First Sunday after Epiphany Date: 1/8/06 Text: mark 1:4-11 Title: Just a C.O.G. in a Wheel!
First Sunday after Epiphany
1/8/2006
Text: Mark 1:4-11
Title: Just a C.O.G. in a Wheel!
Let us pray. - Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak today in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my mouth and in the thoughts that we form. Speak O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Have you ever heard the expression, “I’m just a cog in a giant wheel of life”? It is usually said by people who feel that they have no individual identity or purpose in life. They feel like all they do is get out of bed in the morning, go to work, and then go back to bed at night, and the next day the cycle begins all over again.
Maybe you feel like you are just a cog in the giant wheel of life right now. It can be very depressing to say the least. But, I want to tell you that there is a time when it is a good thing to just be a cog in a wheel, but more on that later.
This morning our Gospel text tells us about the baptism of Jesus, a familiar story for most of us I am sure, for we read it every year on this, the first Sunday after Epiphany. It might even be, for some of you, a rather boring story.
After all, it is only about Jesus being baptized by John the Baptizer, God acknowledging him to be his son, and the Holy Spirit coming to him as a dove. That is what it is about. You know the story well, and so you flip off that little mental switch and think about what you are going to do after the service.
Well I have to admit that that is what the story is about, but there is far more in these passages than just those things. You see this story of Jesus’ baptism has great meaning for us today.
Let’s start with verse 4 of our text, where Mark tells us that John came preaching a baptism of repentance. The first thing that comes to my mind is, if he is preaching, and actually baptizing for repentance, what is the point of Jesus being baptized? After all Jesus is sinless, so what would he need to repent of? If that is all we need to do, let’s all just repent, and be re-baptized!
It is a perplexing problem and one that has to be answered to fully understand what is actually going on in our text for this morning. By the time John came along it had been a long time since a prophet of God had appeared on the earth. I am sure that to the Israelites it must have seemed like heaven had been permanently sealed up.
Israel was being held captive by the Romans and despite the outward magnificence of Herod’s temple the people were suffering under spiritually corrupt leaders. Why, there was even talk that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had abandoned them.
Then all of a sudden John appeared on the scene. He came dressed as a prophet would have dressed, he lived in the desert, ate bugs, not that we are told prophets did that, and he was preaching repentance, something that the prophets of old did. The rumors were flying that John just might be the long awaited Messiah. So the people flocked to him, repenting of their sins and then being dunked in the waters of the Jordon.
I am sure that it was an exciting and emotional experience, if not a downright spiritual time as people came out of the water, dripping wet, and singing praises to God as they climbed up the river bank to their waiting family and friends. A powerful expression of repentance, that is for sure.
But that is where it ended, for you see John’s baptism of repentance marked the final limit of what people could do for themselves, for repentance apart from forgiveness is not worth anything. Oh, repentence will make you feel good, but it will not get you into heaven, no matter how repentant you are.
You see, in the light of Jesus’ announcement of God’s forgiveness, John’s call to repentance, ours too, only reveals the world’s darkness and the depth of our sin. When you think about there is no lasting comfort in repentance, for no matter how you might feel after you repent, your are still drowning in sin.
Look at what God is telling us through Saint Mark. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit, verse 8. Jesus’ baptism is more powerful than John’s call to repentance, verse 7.
Then in verse 10 we read that the heavens were being torn open. This is not just some symbolic opening of the clouds. In the Greek it is a literal tearing apart, a foreshadowing of the curtain of the temple that is torn from top to bottom when Jesus died. It is the coming down of God to his people after so many years of silence. Had he ever really gone? No, but the people because of their sinfulness and self-reliance thought he had.
God did tore the heavens apart to demonstrate that the entrance to God was going to be unsealed at a great cost, the crucifixion of His Son Jesus, who is God himself. In verse 11 He makes it very clear that this man named Jesus was and is, his Son, the one he loves.
Back in verse 10 we see the Spirit of God coming down to Jesus. Does that mean that Jesus was not God before this, that he needed the Holy Spirit to come into him, for him to be complete? There are some who think so, but they are wrong for the Spirit coming to Jesus is to be understood as a marker in his life. It is the official start of his ministry, as we see in his healings, his announcements of the Kingdom’s arrival, his forgiving of sins on behalf of something that had not even taken place yet, his death, and his resurrection from the dead. All of this was done for the forgiveness of sins, not his, but ours.
If you ever study the Gospel of Mark, and I hope you will, you will notice that Jesus is first acknowledged by God, but not by hardly anyone else. His disciples never acknowledge that he is the Son of God in Mark. There are the acknowledgments of who he is by just a few people, sort of in fits and starts based on Jesus’ demonstrations of power. First when he drove out the evil spirits, and then when the Centurion confessed who he was as he died on the cross. The last time was when the angel at the tomb told the women that he had risen. It is strange, but in Mark the disciples never confess as to who he is, for even those who were his loyal followers never really got it.
Mark’s gospel places the question of Jesus life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins squarely on the reader of his Gospel, which by the way includes you and me. You see, everything was changed when the heavens were literally torn apart and the Spirit came to rest on Jesus.
We are now living in a new world of God where our repentance, even our ability to acknowledge who he is, is a baptism of the Spirit. It is a world that is well-pleasing to God. It is in other words God’s world, not ours.
In verse 12, which is not part of our assigned reading for today, Jesus is sent out into the desert by the Spirit that came on him in his Baptism by John. As I thought about it, I began to realize that just like Jesus was sent out, we too, since we are also living in the new world of God, are sent by the Holy Spirit out into the chaotic desert of real fear, and real suffering, and real death, what we call life.
But, we should not fear life, for when each one of you was baptized you became a C. O.G. in a wheel.
I told you at the beginning of my sermon that it may not be a bad thing to be a cog in a wheel, and that I would get back to it later, well now is the time. It is good to be a “Child of God”, a cog in the wheel of his mission.
In closing this morning let me ask you a question. Are you weary of reading and then trying to follow all those self-improvement books, magazines, tapes and speakers? You know the ones that promise to improve your life, but never do, at least in the long haul
You should be, if you’r not, for all those books, magazines, tapes, and speakers do is line up obstacles for you to overcome. God’s Word will improve your life. What, you say that you know God’s Word will give you eternal life, but that it hasn’t really made any noticeable difference in your life.
Maybe you need to look at the reason why it hasn’t improved your life, for if the Word of God can bring light out of darkness, and then drive out the darkness, God’s Word can speak to your life and transform it, which by the way is much better than improving it.
It is really your choice, for God will not force you to read and then live by his Word, nor will he magically give you the answers to your life.
For you see, unlike salvation, which is his work alone, you need to cooperate with him as he shows you how to live your life. God doesn’t lack the power. All he lacks is you being open to his Word and directions. In other words, instead of you trying to bend God to your will, like we do so often, let God bend you to his will. Why not, for God is a perfect God and will not make a mistake in your life as he guides you through the valleys and mountains of life. Amen
1/8/2006
Text: Mark 1:4-11
Title: Just a C.O.G. in a Wheel!
Let us pray. - Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak today in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my mouth and in the thoughts that we form. Speak O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Have you ever heard the expression, “I’m just a cog in a giant wheel of life”? It is usually said by people who feel that they have no individual identity or purpose in life. They feel like all they do is get out of bed in the morning, go to work, and then go back to bed at night, and the next day the cycle begins all over again.
Maybe you feel like you are just a cog in the giant wheel of life right now. It can be very depressing to say the least. But, I want to tell you that there is a time when it is a good thing to just be a cog in a wheel, but more on that later.
This morning our Gospel text tells us about the baptism of Jesus, a familiar story for most of us I am sure, for we read it every year on this, the first Sunday after Epiphany. It might even be, for some of you, a rather boring story.
After all, it is only about Jesus being baptized by John the Baptizer, God acknowledging him to be his son, and the Holy Spirit coming to him as a dove. That is what it is about. You know the story well, and so you flip off that little mental switch and think about what you are going to do after the service.
Well I have to admit that that is what the story is about, but there is far more in these passages than just those things. You see this story of Jesus’ baptism has great meaning for us today.
Let’s start with verse 4 of our text, where Mark tells us that John came preaching a baptism of repentance. The first thing that comes to my mind is, if he is preaching, and actually baptizing for repentance, what is the point of Jesus being baptized? After all Jesus is sinless, so what would he need to repent of? If that is all we need to do, let’s all just repent, and be re-baptized!
It is a perplexing problem and one that has to be answered to fully understand what is actually going on in our text for this morning. By the time John came along it had been a long time since a prophet of God had appeared on the earth. I am sure that to the Israelites it must have seemed like heaven had been permanently sealed up.
Israel was being held captive by the Romans and despite the outward magnificence of Herod’s temple the people were suffering under spiritually corrupt leaders. Why, there was even talk that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had abandoned them.
Then all of a sudden John appeared on the scene. He came dressed as a prophet would have dressed, he lived in the desert, ate bugs, not that we are told prophets did that, and he was preaching repentance, something that the prophets of old did. The rumors were flying that John just might be the long awaited Messiah. So the people flocked to him, repenting of their sins and then being dunked in the waters of the Jordon.
I am sure that it was an exciting and emotional experience, if not a downright spiritual time as people came out of the water, dripping wet, and singing praises to God as they climbed up the river bank to their waiting family and friends. A powerful expression of repentance, that is for sure.
But that is where it ended, for you see John’s baptism of repentance marked the final limit of what people could do for themselves, for repentance apart from forgiveness is not worth anything. Oh, repentence will make you feel good, but it will not get you into heaven, no matter how repentant you are.
You see, in the light of Jesus’ announcement of God’s forgiveness, John’s call to repentance, ours too, only reveals the world’s darkness and the depth of our sin. When you think about there is no lasting comfort in repentance, for no matter how you might feel after you repent, your are still drowning in sin.
Look at what God is telling us through Saint Mark. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit, verse 8. Jesus’ baptism is more powerful than John’s call to repentance, verse 7.
Then in verse 10 we read that the heavens were being torn open. This is not just some symbolic opening of the clouds. In the Greek it is a literal tearing apart, a foreshadowing of the curtain of the temple that is torn from top to bottom when Jesus died. It is the coming down of God to his people after so many years of silence. Had he ever really gone? No, but the people because of their sinfulness and self-reliance thought he had.
God did tore the heavens apart to demonstrate that the entrance to God was going to be unsealed at a great cost, the crucifixion of His Son Jesus, who is God himself. In verse 11 He makes it very clear that this man named Jesus was and is, his Son, the one he loves.
Back in verse 10 we see the Spirit of God coming down to Jesus. Does that mean that Jesus was not God before this, that he needed the Holy Spirit to come into him, for him to be complete? There are some who think so, but they are wrong for the Spirit coming to Jesus is to be understood as a marker in his life. It is the official start of his ministry, as we see in his healings, his announcements of the Kingdom’s arrival, his forgiving of sins on behalf of something that had not even taken place yet, his death, and his resurrection from the dead. All of this was done for the forgiveness of sins, not his, but ours.
If you ever study the Gospel of Mark, and I hope you will, you will notice that Jesus is first acknowledged by God, but not by hardly anyone else. His disciples never acknowledge that he is the Son of God in Mark. There are the acknowledgments of who he is by just a few people, sort of in fits and starts based on Jesus’ demonstrations of power. First when he drove out the evil spirits, and then when the Centurion confessed who he was as he died on the cross. The last time was when the angel at the tomb told the women that he had risen. It is strange, but in Mark the disciples never confess as to who he is, for even those who were his loyal followers never really got it.
Mark’s gospel places the question of Jesus life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins squarely on the reader of his Gospel, which by the way includes you and me. You see, everything was changed when the heavens were literally torn apart and the Spirit came to rest on Jesus.
We are now living in a new world of God where our repentance, even our ability to acknowledge who he is, is a baptism of the Spirit. It is a world that is well-pleasing to God. It is in other words God’s world, not ours.
In verse 12, which is not part of our assigned reading for today, Jesus is sent out into the desert by the Spirit that came on him in his Baptism by John. As I thought about it, I began to realize that just like Jesus was sent out, we too, since we are also living in the new world of God, are sent by the Holy Spirit out into the chaotic desert of real fear, and real suffering, and real death, what we call life.
But, we should not fear life, for when each one of you was baptized you became a C. O.G. in a wheel.
I told you at the beginning of my sermon that it may not be a bad thing to be a cog in a wheel, and that I would get back to it later, well now is the time. It is good to be a “Child of God”, a cog in the wheel of his mission.
In closing this morning let me ask you a question. Are you weary of reading and then trying to follow all those self-improvement books, magazines, tapes and speakers? You know the ones that promise to improve your life, but never do, at least in the long haul
You should be, if you’r not, for all those books, magazines, tapes, and speakers do is line up obstacles for you to overcome. God’s Word will improve your life. What, you say that you know God’s Word will give you eternal life, but that it hasn’t really made any noticeable difference in your life.
Maybe you need to look at the reason why it hasn’t improved your life, for if the Word of God can bring light out of darkness, and then drive out the darkness, God’s Word can speak to your life and transform it, which by the way is much better than improving it.
It is really your choice, for God will not force you to read and then live by his Word, nor will he magically give you the answers to your life.
For you see, unlike salvation, which is his work alone, you need to cooperate with him as he shows you how to live your life. God doesn’t lack the power. All he lacks is you being open to his Word and directions. In other words, instead of you trying to bend God to your will, like we do so often, let God bend you to his will. Why not, for God is a perfect God and will not make a mistake in your life as he guides you through the valleys and mountains of life. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 12:45 PM
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