Introduction: Have you ever tried to identify with someone that you just had nothing in common with? I find that it’s sometimes hard to identify with people you do know have commonalities with, but it’s especially hard to identify with someone who is radically different.
Cultural barriers have caused more than one embarrassing mistake. And often those barriers make it difficult for us to relate. But if we are going to take the truth of Christ to our world then we must learn to identify with the culture that God has placed us in as his ambassadors to the world.
We’re continuing our series of studies called “A Compelling Portrait.” Through this series we are walking through the Bible and revealing a compelling portrait of Christ, one that we can hold up as a model for our own lives. We can look at this compelling portrait of Christ and then compare it to our lives to see where we are hitting the mark and where we are missing the mark.
A part of what makes the portrait of Christ so compelling is his ability and desire to relate with those who were so far from him and the ideal that his father had for them. His willingness to relate to and identify with sinful man is a piece of the portrait that we must understand and model if we are going to truly be Christ-like.
Jesus, more than anyone else, was able to identify with those who radically different from him. He knew the culture of heaven. He knew the glory of his father, but he chose to come to earth and identify with us. He chose to become one of us. Paul describes Christ’s identification with us beautifully in Philippians chapter 2
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8 (NLT)
He gave up his divine privileges so that he could identify himself with fallen humanity. It’s this ability to identify with us that we’re going to explore today as we examine what took place with His Baptism.
Jewish Baptism
Baptism is not a new concept originating with Christianity. Rather it’s and ancient and essential element in the Jewish faith as well. Immersion in water for ritual purification was established for restoration to a condition of "ritual purity" in specific circumstances. For example, Jews who (according to the Law of Moses) became ritually "defiled" by contact with a corpse had to use the mikvah before being allowed to participate in the Holy Temple. Immersion is required for converts to Judaism as part of their conversion. Through practices such as these, immersion in the mikvah represents purification and restoration, and qualification for full religious participation in the life of the community.
In ancient Jewish culture, even before Christ comes on the scene, baptism is very important. The Jews were set apart by God. They were God’s holy people. When a gentile…someone who wasn’t a Jew…wished to convert to Judaism and become one with the Jewish people he/she was baptized to signify a transition had taken place. They were no longer what they used to be, but they were a new person…they were now identified with the Jews.
So along with ritual purity, the baptism practiced by the Jews was for the purpose of identifying people with the Jewish faith and people.
John’s Baptism
Enter John the Baptist. John was Jesus’ cousin and was the fulfillment of the scripture that a prophet in the style of Elijah would appear and preach repentance when the Messiah was to come.
John was preaching a call to repentance…a returning to God and God’s original destiny for the Jews…that they would be his chosen people RE-PRESENTING him to the world/nations around them.
John called for people to repent (turn around and change directions) of their sins and to be symbolically purified through baptism.
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
"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.
Matthew 3:1-2, 11 (NIV)
John was preaching at a time when the people of Israel were ready to hear the message. Israel had been under the thumb of their oppressors for about 400 years now. They were crying out to God to rescue them and as they cried out to God there was a great number of people returning to God. As John preached repentance, people were repenting and coming to him to be baptized, symbolizing their new purity before God.
It was in the context of this sense of returning to God, this sense of national repentance that Jesus steps into the picture, coming to John to be baptized.
The Baptism of Jesus
If John was preaching a baptism of repentance, then why was Jesus baptized. He had no sin, he was the Son of God. Why would he need to be baptized? Before we delve into that, let’s look at Matthew’s account of the baptism of Jesus.
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."
Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV)
What was the point? Why would Jesus choose to be baptized? He didn’t need to repent. He didn’t need the symbolic act of being cleansed from sin – he was without sin. He didn’t need to identify with God – he was God. So why did Jesus come to be baptized by John the Baptist?
When Jesus came to the river to be baptized by John it was a powerful moment in. John has been preaching and baptizing a baptism of repentance from sin. Jesus had no sin, but as he is preparing to begin his ministry he chooses to identify with us. He comes and is baptized by John as a way of identifying with those he came to save, those who were not connected with God…US.
Jesus allowed himself to be baptized…in fact he insisted upon it, so that he could identify with us…and yet he was without sin. His baptism wasn’t for the purpose of repenting of sin.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)
In being baptized, Jesus was identifying himself with those who were in need of his purifying sacrifice. The sinless Son of God was identifying himself with sinful mankind so that he could clearly communicate the truth of God’s love and so that he could be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
In his baptism, Jesus chose to identify himself with us.
So What?
So of you are wondering, “What does this have to do with me?” “Pastor, what does the baptism of Jesus have to do with the way I live life day in and day out?” “What can I take home from this and use in my life?”
Let me answer your question with a couple of questions of my own.
“How well are you identifying with the people in our culture?”
“How well are you relating to the people you work with and live next door to and go to ball games with, etc.?”
Frequently we in the church get into a fortress mindset. We get into our own huddle and we love each other and we grow and we begin to develop our own little culture and eventually…though I believe unintentionally…we lose our ability to relate to the culture in which we live and work. We begin to experience a disconnect and after a while we find that the bridges we need to carry the truth to the culture around us have been burned, torn down or at least closed.
But if we take a look at this picture of Jesus, we see a Messiah who is choosing to identify himself with a people who were lost in sin and who were seen as hopeless sinners by the religious leaders of the day. He made certain that the bridge between himself and those in need of the love he offered was firmly in tact.
If we are going to begin to reflect the image of Christ in our lives…if we are going to hold up the portrait of Jesus and then model our lives after what we see, then we must begin to make a conscious effort to identify with our culture.
IMMEDIATE OBJECTION NOTED
I know that some of you think this is not only a bad idea, but a dangerous idea. You are afraid that if we identify with our culture others (in the church, etc) might think we are endorsing our culture or are engaging in the sin of our culture. You are afraid that if we identify with our culture we’ll become the culture and lose our Christian identity.
This was the very accusation leveled at Jesus… Yet he was able to identify with his culture (the lost and sinners of his day) without being polluted by that culture.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin
Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)
I realize that some of you will say, “but he was the Son of God...he was Jesus…he could resist temptation easier that we can.” But he gives us his Holy Spirit and his strength so that we may be strong, just as he was. We must engage our culture and we must identify with it if we are going to be the bridge that brings the love of God to them.
If we keep our focus firmly upon Jesus Christ and walk in step with him, we can engage our culture, we can identify with our culture…taking them the love of Christ…without letting that culture pollute us.
I know it’s risky behavior…but anytime we choose to obey God and follow Christ it is risky behavior. I am of the opinion that not enough Christ followers engage in risky behavior. We like it safe and we try too hard to stay safe rather than to take the risk of following Jesus into the fray.
We MUST learn to identify with others…with our culture. Paul learned this and called people to follow his example in it.
Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.
I Corinthians 9:19-22 (NLT)
When we learn to Identify with others
• We are more able to share the truth with them in terms that they’ll understand
• We have a greater impact because they see us sacrificing (?) to connect with them
• We have a greater connection with others
• We have a greater sense of compassion for them.
As we continue to see this compelling portrait of Christ develop, we also continue to see what it is we must do to reflect his life with ours. If we are going to love people and take his love to them we must learn to identify with our culture.
That means we cannot hide out in the church. We cannot isolate ourselves from the culture around us. We must go into our culture and become friends with those in our culture. We must love them and meet their needs and identify with them so that they will know the love of Christ is real.
My challenge to you today is this…are you WILLING to engage your culture…our community…and identify with them so that you can take them the love of the savior?
