Normally when I read this passage I think of Jesus and his preparation for baptism and think little of John the Baptist. John has been preaching a baptism of repetance for the forgiveness of sins and many have come and been baptized in the Jordan river. Then one day the one he has been telling people to get ready for shows up and requests baptism. There is only one problem with that, Jesus has no need for reptentance, he has never sinned.
John refuses and says that it should be the other way around and he is right, Jesus should be the one baptize John. Jesus however says that it must be John who baptizes him. Then the key section for me "Then he (John) consented" Matthew 3:15b. Not until this week and with some inspiration from workingpreacher.org had I seen John's consent as a matter of simple obedience to Christ.
I have never thought of John as someone who models obedience but he does and his modeling encourages us to think about our own obdience. That word is a hard word for independent minded American people. We are the self made generation who is shaping the world and we are going to do what we want, when we want and little if any is our fault.
We naturally shun obedience as an oppressive yoke and undoubtedly it has been used that way by some. However what we are looking at is John's obedience to Christ and therfore our obedience to Christ.
In the next post I will examine obedience is greater detail.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Some thoughts from Sunday
Last Sunday I was preaching on John 1:1-18. There is so much in the text and the most obvious is the divinity of Jesus. I spent some time on that but I also noticed in the text the use of the word light, it is used frequently in the first several verses.
What came to mind was the connection between light and truth. Light reveals things as they are and therefore allowing one to see something that they wouldn't see in the dark. It is the reason we have indoor and outdoor lighting, so that we can see. The connection that was made for me was that the light reveals the truth and allows us to build our lives on what is true.
In a small community like ours there are lots of rumors which can breed fear and anxiety. There is a temptation to react and build our lives on rumors and half truths. This can happen in other places as well, fear can grip our hearts and drive our lives. Both civilian congregations I have severed have struggled with fear around finances. I don't how many hours I have spent in meetings that fear is motivator. Common sense should be used but not fear.
The light of Christ breaks into our fear with perfect love. We are told that "perfect love casts out fear". The only one who loves perfectly is God and since Jesus is God we have perfect love from Christ. As we grow in our relationship with Christ, his perfect love gently begins to cast out our fear and replace it with the "peace that passes all understanding". This is what it means to live in the light.
We must root our lives in the truth that Jesus is God and that he has both the will and the power to work for our good, he has shown that in the cross and resurrection. We need not be run by fear.
Prayer enables us to be in the light since we enc outer Christ is prayer and Christ is the light. This should underscore and highlight the importance of prayer in our lives as a pathway to both encounter Christ and to base on lives on the truth and not on what is false. This is the path of life. If you look again at the verses in John you will see that "in him was life".
Jesus brings life in all its fullness and this life comes to us as a gift of grace.
What came to mind was the connection between light and truth. Light reveals things as they are and therefore allowing one to see something that they wouldn't see in the dark. It is the reason we have indoor and outdoor lighting, so that we can see. The connection that was made for me was that the light reveals the truth and allows us to build our lives on what is true.
In a small community like ours there are lots of rumors which can breed fear and anxiety. There is a temptation to react and build our lives on rumors and half truths. This can happen in other places as well, fear can grip our hearts and drive our lives. Both civilian congregations I have severed have struggled with fear around finances. I don't how many hours I have spent in meetings that fear is motivator. Common sense should be used but not fear.
The light of Christ breaks into our fear with perfect love. We are told that "perfect love casts out fear". The only one who loves perfectly is God and since Jesus is God we have perfect love from Christ. As we grow in our relationship with Christ, his perfect love gently begins to cast out our fear and replace it with the "peace that passes all understanding". This is what it means to live in the light.
We must root our lives in the truth that Jesus is God and that he has both the will and the power to work for our good, he has shown that in the cross and resurrection. We need not be run by fear.
Prayer enables us to be in the light since we enc outer Christ is prayer and Christ is the light. This should underscore and highlight the importance of prayer in our lives as a pathway to both encounter Christ and to base on lives on the truth and not on what is false. This is the path of life. If you look again at the verses in John you will see that "in him was life".
Jesus brings life in all its fullness and this life comes to us as a gift of grace.
Misc
Some have wondered how I am feeling now that I live in the tropics. I am doing okay, I still don't feel like I want but I have only been here a few weeks and that is to be expected. One of the things that is tough for us is that our beds aren't due until next week and the beds we have aren't great.
I really haven't been sleeping all that well in my borrowed bed and I think that once I can start getting regular sleep in my bed I will feel better. That being said I have more time to workout and I know that exercise is good for my health as well as every one's health. I have been putting up better numbers in terms of frequency and distance of both my runs and swims so I am encouraged by that. I have lost a little weight which I have wanted to do and so that is good too.
It is hot here but the heat doesn't seem to impact me more than anyone else here. Actually it feels good most of the time and when we are tire of it the house is cool, we often will wear sweatshirts or long sleeves inside since our bodies are adjusting to the heat.
Overall I am not where I want to be but I am definitely not worse off and I think that I am doing a little better and hopeful for improvement.
I really haven't been sleeping all that well in my borrowed bed and I think that once I can start getting regular sleep in my bed I will feel better. That being said I have more time to workout and I know that exercise is good for my health as well as every one's health. I have been putting up better numbers in terms of frequency and distance of both my runs and swims so I am encouraged by that. I have lost a little weight which I have wanted to do and so that is good too.
It is hot here but the heat doesn't seem to impact me more than anyone else here. Actually it feels good most of the time and when we are tire of it the house is cool, we often will wear sweatshirts or long sleeves inside since our bodies are adjusting to the heat.
Overall I am not where I want to be but I am definitely not worse off and I think that I am doing a little better and hopeful for improvement.
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