Diving into Baptism

The Baptism of Jesus

It’s just confusing.  We all know the story of John the Baptist, and we know the story of Jesus and we even know the point where the two stories intercept.  And that’s where it gets confusing. 

There are two things we know that seem to muddy the water, so to speak.  The first is that John was preaching a baptism of Repentance.    In Mark’s Gospel we read Mark 1:4  This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had turned to God to receive forgiveness for their sins.

And he is faithful to that message, not content with lip service, he actually called on people to change their ways.  In Luke’s account we read that the crowd hearing John’s message wanted to know what repentance looked like in real life, we pick up the story in Luke 3:10-14  The crowds asked, “What should we do?”  John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”  Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”  He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”  “What should we do?” asked some soldiers. John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”

 And we have no problem with that, some people did.  His message finally resulted in his being killed by King Herod after he challenged the king about his marriage to his younger brother’s ex-wife. 

And while John was a little different and just a tad eccentric his message was clear.  Repent, commit to changing your behaviour and get baptized.  Simple.

The confusion arises when Jesus arrives at the edge of the Jordon River asking John to baptize him.  Because our understanding of Christ’s character was that he was without sin, that is that he had nothing to repent of, no behaviour that had to be changed.  And that isn’t just my opinion, the scriptures return to that theme over and over again.    And it forms the foundation of our theology of salvation.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21  For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.   No sin, no need for repentance, no repentance not need for baptism.   That’s where it gets confusing.

So let’s jump in and see where the story takes us.

Matthew 3:13 Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.  

The First Thing we discover is that Jesus’ Baptism Was Intentional The baptism of Jesus didn’t just kind of happen, Jesus wasn’t just walking along one day and saw John baptizing people and thought, “Hey that’s kind of cool, I should do that.”

We are told that Jesus travelled from Galilee to the Jordan river to be baptized.  Let’s pull up one of our handy dandy maps.  Couple of points of reference.  Here is the Sea of Galilee and here here is the Dead Sea.

And here is where Jesus was, and here is where John was and where Jesus went.   That isn’t like Jesus crossed the road to be baptized, it was at least a full day’s journey, and possibly longer to get from point A Galilee to Point B the Jordan river. 

This is the first mention that we have of Jesus since he was 12, you’ll remember that story from the book of Luke when Jesus and his family had gone to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and Jesus got separated from his parents and got lost.  Actually he knew exactly where he was, in the temple, and that’s where they found him.  Now we discover that he is 30 years old and he steps back into the narrative.  And what may or may not have happened in those 18 years will remain speculation and the arena of fiction.

After Luke’s account of the Jesus’ baptism he adds a little aside when he writes Luke 3:23  Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry.     And maybe that’s just Luke, after all he told us that Jesus was 12 when his parents lost him at the temple, he seems like a bit of a numbers guy.  Or maybe there is more to it. 

In 1965 it was Jack Weinberg who coined the phrase “Don’t trust anyone over 30.”   Of course Weinberg turned 76 in April so he might have changed his mind.  But 2000 years ago a man’s opinion wasn’t worth much before he was thirty.  Joseph was thirty when he began his service in Pharaoh’s court, David was thirty when he became King and the Levites had to be thirty before they could serve in the temple. 

And so when Jesus was thirty, he made the decision to be baptized, and being baptized was a choice that Jesus made, his parents didn’t make it for him, John didn’t make it, it was Jesus who decided to go from Galilee to where John was baptizing people and he went with a purpose, to be baptized.

I am a firm believer in believer baptism.  In 35 years of pastoral ministry I have never baptized a baby, I have baptized children who have made a commitment to follow Christ and who have asked to be baptized, but I have never baptized an infant.  Why?  Because I believe that baptism needs to be intentional, that it is a choice and a decision that has to be made, by the person being baptized.

Other’s may suggest that you ought to get baptized, but ultimately the decision to be baptized has to be yours. 

Let’s go back to the story, Jesus makes the journey and finds his cousin baptizing folks, now if you are familiar with the story John has been telling people that he wasn’t the promised Messiah but that the promised one was on the way.  And then Jesus show up and asks to be baptized and we pick up the story in  Matthew 3:14  But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?”

Jesus’ Baptism Wasn’t Without Opposition I would think that John would have been excited to baptize Jesus.  Pretty good chance that they knew each other, we are told very early in the story that their mothers were related, and even though they raised in different communities, Jesus in Nazareth and John in Jerusalem, the gospels tell us that Jesus’ family went to Jerusalem every year for the Passover. 

Now I don’t know if you have a place that you go home to, but when I was a kid we went home to Grand Manan.  And when we went home to Grand Manan we stayed with kin and we visited kin.  I would suspect that it was the same with Jesus.  And I would think that John would be excited that his younger cousin wanted to be baptized, and that he wanted John to do it.

But Nooooooo.  The New Living Translation says that John tried to talk him out of it, the New International Version says that John tried to deter him and the King James version is even stronger, it says that John forbade him.  The word used in the original language means to hinder or to prohibit.  It would appear that John wasn’t in favour of Jesus being baptized. 

John no doubt saw Jesus as the messiah that he had been announcing, if he had grown up with Jesus he probably had seen the difference in Jesus’ life compared to the life of others and had never witnessed any behaviour, attitudes or actions that Jesus needed to repent of.

So understand, if you choose to be baptized there will be some who might not be as excited as you are.   If you were baptized as an infant they might not understand why you have chosen to be baptized again, they might tell you there is no need of it.  They might even feel that by choosing to be baptized that you are in some way negating or diminishing their earlier earlier decision, or  by being baptised you are saying that it was wrong. 

Other may not understand your need to get baptized, or maybe because they have never been baptized they are feeling some pressure because of your choice. 

Other’s may suggest that you shouldn’t get baptized, but ultimately the decision to be baptized needs to be yours.

So what happens, Jesus arrives at the edge of the river asking John to baptize him and John objects and tries to talk Jesus out of his decision, well let’s go back to the story

Matthew 3:15  But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him.”

Jesus’ Baptism Was an Act of Obedience  There have been many suggestions and theories as to why Jesus was baptized.  But ultimately Jesus goes back to the fact that God required it.  Why?   We’ll never really know, this side of eternity, but we can speculate.

Some have suggested that he was baptized to display his humility.  Others would say that he was baptized in order to provide an example to future believers. 

I kind of think that he chose to be baptized in order to mark the beginning of his journey.  He could point back to his ministry beginning at that point.   He could say “It all began the day John baptized me in the Jordan.”

But honestly, Jesus doesn’t elaborate on the why, he simply said he needed to be baptized if he was going to be obedient to God.   And if we go back to Luke’s account we are told that is when Jesus began his public ministry.  And so baptism seems to be Jesus stepping out in obedience and saying “Yes I will.”

We can go into all the theological implications of why you need to be baptized, and that is a sermon in itself, for next week.   And we will talk about how baptism symbolizes the washing away of our sins, that it is a metaphor for becoming made new, that it illustrates the resurrection and new life.  And we can provide scriptures to back up each of those concepts. 

But for the Christians there is really only one scripture that we need and that is when Jesus told his disciples in Mark 16:16  Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.

Baptism is the first point of obedience in your Christian life.  Believe and be baptized.  And I’ve said before, if you find it hard to be obedient in an act as simple as baptism what are you going to do when the big stuff comes along?  And don’t worry about getting everything right before you get baptized, it marks the beginning, not the end.

Here is the bottom line, and you can disagree with me if you like, but you will be wrong, if you are a Christ Follower and you haven’t followed him into the water of baptism then you are disobedient.

Baptist preacher and evangelist John R. Rice summed it up when he wrote "God's people should be baptized because God commanded it, not because some church requires it."

Because ultimately the decision to be baptized is a decision of obedience.

So let’s go back to the story,  Matthew 3:16  After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water,  Jesus’ Baptism Happened in the Water  There is no question that Jesus’ baptism was a water baptism.  But there are different opinions about how the water was applied.  Some would insist that John would have simply poured water over the head of a standing Jesus, others speculate that Jesus knelt and had water poured over him, while still others argue for full immersion.

We don’t know, but again we can look at what we are told.  In this scripture we are told that Jesus came up out of the water, which would imply that Jesus had gone down into the water.  In John’s account we read John 3:23  At this time John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to him for baptism. 

And so John wasn’t looking for a little bit of water, he was looking for plenty of water.  Which would lead me to believe that whatever method he was using required plenty of water.  And if you are just going to pour water on someone then all you need is enough water to pour. 

And so if you are unfamiliar with Cornerstone, we baptize by immersion, figure you were good and lost so you ought to get good and wet.  Is that engraved in stone?  Probably not.  In 2010 I was in Northern Ghana and while there our team performed 89 baptisms, many of them were performed in rivers but at one church we were way too far from the closest body of water for that to be a reality, so we poured water on the candidates, and I believe that they were just as baptized as those who had been baptized in the river.

But when it can happen by immersion, I believe, this is Denn talking, that it should be by immersion.  And I know that entire denominations disagree with me, and that’s ok, and I’m not saying that if you were baptized by sprinkling or pouring it doesn’t count, I’m just saying that I believe that when it can happen by immersion, it should happen by immersion.

And the result of what happened that day is spelled out in,  Matthew 3:16-17  After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

Jesus’ Baptism Testified to the Trinity 

The concept of the Trinity goes clear back to creation, when we read in Genesis 1:26  Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves.”  He didn’t say “Let me make human’s in my image, to be like me.”  He said   “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves.” 

And while we get hints throughout the Old Testament with talk of all three persons separately here and there it is in this scene at the beginning of the New Testament we see the Trinity, together.  The Son has just been baptized, the Holy Spirit descends on the Son and the Father speaks from heaven.  

Sometimes people will ask me if I can explain the Trinity, the answer I usually give them is “No.”   There are all kinds of things I can’t explain. 

I can explain how the solar system on the roof of our house makes hot water but I can’t explain how the solar system on the roof of the church makes electricity.  I can’t explain E=mc2, I can’t explain where the white goes when the snow melts, I can’t explain women and I can’t explain the Trinity.  But even though I can’t explain them the solar system on the room still produces energy, E still equals mc2, the white disappears with the snow and the Trinity exists.

 Augustine wrote a book called “On the Trinity” and he couldn’t explain it.  In 1953 in their book “A Handbook of Christian Truth”, Harold Lindsell and Charles Woodbridge wrote “The mind of man cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. He who has tried to understand the mystery fully will lose his mind; but he who would deny the Trinity will lose his soul.”

And while we may not be able to articulate the “how” of the Trinity we see each of them at Jesus’ baptism, and through the Gospels we see Jesus refer to himself as the Son we listen to Jesus pray to the Father and and we hear Jesus promise the Spirit. 

When Jesus was giving the apostles their final instructions he tells them in Matthew 28:19  Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

It was Thomas Adams, a Puritan Preacher, who was sometimes called "The Shakespeare of the Puritans" who wrote, ""Baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: there are three distinct persons: in the Name, not names; there is one essence."

Ten years ago we had a lady who asked me if I would baptize her just in the name of Jesus instead of in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?  And I said “No.”  And she left Cornerstone, because there are somethings I don’t move on, and that’s one of them.  

And at that moment, when Jesus stepped out of the water he was declaring that he was stepping into obedience.  He closed the door on one chapter of his life and opened the door on another chapter.   When we choose to follow Jesus into the water of baptism that’s what we are doing, we are proclaiming that we are made new.  We aren’t just taking Christianity for a test drive we’ve signed on the dotted line, Max Lucado is one of my favorite writers, and he sums it up when he writes "Baptism separates the tire kickers from the car buyers."

Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar explains  “The Church does not dispense the sacrament of baptism in order to acquire for herself an increase in membership but in order to consecrate a human being to God and to communicate to that person the divine gift of birth from God.”

So, where you at? 

The Nature of Holiness

The nature of Holiness

If there is one concept in the bible that seems to be foreign to us in 2016, almost to the point of incomprehensible is the concept of sacrifice. 

Not the concept of making sacrifices for something or someone, we all do that on a fairly regular basis.  As parents we make sacrifices for our children, we give up things that we could have for ourselves in order to provide them for our kids.  Whether that be in the form of material sacrifice, what you give up so they can have . . . whatever, or in the form of giving up our time for our children.  You might make sacrifices for your career, or for your education there are those here today who are pursuing a degree or upgrading and in order to do that they are making sacrifices, both financially and personally. 

We all make sacrifices, a priority for Angela and I is our annual winter vacation south and so we sacrifice things like birthday gifts and Christmas gifts so we can make that trip each year. 

So we all know what it is to make sacrifices after all we make them on a daily basis in our lives.  The concept that seems foreign to us is the concept of offering something to a deity as a sacrifice.   From movies and novels, we’ve heard of human sacrifices, virgins being thrown into volcanoes or people being buried alive to appease their gods, but that was then and this is now.

In the Old Testament we read about animals and birds being sacrificed in the temple as a form of worship, and we can’t even get our head around it, it seems so wrong.  And part of that is we are looking at it from a 2016 perspective and of course it’s wrong today, but 3000 years ago . . . maybe not so much.

But it’s because we can’t understand the concept of sacrifices being made to God in such an extreme way that we have a hard time with the concept of offering ourselves as a sacrifice.    In our world a sacrifice is something that we voluntarily give but more importantly today a sacrifice is something we can take back, if we decide that we don’t want to keep making that sacrifice anymore.

But in the biblical sense the incense was burnt, the animal was killed, the blood was shed and the sacrifice was made and it was done and it was irretrievable there were no give mes or do-overs or take backs or mulligans.

But that’s exactly what Paul was calling the early Christ followers to become when he wrote Romans 12:1  And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.  And just in case they didn’t get what he was saying he adds: Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable.  

Through the month of May we’ve been looking at Holiness.  It all began we we looked into Peter’s first letter where he wrote to be Holy because God is Holy.  That was the call to Holiness, and we discovered there that Holiness was the complete acceptance and obedience to the will of God in our lives.   In week two week peeked into Isaiah 35 and what it meant to walk the Highway of Holiness, the way of Holiness.  And last week we took some time in Romans 6 where Paul tells us that we need to crucify our sinful natures, the price of Holiness.

And today we are going to spend some time looking at the “Nature of Holiness”.

And so the first thing we need to look at is: The What  What was it that Paul was asking these folks to do?  Well the short answer was to become a sacrifice. 

But what does that mean or more importantly because the letter wasn’t written to us originally what did it mean to the people it was being written to 2000 years ago?  When this letter was read aloud to the Christians in the city of Rome, what came to their minds when they heard this phrase?  Historically we are told that there were a plethora of Roman gods and each one required specific sacrifices.  Add to that the fact that each year Roman Citizens had to make a sacrifice to Caesar and declare their loyalty by stating Caesar is lord and I’m sure those reading this letter knew exactly what Paul was trying to convey.

And so it is interesting that Paul doesn’t tell those who worshipped in Rome what to do, he doesn’t command them to make themselves living sacrifices instead he writes “I plead with you”, interesting.   But Paul knew that unless it was done willing it wasn’t a sacrifice, that when you are forced to give a gift it’s not really a gift.

It was Ghandi who said  “The mice which helplessly find themselves between the cats teeth acquire no merit from their enforced sacrifice.”

You know what I’m talking about, there have been times in your life that for whatever reason you were compelled to give a gift.  It wasn’t that you wanted to it was that you had to, for whatever reason you didn’t have a choice.  It may have been a reality or it may simply have been a perception that you had but you were giving the gift out of a sense of obligation.   

And what was Paul pleading with these folks to do?  Well he said Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.

Give your bodies!  That is worthy of note because Grecian thought and philosophy had permeated this area for over four hundreds of years since Alexander the Great had claimed it as part of his empire.  And for the Greeks in general and the Gnostics in particular the body was evil and only the spirit was good.  At its very best the body was seen as a corrupt vessel that held our spirits. 

And because they drew such a clear line of delineation they could separate their physical behaviour and activity from the spiritual side of things.  This is the body and this is the spirit and they really don’t concern each other because ultimately the body will be gone so how can it effect what will live on. 

But for the Christian the body is a part of the total package, after all if God created our bodies how could it be evil?  Remember back in Psalm 139:13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous—how well I know it.  These fragile shells were given to us by God himself crafted by him with love and care.   

Not only that but if God himself, creator of the universe could take on a human body how could it be evil?  And then we are told in 1 Corinthians 6:19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?

  2 Corinthians 7:1 Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. 

The people that Paul was writing to had already committed their spirits to God, they had done the spiritual thing but they were still struggling with the physical side of the relationship.  But God doesn’t just want a part of you and a part of your life he wants all of you and all of your life.  The inside and the outside.  The temporal as well as the eternal.     

And so Paul is telling those early believers:  I beg of you, do not use that which God has gifted you with for evil, instead present it to God as a whole, and make your entire self a sacrifice.  A living sacrifice, but we all know the problem with living sacrifices right?  Yeah, they keep crawling off the altar.

And Paul continues:  Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.   So here we have The Why  I mean it’s all well and good that we be asked to do something but deep down inside we are really like kids in our relationship with God.  And what do kids ask when we ask them to do something?  Why?  How come?  And the Romans must have been the questioning type because throughout the letter we find Paul answering questions even before they are asked.  So let’s look a that verse again Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God  (and before they can ask why he tells them) because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable.  (and again he jumps into to answer the why) This is truly the way to worship him.   

So the question has two answers.  The first one is an expanded “because”.  Really as parents isn’t that our favourite response when we are asked “Why?”  “Because” or if we are feeling particularly wordy and feel that our children deserve more of an explanation we sometimes expand it and say: “because I said so.”   

So Paul tells them: Think about it, after all God has done for you, including but not limited to the death of his Son as a sacrifice for you, isn’t this the least you can do for him?  Paul could have been a travel agent, specializing in guilt trips.  But guilt trip or not it is reality.  Without God where would we be?   Without even getting into grace and our salvation, look around at all God has done for you as an individual, your home, your family, your health and a great country to live in.  And before you start with the yeah buts you know that whatever your circumstances you could have it worse.

But it’s not just a matter of obligation because Paul continues and tells his readers  Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.   Our commitment to anyone or anything is ultimately not measured by what we say but by what we do.  We can talk the game but unless we are actually in the game what difference will it really make?  Because it’s not what you say and it’s not what you say you’ll do it’s what you do that counts.   The New King James Version says it this way Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.   Which is your reasonable service, I love that because he is saying “It’s the least you can do.” 

 What is worship?  What is your reasonable service?  Jesus tells us very simply that it is obedience.   John 14:15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.

So we have the “what”  Give yourself wholly to God.  And we have the “why” Because.  Let’s keep reading:  Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

So here we have The How  If you have been with us through this series you know that I am going to tell you that it is a choice you have to make.  It seems to be a recurring theme, but not a theme that is real popular in 2016.  And that is the fact that we are all responsible for the choices that we make and that our lives are a result of the choices we made.   Today we want to be able to abdicate our responsibility for where we are in life and who we are in life.  Well not entirely we like to take responsibility for being successful, for being good parents and doing well in school. 

But the other stuff, the part where we blow it and the part where we hurt those we love and don’t measure up, those aren’t our fault.  It is the fault of our parents who did a rotten job parenting us, or of the school system that did a rotten job educating us, or of our friends who led us astray or society, or the the economic downturn or global warming.  You get the picture. 

But the reality is this:  we are the product of choices we make.  You chose whether you’d apply yourself in school when you were a kid, you chose what you’d do after high school, what you would do for a living and who you would marry.  And you will choose how passionately you will serve God.

And the great thing about that is that once you acknowledge that you are responsible for the decisions you made yesterday, whether they were good bad or indifferent than you realize that you are responsible for the decisions you will make today and do you know what that means?

It means that you are in control, that you will determine your future and your destiny. 

When I was growing up I remember one of my Dad’s favourite poems was Invictus by Ernest Henley and in the last verse Henley writes “It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

I don’t want to get into all the theological implications of that statement but I do know that too often we abdicate responsibility for our life and our decisions to others. 

And so here is the decision that Paul tells us that we have to make: 

Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. 

By now you should know 2 Corinthians 5:17 by heart, but just in case you don’t here it is: 2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Paul is telling us that “the how” is radical, it’s not just a minor course adjustment this is a dramatic change in direction, he is telling us that we can’t just change our behaviour a little bit instead this is major change, a whole new beginning a whole new direction. 

The New King James says it this way Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,  Do you see the difference, conformed is passive, it’s something that happens to you, while transformed is something you do, a choice you make.

You can be squeezed into conformity or you can choice to be transformed. 

I think the church is where it is today because of a couple of choices that have been made over the past fifty years.  And I think those choices have caused problems. 

The first, I think, is that for a while the church has been trying to make the world conform to us.  We have tried to impose Christian values and Christian morals on an unchristian world.  We have been more concerned with the world’s behaviour than the world’s salvation.  You cannot legislate morality.  Does not work.  2000 years the Church existed in a society that was a hedonistic immoral cesspool.  And the church didn’t see their mission to correct that.  The mission of the church wasn’t to change society it was to change people. 

And you are thinking, but pastor Jesus called us to be the salt of the earth.  Indeed he did, but remember the salt seasons the soup.  But we were called to be the salt, not the soup.  The teaching of Jesus and the New Testament were meant for believers and for the church, not for society.   And so you never hear Paul or Peter or Jesus for that matter decrying the evils of crucifixion, or even of the sexual behaviour of their society, other than to say that wasn’t acceptable behaviour for those who followed Christ. 

The second mistake we made, is that we have allowed the world to force us into their mold, and instead of the church influencing the morals of the world we have allowed the world to influence the church.  From sexual behaviour to how we view marriage and the sanctity of life from natural conception to natural death we now take our cues from society instead of scripture. 

But everybody believes or the supreme court says has become the mantra of way too many Christians and churches.  We are afraid to be out of step with the world or worse to be labeled “Intolerant”.

We need to heed the warning of Jesus who reminded his followers, Luke 6:26  What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.   

I fear that instead of being the salt that flavours the soup that soon you won’t be able to taste the difference between the salt and the soup.  And that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.  When Jesus was praying for those who would follow him, this is what he said John 17:16-17  They do not belong to this world any more than I do.  Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 

Because when the church allows itself to be shaped by the world this is the end result .  (video of honest pastor)

Never have Paul’s words seemed more relevant than in 2016, Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  If there doesn’t seem to be any difference between what the world watches and what you watch, what the world believes and what you believe, how the world behaves and how you behave, then there probably isn’t a difference. 

But if you have allowed yourself to be transformed into a new person what is the result?  What is this ultimately called?  This, being transformed by the renewing of your mind?  This embracing the things of God instead of the things of the world? 

It is called holiness and it is exactly that, embracing the things of God instead of embracing the things of the world.  I’m surprised, no I’m not surprised but I am dismayed by the trash that Christians watch, read and listen to.  When I first became a Christ follower my dad gave me some profound advice.  He said, “A lot of people will try to tell you what you can and can’t do as a Christian, but just ask yourself “Would I do this with Jesus.” 

And maybe you would invite Jesus over to watch Game of Thrones, but probably not.

And it happens when you allow God to shape you, and that happens when you spend time listening to him, that means reading your bible, talking to him, that means prayer, and spending time with his kids.  That means going to church.

The author of the book of Hebrews writes Hebrews 12:14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 

John Wesley defined holiness this way “Holiness is having the mind that was in Christ and walking as Christ walked.”  And only happens when we’ve been transformed when we become different.   

Which of course leads us to the last part of verse two Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

The Result  It was Mother Theresa who said “Holiness is the complete acceptance of the will of God.”

Bottom line is this; you need to sell out to God.  It keeps coming back to that, Holiness means that you’ve given everything to God, your ambition, work, hobbies, house, car, family, pride and everything you are and everything you will be. 

Have you done that?  Have you chosen? Chosen to be transformed into a new person changing the way you think?    Today is the day

Enough with the Selfies

Enough with the selfies.

And you thought that selfies were harmless.  When selfies first came out I thought taking pictures of yourself with a cell phone was a passing fad.  But no, it seems that they are here to stay.  All kinds of people are taking pictures of themselves, from the famous to the unknown. 

And they take their pictures with their new clothes and their old clothes, blue clothes and no clothes.  Sounds like a Dr. Seuss book.  They take their selfies at births, weddings and funerals. There seems to be no limit to where or when someone will take a selfie.  But in case, like me, you thought selfies were a new fad here are Arnold and Ellen Hog using the first selfie stick ever in 1926.

And while they may seem like harmless fun there has recently been a number of studies linking the habit to Narcissism, (that is self-love), addictive personality traits and other mental health issues.

And selfies aren’t new, before you could take a picture of yourself there was always the person who was demanding that you take a picture of them.  If you go back through your prints you will find them, at birthday parties, weddings and family events.  Even though it wasn’t their birthday party, their wedding or their family.

And long before there were camera’s there were selfies, I mentioned the link between selfies and Narcissism.  The term Narcissistic means “love of self” and it comes from a Greek myth about the young hunter Narcissus.  Narcissus was known for his beauty and he was his own biggest fan. 

One day while walking by a pool he saw his own reflection in the water and not realizing that it was just a reflection he fell in love with it.  

Unable to pull himself away from his reflection, Narcissus lost his will to live and he stared at his reflection until he died. 

And the philosophy of selfies goes clear back to the fall of mankind, the idea and question of “What’s in it for me.”   But it doesn’t end there, I read somewhere that Alice Roosevelt once said of her father Theodore, “Father always had to be the centre of attention, when he went to a wedding he wanted to be the bride.  When he went to a funeral, he was sorry he couldn’t be the corpse.”

And well this focus on self has been around forever, it is a philosophy that fits in with the concept of Holiness that we’ve been talking about for the past couple of weeks?

We started by talking about the Call of Holiness and it was there that we discovered that Holiness is being completely sold out to God’s will for our lives.  And last week we looked at the Way of Holiness and peeked into Isaiah 35 where the prophet told about the Highway of Holiness.  And we discovered that when we stayed on the highway of God’s will that we would be safe from the Devil and that it was a way that ultimately led to heaven. 

And so this week we are looking at “The Price of Holiness”.    And maybe you are thinking “a price, I thought holiness would be free?”  Well it is free but it’s not cheap. 

Because if living a Holy Life means that God is in control then it means that self has to relinquish control, and that is costly.

Paul was so serious about that concept that he tells us in the scripture that was read this morning Romans 6:6  We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

And that is a metaphor that he uses over and over again in his writing, listen to the words he wrote in the book of Galatians when he says Galatians 2:20  My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Did you catch that?  “Our sinful selves were crucified with Christ and my old self has been crucified with Christ.”  Wow, and in 2016 that statement really doesn’t mean a lot to us, but 2000 years ago it was an incredibly powerful statement because crucifixion was something that everybody was at least somewhat familiar with. 

It's only been in the past hundred years that civilized societies have stopped killing people in public.   As a matter of fact, it’s been almost 150 years since the last public hanging occurred in Canada. And while the last public execution happened in Canada in 1869 and in the US in 1936 public executions still happen in countries around the word and they remain the same type of spectacle that there were 2000 years ago.

When Paul wrote to the Galatians crucifixion was a common form of punishment in the Roman empire and they were done where everyone could see them.  So when Paul told the early believers that they needed to crucify themselves if they wanted to live a holy life they knew exactly what he meant.  But do we?

What does it mean to have crucified your old self?  And how do we do that?

Let’s start with the fact that while It’s Simple, It’s not Easy  Isn’t that the reality of life.  In case you are wondering I have lost right around 60 lbs in the past 15 months. Actually people will often ask how much weight I’ve lost and I tell them a thousand pounds, but recently 60.  I feel like Erma Bombeck who said “In two decades I've lost a total of 789 pounds. I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.”

I have discovered that losing weight is simple, but it’s not easy.  All you have to do to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than your body needs.  That’s simple.  You figure out how many calories your body needs each day to maintain your present weight and then you eat less than that. 

It was celebrity trainer Subodh Gupta who wrote “If you keep on eating unhealthy food than no matter how many weight loss tips you follow, you are likely to retain weight and become obese. If only you start eating healthy food, you will be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to lose weight.”    Sure sounds simple enough.   And so I use the Weight Watcher Plan and use the app on my phone to track what I eat.  Simple, right?

But it’s not easy because I really like food, and the food I like isn’t the food that I can eat lots of.  And sometimes I just feel like eating something that doesn’t fit in my plan, or at least doesn’t fit in my plan at the end of the day.  And while in theory it’s simple, it kind of goes back to what Yogi Berra said “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, in practice there is.”

And so in theory, living a holy life is simple.  You simply do what God wants you to do.  Done.  But what about in practice?

But it’s not easy, and those who say it’s easy lie.  2000 years ago Paul wrote Romans 7:18-19  And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.  I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 

Sound familiar?  And if that was all that Paul wrote then we would feel like there is no hope for us.  But Paul goes on to tell us that he found the solution, Romans 8:12-14  Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.  For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

Did you catch that?  “You have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” 

So, to live a Holy life is Simple, it’s just not easy.  And the bible never says it will be easy, as a matter of fact by describing the process using the metaphor of crucifixion it tells us just how difficult and painful it can be. 

So what else does Paul tells us about the process  Galatians 5:24  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

The next reality here is that It’s Something You Have to Do  In other words nobody else can do it for you and you can’t do it for anyone else.  Our decision to live a life that is obedient to the will of God will be just as personal as our decision to become a Christ follower.

In the same way that while most everybody thought Denn should lose weight, even if you were too polite to mention it, only I could make the decision and do the work of losing weight.

It’s the same with deciding to live a holy life, that is a life that is in the centre of God’s will and obedient to God’s will.   The preacher can’t do it for you and your spouse can’t do it for you and your parents can’t do it for you.

And while God can’t or won’t do it for you, in the sense that he won’t take away your free will and force you to live a holy life, He’s willing to help in the form of the Holy Spirit.    With God’s help you can do it. Do you believe that?  But you have to want to.  And it is a partnership.

Here is the mystery of that partnership.  You can change your mind but you can’t change your heart.  Only God can change a person’s heart. But God can’t, or more correctly, won’t change your mind, that is the free will aspect of the relationship.  And God won’t change your heart until you change your mind.  You have to want to change, you have to want to enter into the relationship.

The scripture that I just read from Galatians is part of a section that begins with the words Galatians 5:16  So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.  

And just before Paul writes about our sinful nature’s being crucified he had written about what the acts of the sinful nature looked like and warned the early church in vs. 21 Galatians 5:21  . . . Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 

And then he goes on to talk about the type of life we will live and the characteristics we will exhibit if we crucify the sinful nature and allow the Holy Spirit to have control.  And those characteristics are called the Fruit of the spirit and they are supposed to be evidenced in all areas of our lives.  And even though I’m sure that you are all intimately familiar with the fruit of the Spirit here they are again.  Galatians 5:22-23  But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Charles Spurgeon was the preacher at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London in the late 1800’s it was a mega-church before anyone knew what a mega-church was, and Spurgeon wrote,

“Faith (Holiness) is not a piece of confectionery to be put upon drawing-room tables, or a garment to be worn on Sundays; it is a working principle, to be used in the barn and in the field, in the shop and on the exchange; it is a grace for the housewife and the servant; it is for the House of Commons and for the poorest workshop.”   And the person who will make that decision to live an obedient and holy life will be you.

But it wasn’t only Paul who used the cross and crucifixion as a metaphor for living obediently as a Christ follower.  One day when Jesus was preaching to the crowds he told them.   Luke 9:23  Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.  How often did Jesus say we’d have to take up our cross and follow him?  Daily.   So choosing to live a holy obedient life isn’t something that’s done once, It’s Something You Have to Do Everyday

Since I started with the weight loss analogy and it’s something that most people can identify with, let’s stay there for a little while longer.  I have decided to lose weight more times than I can count, and I have started to lose weight more times than I can count.  But fifteen months ago I made a decision to make it a daily commitment. 

I track my meals every day, and if there are days that I don’t do well, then I learn from it and put it behind me and move on to the next day.  But if I stop working at losing weight then I stop losing weight.  The commitment 15 months ago would be worthless if it didn’t translate into daily action.   

Jesus knew that if our Christian life was going to be successful then it need to be an ongoing commitment.  And it starts each day when you give your day to God and reaffirm your commitment to live in obedience to His will for your life.

And that isn’t a long list of rules.  One day an expert in the religious law asked Jesus what the most important commandment was.    And Jesus replied by saying Matthew 22:37-40  Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

In his book “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection”, John Wesley wrote “Yea, we do believe that He will in this world so 'cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, that we shall perfectly love Him, and worthily magnify His holy name.'”

So, what is our commitment as Christians?  Love God, love others.  And you do that by obeying his teaching.  And you know what his teachings are by reading his book.  And most days you will be presented with the choice to obey God or not to obey God.  

One person described it like two dogs fighting inside of him, one representing evil and wickedness and one representing goodness and purity.  Someone asked him, “Well which one wins?” And his response was “Whichever one I say ‘sic him’ to”  Which one will you say “sic him” to?

Earlier in the message I referenced Romans 7 where Paul talked about doing the wrong things that he didn’t want to do and not being able to do the right things that he wanted to do.  And most of us know what that feels like from time to time in our Christian walk.  But then we turned the page and read in Romans 8 that Paul was able to win the battle that he was talking about, and he continues by writing in Romans 8:37  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.   Not just victory, but overwhelming victory.

The Result is Victory  You can win, you can have the victory, you don’t have to live in defeat.  Do you believe that?

The Corinthian church had all kinds of problems and in his letters Paul addresses many of those issues but he reminds the believers again and again of the truth and the promise of victory.  Listen to his words in 1 Corinthians 15:57  But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The apostle John wrote to the early church and told them  1 John 4:16-17  We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.  And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.

Those promises weren’t just for Christ followers 2000 years ago they are for us today.  As we live in God, our love grows more perfect.  And maybe you’re thinking “But Denn it’s hard, it’s not easy.”    Exactly, it’s the hard that makes it great.  If it was easy everybody would be doing it, if it was easy Paul wouldn’t have referred to it as crucifixion. Instead he would have said it was like baking a cake or falling off a log or as easy as pie.    

But remember the end result, the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control.  That’s the victory.

And we don’t always get it right, sometimes we blow it, we say something or do something we regret and we know is wrong.  Sometimes on my weight loss journey I blow it, and often like when we blow it in our spiritual lives it is often intentional. 

I know I shouldn’t do it, I know that eating The Sydelle Fries at Sydells on Rocky Lake Drive probably isn’t the wisest thing to do.  Sydell fries are home cut fries topped with Montreal Style Smoke Meat, gravy and Cheese.  And I have never accidental ate them thinking they were a salad.

But if that happens, I have two choices.  I can say “Wow I blew it; I guess I’ll never get this weight loss thing” and give up and pretty soon I’ll weigh what I used to weigh.  Sound familiar?

Or I can say “Wow, I blew it, tomorrow I’m going to do better.”

The bible tells us in 1 John 2:1-2  My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.  He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

God’s desire is that you not sin.  I assume that is your desire as well.  But the promise is there, note that John writes “If” you sin, not “when” you sin.  But if you sin, Jesus is there, he wants to pick you up and brush you off and forgive you.  He’s extending his hand, but you have to take it.  He won’t pick you up unless you want to be picked up, The choice is yours.