Matthew 3:13-17

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The community of faith supports us, holds us accountable, and empowers us.

A sermon preached by

Rev. William O. (Bud) = Reeves

First United Methodist Church

Hot= Springs, Arkansas

January 13, 2008<= /o:p>

Today we are finishing= our series of sermons on “The Announcement of Salvation.” The particular announcement we are focusing on today came long after the events leading up to and including the birth and infancy of Jesus. J= esus was not baptized as a baby; he was a grown man when he went out to the Jordan River to be baptized by his cousin John. The reason I included this story i= n the series is that the baptism is the inaugural event in the public ministry of Jesus. It, too, contains an a= nnouncement but about Jesus. The voice of= God speaks from heaven and announces salvation.

The announcement at the baptism of Jesus is an announcement of identity. When Jesus came up out of the water, God confirmed again who this is: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”[1] If there was any doubt ab= out the Voice speaking from heaven, the Spirit of God also descended as a dove = and settled on Jesus. The Baby wh= o was worshipped by the angels and the shepherds and the wise men was now a man a= nd ready to do the mission God had sent him to do.

I don’t imagine = any of us experience such divine confirmation at our baptism. The heavens do not open up, and no= voice speaks. But by faith we know = that a very important event takes place when we are baptized. It is the inaugural event on our spiritual pilgrimage to the kingdom of heaven. It is a mark of our identity as mu= ch as it was for Jesus. =

There’s a cute s= tory that they think is very funny up around Minneapolis. It seems that a good Scandinavian = farmer named Ole retired and moved into town, only to discover that he was the only Lutheran in his new neighborhood of all Catholics. That was okay, except on Friday afternoon when Ole would grill steaks in his backyard. The smell would dri= ve his neighbors crazy, because as good Catholics, they were not allowed to eat red meat on Fridays. After a whil= e, the tempting aroma was getting the best of them, so they got together and confronted Ole.

"Ole," they said, "since you are the only Lutheran in this whole neighborhood= and there's not a Lutheran church for many miles, we think you should join our church and become a Catholic." Ole thought about it for a minute and decided they were right. Ole talked to the priest, and they arranged it.

The big day came, and the priest had Ole kneel. He sprinkled holy water on Ole's head and said, "Ole, you were born a Lutheran, you were raised a Luthe= ran, and now you are a Catholic!"

Now everybody was happy, at least until the next Friday afternoon. The neighbors were shocked to see = the smoke and smell the aroma of steaks grilling in Ole’s back yard. Immediately they knew they had to correct their new Catholic brother. As they approached the fence they saw Ole doing something strangely familiar. He was sprinkling w= ater on the steak, saying, "You were born a cow, you were raised a cow, and= now, you are a fish!"

Baptism transforms our identity. It t= ells us who we are and whose we are. Then our Christian identity continues to be transformed in the context of the community of faith. Baptism is not only a mark of our identity; it is also a mark of our community.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We are not simply baptized as individual, isolated children of God. We are baptized into the church.&nb= sp; The church responds every time we baptize anybody—infant, yout= h, or adult—with its own vow to nurture and protect this child of God in= his or her spiritual journey. As baptized Christians, we may be unsure of some things, but we can always be = sure of one thing: we are not alone. We are in community. That means = three things for us today,

The community of faith is a community of support. The church is here to = help us in any way it can to be a better child of God. By caring, by sharing, by teaching= , by praying, the church forms a wall of protection around the believer.

In the community of fa= ith we are always included. When we = are baptized, we know at least one thing: we belong. We have a family. We are part of a community. No matter what our weaknesses migh= t be, in this place at least, we are going to be accepted no matter what. In the community of faith, Paul sa= id, “there is no longer Jew or Gr= eek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for y= ou are all one in Christ Jesus.”[2] We belong here.

There is a great scene= near the beginning of the movie Forrest = Gump that shows the first day Forrest rode the bus to school. Forrest Gump had a slight mental handicap—they called him “slow” in the 1950’s—= ;but he had a major physical problem. He wore braces on his legs. He w= as just the type of kid to suffer ridicule and cruelty when he went to school. Sure enough, as he ho= isted himself onto the bus, none of the other children would let him sit down. Every seat on that bus was suppose= dly taken or off limits. Suddenly Forrest heard what he remembered even years later as “the sweetest vo= ice in the whole wide world.” It was the cutest little blond-haired girl on the bus, and she was offering hi= m an empty seat. “You can si= t here if you want,” she said.

Forrest remembered, &#= 8220;I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She was like an angel.” Her name was Jenny, and she became= his friend for life and eventually his wife.[3]

Nothing hurts like bei= ng excluded. Whether it’s because of physical characteristics, ethnic background, gender, or just the whim of the group, not belonging is painful. On the other hand, nothing is so beautiful as a community where the weak are strengthened, the hurting are comforted, the sick are healed, the sad are encouraged, and each person is accepted and affirmed as a child of God regardless of his or her shortcomings. This is the way= the church is supposed to be—and sometimes it is!

When you are baptized,= it doesn’t mean that nothing bad will ever happen to you, but it does me= an that when the tough times come, we have help. We have support. We have love to get us through wha= tever comes our way. We see that ev= ery time we have a death in the church family or an illness. (What an incredible outpouring the= last several days!) If you’re active in the community of faith, you get the love.

Richard Kidd is a past= or in Virginia Beach, Virginia, who had a remarkable experience of the baptized community when he was in college. He was part of a sma= ll group of guys that met together in a dorm room to pray regularly. They became very close friends, naturally. One year, after sp= ring break, they returned to find out that Richard’s roommate, John Swanso= n, had suffered a terrible accident on the ski slopes and was in a coma. The group of guys immediately got together and prayed.

Then they got a call f= rom John’s neurologist, who suggested that with the type of injury John h= ad, he might respond to sounds that he ordinarily heard. So John’s friends made a tap= e of all his favorite songs and all the bad jokes they had heard over and over. = Each friend put a personal message on the tape, and then they all prayed for him. On the sixth day after John’s injury, the doctors got the tape, and while they were playing = the tape, as people across the state and nation were praying for John, he woke up. He came out of his coma.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> In spite of all the doctors’ predictions, he learned to walk again.&nbs= p; He even became a runner, averaging 60 miles a week. When he graduated from college, Jo= hn Swanson got a job as a research assistant for the Department of the Treasur= y in Washington. The support of the community was a lifesaver for him.2=

The community of faith holds us accountable for our discipleship. <= /span> When the church makes its vow at ba= ptism, it should not just be empty words. We are claiming some measure of responsibility for that baby or that young person or that adult. Likewise, when we are baptized, we acknowledge that we are in a faith community, and we put ourselves under the authority of the church. That includes the privilege of sup= port, but it also includes the responsibility to act like a disciple of Jesus Chr= ist.

When we stray off the = path, the church is there to call us to repentance. And when we see a brother or sister struggling with the issues of faith and life, we need to hold them accounta= ble in love and encourage them on their journey. The New Testament has plenty of ex= amples and instructions on how to hold one another accountable. In Galatians, Paul says, “My friends, if anyone = is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, = and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”[4] Holding one another accountabl= e in Christian love, we can help each other become better than we could ever be = on our own.

2006 was a surprising = year for movie star Sylvester Stallone. First, he surprised the entertainment wo= rld by resurrecting his iconic movie hero, Rocky Balboa, for one last film. Then, while promoting the film, Sta= llone revealed that his decision to create the final movie was inspired by his renewed affiliation with Christianity. In an interview with Citizenlink.com, he said, "I was raised in a Catholic home, a Christian home. And I went to Catholic schools and I was taught the faith and went as far as I could with it. Until one day,= I got out into the so-called real world, and I was presented with temptation. I lost my way and made a lot of bad choices."

Stallone said that his= choice to place fame and career ahead of his family ultimately left him unsatisfie= d. As a result, Stallone was increasin= gly pulled back into his Christian heritage. "The more I go to church,"= ; he said, "and the more I turn myself over to the process of believing in Jesus and listening to his Word and having him guide my hand, I feel as tho= ugh the pressure is off me now."

As part of this transformation, Stallone realized that he couldn’t do it on his own.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He needed a community of faith: &q= uot;You need to have the expertise and the guidance of someone else. You cannot train yourself. I feel the same way about Christian= ity and about what the church is: The church is the gym of the soul."= = [5]

Have you noticed your = faith getting a little flabby? Mayb= e you need to go to the gym of the soul, to work out your spirit with the brothers and sisters. We are all in th= is together, and the better spiritual shape we’re in, the better the team and the bigger the victory. T= o get there, we have to hold one another accountable and be accountable to one another; that’s part of community.

The community of faith is where we receive power to live as discipl= es of Jesus. We have been baptized = into more than a civic club. This = is not merely a human organization; it is the Church, the Body of Christ, the Fami= ly of God. Despite our human fai= lings, we are a community of power. = In the beginning, the risen Jesus told his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.̶= 1;= = [6] Ten days later—Pentecost! The Ho= ly Spirit showed up, and the Church was born.

Paul told the Corinthi= ans, “The <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power.”[7] We have received the Holy Spirit, and we are on our way to the Kingdom of God. We have power! When the church works together in = unity and everyone pushes in the same direction, there is almost nothing that can stop us.

Dr. Haddon Robinson co= mpares the church to a plague of locusts that hit the Plains States at the turn of= the 20^th century. In a matter of days, a colossal swarm of vegetation-devouring locusts swept over= Iowa, Nebraska, = and Kansas, leaving = nothing but stubble in its wake. Even= in the currency of the time, the crop damage was estimated to be $500 million. Dr. Robinson noted, “Locusts don’t have a king to get them organized. They don’t have a draft boar= d to call them into ranks. By inst= inct the locust knows it has to be in community with the other locusts. When that occurs, they are able to topple kingdoms. The wisdom o= f the locust is the wisdom that tells us we must have community.”= = [8]

A single locust is no = threat to the crop. A solitary Chris= tian is no threat to the Devil and no good for God. But put us all together, and as Je= sus said, the gates of hell will not prevail against us. The kingdom of evil will fall, and= the Kingdom of God will come at last! *

This is an incredible journey, isn’t it? Thin= k of the journey of Jesus—from the predictions of the prophets to the birt= h in Bethlehem to the baptism by John. And we k= now that he is just getting started. Eventually his path will lead to the cross, the grave, and the empty tomb.

We are on a journey, too. It begins with our bapti= sm, and it ends when we enter the Kingdom of heaven. But along the way, we are never al= one. We have the community, the fellows= hip of believers, the church. ItR= 17;s where we find our source of strength and support. It’s where we are held accou= ntable for our faith and the way we live it. It’s where we find the power to be who God calls us to be. All along the way, God is with us.= This is the announcement of salvation. Thanks be to God!<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Amen!