EPIPHANY
1
January
11-13, 2025
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 (EHV)
“BAPTISM!”
1.
It
showed who Jesus really is.
2.
It
shows who you really are too!
“Who am I?” It’s the question of
identity. It is an important one, so important that all major philosophers and
systems of philosophy have sought to answer that question. Ancients like
Socrates, Aristotle and Plato, and more modern philosophers like Kant and Sartre
and Descartes all waxed eloquent and used up a lot of ink trying to answer that
question. Who am I? It’s not just one that philosophers want to know. It’s one
we need to know. Young people want to know where and how they fit in. Older
people want to know they make a difference. Our identities can mistakenly be
tied to our careers or our children, our accomplishments or lack of them. If
you are not comfortable with who you really, are, if you do not like who you
think you are, it can lead to bad behaviors and difficult relationship. Who
really am I? What makes that question difficult to deal with is that sometimes
what you think of yourself or what you look like to others isn’t who you really
are. Take these guys for instance. PICTURE OF STAFF Now you look at that and
say, “Man those 8th graders keep looking older and older. That’s a
manchild right there.” Then you look a little closer and realize, “Wait a
minute. Those aren’t 8th grade boys wearing onsies for some spirit
day at school, those are our teachers and principal wearing custom made St.
Jacobi onsies during a school day!” You may think, do I really want them
teaching our children? I am here to tell you that you absolutely want them as
spiritual leaders for our children. What they look like is not their identity. More
on that later.
Making incorrect assessments based on
outward appearance is nothing new. It happened on a grand scale when Jesus
walked the earth. Luke tells us, “The
people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John
could be the Christ.” Many men before the time of Jesus had claimed they
were the Christ, the God sent Messiah. Most of them had tried to lead
rebellions against whatever government was ruling the Jews at the time. They,
of course, failed because they were not the Christ. Then John the Baptist came
along. He was different. Instead of poking at the Roman government he punched
the Jewish King Herod in the face, telling him plainly his marriage lifestyle
was a sin against God. He needed to repent. Instead of pointing out all the wrongdoings
of the rulers in Rome, he pointed out the sins of his own people. He called the
pastors and teachers a bunch of snakes! Who is this guy? What was his identity?
Was he the Christ?
“John answered them all, “I baptize you
with water. But someone mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the
strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His
winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing
floor. He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff
with unquenchable fire.” No! Not the Christ. John did not fail to testify
clearly. He was the Baptizer, not the Christ. He was the forerunner, the
preparer of the way. He was not the Christ. Someone else was. Who?
“When all the people were being baptized,
Jesus was baptized too. While he was praying, heaven was opened, 22and
the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came
from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with you.” Jesus is the
Christ. If you lived back then you likely would have made wrong assumptions
about who Jesus was. For 30 years He had been known as the carpenter’s son.
Likely He was a carpenter himself. He had brothers and sisters. He ate and
drank and slept like everyone else did. He put his sandals on one at a time
just like everyone else did. How were people supposed to know He is the Christ,
the Messiah, the God sent Savior? PICTURE OF JESUS BAPTISM God said so. At His
Baptism. The sinless Son of God was identified by His Baptism. “This is my
beloved Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.” And you know what
happens when God says something? It’s true.
That takes us to our Baptism and to the
question “Who am I?” There are some differences between our Baptisms and that
of Jesus. Jesus was perfect and sinless. He had no sinful nature. He already
was the Son of God. Jesus was baptized, as He said, to fulfill all
righteousness, so that He could cover us with the robe of His righteousness
through faith. Ours is different. I read some online articles recently where
researchers we trying to figure out if some people are born bad and some born
good or all just morally neutral. They obviously don’t listen to what God says
and probably never had kids. If you do both of those you need no further
research. We start out sinful from the time of conception and it does not take
all that long for the sinfulness on the inside to show on the outside. One of
the blessings of Baptism is the forgiveness of sins, another is the gift of the
Holy Spirit. What I want to focus on today is the gift of identity.
Who am I? There are lots of different ways
to answer that question. You might think about roles you have, jobs you have
done. You might think of family relationships. What you can say very simply is
Child of God. God’s own child. Why are you God’s own child? How do you know?
God says so, at your Baptism. Some of you are sitting here today feeling like a
hypocrite. You have the smile pasted on your face. You’re dressed up. But you
know you. You know what you have done. You know what you are continuing to struggle
with. You feel like garbage, outside of God’s love and maybe your hard life is
proof to you that you are not loved by God. Not true. You are dearly loved by
God. At your Baptism God named you His child and He has not changed His mind.
Your status as God’s child is not dependent on what you do but what God has
done for you. Your past and ongoing struggles does not define who you really
are. God does. He says you are His child. And do you know what happens when God
says something? It’s true! I suppose also there could be someone here today or
listening that thinks they are all that. Who honestly gets a little bored
hearing about God’s forgiveness and Jesus because you really are a good person.
You do things right. Well at your Baptism God named you his child too and it
had nothing to do with you. Did you hear what you were told in the second
reading from Titus today? More importantly did you listen and apply it to
yourself? “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward mankind
appeared, 5 he saved us—not by righteous works that we did
ourselves, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth
and the renewal by the Holy Spirit.” You are all that. You are God’s own
child. But not because of you. Because of Him.
Child of God. That’s who I really am.
That’s who you really are. We need no flowery fluff from philosophers. We have
the word of the almighty God proclaimed at our Baptism in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Every other role, everything we
do gets affected by that truth. I can live as a husband, a father, a
grandfather, a pastor in a way that serves God and others. You can too whether
working or retired, young or old, married or single. The Holy Spirit and His
power are yours. God says so. Which takes us back to those onsie wearing
wonders I showed you before. PICTURE OF STAFF. Don’t let looks deceive you.
They are exactly who you want leading and teaching our kids. They know who they
really are, children of God. Then know His love and forgiveness and they are
really good at modeling it and passing it on. And they don’t mind having a
little fun either. We all can, when we know who we really are. Baptized
children of God. Amen.
