I remember my baptism. I was seven years old and the church my father was pastoring at the time was in Seaford, Delaware. It was a church plant—a new church start so we didn’t have a church building and met in the basement of a Walgreens Drug Store. Of course this meant we didn’t have a baptistery, so we borrowed the one at Allen Memorial Baptist Church in Salisbury. I remember stepping down into that pool one Sunday night and taking my dad’s hand. They had to put cinder blocks on the bottom of the pool for me to step on. This was to prevent pre-mature immersion—since I was not as tall as the water was deep. Dad guided me over those blocks, said a few words about the symbolism of baptism, then he immersed me in the water and pulled me back up with a great smile on his face.
How many of you remember your own baptism? It’s good to do that—it’s good to remember the event itself. But it’s more important to remember what it represents because as my dad said that day, baptism is a symbol that was meant to teach us several important things. First, the water washing over our bodies is to remind us of the blood Jesus shed on the cross—the blood that washes our sins away so that we stand clean—pure—in God’s eyes. And then we are immersed—or buried—to symbolize our death to self-will. From now on Jesus will be in charge of our lives—not us. Finally as we are brought up out of the water, it reminds us of our “resurrection” into the new abundant life that is made possible when we follow Jesus as Lord.
I bring all this up because today we are continuing our study of the Life of Christ—and as we do we come to the day when Jesus Himself was baptized in the Jordan River. Let’s see what Jesus’ baptism—and the events surrounding it can teach us this morning. Take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 3. We’ll be reading verses 1-23a.
1 – In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—
2 – during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the Word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
3 – He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
4 – As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.
5 – Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
6 – And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
7 – John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
8 – Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
9 – The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 – “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11 – John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
12 – Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 – “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 – Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
15 – The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah.
16 – John answered them all, “I baptize you withwater. But One Who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of Whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you withthe Holy Spirit and fire.
17 – His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
18 – And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.
19 – But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done,
20 – Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
21 – Then all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as He was praying, Heaven was opened
22 – and 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; with You I am well pleased.”
23 – Now Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His ministry.
I want you to be sure and not skip over the first two verses I read—the verses where Luke gives that list of names—because with this list, he is giving us the historical context of all that is to follow—a context that tells us John the Baptist began his ministry during a difficult time in the nation of Israel. Look back at those verses as I explain. Tiberius Caesar had succeeded Augustus as emperor of the Roman Empire. Then, when Herod the Great—the king appointed by Rome who had tried to kill Jesus shortly after His birth—died, Rome had divided Herod’s territory between three sons: Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip. But Archelaus was dethroned because of his cruelty and exiled to Gaul. After that his territory came under direct Roman rule through governors. Pontius Pilate was the fifth such governor—and began his rule in 26AD.
Luke also tells us about the RELIGOUS rulers of the area. Caiaphas was the high priest officially but his father-in-law, Annas, former high priest who had been deposed by Valerius Gratus in 15AD was still the true power behind the throne. This is why Luke talks about the priesthood of Annas AND Caiaphas. The truth is Annas was the head of a vast empire of organized religious corruption in Jerusalem. Essentially he was the Mafia “Godfather” of the foremost crime family in the capital city.
So, during this time of political and spiritual darkness, Luke says, “the Word of God came to John.” Understand it had been 400 years since a prophet of God spoke in Israel. By the way, Amos had FORETOLD these centuries of God’s SILENCE. Remember? In Amos 8:11, he said,
“The days are coming, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea and wander from north to east searching for the Word of the Lord but they will not find it.”
Well, with the names that Luke gives us we know it was about 29AD when John began to share the WORD OF GOD that came to him with the people. And, we have to admit, our text shows John had a very unique preaching style. In fact, as Charles Swindoll says in his commentary on Luke, if John were to put his plan of action for his ministry in a book like many mega-church pastors do it would include these chapter headings:
- Don’t go where the people are. Make them come to you.
- Don’t waste your money on seats. If they come don’t provide chairs. Make them stand.
- No building required. Make people stand out in the hot sun while you preach.
- Dress unattractively. Avoid the latest trends. Look and dress weird on purpose.
- Speak offensively. Insult your listeners and verbally attack your opponents. Use harsh, condemning words. Call your detractors “snakes in the grass” and “hypocrites.”
- Don’t worry about being politically correct or about losing your tax exempt status—condemn the evil in your nation’s rulers directly—from the pulpit.
John had no foibles about crossing the line between the separation of church and state—even though calling the sin of his ruler sin eventually cost him his life. One more chapter heading would be in John’s book:
- Tell your attenders to worship elsewhere. In short, encourage YOUR followers to follow a more worthy leader. In fact, admit your utter unworthiness by comparison.
Well, in spite of these odd tactics people thronged to hear John preach and to be baptized by him. Remember, it had been four centuries since people had heard from God. Plus as I said it was tough time to live—they were under the political yoke of the Romans and the corrupt religious yoke of Annas and his cronies—so people LONGED to hear from God. I mean, for these reasons, even though John operated in a way that breaks every ministry-building rule in the book, he was very successful.
I need to stop and say that people in our day and age have the same HUNGER to hear from God for WE live in a difficult time…a time of moral erosion…a time of mall shootings…a time when innocent children are not safe as they walk home from school…a time of storms and bombings. I go on listing the kinds of things people deal with. All these things remind us that we are fallen beings living in a fallen world—and because of this people long to hear from God.
They long to know that He loves them and cares for them. They thirst for His guidance—and you and I—as children of God—we are His spokesmen—we are His prophets. We are charged with giving the WORD of GOD to the people around us! It is our task to share the HOPE that the WORD OF GOD MADE FLESH—the hop that Jesus brings.
Another reason behind John’s effectiveness was the fact that he had the right ATTITUDE. John’s simple two-phase approach to his mission was this: Phase 1 – PREPARE the way. Phase 2 – GET OUT OF the way (Swindoll again). In short, John was humble. He didn’t allow the fact that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy or that he was the cousin of the Messiah Himself go to his head. He knew his job was to point people to the Christ. He knew he was just the best man at the wedding. Jesus was the Bridegroom. He was just a voice in the wilderness preparing the way.
In short, John always kept Jesus preeminent. This week I read about an incident in the ministry of the great preacher, E. V. Hill, who was pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles. Hill told of an elderly woman in his church who they all called “1800” because no one knew how old she was. I’m not sure if that number was their guess at the year of her birth or her age but “1800” was hard on unsuspecting guest preachers because she would sit in the front row every Sunday, and as soon as the preacher began she would say, “Get Him up!” referring to Christ. After a few minutes, if she did not think there was enough of Christ in the sermon, she would again shout, “Get Him up!” If a preacher did not “Get Him up!” he was in for a tough time!
Well, John was always pointing people to the Christ. In fact, his response to people who asked if he was the Messiah was to “Get Him up!” For example, in verse 16 he said, “I baptize you with water. But One more powerful than I will come, the thongs of Whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” (vs 16) In Israel during the 1st century teachers or rabbis were held in such great respect by their disciples that they voluntarily acted as their teacher’s SLAVES. There was a rabbinic saying that said disciples ought to do everything for their masters that a slave does, except for one thing—untie his sandals. That was simply too much to ask any Jew to do for another Jew…even a rabbi. But John had it right in relationship to Christ. He affirmed that he was not WORTHY of even doing the most personally degrading task for the Messiah. And—his example is one we should follow. If we “get Him up” we must “get ourselves down.” Or as John put it, “We must decrease. He must increase.”
We should do everything we can to point people to Jesus. Anytime people start focusing on us and praising us for what we do and we join them in that—anytime we find ourselves wanting to make sure people notice what WE do for God—we are treading on dangerous territory because our job is like John’s we are to point people to the Christ. It’s not about us—EVER. We are always to get HIM up. I like what the great missionary William Cary said, “When I am gone, don’t talk about William Carey; talk about William Carey’s Savior.” Romans 12:3 says, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”
As you read in our text, John’s “prepare the way for the Lord sermons” were a bold confrontation of the people’s sins. In fact, he said their sins were such that they needed to be baptized—immersed—hence his name, John THE BAPTIST. Now—it was not a new thing to baptize Gentiles who were converting to Judaism. They were ceremonially washed by immersion as a symbol of their becoming adopted as sons of the covenant. But in his bold sermons John said even Jews needed to be baptized. They had to admit they had forsaken their covenant with God and had to approach Him as if for the very first time. By submitting to John’s baptism, essentially these repentant Jews were admitting they were no better than any other sinful human being and as such needed a fresh start with God. Remember John’s words in verse 8? He said, “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” John was saying it’s not about your RACE as Jews. It’s not about RELIGION. It’s not even about baptism. It’s about a heart relationship with God that leads to a changed life. People who were serious about their relationship with God needed to show the sincerity of their repentance by sharing their food and clothing with people in need. Tax collectors were to stop cheating the people. Soldiers were to be just in their dealings. Understand—John wasn’t saying doing these good deeds saved people. He was just saying these kinds of actions would give evidence of a changed heart and this particular sermon and the object lesson of baptism that accompanied it was perfect preparation for the coming of Jesus because only He can change hearts. Only Jesus can enable us to live righteous lives. It is only HIM in us—the hope of glory.
Well, one day, John looked up at the line of people waiting to be baptized and he saw Jesus waiting His turn. This meant John’s ministry had run its course. It had accomplished its purpose. Only one task remained—introduce the Messiah and this introduction would be through baptism.
Now—why was Jesus baptized? After all, He had no sin for which to repent.
- Some say that, Jesus was like the high priest who immersed or washed himself before entering the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement to purify himself after contact with anything unclean.
- Some say Jesus was baptized to identify with His followers.
- Some say it was a symbolic way to say that John’s job was now done—a way to officially pass the baton so to speak.
But I think by being baptized Jesus was giving a PICTURE—a PREVIEW—of His primary purpose in coming to earth. Jesus’ baptism was a picture of His atoning death—the burial that followed it—AND his victorious resurrection three days later. In short, Jesus’ baptism was a picture of His work of redemption. From that point on baptism would be different. As I talked about earlier, it would symbolize a person’s profession of faith in that redemption as well as his or her death to the old life—and resurrection to the new. As such, it was indeed the perfect way for Jesus to BEGIN HIS MINISTRY. And like every parent who shows up for this significant even in His child’s life, God showed up—and so did the Holy Spirit. Heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended and God spoke saying, “You are My Son, Whom I love; with You I am well pleased.” (vs 22) So every Person of the Trinity was present at the same time—one of only three times we see this happening in the Bible.
In John’s gospel account we read that when The Baptist saw Jesus he said, “Look, there He is! That Man is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” Of course everyone present when John said that would have understood this phrase, “Lamb of God.” All Jews were familiar with the concept of a sacrificial lamb. This had been a part of Judaism since the days of Egyptian captivity and the resulting institution of the Passover when the blood of an innocent lamb was put on the doorpost of their homes to keep the death angel away. Jews knew that every day in the services of the temple lambs and goats were sacrificed for sins. They knew that in every instance those sacrifices meant the death of an innocent substituted in the place of the one who had sinned.
So they would have understood that John was proclaiming the shocking message that the Messiah would be the Lamb of God—come to die four OUR sins.
In fact, John, who was the fulfillment of an earlier prophecy in Isaiah was echoing another of Isaiah’s prophecies, saying that yes—the temple sacrifices were to be fulfilled in the Messiah—Jesus—Who would bear our sin. Do you remember Isaiah’s words? “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed.” (Is 53:4-5)
I like to think that as John said this about Jesus…as he identified Him as the sin-bearing Lamb of God—I like to think that at that point the flocks of lambs that were driven up to the walls of Jerusalem each year to serve as a sacrifice for the Passover were passing by. This is not far-fetched because John’s Gospel tells us that the Passover feast was not far off. So perhaps John was led to refer to Jesus in this fashion because those lambs walking by showed vividly that Jesus was able to deliver from death those who believed in Him.
We observe communion as a church to remember Jesus’ sacrificial death on our behalf. As we do I invite all Christians present to partake with us. Even if you are not a member of this church….If you are a Christian…if you are His, this is Yours.
THE ORDINANCE OF COMMUNION
Today I have tried to get HIM up—I’ve tried to lift Jesus up—especially His atoning death for our sins. If you are not a Christian, I pray God has used that LIFTING UP and communion to help you see your need for Jesus’ forgiveness. If that is true—then come—talk with me or one of the other pastors. We would love to tell you how you can become a follower of Jesus. If God is leading you to join our church family or make any other public decision, come now as we stand and sing.