"Remember to Whom You Belong"
Matthew 3:13-17
I was baptized as an infant so I don't remember my baptism, but I know I was baptized and I know who baptized me...
...I also, know the churches I grew up in...
...and of course, my parents who made the decision to have me baptized.
And I am thankful!!!
I am thankful because baptism is an early step in a person's lifelong journey of faith.
It marks the beginning--not the end.
I'm thankful that I was baptized, because in doing so, my parents made a promise to God and to the Church that they would bring me up in the Christian faith.
And the Church made a covenant with me and my parents that they would love me and nurture me in the faith as well.
Infant baptism has been the historic practice of the Church from the very beginning.
We have ample evidence from Scripture, and in very early Christian doctrine that this is the way it has always been.
That being said, baptism isn't something that saves us, but it represents how God works in our lives toward our salvation.
The truth of it is that all of us, adults and children are helpless in becoming the people God wants us to be; we are completely dependent on God's grace.
Even the ability to believe is a gift from God.
So, the glorious, joy-filled truth is that God loves us beyond what we can imagine and God takes the action necessary to bring us to a saving relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ!!!
We can choose to turn the other way and reject this gift of faith and salvation; we have free-will.
But God pursues us, God seeks us out.
Salvation is God's doing.
And baptism reflects that!!!
When we baptize children, I like to use this analogy:
"Before your child could eat, you fed them.
Before they could walk, you carried them.
Before they could dress themselves, you dressed them.
And before they could believe, you believed for them.
Then when they get to a certain age, they can decide for themselves whether they will accept the faith that you have accepted for them."
Again, I am so glad and so thankful that I was baptized.
It was the beginning of my journey with Jesus.
I might not be here today if it had not been done for me.
Nobody fully understands baptism, and so most of us learn the meaning of our baptisms after the fact.
Years later, as we make our way following Jesus, the purpose often begins to unfold.
I shared this in my newsletter article for this month, but I think it's worth repeating.
A good friend of mine, who happens to be a United Methodist Minister as well, told me that as a young boy...
...when he was leaving his house on his way to school, heading out to play or going to a friend's house his mother would call to him as he made his way out the door: "Johnny, remember: you are baptized."
That was his mother's way of reminding John who and Whose he was.
And John remembered.
He still remembers.
When we keep in mind or remember that we are baptized members of Christ's Body on this earth, the Church--we are embracing the fact that we are not our own.
God has called us out, God has purchased our salvation with God's own blood.
We embrace the fact that we belong to God, and God loves us and will never leave us.
And that God has great plans for our lives.
Jesus began His public ministry by approaching John the Baptist at the Jordan River so that John would baptize Him.
Of course John was astonished!!!
But Jesus said, "Allow me to be baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness."
We are told that "when Jesus was baptized," as the waters of the Jordan were dripping down His face, He saw the Spirit of God coming down out of heaven like a dove and resting on Him.
Then a voice from heaven confirmed: "This is my Son whom I dearly love, I find happiness in him."
After this Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days to think about what it means to be God's Child.
And Jesus spends all the days and years that follow discovering the meaning of His baptism and living out that meaning.
And this is what we are called to do as well.
Baptism was Jesus' commissioning to ministry.
And of course, in Jesus' ministry, He gave everything--His dreams, His deeds, His work and His life itself.
He gave everything to humankind, and took His place with hurting humanity.
In Hebrews Chapter 2 Jesus is called "the pioneer of salvation," and we are told that, "since [we have] flesh and blood, [Jesus] also shared the same things in the same way. He did this to destroy the one who holds the power over death--the devil--by dying...he had to be made like [us] in every way.
This was so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, in order to wipe away the [our sins]."
Imagine that!!!
God so loves us that God became like us in every way.
In Philippians Chapter 2 we are told that Jesus, "Though he was in the form of God...emptied himself...becoming like human beings."
Again, Jesus was eager to be baptized, but John the Baptist tried to stop Him.
Jesus answered John by saying, "Allow me to be baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness."
Jesus took His baptism very, very seriously.
And in doing so, He laid out the example that we, as Jesus' followers, are to follow!!!
Baptism was Jesus' commission to ministry and it is our commission to ministry as well.
During the week before Jesus' death, the leaders of the Temple challenged Jesus' authority to do and say the things He was doing.
"By what authority do you do these things?" they ask Him in Matthew 21:23.
And Jesus answers with a reference to His baptism.
Remember, in the waters of baptism God spoke: "This is my Son..."
Again, Jesus took His baptism seriously...
...so seriously that Jesus doesn't die of old age.
When Jesus cries on the Cross: "It is finished," it is the work He was called to do in His baptism that has been completed.
Baptisms, like most beginnings, find their full meaning long after the event.
It's kind of like we are handed a map, but then we have to take the trip.
It takes our whole lives to finish the journey God begins in us when we are baptized.
But there is no more exciting journey in the world!!!
For if we are true to our baptisms, we can't just live to make ourselves comfortable.
We can't just be satisfied with the way things are.
We have a higher calling.
Our baptisms demand that we struggle with what is right and what is wrong--what is important and what is not.
We struggle with Whose we are and what that means for our decisions and the way we live our lives.
That's what was happening to Jesus right after He was baptized.
"The Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him."
And after "Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights he was starving. The tempter came to him and said..."
And you know the rest of that story.
If not, look it up.
Again, in Hebrews Chapter 2 we are told that Jesus is "able to help those who are being tempted, since he himself experienced suffering when he was tempted."
What an amazing God we have!!!
"Though he was in the form of God...he emptied himself...becoming like human beings."
In our baptisms, God claims us as His own.
And if we make the decision to live into God's claim on our lives, we will make a positive difference in this world as we struggle, as we struggle with what's right and what's wrong, what's important and what's not.
And in that struggle we are called to tell the truth in a world that lies...
...we are called to give in a world that takes...
...we are called to love in a world that lusts...
...we are called to make peace in a world that fights...
...we are called to serve in a world that wants to be served...
...we are called to pray in a world that wants to be entertained...
...we are called to take chances in a world that worships safety.
The baptized of Christ are citizens of the Community of God where financial success is not the goal, security is not the highest good, and sacrifice is a daily event.
In a sense, baptism is our ordination into a life of ministry.
What could be more exciting than that?
If you have been baptized, what difference has this made in the way you think, feel and do this day and every day?
Would you even be here this morning if you hadn't been baptized?
Does your baptism help you to remember to Whom you belong?
