"you Bring Me Great Joy"

Scripture: Luke 3:15-22; Psalm 29

Theme: A Well Pleasing Life

Title: “You Bring Me Great Joy”

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

I want to talk to you today about what it means to live a life that is pleasing to God. That is to say, a life that brings great joy to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. That is what Jesus heard from His Heavenly Father as He came out of the water –

“And the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in bodily form, like a dove and a voice came from heaven. ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” (ESV)

Other translations of this verse have similar words:

“22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son;[a] with thee I am well pleased. (RSV)

22 and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.[a]” (New Living Translation)

Now, I think everyone here this morning would understand that those words were a high compliment from God. I also think that all of us would want to hear those same words said to us by the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY and I believe that we can hear those words this morning.

In our passage this morning I think not only was Jesus living a life that was pleasing to the LORD but John the Baptist was also living such a life.

So, what were they both doing to live such a life that brings God great joy?

Let’s take a few moments and I want to share a couple of things that I believe that they (John and Jesus) were doing that enabled to them to receive such great praise from God. I believe that as we look at this passage it can help us understand what we are able to do to hear these same words from God – “I am well pleased” or “you bring me great joy”.

I. Both Jesus and John were living lives of obedience

We see this first of all in the life of John the Baptist.

Let’s take a moment and reflect on John the Baptist.

+John is the son of a Levite Priest ( His father was Zacharias).

+It would have been taken for granted that John one day would take his father’s place as a priest.

+John would have been trained early in his life to understand intimately both the Mosaic Law and all the ritualistic ways of the Temple. Each year as his family would celebrate the three big festivals (Passover, Pentecost and the Festival of Booths - Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot) I am sure his father and others would already be telling him this is what he would do when it was his time to serve as a priest.

+The Levitical priesthood was an honorable way to live and serve God. It was seen as a wonderful way to bring joy both to the people of Israel and to the LORD GOD AMIGHTY.

However, as we read in the Gospels, John was led by God’s Holy Spirit to live a different life than the normal Levitical priest.

+John’s main ministry did not take place in either the Temple or in the synagogue but out in the wilderness and byways of life among the common people.

+John did not wear the normal priestly attire – linen pants with a linen tunic along with a priestly sash and turban. Instead we read where John wore a coat made from camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. This was not the normal attire of a priest but was what the ancient prophets wore.

+John did not eat the normal diet of a priest – usually the priests were given part of the sacrifice that had been offered up to God. If it were an animal, the priests were given part of the shoulder and if it was a grain offering they were allowed to have some of the grain and the wine. The Bible tells us that John was instead led to eat a wilderness diet that included both locusts and honey.

+While the priests usually dealt with the prayers of the people and their offering of sacrifices as a way of repentance/pleasing God, we see that John uses the ritual of water baptism and challenges people to actively live differently. John is interested in people not only changing how they think about God and others but how they live for God and with others. In other words, John is preaching a message of holiness; living out a life of obedience to God and love for others in this world.