The Baptism of Our Lord - January 09, 2011
"The
Baptist's Plan" - John the Baptist
Matthew 3:13-17
by Pastor Dennis R. King
The Grace and Mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ
be with you in this New Year!
Use your imagination and imagine John the
Baptist at work in today's world. Can you see him walking into a little
downtown restaurant? He takes a deep breath and hollers, "Repent!"
Folks stop eating in mid-bite. It gets so quiet you can hear the coolers running
in the next room. Every eye in the place is on him, and that was what he was
waiting for. He starts talking, and shouting, and waving his arms, and every
time someone tries to laugh at him and go back to their peach pie he walks
right over and slams a fist on their table or just stands and stares at the pie
eater until his appetite disappears. He does all this without missing a beat of
his sermon.
And what a sermon it is! He starts out,
"Some of you folks are from around here, aren't you? Born and raised right
here? Well, that doesn't count for one blasted thing in God's book. Your
ancestral tree might take you all the way back to Abraham himself, but as far
as God is concerned, that won't pay for that cup of coffee you got sitting in
front of you." He goes on for quite some time, making his way from one
table to the next, even to the round one where the preachers are sitting at
their weekly meeting. People can't help but smile when he walks around that
round table and calls them all a bunch of misfits who couldn't spell salvation
if they had a dictionary in their hands.
Then he is done. He walks out of the door
just as he had come in. Except on the way out he is not alone. Several from the
restaurant walk out with him and follow him straight to the river. From there
on it is history. More and more people come, and more and more people went back
home to tell their friends that they had better go too. By the time they get
there, the crowds are huge.
John the Baptist had a purpose and a plan. He
was out to change the world.
In order to change the world we, too, need a
plan. Our plan must be simple enough for everyone to understand and to become
involved. The gospel for today contains the outline for such a plan. It clearly
teaches that to change the course of history we need to start small. Begin
where John the Baptist made his beginning, with himself. He took himself
seriously. He prepared himself for what he understood God's will for his life
to be. People like John the Baptist change our world.
Have you ever seen that Christmas card with
the message, "As we are, so is our world." How true that is. Change
yourself and you change the world. It is that simple, and it is that possible.
Remember God used the life of John the Baptist to change and bless His world.
It is the same God who is empowering you to serve Him daily. This very day God
is telling you that He loves you. And even if you think your life is quite
insignificant in comparison to the life of Jesus, nevertheless your life is
crucial to the plan of God for the welfare of His world. God's purpose for your
existence is the same as it was for the people of
John the Baptist was also chosen for a
purpose greater than
self-salvation. John said, "I myself did not know Him;
but for this I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to
(John
1:31) In accomplishing his purpose that
John took a few who were close to and
introduced them to the Lamb of God. He introduced them to the Messiah, the Lamb
of God, and the Suffering Servant. Trusting their friend, John, they left John
to discover for themselves what this person to whom John was pointing was all
about. You can understand that John the Baptist made a significant sacrifice
and took a great risk in sending his friends in pursuit of the Christ. But, he
loved his friends and understood his mission, so the risk was worth it.
Then a marvelous thing happened. When Andrew
was introduced to Jesus he went and got his brother Peter. When Philip was
introduced to Christ he enlisted Nathaniel. And each of these in turn
introduced many more to Jesus. All came to be believers through their own
encounters with the Christ. And thus the world was changed. It is a simple method
but it is still the best I know. The most marvelous thing about it is that in a
plan such as that you, too, can be involved. Epiphany is the season of light.
It is the time to introduce others to the Light of the world.
Again let us remember that God has prepared
the world for our witness. Not in a long time has the confidence of the
American people in the goodness of mankind been as low as it is right now.
People are searching and grasping for something or someone good in which to
believe in the midst of incredible scandals, and unbelievable statistics. God's
grace can be most magnificently portrayed against the backdrop of our present
historical circumstance.
How exciting your life can be if you plan
during this year to find just one person and say in your own way to that human
being, “Look, here is Jesus Christ. He loves you. He gave His life for you
because you needed that. He wants to count you as one of His followers. Christ
will take over your life and open up a whole new way of living for you if you
want him to do that. He will give you abundant life through the Holy Spirit
with peace and power for living right now."
If you have caught the vision of what I am
talking about then you are really in the Epiphany spirit and you know the
Epiphany purpose which God has given you! We have all been served by Jesus
Christ. There is very little that you and I need for the New Year besides each
other. If we are firmly committed to each other we can go to the one who needs
us, the one to whom God has been waiting to introduce us, that we might be
ambassadors for Christ so that God can make His appeal through us.
If you and I have catch the Epiphany purpose
of which I speak, we will see the importance of introducing others to Christ.
Remember that God loves everyone. Natural barriers must be crossed to do the
work of God. God wants to work through us to claim everyone for His own. And,
God will use you where He finds you to change His world. God put you where you
are for a purpose. There is someone who is near you to whom you can say,
"Look, here is the Lamb of God." And when they see Him, they will
tell someone else. Our world will be better because you lived in it following
the Baptist plan pointing others to Jesus. Amen.