Conversations With Christ #1
“A Cousin’s Quarrel”
Matthew 3:13-17
Draw attention to the brochure regarding the series.
Since I am celebrating my 56th birthday today, I thought you might enjoy a portion of a list published by columnist Dave Berry entitled “17 Things That It Took Me Fifty Years To Learn.” I agreed with ten of them…so here they are:
1. You should not confuse your career with your life.
2. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well…just get up and do it.
3. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.
4. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.
5. When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often…that individual is crazy.
6. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of
age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.
No matter what happens, someone will manage to take it too seriously.
The most powerful force in the universe actually seems to be gossip.
Never lick a steak knife.
10. Always remember, your real friends love you anyway.
Let’s look at our text found in Matthew 3:
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
16 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.
17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus Christ. Their mother’s were sisters. John’s ministry as a prophet preparing Israel for the appearance of Jesus is recorded in all three gospels. Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3 and John 1.
John was a powerful preacher, a unique personality, a persuasive leader.
When Jesus came to be baptized by him… what went on between them was more a confrontation than it was a conversation.
I am particularly impressed with Jesus’ words; “Let it be so now!”
In other words; “Knock it off John. Stop protesting and just do it!”
Jesus goes on to give John an explanation for his impatience that needs some further explanation for a modern audience.
“It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”
What does that mean?
Whatever it meant, it was good enough for John.
The last sentence of verse 15 shows John shuting up and baptizing Jesus.
What does this confrontive conversation between too cousins have to do with you and me today?
John’s agenda can be summarized in these two verses:
Mark 1:15
"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
Mark 1:4
“And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance under the Old Covenant…an oblation, a cleansing from the SIN OF APATHY toward to anticipation of Messiah coming.
He preached that ANTICIPATION produces ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN GOD’S PLAN RATHER THAN APATHY OR INDIFFERENCE.
Did you hear about the company that makes blank bumper sticker? They’re for people who don’t want to get involved!
Look at Luke 3:8-9
8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
9 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."
APATHETIC CHRISTIANITY REFERS TO THE PAST NOT THE FUTURE.
Think a minute about the Vulture and the Hummingbird. They both fly over our nation’s deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet.
But Hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants.
The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone.
But Hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life.
Well, each of these birds finds what they are looking for…so do we!
Look at Luke 3:10-14
10 "What should we do then?" the crowd asked.
11 John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"
13 "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely-- be content with your pay."
Let’s summarize John’s message: (SLIDE)
Kingdom people are people who anticipate the coming of the Lord,
Kingdom people expect Jesus to show up every day of their life…in their every day life!
Kingdom people understand the phrase: “The Kingdom of God is at hand!”
Kingdom people behave like Jesus is present:
UNSELFISHNESS, COMPASSION, FAIRPLAY, HONESTY
AND NON-ABUSIVE USE OF POWER.
What are the attitudes behind these kinds of behaviors?
Anticipation and Apathy our attitudes that control the activity and behavior of our faith,
The noted English architect Sir Christopher Wren was supervising the construction of a magnificent cathedral in London. A journalist thought it would be interesting to interview some of the workers, so he chose three at random who were all stone cutters, and asked them this question; “What are you doing?”
The first replied; “I’m cutting stones for 10 shillings a day.”
The second answered; “I’m putting in 10 hours a day on this job.”
The third said; “I’m helping Sir Christopher Wren construct one of London’s greatest cathedrals.”
Three entirely different ways of looking at the same day’s work…attitude…anticipation or apathy (indifference)
I believe that in this conversation Jesus reveals an important attitude that motivated his actions.
In my opinion, here Jesus models what I will call Kingdom people behavior by consenting to John’s baptism.
I think he is saying to John: This is something (baptism) I do not NEED to do… but I am willing to do it!
Why? Because it is what God is doing!
Jesus models here a behavior that is predicated by an attitude:
“Whatever God is doing, I want to be a part…count me in whether I think I need it or not.”
“Whatever I can do to advance His cause and promote the coming of His kingdom in other’s lives…I will do it.”
In Elmer Bendiner's book, The Fall of Fortresses, he describes one bombing run over the German city of Kassel:
Our B-17 was barraged by flak from Nazi antiaircraft guns. That was not unusual, but on this particular occasion our gas tanks were hit. Later, as I reflected on the miracle of a twenty-millimeter shell piercing the fuel tank without touching off an explosion, our pilot, Bohn Fawkes, told me it was not quite that simple.
On the morning following the raid, Bohn had gone down to ask our crew chief for that shell as a souvenir of unbelievable luck.
The crew chief told Bohn that not just one shell but eleven had been found in the gas tanks--eleven unexploded shells where only one was sufficient to blast us out of the sky. It was as if the sea had been parted for us.
Even after thirty-five years, so awesome an event leaves me shaken, especially after I heard the rest of the story from Bohn.
He was told that the shells had been sent to the armorers to be defused. The armorers told him that Intelligence had picked them up. They could not say why at the time, but Bohn eventually sought out the answer.
Apparently when the armorers opened each of those shells, they found no explosive charge. They were clean as a whistle and just as harmless. Empty? Not all of them.
One contained a carefully rolled piece of paper. On it was a scrawl in Czech. The Intelligence people scoured our base for a man who could read Czech. Eventually, they found one to decipher the note.
It set us marveling. Translated, the note read: "This is all we can do for you now."
Jesus Christ has come and He has made a full commitment to your personal happiness.
He has done everything He possibly can for you.
What are you willing to do for Him?
Have you given Him your life yet.
The Bible says “…If we will believe in our heart and confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ we will be saved.”
Would you like to do that today?
And for those of us who find ourselves having drifted in to the backwaters and eddies of apathy…
May this be a time to determine and recommit ourselves to be people of the Kingdom.
“Whatever God is doing, I want to be a part…count me in whether I think I need it or not.”
“Whatever I can do to advance His cause and promote the coming of His kingdom in other’s lives…I will do it.”
