January 11, 2004
Baptism of the Lord
"Come On In The Water's Fine"
(Luke 3:15-17, 21-22)
Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn
Show Clip from "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?" (Baptism scene, edited for language)
That movie has become one of my favorite movies. And I particularly love that scene. As you watch the scene unfold you see the human need, the tugging of the heart and spirit as Delmar sees and recognizes the baptismal procession. He instinctively recognizes his need for spiritual cleansing and renewal. And he acts upon it.
And then there's that last line of invitation, "Come on in, boys, the water's fine!"
I love that. Every time we celebrate and someone is baptized, that's the invitation from God, "Come On In, the Water's Fine!"
Every time we have one of those moments where our lives are renewed through a fresh outpouring of God's Holy Spirit, that's the invitation from God, "Come On In, the Water's Fine!" For those who have already been baptized it's an invitation to remember and be renewed. For those who haven't been baptized, it's an invitation to take the plunge. "Come On In, the Water's Fine!"
Even Jesus, the Son of God, felt that need and was baptized. The Gospel of Luke describes it this way. Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 (NRSV)
[15] As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,
[16] John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
[17] His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
[21] Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,
[22] and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
We may not hear the words God spoke to Jesus, but God is always pleased when someone takes the plunge. God is always pleased when we "Come to the Water" and dive in. Part of the reason God is pleased is because in Baptism we discover that Baptism Claims Us, Names Us and Aims Us.
FIRST: Baptism Claims Us, because Baptism is about what we believe. And we believe that there are second chances in life or do-overs as the kids say. And Scripture confirms that. Our God is a God of second chances.
French writer Henri Barbusse (1874-1935) tells of a conversation overheard in a trench full of wounded men during the First World War. One of the men, who knew he only had minutes to live says to one of the other man, "Listen, Dominic, you've led a very bad life. Everywhere you are wanted by the police. But there are no convictions against me. My name is clear, so, here, take my wallet, take my papers, my identity, take my good name, my life and quickly, hand me your papers that I may carry all your crimes away with me in death." (1)
The Good News is that through Jesus, God makes a similar offer. Something wonderful happens to us when we are baptized. When we are baptized, we identify ourselves with Jesus. We publicly declare our intention to strive to be like Jesus and follow God's will for our lives. When we are baptized, our lives are changed. We see things differently than before. We see other people differently than before. Baptism enables and empowers us to do the things that Jesus wants us to do here and now. We are able to identify with Jesus because He was baptized. And we are able to love as he loved. Such identification is life changing. That kind of identification shapes what we believe and claims us. BAPTISM CLAIMS US.
SECONDLY: Baptism Names Us, and tells us who we are.
The Ticket, one of the sports radio stations in Dallas, refers to useless people as spares. When I first heard that I laughed. But in reflecting on that, I realized that we need to remember in the Kingdom of God there are no spares, there are no useless people. There are no extras. There are no outsiders. Each and everyone of us is a child of God whom God loves as if we were God's only child.
Baptism reminds us of that. Every time someone answers the invitation, "Come On In, the Water's Fine!" We hear the voice of God saying: "This is my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased."
I've always thought it curious that we call this container with water for Baptism a Baptismal Font. Especially, now, in this high tech world in which we live. Anyone with a computer and word processor knows what fonts are. They are the style of the characters in our word processors. Times New Roman, Helvetica, Courier, Signboard, Storybook and the like.
Our Baptismal Font really comes from the word fount. Short for fountain. But I got to thinking about the use of the word Font. Baptism is God's watermark in our lives. God's seal of approval. The font is God's signature. The ink of that signature is the water of our baptism, the water that washes us clean. The water into which we were plunged, the water that was sprinkled on our hearts to make us clean, the water that was poured out upon us, like the spirit.
As a consequence we are the carriers of God's message of redemption and second chances in the world. We are God's walking signboards, carrying the message of God for all to see and hear. The Font of Baptism is used to write who we are on our hearts. It's God's autograph and it says we are a child of God, a designer original. Baptism Names Us, and tells us who we are.
But it also tells the world who we are and who they can be.
A. Baptism Claims Us, Baptism Names Us, and Baptism Aims us. Baptism tells us what we are called to do. And we are called to reach out with the Good News.
An acquaintance, preacher and publisher of Dynamic Preaching magazine, King Duncan, tell his favorite Fred Craddock story.
It seems Dr. Craddock, a graduate of Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, tells about a church in east Tennessee that he pastored in his student days. It was a beautiful little church in Anderson County. The church was a white frame building, pretty as a picture. There were good people in that church, too. It was a warm, loving family.
But when Dr. Craddock arrived, he noticed something. He noticed that none of the new people in community, people who had come to work on the big government project over at Oak Ridge and all those people living in trailers and hastily built shanties with all those children, none of those people were in that church.
Dr. Craddock called the church board together and told them, "We need to reach out to those folks who are out here. They are close. Here's our mission."
And the chair of the board said, "Oh, I don't think so. They wouldn't fit in here."
Craddock protested, "But they need the gospel. They need the church."
"No, I don't think so," said the chairperson. And the next Sunday night the board passed a resolution, "Members will be admitted to this church only from families who own property in [Anderson] county."
Years later, Craddock took a trip back to that community. He searched out the church and found it. It was still a pretty place. But out in front of that pretty, picturesque little church was a sign that read: "Barbecued Chicken, Ribs & Pork."
It wasn't a church anymore. The church had died. It was a restaurant now and it was full, full of all kinds of people, sitting in those pews, eating barbecue. The building was packed and Craddock said to his wife, "It's a good thing this isn't a church anymore. These folks would not be welcome." That Church's focus became themselves. Their aim was inward.
The reason King Duncan loves that story so much, is that when he was born slightly more than 60 years ago, his parents were living in a small trailer in Anderson County while his father worked in construction on the Atomic energy plant in Oak Ridge. Fred Craddock could have been his pastor! But he wasn't, because they were outsiders. And they lived in a humble dwelling. (2)
Luckily for him and his family, they found another church who aim was outward. Whose focus was to reach out to the world (and especially the community in which we live) with the Good News of Jesus Christ and the Good News of second chances through God's Grace.
That's our focus, too. When we are Baptized, we are Aimed outward. We are Aimed toward the world. We're called to reach out in love with the Good News of second chances through God's Grace.
B. We have a wonderful ministry in place which is doing just that. LRE. Lifestyle Relational Evangelism. It's all about making friends. It's not about buttonholing and confrontation. It's simply about making friends and making a difference.
They want to expand and they want you to help keep the Outward Aim of this church by being a Neighborhood Minister. Being a Neighborhood Minister is simple. It's simply being a Good Neighbor.
This is what it involves. 1. An LRE team member will contact you about someone who lives your general area, who has visited or expressed an interest in the church. 2. You'll be asked to contact them simply as a friendly neighbor either by phone or in person whichever you're most comfortable with. Just be friendly. Be a good listener. Let them know the church cares. Answer any questions they may have. If you visit them in person, you can have an LRE member go with you. And 3. Let the LRE team member who contacted you, know that you made the contact and how it went.
All we're doing is focusing outward and loving people as Jesus did. This ministry is simply taking what we already do, and doing it for Christ and the Church.
You may never know what impact you might have, simply by being a Good Neighbor. You can let the signature of God, written on your heart with the Baptismal font, be exhibited through the love of Jesus lived out and shared with a neighbor.
It could like a high school English teacher here in Texas that I heard about. A few days before the start of a new school year one of her former students visited her in her classroom. She did not recognize the young man who knelt down beside her to thank her for all she had done for him.
"I have a good job, a wonderful wife, and two little girls," he told this former teacher proudly. She desperately wanted to remember who he was, but she couldn't. Over the years there had been so many students that she lost track. He told her, "I came to tell you that I graduated from high school because of you. I knew you loved me when I was your student because you would walk around the room while you lectured, and you would stop at my desk and put your hand on my shoulder."
This teacher made a world of difference in the life of this young man. "When you returned my papers and they weren't very good, you always wrote something encouraging."
This young man's high school years were very difficult. He told her that his father had shot and killed his mother in a drunken argument. "The other teachers acted as if they despised me," he said, "but you kept on treating me as if I was somebody. I wanted to thank you for loving me. It's made all the difference in my life."
The teacher hadn't even known that tragedy had happened to this young man. She had simply loved all of her students. Because the love of Christ, the love of God had Aimed her outward. (3)
When we are baptized, we align ourselves with Jesus, and we reach out. We reach out to others with the love and the hope Jesus has shared with us. Baptism Aims us and tells us what we are called to do.
There was a multimillionaire businessman, known for his extravagance, who hosted an elaborate, spectacular summer party. Part of his decorations and part of the uniqueness of his party was that he had filled his swimming pool with sharks, barracuda and other assorted dangerous fish.
After cocktails and dinner had been served and everyone was just standing around looking at the assortment of dangerous sea life. The business man announced to his guests that he would like to challenge any of them to try swimming across the pool. And to sweeten the challenge he offered a first prize of either a new home in the mountains, a trip around the world for two or a piece of his business.
No sooner had he made the announcement than there was a splash and a man swam rapidly across the infested waters and bounded up out on the other side. The millionaire turned to the sputtering young man, shaking water off of himself and said: "That was an absolutely stunning performance. What prize do you want?"
With a growl and a scowl the swimmer said: "Right now I really don't care about the prize. All I want is the name of the turkey who pushed me in."
I can assure you that the water of our baptism is safe, it is filled with sharks, barracudas and other dangerous sea life. I can also pretty much guarantee that should you take the plunge, accept Christ and be baptized, you probably won't get a new home in the mountains, a trip around the world for two. But I can promise that you will get a piece of the business, God's business. Kingdom business. The business of Redemption and Second Chances through Christ.
Baptism and Remembering our Baptism, CLAIMS US, NAMES US AND AIMS.
Show clip 2, "Come on in, boys, the water's fine."
1. Phil Bloom "A New Identity"
2. King Duncan, Dynamic Preaching
3. Jane and Robert Handly, The Life Plus Program for Getting Unstuck (New York: Rawson Associates, 1989), pp. 56-57.
4. Parables, Etc. (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), May 1984
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