Diamonds and Pearls

 

Little Bunny Foofoo

 

Ready For Church

 

I Love This Girl

 

Here’s Water, Why Not (Acts 8:26-40)

We’ve been talking about the beauty of baptism for several weeks now. We have fairly scrupulously avoided all the typical arguments about baptism and focused instead on the simple declarations we’re making as we joyously plunge ourselves into a fully baptized Christian life. We’ve tried as much as possible to talk about baptism with a capital “B”; baptism as a beautiful, sweeping metaphor for all we truly are and all we truly want to be as followers of Jesus.

And now today we finally come to the lovely waters. Today everything comes down to the one simple question. Open your Bibles to Acts 8:26-40 (page 1001 in your pew Bibles), the story of the powerful, early church evangelist Philip and a powerful foreigner seeking God.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road--the desert road--that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

This is yet another of my very favorite Bible moments. We could explore this passage together for hours, (I hope one day to actually have the honor and the time to write a book on this man Philip and this very pregnant Scripture passage!), but today there are only two simple elements of the Bible story I believe the Spirit would have us consider. There are two distinct callings for us in this passage, reflecting two different baptismal embraces. Let me explain.

The Disciple

The first element we absolutely must notice in this story is the glorious disciple in it; the powerful evangelist Philip. It would be criminal to ignore the significance of this disciple. As far as I can tell, this fellow did absolutely everything correctly. By all accounts, according to verses 6-8 of this same chapter, Philip was enjoying a powerfully, successful ministry when God called him into the wilderness for completely unknown reasons. Leave your very successful ministry behind, hit the lonely road and embrace risk and insignificance! Embrace your demotion! God never told him why he was going to the lonely road, but good Philip obeyed. The great Philip encountered a powerful, wealthy man (probably accompanied by a reasonably scary protective detail) and Philip risked approaching that scary man’s caravan only when he sensed the Spirit ordering him to do so. He heard the Ethiopian seeker reading from Isaiah and Philip opened the conversation by asking the man a question driven by the man’s needs. He not only met the eunuch where he was on the road, he met him where he was in life and in the Word. And then wonderfully, this great disciple Philip was wisely familiar enough with the full Word of God to explain everything the Ethiopian needed to know about Jesus the Messiah. This is one of the most perfect illustrations of evangelism and discipleship in the entire Bible.

If you’re here as a baptized believer this morning, this disciple is God’s call to you. In a general sense, this is what our lives are supposed to look like. Obedience, risk, and powerfully guided by the Spirit; constantly engaging the world with the Word of God at specifically the world’s desperate point of need. Philip is a gorgeous example of a fully embraced baptism. If you’ve already embraced these waters, then God is calling you to demonstrate that embrace. In your own uniquely gifted way and place in the world, God is calling you to be a Philip.

The Question

But the second, far more important element of the text for us today is found in verse 36. After Almighty God did all His cool stuff with Philip, after Philip obeyed, after the Spirit moved into the seeking heart of the Ethiopian eunuch, there was only question remaining. There is always, ultimately only one question ever remaining in our conversation with God.

Here’s water, why not?

I believe God wants us to notice the disciple Philip. But I believe His heart breaks for some of us to finally embrace this moment and fully answer this question.

Our entire lives are nothing but a string of critically important questions Almighty God places in front of us. Every single day offers us another collection of questions; opportunities to either obey or rebel, rejoice or reject, go forward or grow more deeply entrenched where we are. Every time Almighty God brings another powerful Philip conversation into our lives, every time the Spirit quietly whispers something precious into our heart, we are given the question.

Here’s water, why not?

What are you going to do with the question? While the ripple effects of this question affect many things, while the symbolic waves of these waters should end up changing your life dramatically, this question isn’t about what people around you might think. This question isn’t about what a good or bad Christian you are. This moment isn’t about some class you’ve now completed. This moment isn’t about settling some religion argument with others or rejecting someone else’s religious beliefs. And even though our church emphasizes the importance of baptism by connecting it to church membership, this moment isn’t about church membership or some sort of church status. While the ripple effects are huge, this moment is simply about all the wonderful things the Holy Spirit has been whispering in your ear this month about how and for whom you’ve been living your life. This question simply asks what kind of Christ follower you truly want to be and what declarations you want to make for the rest of your life.

Here’s water, why not? That’s it. Every day, for the rest of our lives, resolving to wholeheartedly answer yes to God’s questions. What is your life going to be about?

Some of us are Philip, called to fully embrace the baptism we have received. But some of us are not. Some of us have been met by God on the road. You know who you are. If you sense the Holy Spirit nudging you with this question today, if God is offering you this baptismal moment, don’t hold back for any reason. We have robes, towels and extra clothes available today for anyone who wants to respond; you are as prepared as you’ll probably ever be. The Ethiopian eunuch in our story today never took a baptismal class or sent an RSVP to his pastor! And you don’t have to either. Just listen and obey what the Spirit is saying to you today.

Here’s water, why not?

Amen.

Chaos Whistling

I discovered a chaos whistler in our apartment building this morning. Do you know the kind of person I'm talking about? Somebody who cheerfully whistles away the day, without bothering to necessarily follow any particular tune, rhythm or musical rules? They don't have any significant musical talent and they certainly aren't making any sort of intellectual point; they are just enjoying the day enough to not care whether the music makes sense. Let the whistle go wherever it will!

My guy at the New Boston Square apartment building this morning was whistling to himself loudly as he walked down the third floor hallway, whistled himself onto the elevator and was still whistling nonsensically and very loudly when I came out the stairwell in the basement garage. His whistle went chaotically everywhere and the guy didn't even care...he cheered me up and didn't even know it.

There's something very, very important about this. I haven't quite put a finger on it yet. But there is something valuable in this kind of chirpy joy. Don't you think?

Here's to the chaos whistlers among us!

Life Without Peanuts

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect,
but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
~ Philippians 3:12

I got a package yesterday. Unlike my Amazon deliveries, the materials I received yesterday were packed in a box full of Styrofoam packing peanuts. I don’t like packing peanuts. They cling to stuff, they float away under furniture, they don’t crush or disintegrate well in the trash – they are a nuisance. Unlike bubble wrap able to amuse me (and annoy those around me!), packing peanuts aren’t even much fun. But they do protect my stuff.

I’ve got a lot of packing peanuts in my life. I’ve got a lot of things stuffed into the box to protect me. I keep several different insurance policies consistently paid up to protect my family against health, home, auto and life risks. We keep food in the refrigerator to protect us from hunger. We keep books on our shelves, a television in a corner and music everywhere to stave off boredom. We keep money in a savings account, retirement plans and other places to protect us from what might come in the future. We drive cheap cars and avoid debt. I’ve got a lot of practical peanuts.

But I think I’ve got some spiritual peanuts too. While I don’t consider myself a particularly legalistic person, it is certainly true I have my superficial list of religious preferences and credentials. As the Apostle Paul discussed in the third chapter of Philippians, I too have my “reasons to put confidence in the flesh.” I have a story I sometimes consider much more important than it is. I have a long list of peanuts I sometimes foolishly believe protect me from spiritual scrutiny and ridicule – a list of religious behaviors and attitudes I believe protect me from judgment and godly reproach.

Paul calls all this stuff rubbish. Paul, in Philippians 3:7-8 declares “whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.” Whatever I previously considered valuable, profitable or spiritually protective is absolutely nothing compared to the simple pleasure of knowing Christ Jesus.

I wonder if it’s possible to live life without peanuts. I wonder what that truly looks like. Some peanuts, kept in proper perspective, are simply good, godly stewardship. We all know that’s true. But I wonder how many peanuts I could and should do without. Earlier in Philippians, Paul famously described how Jesus “made himself nothing.” Jesus humbled himself and set aside everything that we might truly gain everything. And this truth is made even more stunning when we consider the “peanuts” Jesus said aside! Jesus gave up everything for us.

What peanuts, protections and pleasures should I be willing to set aside that others might gain? As I, like Paul, struggle to “press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me,” what peanuts are just getting in the way?

Yesterday (purely for use as a metaphor in this article you understand) I ate a few of those chewy, old, orange marshmallow circus peanuts. You know – those yummy things your dad used to keep in the glove compartment of his pickup until they were hard as a brick? Mm, mm, good! Daddy like! I ate them even though, truth be told, I already know full well these are peanuts I should absolutely avoid. The minute my sweet, skinny Monica reads this newsletter article, that fact will be made abundantly clear to me! These are easy and obvious peanuts I need to ditch. But what about those peanuts in my life I’ve come to believe I somehow deserve? As we stand this month in the shadow of the bloody, gruesome Good Friday cross and hear Jesus calling us once again to take up our own cross, what if my cross includes leaving behind some things I truly cherish? Some things I think I’ve earned or deserve? What if my embrace of Resurrection Sunday joy includes a life without all the peanuts I’ve come to trust and enjoy over the years? As Dietrich Bonhoeffer so beautifully said years ago, “When Jesus calls us, he bids us come and die.” At the risk of sounding silly, Jesus calls us to enjoy a life without unnecessary peanuts.

As we ponder the Cross and rejoice in the Empty Tomb again this month, let’s ask ourselves what rubbish we too must leave behind as we press onward.

May God help us love life without peanuts!

Amen.

The Baptismal Cannonball (Matthew 28:16-20)

My good friend Peggy Erzar from Ely sent me a funny video clip a couple weeks ago. Two young brothers were apparently getting baptized. The older brother’s baptism goes off without a hitch, but the younger brother decides to make a somewhat more dramatic entrance into the baptistry. I know the quality of the clip is poor, but I’m sure you’ll catch the idea…



Is this disrespectful or might this be the perfect illustration of what baptism is?

Open your Bibles to Matthew 28:16-20. You already know this famous passage. Jesus has been crucified, died and resurrected. He has already appeared to His remaining eleven disciples in various ways. But now, perhaps to accommodate a much larger crowd (such as the 500 witnesses mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:6), arrangements were made to meet the risen LORD Jesus on a mountainside in Galilee. This is one of many important mountainside moments in the life of Christ. He shared His greatest sermon on a mountain. He was transfigured on a mountain. He fed the 4,000 on a mountain. He would soon ascend again to His Father from a mountain. While we will never know if all these things took place on the same mountain, it is nonetheless very fitting that these great words would come from Jesus on yet another mountainside moment of His life.

And it is also wonderfully fitting for Matthew to tell us that mingled into the wonderful worship that day was some serious doubt. Just like today, some worshipped, some doubted and perhaps some did a bit of both! While all Jerusalem knew the amazing stories about Jesus, there was still some doubt. There was confusion. There was some uncertainty about what everything meant and what came next. And so Jesus Christ came and clarified things; clearly and concisely explaining the great, cannonball splash the disciples were to make on the world.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Our culture doesn’t like bombastic, all-encompassing truth statements anymore, does it? Truth statements like these are like cannonballs in the tub; they make a mess. They disturb our religion and surprise us. And yet there are at least four baptismal cannonballs in this short five verse passage. Interestingly enough, at least one scholar argues these four critically important, cannonballing truth statements come close to summarizing the entire message and meaning of the Gospel of Matthew. When we embrace our LORD Jesus in a fully baptized life of Christian discipleship, I believe we are embracing four, very splashy, very joyous truths.

All Authority

The first of these truths is found in the “all” statement of verse 18. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Before we talk about anything, folks, before we go anywhere or do anything at all religious, we must understand that we are not in charge of anything. Our baptism cannonballs our recognition of the full authority of Jesus.

I have no authority of my own. As hard as I try to speak authoritatively and powerfully to the world around me, ultimately, I have and am no authority on anything. As much as I prayerfully and sincerely hope I will prove myself trustworthy, I must not even try to get any of you to trust me; I must try to get all of us to trust Jesus. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus Christ, not to me, not to you, not to Mohammed, Buddha, L. Ron Hubbard, Gandhi or any other religious celebrity. All authority has been given to Jesus. The minute we forget this and assume some perverse, arrogant, divine right to control this body of Christ/Christianity thing, we forfeit the right to do or say anything in the name of Jesus.

How much fighting and failure is there in the Christian church today simply because we forget who is really in charge? To be fully baptized into Jesus Christ is to utterly reject the idea of controlling your life or anyone else’s. I know the idea of giving up control and authority isn’t popular these days, it is wildly counter-cultural, but it is the true way of the Cross.

Susan Kimber told the story years ago of her frustrating struggle with her strong-willed son, Thomas. She said once, when he was three, she “looked him in the eye and asked a question I felt sure would bring him immediately into line: "Thomas, who is in charge here?" Not missing a beat, our monstrous Sunday-school-born-and-bred toddler replied, "Jesus is.”

Inasmuch as that wasn’t exactly the answer Mommy was looking for at that moment, inasmuch as little Thomas probably still has much to learn about Jesus being in charge, it was the correct answer, wasn’t it? It was the only answer upon which a Christian life can be built.

All Nations

And yet Jesus didn’t leave the conversation there, did He? Look at verse 19 for the next cannon-balling, all encompassing truth statement in this passage. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son & Holy Spirit.” The universal authority given to Jesus results directly in the universal mission given the church. Our baptism is our splashy, cannonball embrace of the disciple-making mission given us by Jesus.

I know grammar can be boring and unpopular, but there’s something very important in the grammar of verses 19 and 20 we must notice. We must understand that there is only one imperative verb in these two verses; the command to “make disciples.” The other verbs (going, baptizing and teaching) are only present participles. They only become imperative commands because of their connection to the fully imperative “making disciples.” And this means all this “going, baptizing and teaching” stuff is assumed! It means we are all naturally and constantly going to be doing those things as we make disciples of all nations. We all have one mission!

Going is assumed! Baptizing is assumed! Teaching is assumed! As Keith Green once got himself in trouble for saying, “This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls!” When Jesus met these folks on the mountain, He was announcing the time had finally come to get moving. Jesus proclaimed His disciple-making concern for all nations. In baptism, we are bombastically embracing our Christian disciple-making mission.

All Obedient

And that brings us to the third great cannonball statement. Look again at the first part of verse 20 where Jesus says we are to be “teaching them to obey everything [all] I have commanded you.” Jesus has been given all authority. He has ordered us to make disciples of all nations. But we also must understand the standard for all of us as disciples is that we would be all obedient; that we would obey everything Jesus taught. This is cannonball obedience!

A disciple is not a religious spectator. A disciple is someone who goes far beyond simply hearing the commands of Jesus. A disciple is someone longing to obey. A disciple is someone longing to put the teaching and example of Jesus into practice; to fully baptize themselves into the death of Jesus and be fully raised together into new life in Jesus. As Frances Bacon once said, “It is not what men eat, but what they digest that makes them strong; not what we gain, but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read, but what we remember that makes us learned; not what we preach or pray, but what we practice, obey and believe that makes us Christians.” We want to make disciples. We desperately want to be made disciples.

Jennifer Jarrett told a great obedience story years ago about her little girl. She said, “One day I asked my little girl Catherine where her slippers were. “Downstairs in the kitchen,” she told me. “What are they doing there, honey?” I asked. “Well nothing, Mommy!” she replied. “They can't walk because they don't have feet in them right now.” Duh!

We aren’t disciples unless and until we obediently put feet into our faith. We are not disciples of Christ unless and until we obey all Jesus taught us. We aren’t here for religious instruction or weekly religious entertainment. We aren’t here to pad the numbers or make ourselves popular. We are here to make better disciples; to help all people do a better job of obeying all Jesus taught us. When we enter these baptismal waters, we are expressing our cannonball desires to obey all Jesus taught and modeled for us. Disciples are all obedient.

All Present

And now look, fourth and finally, at the last “all” statement at the very end of verse 20. All authority belongs to Jesus. We are to make disciples of all nations. We are to obey all Jesus taught us, but fourth and finally, we must never forget our Lord Jesus Christ is always with us. “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We aren’t alone in this thing!

There are two important facts to remember about this final sweeping “all” statement. First of all, please notice that this is a yet another direct claim to divinity by Jesus. This is a claim to omnipresence and only the one true God gets to do that! Jesus is making yet another claim to deity here! Saying stuff like this either makes Him crazy or God – you decide which!

But secondly, and far, far more importantly, Jesus Christ is telling us we will never be alone in all this stuff. I’m not going to lie to you! Yes, we are surrendering all authority and control of our lives to Jesus and that isn’t an easy thing to do. Yes, we are attempting to make disciples of all nations and that is a very difficult thing to do. That is a crazy hard thing to do! And yes, as baptized disciples of Jesus we are resolving to obey not just the letter, but the spirit of all Jesus modeled and taught. And that is a downright impossible thing to do! These three cannonball statements would be absurdly, laughably impossible for us even to attempt were it not for this fourth and final “all” statement. The fourth and final “all” statement is the only thing making the rest of this stuff palatable, possible and, amazingly, even pleasurable!

I am with you always, even to the end of the age! I am with you! The more we come to enjoy this constant, comforting presence of Jesus, the more we will long to do all the other things. We will long to surrender control. We will long to tell the story. We will long to obey.

And if you’ll let me get away with just one more moment of tedious grammar this morning, did you notice Jesus said “I am with you always” and not “I will be with you, I might be with you, I could be with you, I should be with you, I’ll think about it” or some other weak, qualified statement? We can trust His constant presence! We can joyously trust the I AM is all present in our lives! We can do all these things through Christ, who gives us strength!

Kathy Martin told the story years ago of the day her “three-year-old cousin, Mark, accidentally spilled his fruit punch on the floor one day. He decided to clean up the mess himself and dashed to the back porch to get the mop. Suddenly realizing it was dark outside, he became apprehensive about reaching out the door for the mop. His mother reminded him Jesus is present with him everywhere--even in the dark. Mark thought for a minute. Then, putting his face to the door, he said, "Jesus, if you're out there, will you hand me the mop?”

Jesus is out there! Jesus is in here! And He will be here for us in any and every scary situation we find ourselves in. We can trust His authority. We can make disciples in His name. We can obey His instructions. And we can do these things because we are not alone in this.

This might be the most central and critically important point of Matthew’s entire gospel. Matthew introduced Jesus Christ to us in verse 23 of the first chapter as the Emmanuel, God with us, and Matthew closes his gospel story by sharing the very same message. I am with you, even to the very end of the age! Emmanuel is found at both ends of the Gospel!

When we joyously cannonball ourselves into these beautiful baptismal waters, we are embracing all four of these enormous, big splash, truth statements. We are surrendering. We are embracing our mission. We are obeying. We are joyously acknowledging His constant presence in our lives. We are cannon-balling ourselves into the waters!

May we long to do so!

Amen.

Escape From The Deep (Alex Kershaw)

In October 1944, the U.S. Navy submarine TANG, already famous as the most effective attack sub in the Pacific theater, was sunk by one of its own malfunctioning torpedoes. Nine of the crew managed to miraculously escape, only to find themselves captured, starved and horrifically brutalized by the Japanese. Drawing from interviews and personal accounts of many of these survivors, author Alex Kershaw dramatically captures their story. This book is a riveting look into the dangerous and deadly world of the submarine in combat. It is yet another tragic portrayal of often-ignored Japanese evils before and during the war. And finally, above all, it is a very difficult book to put down.

Once again I find myself in awe of my father's generation and the high price they paid to fight what truly needed fighting. There is much to be learned from these stories and these people.

Picking The Fight (Matthew 3:1-4:1)

In the fall of 1970, as a nine year old boy, freshly saved and scrubbed after an exciting week of “Thief In The Night” movies and little boy prayer at Frontier Bible Camp that summer, I climbed down into the warm watered baptistry of the lovely, old Maynard Baptist Church and was immersion baptized by the right, feisty Reverend Wesley Thompson. I honestly believe I meant every promise I made to God that night, even though I didn’t fully understand them and haven’t lived like I meant them. My Sunday School teacher, Marge Tuninga, and others said I should do it and so I did it and now I’ve got that part of the whole Christian deal over and done with...right? Check the block on that little bit of religion; what’s next?

Aside from when I’ve had to, I’ve never really preached much about baptism over the years. Mainly I’ve avoided the subject because other people spend too much time arguing about it. For some reason, baptism is one of those pesky, contentious issues bringing out the cussed crankiness in church people. This crabby conversation keeps us in different buildings on Sundays. People argue about how and when we’re supposed to do it. They argue about its proper relation to local church membership. They argue about what fancy theological labels we’re going to use for it and who gets to be in charge of it. Yada, yada, yada! I guess I just got sick of all the fighting and so, mostly, I dumped the whole subject for years.

But that’s a bad idea because baptism is a beautiful metaphor; a powerful declaration. I sincerely believe our enemy the devil would like nothing more than for us to drop the subject permanently. And as I watch the cheap grace, empty, irrelevant, narcisstic, truthless, toothless, lukewarm, nauseating, self-absorbed “easy-believism” passed off as genuine Christian faith all around our world these days, I wonder if baptism isn’t something we ought to be preaching and teaching almost constantly. Perhaps spending regular moments prayerfully pondering baptism will help us understand how we’re supposed to be doing almost everything else as Christians.

Turn to Matthew 3. Skipping almost the entire childhood, adolescence and young adult work life of Jesus, the Gospel writer Matthew jumps decades forward between the last verse of chapter 2 and first verse of chapter 3. At the time of these wilderness baptismal events, there have been no powerful prophets in Israel for over 400 years and now, shouting loudly from the exact same wilderness area from which God spoke so many times in the past, comes the loud, counter-cultural voice of one of God’s very special saints, the wild man prophet, John the Baptizer. Rebellion, revolution and the possibility of sweet revival are in the air…the Spirit of God is once again hovering low over the waters.

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. 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 lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

This is an enormous baptismal and spiritual moment! All the gospel writers skip almost all the stories of Jesus’ early years, and we’re apparently none the worse for wear, but not one of the Gospel writers skip this pivotal baptismal moment. And they don’t because this baptismal passage is our great declaration in the wilderness; it declares almost everything we believe.

Baptism Is Repentance

Baptism shouts our repentance. Baptism declares to the world we have seen the error, the evil and the arrogance of our sinful ways and we have turned away from it. We have seen the hand of God writing His scary warnings on the walls of our life and we don’t want His words of condemnation coming true over us. We are utterly repentant; wanting God to change our lives before it is too late to change our lives. LORD, light the refiner’s fire in me right now!

When John the Baptist yelled at the pious religious folks in verses 7-9 of our passage and called them a “brood of vipers,” he insulted them in the worst way imaginable. He made it crystal clear genuine repentance was the only ticket into the baptismal waters. And we know from Herodutus and Plutarch that the ancient world used to believe vipers killed their mothers by eating their way out of them at birth. And so to be called a brood of vipers was to be called a “motherkiller.” “You people have eaten the very ones who gave you life! Who told you to come out here and flee the coming wrath? Just because I’m real popular with the people right now, just because it is trendy to come out here to the crazy, hairy, foul-smelling prophet in the wilderness for baptism, doesn’t mean the significance is in the water. Don’t think this is all just one more empty religious ritual to add to your other pious, empty rituals!” Baptism is about genuine repentance, remorse and rejection of sin. It is about walking away and walking right! It is asking the Spirit to light His refining fire! You can come to these cleansing waters only if you are willing to truly repent of your sins. Baptism shouts our abject and utter repentance!

Baptism Is Preparation

Baptism shouts preparation. Baptism is about intentionally preparing a way for the King and His Kingdom to come into our lives. This is what the famous quotation from Isaiah is all about in verse 3, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” In the ancient world, roadways in the wilderness were only prepared and repaired when the king himself or only his highest officials were planning to travel on them. And so John refers to this ancient quotation from Isaiah because he wanted people to understand baptism as this sort of a preparatory event. In baptism, we are responding to the grace offered to us by intentionally preparing a way for the King to come to us, visit us, and make His home with us. LORD, start the fire now, burn away the chaff now – make a pathway in my life for Your glory to come!

Baptism Is Humiliation

But baptism also shouts humiliation. Think about it! Jesus Christ, the LORD of the Universe, Holy Son of the Most High God, submitting Himself to baptism at the nasty, sinful hands of a mere human being is one of many intentionally humiliating moments in the life of Jesus. John the Baptist was horrified at the thought he would actually baptize Jesus. He saw himself as unworthy of even being the slave of Jesus, unworthy of carrying the sandals of Jesus, much less serve as the baptizer of Jesus. And yet Jesus Christ insisted John do so because genuine baptism always requires humiliation. Jesus is modeling something here…

Baptism Is Obedience

But at the end of the day, perhaps the simplest and most important reason we submit ourselves for baptism is obedience. We do it for the same reason Jesus alluded to in verse 15, “Come on, John, let’s just do this thing because it is the right thing to do!” And Jesus’ famous commissioning words to His disciples in Matthew 28, which we will study next Sunday, we were given baptismal instructions even more explicitly. “Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Obey me in this! Even if we had no comprehension of the gorgeous significance of baptism, even if all these other declarations weren’t part of the baptismal metaphor, we should still insist on baptism simply because Jesus told us to do it. Baptism is simply about our longing to obey. Baptism is perhaps our first and most important declaration to the world of our radical desire to obey and follow God wherever He leads us.

Vernon McGee, in his commentary on the passage, tells the story of an old sea captain trying to get a young sailor to see his need of baptism. Getting bluntly to the point, the sea captain said, “Young man, baptism is all about duty or mutiny!” It really is just about that simple! Baptism is simply a holy duty. Jesus told us to! It is one of the first and probably the very least of our duties. Baptism declares our simple desire to obey. Anything else is mutiny!

Baptism Is Revelation

But then look what happens in verses 16-17 of the chapter. “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 lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Wow! And then if we jump over to the first chapter of John, where John the Baptist has a chance to more fully describe the moment, we read that “John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.’” At the moment of His baptism, Jesus is revealed to the world for what He is. This moment of Trinity, Father speaking from heaven, Spirit descending as a dove and Son obediently coming up out of the water is an absolutely enormous moment of special revelation. And baptism serves exactly that same function for us. What we really are is finally revealed for the world to see.

Baptism shouts revelation. Baptism rubs the crooked, sniveling nose of our enemy the devil in our wonderful escape from his clutches! Baptism reveals to the world that we are now seeking the pleasure of Almighty God above and beyond other things. Baptism shouts “I Am Second!” Baptism shouts our desire for Almighty God to say the same thing to us said to Jesus. “This is my child, whom I love; with him or her I am well pleased.” Baptism is revelation!

Baptism Rings The Bell

And because of all these other declarations, baptism is also one final thing. Baptism declares us battle ready! Baptism picks the fight; it declares our freedom to the pit! Do you notice what happens immediately after this glorious, revealing moment of Jesus’ baptism? I don’t want to stretch the significance of this, but do you honestly think it any coincidence the very first verse of the next chapter says Jesus was led immediately into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil? How interesting! Should it surprise us that the very next Bible story in Matthew, Mark and Luke is about the devil attacking our LORD? Baptism is our official beginning of the fight. Baptism rings the bell at the beginning of the boxing match.

Erwin McManus told a story years ago of a professional football player who had never obeyed the LORD in baptism because he was terrified of the ocean, where their church typically held baptismal services. As a younger man, he had seen someone attacked by a shark and had avoided the ocean ever since. And yet when he finally came to Pastor McManus and asked to be baptized somewhere else, Erwin McManus did something very wise. He looked this hulking football player in the face and said, “No man, you especially must make these declarations in the ocean! All baptism is about fearlessly facing the shark!” That baptism was a glorious day!

Folks; baptism declares us battle ready. Baptism joyously rings for the bell! Baptism faithfully shouts glorious and powerful things right into the crooked teeth of the shark!

Thirty-nine years ago, I climbed into these waters to declare my allegiances and to pick a nasty fight with the devil. I repented of my sins, prepared a way for the LORD, invited the Spirit to begin His burning, cleansing work in me, humiliated myself as I obediently identified myself with Jesus. I asked my LORD to reveal to me and to the world all I am and all He wants me to be. In a very real sense, I picked a fight! I rang the bell! I declared myself in full blown rebellion against the nasty, steaming shark who thought he had a pretty good grip on me. My loving LORD initiated me into something enormously bigger than I ever expected it to be.

I had no idea I was saying and doing all that. Did you?

Or have you never been willing to pick this fight? Have you spent your entire life living like a frustrated spiritual spectator because you fearfully refuse to radically obey the LORD? It isn’t just baptism we’re talking about in all this, but radical, carpe diem discipleship you’ve never been willing to embrace. Baptism is the tip of the iceberg…

On the final Sunday of this month, we will give the opportunity to shout these freedom declarations. We’re going to have our baptismal tank filled and ready, and at the close of that service, if you’ve never obeyed the LORD in baptism or, if you would like, for whatever reason, to be baptized for a second, third, fourth or a fiftieth time, we will give you the opportunity to do so, no classes, no paperwork, no pesky religion whatsoever. We’re not going to argue about methods here, we’re not pushing for some step on a road to church membership (although it is here at Elim), we’re not talking about some tedious religious argument at all; not any of that stuff. We’re just talking about picking the right fight and making freedom declarations.

May we faithfully and joyously declare our heavenly rebellion! May our baptismal joy, our baptismal passion, our baptismal declarations strike fear into the evil heart of the beast! May our baptismal declarations become the beginning of our fully and radically baptized life!

Amen.

Marge Tuininga (1918 - 2009)

Margaret (Marge) Tuininga, age 90, of Montevideo, died Saturday, March 7, 2009, at the Luther Haven Nursing Home in Montevideo.

She was born Sept. 28, 1918, in Phoenix, IL to John and Johanna (Rysdyk) Rynders. As a small child, she moved with her family to Lebanon, IA. They later moved to Hull, IA, where she grew up and attended Hull Christian Grammar School.

Margaret worked as a housekeeper for her father and other families until she was united in marriage to Harry Tuininga July 10, 1941, in Hull, IA. They farmed near Boyden, IA for 14 years before moving to a farm north of Montevideo in 1956.

In 1981, they retired and moved to Pelican Rapids, MN, where they lived until returning to Montevideo in 1990. Margaret was currently a resident of the Luther Haven Nursing Home.

An active member of Calvary Baptist Church in Montevideo, Margaret taught Bible school and Sunday school, and was a cook at Frontier Bible Camp. She was a foster parent to 16 children from 1960 to 1980, and her home was always open to local children for babysitting. She enjoyed gardening, sewing, and family activities.

Margaret is survived by three daughters: Beverly Schaller and her husband, Gary, of Maynard, MN; Lynda Huseby and her husband, Paul, of Dassel; and Marilyn Lopez and her husband, Tom, of St. Paul; a son-in-law, Gary Johnson of Montevideo; seven grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; a sister, Antonette Rynders of Edina; as well as by a number of nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Harry in 2002; a daughter, Patricia Johnson in 1990; five brothers; and seven sisters.

Funeral services were Saturday, March 14 at 1:30 p.m. at Calvary Church in Montevideo with the Revs. Roger Bergfalk and John Runyan officiating. Organist was Ruth Speh. Vocalist Diane Nelson sang “Safe In The Arms Of Jesus.” Congregational hymns were “Day By Day,” and “Face To Face With Christ My Savior.” Interment was in the Leenthrop Memorial Cemetery.

Marge Tuininga was a wonderfully divine nobody in my young life. While I haven't had contact with her in many years, I still remember her as a feisty, cheerful person who never quit. There is definitely something to be said for Sunday School teachers who take their jobs seriously. Thanks Marge. I suspect you and Harry are having a truly wonderful weekend!

My Name Is Russell Fink (Michael Snyder)

Russell Fink is the neurotic son of a flaky healer/preacher and a quietly alcoholic mother. His grandfather is in prison for a double homicide and his brother is a self absorbed gambler running a coffee shop. His girlfriend is a drama queen who constantly takes Russell for granted, while the eccentric woman Russell truly loves has some deeply painful secrets. Russell thinks he killed his twin sister Katie years ago and that his Bassett Hound Sonny can predict game show answers and solve difficult mysteries with just the right amount of whiskey in his dog biscuits. And did I mention Russell sells copiers for a living?

This is a strange and wonderful story with many redeeming moments. The sheer misery and strangeness of Russell's life is, at times, hilarious and, at others, painful. The book is a wonderful conversation piece, helped along by an excellent list of reader's group questions in its back pages. While there are lessons among the laughs, the book is far more interested in the strangeness of life than in reducing things to any sort of simplicity. Lessons learned in this story are hard won. If Russell would simply grow up a little bit, whatever that is, things would go much easier. But then we wouldn't have a story...and there wouldn't be another Russell Fink book, would there?

This is a wonderful Saturday afternoon read. Just be patient - Russell has some maturing to do!
___________

p.s. I just discovered all the tiny dog icons on the bottom of each page become an animated cartoon when the book is thumbed. How cool is that?

Good Morning Daddy!

 

The Word of Promise, Next Generation Audio New Testament

I really like the idea of audio Bibles. I really do. I like having the ability to put a CD in the car radio and listen to the Bible as I drive down the road. I used to have a complete set of NIV disks and a set of NLT disks, but both of them sat mostly untouched in the trunk go bag of my car. I eventually felt so guilty about not using them, I gave away the NIV set to a blind friend. But the NLT disks are still back there, haunting me…

There is nothing at all wrong with this product. If you’re looking for a teenager focused, accessible translation audio version of the New Testament, I suppose this would be as good a choice as any other product. I simply question whether or not a teenager would actually use it. Just because some famous teenagers are reading this version doesn’t necessarily mean other teenagers will make proper use of it. But while the idea of listening to Sean Astin (the Sam character from Lord of the Rings) and others read the Bible holds little or no appeal to me, perhaps a teenaged kid might give this audio Bible a chance just for the novelty factor.

Whatever works I suppose. But as a middle aged guy, I just found the young voices distracting after awhile. (How shallow is that?!) And the version of the Bible used was not my preferred one. (I know, I know - really petty!) This product obviously wasn’t designed for a guy like me. But don’t let that stop you…the Bible is always the Bible! Far be it from me to critique or discourage anyone from embracing the Book of books!

The Beauty of Baptism - Introduction

Why are we here?

Are we here just to make officially certain Jesus hears our shopping list? Is our prayer life, our spiritual life and especially our church life some sort of perverse, shallow and ultimately unrewarding one way conversation? When was the last time Jesus truly got a word in? When was the last time we allowed Jesus to have the final “amen” on almost any conversation?

Or maybe we’re here today out of some misguided sense of religious duty; convinced God will like us better and perform for us more dramatically if we’re dutiful in our church attendance and daily doses of religious stuff. Although we would never admit it, do we almost view spiritual life and especially church participation as sort of a house payment? Make your regular payments or mean, old God might just foreclose on the Hanson house!

Or are we just plain consumers of religion? Are we here to get our weekly spiritual fix? Are we here for the very polite game show we’ve grown accustomed to watching? Is spiritual life nothing but a long series of stunningly selfish, almost completely consumer driven decisions – what have you done for me lately, God? What have you done for me lately, pastor? What have you done for me lately, church? What have you sung for me? How have you pleased me? How have you honored my shallow whims? Don’t you dare disagree with me, challenge me or, heaven forbid, interfere with any of my personal plans for the day! I can always go to WalMart! I can always change the channel! I can click away from you in the blink of an eye!

Why in the world are we here? Why are we doing the things we’re doing?

Twisted spiritual motivations have always been a problem for the human race. Ever since Adam and Eve selfishly wrecked us in the Garden we have been foolishly, rebelliously trying to control things. We have always treated Almighty God like a vending machine or a magic trick. We have always teased ourselves into believing salvation, spiritual depth and true significance come only through dutiful, joyless religious performance. And we have always, always, always treated Almighty God selfishly – we are always struggling against our sinful desire for a carefully controlled spiritual life. Folks, just because we’ve found new and slicker ways to be selfish and controlling doesn’t mean our spiritual selfishness is a new thing.

So what are we to do?

For the next several weeks, I’d like to offer one very simple answer. Be baptized! Be completely, truthfully, wonderfully, in every glorious sense of the word, baptized! Not in some empty, squabbling religious or denominational sense, but in the gorgeous way Jesus meant.

Have you ever wondered why, among all the teachings of Jesus, the communion table and baptismal waters passed down to us as ordinances in the church? Some Christian groups have even gone so far as to make them sacraments; necessary for salvation itself. Why?

There are lots of complex historical and theological explanations for this. But for the next several weeks, I’d to suggest a very simple answer. I believe both the Lord’s Table and our baptism are fully intended by God to smack our persistent selfishness right in the face! I believe these two ordinances are spiritually perfect metaphors for what God wants in our lives.

Think deeply for a moment. As we gather around the Lord’s Table, as we will do in just a moment, we are remembering the ultimate selfless act. Metaphorically, we are selflessly, gratefully and prayerfully remembering and embracing the gruesome death of the One who selflessly embraced death for us. We are remembering our Lord’s death until He comes. We are remembering and honoring the One who loved, remembered and honored us first; and did so before there was anything lovable, memorable or honorable about us.

And as we are baptized; oh, as we are fully and completely baptized, we are selflessly embracing not only His self-sacrificing death, but we are fully and selflessly embracing His resurrected life, in the full hope and expectation we too will be raised to new life. We will attempt to explore these beautiful baptismal themes exhaustively in the next few weeks.

But this is not a conversation without struggle. Predictably, our enemy does not want us reclining at this table with Jesus or fully embracing any baptism in His name. Given the deep significance of these ordinances, tension in our discussion should come as no surprise. So even though we are not going to be talking about a particular baptismal method or its relationship to church membership at all in this series, I want to do something different this morning.

As we gather around our Lord’s Table today, I want us to use our communion moment to prayerfully prepare ourselves for our baptismal study series. In Luke 22:7-20, we read:

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked. He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there." They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Please prayerfully notice and apply four simple things in this familiar passage today.

First of all, please notice there were preparations involved in advance of this moment. Just as there were preparations required for this original Lord’s Table Passover meal, I believe there are prayerful and biblical study preparations required in our lives for our baptismal study series together this month. Ask the LORD to reveal what those preparations might be.

Secondly and very closely related, please prayerfully notice Jesus made and will always wonderfully make, in one way or another, with or without any human assistance, all the preparations we’ll ever need. Ask the LORD to miraculously prepare your pastor, your church and, most importantly, your own heart for the biblical meal He has planned for us this month.

Thirdly, please notice how Jesus lovingly longs to share this table and His life with His disciples. Please be prayerfully encouraged this morning in knowing Jesus longs to share all good things with us too. Ask the LORD for that same desire to share our lives with Him.

And then fourth and finally, let’s pray Almighty God would help us this month better understand and remember the full meaning of the body and blood of His Son, not simply today in our quiet communion remembrance, but this month in our baptismal study series together. Pray God would help us transcend ourselves and see all these things through His eyes.

May Almighty God help us put away our shopping lists and selfishness this month!

Chasing Fireflies (Charles Martin)

"...all the most important things in life are best taught with a whisper, not a yell."

I just finished Charles Martin’s Chasing Fireflies last night. Interestingly, it is yet another wonderful story of a good, non-traditionally spiritual man who virtuously changes the lives of everyone around him. It is a great study in fatherhood, mentoring, abandonment and grace. A Georgia newspaperman, himself abandoned as a child, participates in the rescue of another abandoned child. There is mystery, hypocrisy, grace and glory in abundance; combining for a gripping story and a book extremely difficult to put down. A true pleasure.

Malchus (W.G. Griffiths)

What a wonderful story! In this fictional rendering of Malchus, the slave of the high priest famous for losing an ear to the Apostle Peter, we are treated to one possible insider’s view of first century slavery, religious corruption and, most importantly, Jesus. While there is much detail to debate and discuss, the story is well written, enjoyable, believable (mostly!) and very thought provoking. It reminds us again that the world into which the Bible was written was, at the same time, very much like our own and yet very different. While we can relate to the shallow, selfish evils of humanity depicted, there is much about the culture of the Gospel completely foreign to us. This makes for very interesting reading.