this process had been completed, the proselyte was now considered to be a Jew in every way. He had fully renounced his previous life and his previous nationality.  All allegiances he had to his previous life ceased to exist, as he was now fully Jewish. He or she was not someone who had simply added Jewish-ness to their old identity, but began a new life.

The same is true in our sacrament of baptism.  Even if one was baptized as an infant, we confirm our choice in the matter in the process of confirmation, publicly stating that we choose to be a Christians and therefore to follow the ways of Christ. 

Whether baptized as an adult or confirmed in our faith, we renounce our previous life and the hold that the world had upon us.  We do not simply add Christian-ness to our old identity, as if it were a club membership, but we die to our old selves and begin a new life in Christ.

As counter-cultural as it seems, we make a covenant and commitment to live for Christ, and pledge to put him first in our lives and place all of our hope and trust in him.

This is what John the Baptist means when he says that Christ will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, because, as it was on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit will come and live within you when you give your life to Christ.

And God’s Spirit will guide you, and even convict you when you act according to your old life.  We sometimes call it guilt, but you know it burns like fire, and it’s the Holy Spirit reminding you of your promise to follow God’s rules and not your own.

But, as we said, it’s a process, a journey, and we (hopefully) learn from our mistakes and shortcomings. 

That’s why I appreciate the use of water in baptism.  When we baptize, the water represents cleansing of sin, a fresh start. It is a visual representation that all of our sin, regardless of how unclean and unworthy we feel we are in the eyes of God, that that sin has been completely washed away through the blood of Christ and we have been cleansed of all unrighteousness.

And we lead a life in which we endeavor to be like Christ.

I believe that I shared this with you two years ago: look at this stone.  See how it has rough, jagged edges?  Our lives are like that. 

God, however, would have us be like this stone, smooth and pleasant to the touch.

Just as a jagged stone placed in a running stream would eventually have its rough edges smoothed, so too is it that the water and fire of our baptisms move us closer to Christ-likeness, and farther from self-indulgence. 

Perhaps in this season of New Year’s resolutions, we should resolve to honor the name of Christian which we bear, and to recommit ourselves to our promise to be intentional disciples of Christ through prayer, Bible study, giving, and service.

But, as we said, it’s a process.  It takes time.  But as you remember your baptism and live in light of Christ’s love for you on the Cross, may your rough edges become smoother day by day.

BAPTISMAL REMEMBRANCE