The Baptism Of Jesus

http://www.stpaulsturveypk.org/sermons/sermon/192

Gods Plan for Action

There was a group of monks who were living in a community. All day long they worked alongside each other. They tried to follow God as best they could. They lived hard lives, they got up together to pray early in the morning, they worked hard together all day long. Little by little they started to irritate one another. They started to become envious and conceited. Arguments broke out, and the happy community of monks was not happy any more.
No one wanted to do any work anymore, and many of the monks didn’t feel like praying anymore. Something had to be done.

They asked for help from a local church pastor who came to the community and spent several days with them. He was known for his wisdom and for being a man full of Gods Holy Spirit. The monks trusted him.
After a few days, he told them that he had discovered a secret in their community and that he was ready to reveal what he had found the next morning.

At the meeting the next morning everyone was very excited, they wondered what secret this pastor had discovered. He rose solemnly at the meeting and he spoke to them and said just four words. After that everything seemed to be better, the monks were even doing the horrible chores for each other serving one another with real love and affection.

Don’t you wonder what the secret was? Would you like to know what those four words were? What would make them change so much and serve one another? He told them "HE is among you."

Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew Chapter 5.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:1

I heard a sermon a Pretoria once which really touched me, it pointed out that the people listening to Jesus had three things on their mind;

• The people were self-centred, they wanted a king who would meet their needs.
• The people wanted a ruler who would rid them of these invaders, the Romans.
• They were religious people, they lived their lives by a very strong set of rules, they were looking for what rules Jesus would lay down for them to live by. What new rule could they add to make themselves more holy in Gods sight.
  

On that point, "how many of you have prayed or fasted to try to get closer to God? How far away is He? It is impossible to get closer to God. He lives here, in me, and in you. That is how close he is. Look out at night to the furthest star you can see, the God who created that lives in you, if you are a Christian.

What they were thinking was "what’s in it for me."

Soulish Christian VS Spirit Christian

I think, maybe only I had this problem, but I was a soulish Christian for many years. In fact I am sorry to say I have been a soulish Christian longer than I have been a spirit Christian.

What do I mean by a soulish Christian?

• The aim of my life is the pursuit of my liberty and my own happiness
• I decide when its convenient to serve God
• I help God out, he cant do stuff without me
• Its all about me, and what I can do for God
• I rely on my own strength and abilities
• I am on the throne of my life, God is there to please me
  

You see I have a few yucky fruit hanging off my tree. I’m sure none of you have any yucky fruit hanging off your tree. Every now and then I find myself drawn back to making yucky fruit. I’m sure that never happens with you.

But sometimes, when that bird leaves a little message on my car after I’ve just washed it, or the cat sits right where I am working, I can tell that I Jesus is not finished with me yet.
I have even said things while in the church which have shown how wicked, depraved and self-centred I can be. Yet God still loves me, in fact he never stopped loving me. And little by little, moment by moment, as I stay connected to Him and he stays connected to me, I start to look like him. And one day I have this certain hope, that I will look like him, sound like him, think like him, love like him. (1 Corinthians 13 – when the perfect comes…)

What do I mean by a Spirit Christian?

• I do things only in response to his working (Jesus said I only do what I see the father doing), not the other way round.
• I allow the supernatural power of Jesus to bubble up and through me.
• I am a vessel which is filled with the treasure of God, he knows I am fragile, weak, so He graciously helps me.
• I rest from my labours for God in the finished work of Jesus (Didn’t he say my yoke is easy and my burden is light)

Two reasons why we should listen to what Jesus has to say;

1. This was a message directly from Jesus himself
   

Mat 5:1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his
disciples came to him.
Mat 5:2 And he opened his mouth and taught them,

We see here how Jesus went up the mountain. This should remind us of Moses. How he went up the mountain, to hear from God, to get Gods perspective, and he came down with the Ten Commandments.

Now it is Jesus himself that goes up the mountain, but instead of disappearing into a cloud to meet with God, he turns and speaks what is on his heart. We are hearing Gods plan for action straight from Him.

Secondly, This was his strategy, his priority for his Kingdom

Mat 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
Mat 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted.
Mat 5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Mat 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
shall be satisfied.
Mat 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall
receive mercy.
Mat 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God.
Mat 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of
God.
Mat 5:10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11 "Blessed are you when others
revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on
my account.
Mat 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You see, when I am weak then He is strong. Our greatest battle is in the mind, when we are set about with sin, and we try and fight it in our own strength, we are doomed to failure, but when we look to Jesus, and rely on his goodness, and rest in him, the way becomes easier.
Jesus models a totally different way of life for his followers, you see his aim is not our happiness, but our Godliness. Our Christ likeness. He wants people who look think and act like him.

Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over
them.
Mat 20:26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great
among you must be your servant,
Mat 20:27 and whoever would be first among
you must be your slave,
Mat 20:28 even as the Son of Man came not to be
served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Well, if you love chocolate what are you going to be full of? Chocolate, naturally
And , if you love coconut what are you going to be full of ? coconut
If you love Jesus you are going to be full of Jesus, just let him bubble up from within
you.

Pee wee

While I was sitting writing my thesis this little bird we find in Australia, a Pee wee, we call it, all black and white all over, was pecking at his own reflection in the mirror of my car which was parked just outside my window. He did this all day for about a week, just fling up onto the roof of my car, leaving a deposit, and then peckig at his own reflection. He was exhausted by the end of those four days. You see many times people in the church are like that, they crown themselves with the office of critic. Lets face it its easy to throw stones. The problem is the more stones you throw the more ground you lose.
What was the key problem. The little bird saw himself in that car mirror. Psychologists say that when you criticise someone you are really just identifying something of your own weakness in someone else. If you acuse someone it probably means you are judging yourself.
What happens when that pee wee bird sees something different in the mirror, he isnt going to attack it, he isn't going to waste his energy and time trying to defend his territory from this impostor.
Where am I going with this... A key part of our calling as christians to be ministering priests is to see Jesus in people. Not just to see Jesus in them but to prophetically call Him out of them. The catalyst of this process is love. We cannot do this when we ourselves are criticising. We need to be changed from the inside first, so that we can look at them with the eyes of love, with the eyes of Jesus. This is the spirit of Matthew 7:5. Its not a licence to take the speck out of someone elses eye, but its a prescription for seeing clearly.
I pray that you may you look with the eyes of love, and may you find those same eyes reflected back at you.

The Life of the Beloved

There lived in Kent a certain Mrs Smithers. Recently widowed her husband had been an Anglican Minister. By mistake she was sent a telegram from another Reverend Smithers, who had just left England to become a missionary in Africa.
You can imagine her surprise when she read…
"Arrived this morning, the heat is awful."

You see, getting our identity right is very important. In the Christian life it’s vital to know who we are.

As Christians we get our identity and self worth from God himself, as we remain in Christ Jesus.

Recently I read a book by Henri J nouwen entitled "The life of the beloved" that spoke to my heart and I want to share it with you.
I owe the title and structure of this message to him

Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because
anyone
who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards
those who
earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6 gives us a clearly defines what faith is. If we look at it closely you can see two parts...

Now most people don’t have a problem believing God exists. There is almost a universal acknowledgement of Gods existence. To them God is a sort of disembodied force.
The second part shows us that God is a person, that he is intimately interested in us as people, that he longs to reward and love his people. It is this concept of God that most people, even Christians struggle to grasp.

We struggle to see ourselves as a people loved by God. Intimately, personally, experientially.
One of the saddest results of this identity crisis is unbelief.

Many Christians suffer from unbelief. The live under the misconception that they are unloved and unworthy. As long as we languish under this misconception we will struggle in our walk with Christ, sin that ensnares us, and overcoming the patterns and pressures of this world.
One of the saddest results of this identity crisis is unbelief.

Have you seen one of those weather stations people have with themometers and barometers. In our house is an invisible joy barometer. "How is your Joy?" Sometimes we lose our joy for a day or two, but if it’s a week, or a month, then its too long.
As Christians we need one that asks "How is your love life?"

Tonight I am going to talk about three areas of your love life

• being the beloved
• becoming the beloved (I will probably spend the most time here)
• Living as the beloved

You are the beloved. Be who you are.
You can at any moment come into the presence of God IN HIS THRONE ROOM AND SIT ON YOUR DADDIES LAP not only can you but God desires that you do.
The chief purpose of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever

Being the beloved

2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old
has gone, the new has come!

How do we cross over our Jordan.
How do we get through that temple door.
how do we approach the holy of holies with joy.
You do it as a new creation.
you can't do it on your own.
Only Christ can

Mt 26:26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it,
and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."

We don’t often think of this scripture as referring to us.

But we are his body. It may sound redundant but We need to partake in what it means to be his body in order to be who we are… his Body
This scripture shows us four things that happen to the bread, and I am going to talk about each in turn to highlight a different aspect of being the beloved.
Becoming the beloved
Becoming the beloved involves

• being Taken,
• being Blessed
• being Broken
• being Given
  

Taken: The freedom of a sure hope

Love is a risky business
Ammi and I do marriage preparation and something we see.
There is a risk in loving, in trusting we have to stick our neck out sometimes in the process of allowing ourselves to be loved.

When I stood at that altar and I took those promises, Id had years to prepare for it, but I still felt like someone about to bunjee jump for the first time. Knot in my stomach, and my heart was pounding. I look across at Ammi and I can see that her bouquet was shaking.

It reminds me of the song by Bette Midler - The Rose

It's the heart, afraid of breaking, That never learns to dance.

It's the dream, afraid of waking, That never takes a chance.

It's the one who won't be taken, Who cannot seem to give.

And the soul, afraid of dyin', That never learns to live.

God is absolutely trustworthy, he will not let you or I down.
In Christ we have the freedom of a sure hope.

Blessed: The freedom to receive love

Eph 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For
he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus
Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his
glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Broken: the freedom to be transformed

We have an inadequate theology (and understanding) of suffering - people sometimes fall into two camps - one says that there should be no suffering in the christian life - the other that everything is suffering.
Neither side is balanced and pastors run a mile from either group.
As Christians it is our privilege to grow and mature, the freedom to be transformed. Jesus learned from what he suffered, if we are to be like him what makes us think we can get away without going through a similar process.

1Pe 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving
you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 says;

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are
perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by
God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our
bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may
also be seen in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 NLT)

John Fischer from Purpose driven life says
"

These verses are what I call the fine print of the Christian life. When you sign
up, you sign up for this, but unfortunately, not too many people read that far
into the contract, and not enough leaders point it out. So when bad things start
happening to us, we think something went wrong with our faith. Not necessarily,
in fact, it's an honor to think that your faith is worthy of being tested. It's
a reverse spiritual principle that nonetheless is true: we get beaten down so
that Christ might rise in us. It's the whole idea God has of avoiding
confusion.
See, He doesn't want people confusing human power and achievement
with His power and what He is achieving in and through our lives. If all
Christians were super-Christians, people would be impressed with them. As it is,
God wants people to be surprised at us, not so much impressed - surprised that
we can keep on believing, given what has happened to us. Surprised at us -
impressed with God. That's the way it should go.
It's important to know this
so that the things that happen don't throw us into a tailspin. Paul wrote in the
passage above that troubles, confusions, knock-downs and drag-outs, are all to
be expected in a life of faith, and they are not just something to suck it up
and endure, they are what will actually release the power of God in our lives.
We encounter deathlike experiences so that Christ's lifelike nature may clearly
be seen in us, despite what is happening.Let me try and say this again. This is
not just endurance training through tough times. This is God's strategy for
ministry through us. There is no other way for it to be done. His strategy is
His power and strength through our weakness - His life through our death. This
doesn't just happen to some Christians; it happens to us all if we desire to be
effective in our faith. So don't forget the fine print today, and allow the
troubles you face to springboard you into finding God's purposes even in this.
He had this planned all along. It's even in the contract!"

Given: the freedom to love supernaturally

I don’t know what you associate with Christmas.
When I think of Christmas I think of watermelons. And chlorine from the swimming pool.
It would always be really hot over Christmas time in Africa.
I never used to like Christmas, it was always a busy time for me, my friends would always be away on holiday, although I couldn’t be. But I did love presents.

The first Christmas I remember I was three or four in this beautiful small town Louis Trichard at the foot of the Zoutpansberg mountains. My dad was preaching about Jesus being the prince of peace, I on the other hand had just been given a toy machine gun by my gran, which I was using to shoot parishoners up and down the aisle, much to their amusement.
But when I became a Christian, Christmas became something different. Go had given me a present. Jesus was someone like me. He was born, he lived, he breathed air like I do. Here was someone I could relate to.
What a gift could you give an only child, but someone who would always be there?
You see we have to accept the kingdom of God like a child, and pass it on with the grace with which we have received it.

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s
glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which
comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Living as the beloved

Dt 33:12 About Benjamin he said:
"Let the beloved of the LORD rest
secure in him,
for he shields him all day long,
and the one the LORD
loves rests between his shoulders.

We long for rest. We crave it in the deepest part of us.
Do you remember what I said at the beginning about God being a rewarder. One of the key rewards is the peace of God, a peace that goes beyond circumstance, beyond understanding, and really satisfies.

2Pe 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and
godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and
goodness.

2Pe 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious
promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and
escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

I haven't said it yet- Holiness - Christlikeness is what we are created for.
I am a big doctor Who fan- you see I am a little like the ship the tartus - I am bigger on the inside than the outside. The whole creation is waiting until what is on the outside conforms to what is on the inside. We read in Romans 8

Ro 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time.
Ro 8:23 Not only so, but we
ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

For what reason verse one - therefore - what’s the therefore there for.
answer is in the verses before.
We are full of hope we have his precious promises
He has granted us everything for life and Godliness
Letting go of the past
Pressing on to the future
Pressing on toward the goal
The number one purpose Christ came was to restore man made in Gods image an likeness.

2Pe 1:8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep
you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
2Pe 1:9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and
blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
2
Peter 1:8 is the crux of the argument

If you are wanting a life that is going to count this is what it looks like
goodness faithfulness self control. It looks like Jesus, because you are full of Jesus, you have his life overflowing
There is a kind of knowledge which is unproductive, a type of knowledge that puffs up like the yeast in the Egyptian bread, but ultimately it doesn’t satisfy
God wants us to be satisfied - he longs to feed us on good things- and that’s Good news
Like your master, you are into transformation
You are daily being transformed
We are effective transformers of the earth around us
Do you remember there was a kind of toy called a transformer- you would start out with a little action figure and the fold the legs and arms and so on to create a whole new thing- a battle tank or a mighty fighter aircraft- something useful - God wants to transform us into something useful.
Go and be transformed - and may the irresistible force of Gods Love be with you.