1/8/12 - Baptism of Christ - Mark 1:9-13

WE WERE HIS MOTIVATION

The Gospel Account of Mark

            The book of Mark is a rapid-fire account of Jesus’ life.  It almost reads like a bullet list of events because Mark doesn’t waste any time.  He doesn’t usually bother elaborating on the basic details of a story.  He doesn’t look to record extended sermons of Jesus or lengthy conversations that the Lord had.  Mark is mainly concerned about what Jesus did.  The miracles he performed, the activities he was involved with, the visible acts of love and mercy and power that he displayed throughout his life.  And so when the author Mark writes about the baptism of Jesus, he doesn’t say anything about the conversation that Jesus had with John the Baptist leading up to that event like the book of Matthew does.  And when Mark tells us about the story of Jesus being led into the desert to be tempted by the devil, he doesn’t spend thirteen verses on that battle like Luke does - instead Mark describes that confrontation in just two verses.  No matter what Mark writes about he always seems to want to get to the point as quickly as possible and move on.  And you can see that from the very first chapter of his book.

            At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.  That’s as much as Mark tells us about these two monumental events in Jesus’ life.  Short and sweet and to the point.  But even though he doesn’t say a lot, what he does tell us is enough to make us sit up and notice at least two things: 1) how soon Jesus got to work for our salvation the moment he began his public ministry and 2) his willingness to do it.  For the first 30 years of Jesus’ life he wasn’t involved with preaching and teaching in a public capacity.  But from the moment he was baptized and the Father spoke from heaven claiming him as his Son and the Holy Spirit physically came down in the form of a dove, his public service officially began.  And once it started he jumped into action and never looked back.

What Moved Him?

            Notice that Jesus didn’t bask in the glow of that baptismal event for any length of time.  He didn’t go to Jerusalem and look for a part time job to generate some income.  He didn’t try to ease his way into this new preaching and teaching gig by taking his time.  No, Mark clearly says that right after Jesus was baptized “At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.”  There was no pause.  There was no down time.  Jesus went right into the desert to be harassed and harangued by the devil himself for over a month straight!  And if we were to read on in the book of Mark, the very next couple verses after this showdown in the desert talk about Jesus going on a preaching tour among the people; the next three verses speak about the calling of Andrew and Peter as his original disciples; and the next two verses after that describe the calling of James and John.  And so within the span of 11 verses in the middle of Mark’s very first chapter, Jesus goes from a man no one knows to a well-known leader with 4 of his 12 disciples already in tow.  Now there were certainly other things that happened in between these events recorded for us in the book of Mark.  But when you read through his account you can start to clearly see all of the things that Jesus did for the good of our salvation and how tireless he was in that pursuit.  He did not let up.  He did not hold back.  He forged ahead at a frantic pace, pushing his human body to the extremes every single day.

            But why?  Why would God himself, for whom the skies ripped open when he was baptized, about whom the Father audibly spoke from heaven for all to hear, upon whom the Holy Spirit physically rested in visible form… why would this almighty God do the things that he did on this earth?  What moved him to allow himself to be lead into the desert just to be tormented by the angel he had kicked out of heaven?  What moved him to immediately begin preaching the gospel to a people who did not want to hear it?  What moved him to soon after pick disciples who would end up letting him down on a number of occasions and actually run away from him at the end of his life?  That which moved Jesus to do everything that Mark tells us he did was you.

            You were Jesus’ motivation.  You were the reason he instantly threw himself into the gauntlet of temptation and persecution.  You were the goal.  You were the prize.  You were the person always on his mind as he suffered and agonized and endured everything that he had to undergo.   Because your life was at stake.  Your forgiveness was on the line.  Your eternity was hanging in the balance and so Jesus did not hesitate to sacrifice every ounce of energy and every minute of his time to win it for you.  From the Jordan River to the desert to Capernaum to the villages throughout Galilee and beyond, Jesus instantly dedicated every waking moment to your salvation.  And he did not stop until it was finished.

A Lack of Dedication

            Do you know the story behind the race that we now call the “marathon”?  It is said that this 26.2 mile contest came into existence in commemoration of a man named Phidippides who ran 26 miles from the plains of Marathon to the Greek city of Athens in order to announce a great victory over the Persian army.  But because Phidippides had been called on to run several hundred miles just before the battle began to gather support from the Spartans, this final 26 mile run was his last.  Because he ran so hard and so fervently from Marathon to Athens, after he delivered his message to the anxious citizens of Athens he collapsed and died from exhaustion. 

            Phidippides had undoubtedly ran with a single-minded purpose.  He was intent on doing what needed to be done and he was not going to let anything keep him from it.  He did not stop.  He did not get distracted.  He spent himself; he drained himself of everything he had, moved by the message he carried.

            We as Christians should have a single-minded purpose as well.  We should be absolutely intent on doing everything that the Lord has asked us to do and carrying out everything that the Lord wants us to carry out.  We should be so focused on our God and his Word that we do not stop, that we do not get distracted by things around us.  We should be so moved by our desire to thank our Lord that we spend ourselves, completely drain ourselves of everything we have.  As Christians, we should be none other than a spiritual Phidippides on this 26.2 mile course of life.

            But I sure can’t claim that kind of dedication.  I can’t in good conscience brag that I have completely spent myself and fully drained myself for the Lord throughout my life.  In fact, the only claim I could make is to have done the opposite.  The Lord hasn’t always been the motivation for the things I have done.  His Word has not always been the reason behind the words I’ve said.  His wishes have not always inspired the things I have thought.  I’ve slowed my pace at times so that I could have some energy left for what I want and what I like.  I’ve stopped at times because something on the side of the road seemed a little more interesting than the course I was on.  I’ve sat down and rested at times because being a Christian isn’t easy and it’s hard to constantly be on top of everything that the Lord says all the time.  It’s exhausting.  It’s tiring.  It’s time consuming.  But it’s no excuse.

He is Still Moved by Us

            At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.  Jesus didn’t come to this earth and undergo everything that Mark talks about because the Lord expected that we would return the favor.  He didn’t go out into the desert to fight the devil because he thought we would always fight for him.  Jesus didn’t tirelessly continue on towards hatred and abandonment and unjust punishment because we would be able to somehow pay him back in some way.  Jesus did what he did because that’s what we needed him to do.  That’s it.  He was moved by us.  He was moved by our helplessness.  He was moved by our hopelessness.  He was moved by what he wanted for us.  He was so moved that he gave up his own life for us!  But Jesus wasn’t just moved by us in the past.  He still is.

            Jesus still is moved by our situation.  And so as he sits on his throne next to his Father, he continues to act and control and guide and steer and shape things that happen in this world for your benefit.  You could even go as far to say that, according to what the Bible says about our Lord, everything single thing he does is with you on his mind.  He places the stars in the skies and directs the planets in their orbits for you.  He sends the rains and makes the sun shine for you.  He opens different doors and provides various opportunities for you.  He preserves his Word and announces his forgiveness and clarifies the effects of his cross for you.  He truly is moved by you.  And as far as we know: there is nothing else he thinks about other than you. 

He is Our Motivation

            How can we not be moved by this kind of love?  How can we not be motivated by our Lord’s dedication to us and to his constant care and attention?  His devotion to us is so overwhelming - especially since we don’t deserve a second of his time or an ounce of his affection.  And yet he gives it to us every day in thousands of ways and he always will.

            I would hope that Jesus was your motivation for coming here today - for singing loudly, for listening intently, for praying passionately.  But as you go back home this afternoon, don’t let that motivation slip away.  Keep Jesus as the reason you say the words that you say to that family member who gets on your nerves.  Keep Jesus as the motivation for how you are going to do the things you do this evening.  Keep Jesus as the source of what you want to think about.  And it doesn’t have to be something extraordinary!  You can cook a meal with Jesus as your motivation!  You can fix a doorknob with Jesus as your motivation!  You can walk the dog with Jesus as your motivation!  The simple everyday things that you do and say can and should be moved by your Lord.  Enjoy it!  Work on it!  Consciously think about it today: “How can I thank my Lord by what I do?  How can I thank my Lord by what I say?  How can I thank my Lord by how I act?”  Because just as you are his motivation, he is yours.  What other motivation do you need?  What better motivation could there be?

            Phidippides was certainly motivated.  He ran and he ran hard.  But he didn’t run for himself.  There was something bigger, something greater he was running for.  We have something bigger and greater to run for us well.  But we don’t run to get to heaven, we run because Jesus has already promised us that prize when we reach the finish line.  And so we run in thanks, in praise, in a deep gratitude for what our Lord has done.  And so run hard.  Enjoy it!  But run hard.  Run as Christ has already run for you.

            Amen.

“May the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”  - 2 Thess. 2:16-17

1/1/12 - New Year's Day - Psalm 138:2

LOOKING BACK & LOOKING AHEAD

Looking Back on Our Sins

            Day number one.  This is day number one out of 366 this leap year since February 29^th is included in the calendar this time around.  366 days of 2012 that we have to look forward to.  And 365 days of 2011 to look back on.  It’s natural at this time of year to look back and reflect on the things that have happened in the 12 months previous as well as to look forward and anticipate what might happen in the months to come.  And, depending on the year, sometimes there are enjoyable memories that you never want to forget and at other times there are things you wished you never remembered.  There may be events that you eagerly anticipate in the future and there may be some inevitable dates on the calendar that you would rather avoid if at all possible.  In any case, on January 1^st of any given year, you are standing on top of a high mountain peak in a way.  You can look back at where you’ve been and see the bumps and the rocks and the beautiful grassy meadows where you had walked, but you can also turn around and look to where you’re headed; and although it’s a little misty up here and it’s hard to make out the exact details of what lies ahead, you can see some possible summits that you might like to get to as well as some dark and intimidating canyons that you would like to get around somehow. 

            And we’ve done a little bit of that already this morning, haven’t we?  We’ve looked back at how the Lord has blessed this congregation through baptism and through the Lord’s Supper and through his powerful written Word.  And I’d like to do that a little more on an individual scale.  We’ve looked back as a group of Christians, but now let’s do so as individual Christians.  And after we take a look back at our Christian lives this year then we can look ahead at the year to come.

            Let me start with this question: How was this past year for you as far as your faith was concerned?  Was 2011 good for your faith or did your faith in your Lord waver a bit?  Do you think that your relationship with your Lord grew stronger, or did you end up farther away than when you started?  Is your faith the same?  Maybe it didn’t go up or down at all but was kind of static and unchanging?  Here’s a question to ask yourself that might help you measure the strength of your spiritual life this past year: How would you describe your sins in 2011?  More?  Less?  New and unanticipated sins or the familiar and the reoccurring sins that seem to pop up year after year? 

            Let me ask an even more difficult question: If you were to guess, how many sins do you think you committed this past year?  And, of course, remember that it’s not just your actions that count, it’s also your innermost thoughts as well.  It’s not just what you do, it’s also what you don’t do that should have been done.  It’s not just what you get caught doing, it’s the very attitude you go about doing things.  It’s not just what you can recall, it includes everything you didn’t even realize was a sin in the first place.  And also consider that the Bible says “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), and “no one has done good, not even one” (Rom. 3:12), and “every inclination of the thoughts of our hearts are only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5).   Realistically, we’ve committed more sins this past year than we can count, haven’t we?  Which makes sense because if we can never reach God’s perfect standard in what we do or say or think, then everything we do or say or think is imperfect and, therefore, filled with sin.

            It’s kind of disheartening to look back on all of our sins, isn’t it?  At least for me it is!  I don’t really like looking back and evaluating how many times I’ve gone against God’s Word.  It’s embarrassing.  It’s frustrating that I couldn’t have done better.  And it seems to be the same thing every year.  There’s never been a January 1^st when I’ve looked back on the year gone by and have thought to myself: “Wow, I did pretty good this year!  I’m proud of the level I reached!  I have no regrets about any of the sins I’ve committed!”

Looking Back on God’s Name and his Word

            King David probably had that same guilty feeling at the beginning of quite of few of the years he lived on this earth.  Some years were good for him, but some were not so good.  And in the Psalms that he wrote he does show his distress quite a bit about some of the things he had done in the past.  But as he looks back and considers his Christian life especially in Psalm138, there’s something else he notices as well.  “I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.”  David remembered his sins, there’s no doubt about that.  He understood how ugly they were and how miserable he had been.  But what he also recognized was that throughout the years the Lord’s love and the Lord’s faithfulness had never failed.  And no matter how many sins David had committed and no matter how grotesque they may have been, the Lord had exalted his name and his Word above them all.

            God’s name is something special.  And not just because it’s God’s name but because his name tells us exactly what he has done for us.  And he has a lot of names!  He is called the “I AM” because he has always existed and he always will.  He is called the Creator because he has hand-made everything we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.  He is called the Redeemer because he bought us back from the prison cell of sin.  He is called the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Door, the Shepherd, the Vine, the Bread of Life.  He is called Jesus because he saves his people from their sins.  He is called the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Resurrection and the Life.  And notice how this small sampling of names describes our God: they describe him as a patient God, a caring God, a loving God, a forgiving God.  These names characterize our Lord as someone who is not a harsh judge that will pour out his wrath on his children, but rather someone who will go to the extremes to save his children from those punishments that we deserve.  Our God has exalted his name, every name he has, above all things - including our sins.  And the way he exalts his name is by exalting his Word.

            His Word, written down for us in the pages of Scripture, is the only way we know about his name.  It is the only avenue in which we are brought to faith in a patient God, a caring God, a loving God, and a forgiving God.  We would still be depressed about our sins and worried about their consequences if it were not for this Word.  And look back at this past year: His Word and his name have always been there for you!  He has provided you with countless opportunities to hear his Word and read his Word and sing his Word and study his Word.  He has reminded you through his Word about his name of Peace at Christmas, his name of Prophet at Epiphany, his name of Priest at Lent, and his name of King at Easter.  He has brought you back through his Word time and time again to his name of The Sufferer and The Crucified and The Buried and The Risen.  He has not let you forget about what he has done and what he has accomplished.  So that whenever you were distressed by a sin, his cross that you find in his Word was right there to overshadow it.  Whenever you felt guilty because of your inadequacy, the blessings of the Word in your baptism was brought back to your mind.  Whenever you were weighed down with misery, his actual body and blood were given to you once again in the Lord’s Supper to comfort your soul.  His Word and his name have been constant this past year.  Which should not be a surprise for us since his Word and his name have been something Christians have been able to depend on for thousands of years.  Yes, 2011 was filled with sins and mistakes and disappointments and regrets, but God’s name and his Word were made greater than them all.

Looking Ahead to Our Sins

            And that bodes well for the year to come, doesn’t it?  Will you commit a whole slew of sins in 2012?  Most definitely.  Will you commit more sins than you did in 2011?  I hope not!  I really truly hope that I will be able to cut down and cut back and hem in those awful things that I do and say and think against God’s Word.  Because that’s the goal, isn’t it?  To continually get better and improve - not to gain the Lord’s favor of course but because this is a way we can thank our Lord for his favor.  Of course, I know that no matter how hard I try and no matter how noble my intentions are, there will be times that I will stumble.  There will be situations that I will not handle as I should.  There will be moments that get the best of me.  And, unfortunately, that will be true for you as well. 

            2012 will not always be pretty.   In fact, 2012 will probably be a lot like 2011 as far as sinfulness goes.  It will have its share of setbacks and failures and frustrations.  And many of them will happen because of you.  As long as you are on this earth you will sin.  You will break God’s law.  You will go against his Word.  You will not measure up to every single command in every single way.  Welcome to the club!  But that should not discourage you to the point of despair.  Because as you look ahead to this year we are beginning today, you know what else lies in front of you.  Not just your sins, but God’s name and his Word that are exalted above them all.

Looking Ahead to God’s Name and his Word

            Inevitably you will have a rough week sometime in this next year.  But when you do, when you are physically, emotionally, and psychologically exhausted from the seven days you spent dabbling in your inadequacies, where can you go?  You can go to your God’s house and listen to his Word and be comforted by his name.  Inevitably you will have a bad day this next year.  But when you do, when nothing seems to be going right, where can you turn?  You can turn to your Bible in your own home and read his Word and be lifted up by his name.  Inevitably you will struggle, you will fail, you won’t know what else to do.  But when those things happen, on what can you depend?  You can depend on your Lord’s Word and his name that is proclaims.  And when 2012 is over and done with and you are standing on January 1^st 2013 looking back at this year and looking ahead to the next, what will you be able to say?  You will be able to say exactly what you can say today, exactly what Kind David said 3000 years ago, “I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.” 

            The future looks bright, doesn’t it?  I’m not saying that life will be easy for you this year or that it will always be enjoyable or that you won’t really have any problems simply because you trust in your Savior to take care of things!  But I am saying this: when those problems do plague your life in the days and the weeks and the months to come, when things aren’t so enjoyable, when things are more difficult than you can handle, there will always be something you can count on: God’s name and God’s Word.  God’s name and God’s Word do not change with the seasons.  They do not vary with the weather.  They do not need to be modified with the times.  They do not need to be updated with the trends.  God’s name and God’s Word remain the same.  Cling to them.  Lean on them.  Depend on them for everything in 2012 just like you’ve always been able to do before.

            Amen.

“May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us.”  - 1 Kings 8:57