"Claimed, Named, & Aimed"

Mark 1:4-11


[4] John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. [5] And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. [6] Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. [7] He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. [8] I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

[9] In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. [10] And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. [11] And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

INTRODUCTION: I read about a baptism by immersion that ended with "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and ... holy moly, I forgot to take off my watch!" (1) John the Baptist didn't have that trouble the day Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized. He was ready, even if he was a little reluctant.

The other Gospel accounts tell us that John recognized Jesus for who he was, the Messiah. He even told Jesus that he ought to be the one baptizing John. But instead, John baptized Jesus. So, why did Jesus get baptized?

Mainly he was baptized to fulfill the law and to align himself perfectly with us. Jesus was in solidarity with us. Being perfect and sinless, Jesus didn't need to be forgiven for his sins. But Jesus was baptized for many of the same reasons that you and I are baptized. Through his baptism Jesus was Claimed, Named, and Aimed.

I. CLAIMED:

A.Scripture tells us that the moment Jesus came up out of the water, "he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'" (Vs 10-11)


In full sight of the crowds, God claimed Jesus as God's own. God said, "You are my Son." You belong to me. I can't think of anything clearer than that, can you?

B.And that's exactly what God said about each of us when we were baptized. "You belong to me." Through our repentance and acceptance of Christ our sins are forgiven. We are made clean! Clean enough to stand with Christ in the presence of God. It's not anything we do, it's what Christ has done for us that makes it possible.

Once there was a monk and his apprentice who traveled from the abbey to a nearby village. They parted at the city gates and agreed to meet the next morning after completing their tasks. According to plan, they met and began the long walk back to the abbey. The monk noticed that the young apprentice was unusually quiet. So, he asked if anything was wrong. "What business is it of yours?" came the terse response.

Now the monk was sure his brother was troubled, but he said nothing. The distance between the two began to increase. The apprentice walked slowly, as if to separate himself from the teacher. When the abbey came in sight, the monk stopped at the gate and waited for the student. "Tell me my son. What troubles your soul?"

The boy started to react again, but when he saw the warmth in his master's eyes, his heart began to melt. "I have sinned greatly," he sobbed. "Last night I sinned and totally abandoned my vows. I'm not worthy to enter the abbey at your side."

The teacher put his arm around the student and said, "We will enter the abbey together. And we will enter the cathedral together. And together we will confess your sin. No one but God will know which one of us fell." (2)

When we were baptized, Christ claimed us as his own. We belong to him. We have been Claimed and although there are times when we stumble and fail to live as Christ would live, Jesus never leaves our side. We have been Claimed and the one who claims us pleads our case before God.

II. NAMED:

A.Through our forgiveness we are made clean enough to stand with Christ in the presence of God and be called righteous. We have been claimed AND we have been named. Not only did God claim Jesus at his baptism, God publicly named him, too. God said, "You are my Son, the Beloved."

Names are important aren't they? We all like to be called by our right names. With a name like Strayhorn, you ought to see how it's mangled some times. I can always tell when it's a salesperson on the phone because most of them can't pronounce my last name. I thought I had heard them all until I got a package the other day addressed to Rev. Billy D. Stormyhorn. I have no idea where they got that. The point is that names are important.

Through our baptism we are given new names. Chief among them is "Forgiven," but there are a ton of others as well.

1 John 3:1 says we are named children of God. "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are."

John 15:15 says we are called Jesus' friends. "I no longer call you servants. Now, I've named you friends." What an incredible name, to be called a friend of Jesus.

In Philippians 4:1 Paul refers to us as, "brothers and sisters."

In Colossians 3:12 we are "God's chosen ones, holy and beloved." (We're called beloved 62 times in the New Testament.).

2 Corinthians. 6:16 says, "We are the temple of the living God."

B.There are a whole boatload of other names I could list. In Luke 10:20, Jesus summed it up best by saying: "rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Through our repentance and the water of our baptism we have been claimed by God and we have been named by God. There maybe a hundred or more names that we are called but the most important one is Christian. For the word Christian describes who we are and whose we are.

III. AIMED:

A.It tells the world, ourselves and each other that we are Claimed, Named AND Aimed. Once we accept Christ and are claimed and named by God, then we are given a purpose, we are aimed in the right direction. And what direction is that?

In John 15:8 Jesus told the disciples: "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

In other words, we are Aimed in the direction of service. We are called to serve God and to bear fruit for God's Kingdom.

After his baptism, Jesus' life took a whole new turn. From this point on, Jesus life was never the same. His baptism was the starting point of his public ministry here on earth. It was from this point on that he began to BE the Messiah in visible and physical ways.

B.Once we're baptized, our lives take a whole new direction also. We belong to God. We can't go back to the same-o same-o way of life. We have been washed clean and made righteous in God's eyes and in God's heart. Jesus calls us friend. God calls us beloved. How could we ever go back from there to what we were before? We can't. We are called and set aside to be more. We are claimed and named and our aim is to please God.

William Willimon, Chaplain and Professor of Preaching at Duke University wrote: "In baptism we are initiated, crowned, chosen, embraced, washed, adopted, gifted, reborn, and thereby sent forth and redeemed. We are identified as one of God's own, then assigned our place and our job within the kingdom of God." (3)

We are Claimed. We are Named and We are Aimed. God hungers for us to do that which not only serves God and the world but also brings about personal fulfillment. God aims our lives toward that end. And we call it Discipleship.

CONCLUSION: All of this from a little bit of water.

There was a Newspaper ad that read: "Lost: One Dog. Brown hair with several bald spots. Right leg broken in an auto accident. Rear left hip hurt. Right eye missing. Left ear bitten off in a dog fight. Answers to the name 'Lucky.'" (4)

Every baptism we perform, and especially our own, reminds us that we ARE lucky. In Isaiah 49:16 God says, "See, I have your name written upon the my palm of my hand."

We belong to God. When we stray from being what God has created us to be, God comes searching for us. Not to get even but to give us a chance to start over. God Claims us. God Names us. And God Aims us back in the right direction.

We are called by God to be a blessing to the whole world by living a life that bears witness to the goodness of God. We have been claimed and named. Our aim is to be witnesses to the world. We have been blessed to be blessings for others. This morning we have a chance to remember our baptism and to be thankful for our own Claiming, Naming and Aiming.

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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  1. Autoillustrator
  2. (pp. 91-92 In The Grip of Grace, Max Lucado, Word Publishing, Dallas, 1996)
  3. Leadership-Vol. 11, #4
  4. Parables, Etc. November 1986