I told myself to post these notes over the weekend…but it didn’t happen.. =( As such, today you are treated with my sermon notes from Easter (yeah, I’m a week behind). Note that the sermon itself ended up vastly different as Jesus changed everything about ten or fifteen minutes into the sermon. 😕
“Jesus’ Baptism” Sermon
Happy Easter!! Jesus is risen!! Amen and Amen
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. -1 Peter 1:3-4a
We have freedom because the cross leads to the resurrection!
Public Reading: Luke 3:15-22
1. John the Baptist
o Who is he?
* Luke 3:15 it tells us that the people were waiting for the Messiah and wondered if John was he….
* The Gospel of John gives us a little more details about this line of thought (John 1:19-28)
19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
o The religious leaders asked if he was:
* Messiah – “The Anointed One” – the suffering servant of Isaiah 53
* Elijah – Malachi 4:5-6
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
* The Prophet
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. – Deuteronomy 18:15
o Who was he pointing towards?
* John could have taken the fame for himself
* He could have been another ‘Messiah’ as that was what the people wanted him to become
* But he stayed strong…he continued to point towards the coming One!
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One. –John 1:32-34
2. Jesus
o Why he was baptized?
* Baptism in the 1st century Judaism, as we talked about last week, was for Gentiles or non-Jewish people who wanted to enter into Judaism.
* It was a physical sign that they were changing their ways
* A public confusion that they had turned their backs on their old gods and were now following the Creator of Heaven and Earth
* So why did Jesus come to be baptized?
• John the Baptist said that he came to be baptized so that he would be realized to Israel
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” – John 1:29-31
*It is To be revealed to Israel..
• It is interesting that Jesus was revealed in this manner as it was on the edge of the desert.
• It was among the outcasts – the soldiers, the tax collectors, the sinners, those whom the religious leaders of the day didn’t like.
• I think Jesus wanted to identify with us. He walked the path of the outsider – those who did not know God – so that He could bring them into the House of God.
• Just like Jesus wasn’t born to a rich family or within a palace… He also started and walked among folks like us. Everyday people with everyday problem, folks caught in the evil and injustices of the world.
• Folks who need someone to walk with them and break the bondage of sin, shame, addictions, guilt, dead and fear.
o The voice of God
* I love this part!
*At this point, Jesus hadn’t even started his ministry.
*He was just a carpenter working like everybody else…
*Nothing special in terms that we usually thing – as in he didn’t have a following, he didn’t graduate from college or invent something cool
* He was a worker who took care of his mother and siblings.
* But God spoke:
“You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” –Luke 3:22b
*The Kingdom New Testament puts it this way:
“You are my son, my dear son! I’m delighted with you.”
o Delighted!
*Wow! What a statement
*God loves us and delights in us…
“The LORD your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.” -Zephaniah 3:17
* I love the first part of Psalms 18 as it tells us about God’s delight for us – and it connects beautifully to Easter:
Read: Psalms 18:1-19
1 I love you, LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield[b] and the horn[c] of my salvation, my stronghold.3 I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I have been saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.[d]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, LORD,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.