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Baptism of Fire |
Luke 3: 15-22
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© John Ewing Roberts |
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INTRODUCTION "Baptism of fire" has come to mean an introductory experience of some kind which is undergone in circumstances of great pressure. For example, a rookie in his first major league baseball game comes up to bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, his team behind by three runs, and with the bases loaded! But the initial connection of baptism and fire comes in the gospel account when John the Baptist proclaims that the One who is coming after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Water and fire at first glance do not seem to go together. But, although water puts out a fire, these two seemingly contradictory symbols belong with one another. The fire of the Holy Spirit is associated with the water of baptism. Fire imagery surfaces in a variety of worship forms from traditional to contemporary. There is a collect written early in this century and associated with main line Protestant worship. "O Almighty God, from whom every good prayer cometh, and who pourest out on all who desire it the spirit of grace and supplication; deliver us, when we draw nigh to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship thee in spirit and in truth: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." (William Bright, The Student Prayer Book, John Oliver Nelson, editor [New York: Association Press] 1953, p. 200) Ministers use this prayer with some sense of irony since it seems to concede that the hearts of worshippers will be cold and their minds will wander unless the Spirit is invoked to bestow steadfast thoughts and kindled (there's our fire imagery) affections. In a very different genre is the fire imagery in the popular contemporary praise song, "It only takes a spark to get a fire going, And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing; That is how it is with God's love: Once you've experienced it you spread his love to ev'ry one; You want to pass it on." (Kurt Kaiser, "Pass It On," Baptist Hymnal, William J. Reynolds, editor [Nashville: Convention Press] 1975, No. 287) FIRE Kindled affections sounds good; so does the warmth of God's love, but the fire in Luke 3 is the fire of judgment. Here's how it works: Farmers poured wheat from one container to another on a windy day, or tossed the wheat into the air with a fork or shovel so that the chaff would be blown away, leaving the grain clean. The chaff burned with explosive combustion. To this day, farmers know that fire in a dry wheat field cannot be contained or controlled. The message is clearly one of judgment....(but) When repentance and forgiveness are available, judgment is good news (18). The primary aim is o save the wheat, not to burn the chaff. (Fed B. Craddock, Luke [Louisville: John Knox Press] 1990, p. 49) ...the love of the biblical God is holy love. It is fire, and it is the warning of the final judgment of fire. The measure of this fire's reincorporation into our preaching will be the measure of the church's recommitment to social justice. There is a correlation between the disappearance of the church's preaching of hell and the shrinkage in the church's passion for justice. And if someone tells us that 'God does not frighten us into heaven' or that hellfire is not a leitimate motive in true Christian preaching, let us ask them to study the sermons of this Gospel and see if they can sustain these theses. The biblical God, through the prophets and apostles and above all through Jesus himself in Matthew, does frighten, does threaten, does talk straight, and we accustom ourselves again to hearing God talk this way. The biblical love of God is tough love; it is also gentle love, but it is never unjust love or a love that winks at injustice." (F. Dale runer, Matthew - Vol. 1, The Christbook, Matthew 1-12 [Waco, Texas: Word, Inc.] 1987, p. 78) Pretty scary stuff, but all of it is meant to be taken seriously. But God's intention is not to burn us. The wheat is to be saved. God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3: 17) But don't relax; we are not off the hook. LEANNESS OF SOUL While studying this week, I came across a disturbing verse: "And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul." (Psalm 106: 15, KJV) The verse refers to rebellion by Israel in the wilderness described in Numbers 11: 4-6, 31-35. Scholars are not quite sure how to translate it. Beyond the King James Version are such differing takes on the text as these two: "He gave them what they requested, and cast out leanness from their throats." (Mitchell Dahood, Psalms III (104-150), The Anchor Bible, [Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co.] 1979, p. 65)"he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them." (NRSV) The notion that God can give his people want they want, but they still may be left with leanness of soul burns with the fire of judgment of us. We prayed for a sanctuary; our prayers were answered, but what if now we suffer from leanness of soul? Woodbrook has been described as a laid back church. Now when a laid back church goes through the preoccupation of a building program, we can come out of it with a serious tendency toward leanness of spirit. What are we to do? The baptism of Jesus shows among other things his identity with us. Luke tells us that all the people were baptized, and Jesus also (verse 21). I take that to mean that in Jesus, God identifies with the human experience, including such conditions as leanness of soul. Even Jesus may have known something of spiritual need because we read that he once said, "I can of myself do nothing." He needed that Spirit of fire and passion and warmth and radiance which came over him at his baptism. And for our lean spirits we too need that same Spirit of fire and passion and warmth and radiance. CONTRA LEANNESS There are danger signs among us, to be sure, but also signs of hope. Yesterday in the Future of the Church Committee meeting Maryan Brown shared some resources which I want you to know about. From another church's bulletin comes a little article called "What Is a Live Church?" [material in brackets contains my comments - J. E. R.] - A live church has parking problems; a dead church does not. [Even with added parking spaces we have parking problems!]- A live church has lots of "noisy" children, even in worship; a dead church is fairly quiet. [Ever been here on Wednesday night? How about the Christmas music program? Want noisy children? We've got 'em!] - A live church can change the way it does things; a dead church doesn't risk and change anything. [Clyde Shallenberger, the retired Hopkins Hospital chaplain, the man who spoke of our church as a lighthouse on dedication Sunday, will preach here on March 8. He asked if he could speak on the subject of suicide and the Bible, and offered that he was broaching the subject because he knew this was a church willing to take risks. I told him to "go for it." On March 8, he will preach on that subjec, followed by a "talk back" time over brown bag lunches in the Fellowship Hall.]- A live church dreams great dreams for God's Kingdom; a dead church has nightmares about any risk. [If we were not willing to risk change, we would not have a Future of the Church Committee.]- A live church grows too fast to remember everybody's name; in a dead church everyone has known everybody for years and years. [Who here can name everyone in your pew and the pew in front of you?] - A live church supports others enthusiastically; a dead church looks inwardly at itself. [This is what the $10,750 in the special missions fund is all about.]- A live church uses its traditions and facilities to serve people; a dead church uses people to preserve tradition and facilities. [Check our schedule for all the of the community groups who meet here.]- A live church forgives and seeks forgiveness; a dead church never makes mistakes because it never takes a risk. [Again check the Future of the Church Committee and its work.] - A live church is filled with tithers; a dead church supports every pet project that comes down the pike; therefore, it has no central in-depth giving. [We fall short on the tithers issue, or at least the persons who report that they tithe, but we generally steer away for pet project target giving.] - A live church sees challenges and opportunities; a dead church sees problems and obstacles and risk. [Future of the Church Committee again.] - A live church worships; a dead church worries. [We sit in a place built for worship and do so with a resolve to find fresh, stimulating and substantial ways to worship.](copied from The Messenger, no other bibliographical information) Maryan also gave me a copy of The Parish Paper (Vol. 4, No. 11, May 1997) with a cartoon of Friar Tuck confessing, "Lord, forgive me, I've shrunk the congregation!" At the bottom of the drawing is the formula for shrinking a church: low demands, short pastorates, no vision, Sunday School during worship, eliminated missions!" Assuming that the way to grow a church is to take the opposite course, consider these points: - The Future of the Church Committee will surely consider the whole issue of the demands we place on ourselves in this church. - Short pastorates?! The seventh pastor was here 14 years and 11 more as pastor emeritus; the eighth pastor began his term here the next Sunday after his predecessor retired and served 34 years pastor and 14 as pastor emeritus; the ninth pastor began his term here the Sunday after his predecessor's retirement, 28 years ago. - The "v" word; vision - again see the Future of the Church Committee. - We do not and never will have Sunday School during worship; 'nuff said. - We have acknowledged our need to regain lost ground in mission support and made a good start in the direction with our Christmas offerings of over $3,000. And our Missions Committee will soon be reviving the missions tree challenge to give as many hours in volunteer mission service as there are bricks in this building. CONCLUSION "John the Baptist, as Karl Barth has said, was content to be a signpost pointing the way to Jesus." (John Killinger, A Devotional Guide to Luke: The Gospel of Contagious Joy [Waco, Texas: Word Books] 1980, p. 29) I hope and pray that Woodbrook, like John the Baptizer, will be such a signpost. What better time to make this our fresh resolve than on the Sunday when we mark the Baptism of our Lord? The baptism of Jesus has been compared to a kind of ordination; he always had been the fully human, fully divine Son of God, but now he is set apart, commissioned, ordained to the ministry he is about to begin. Woodbrook has always been the people of God in this place, but now with our facilities finished and paid for, we are now ready to go forward and do what God ordains us to do. At the baptism of Jesus the Spirit descended to empower him for the ministry that was to be his because of who he was. And a voice thundered over the waters to remind him just who he was: "You are my beloved son with whom I am well pleased," or as John Claypool somewhere renders it, "You are my boy and I delight in you." Join me in singing "with kindled affections" God, Whose Purpose Is to Kindle if you want God to ignite us with His fire, to baptize us with His fiery Spirit, if you want to be lifted out of the smallness of our vision by His own abundant life, if you long to be free from complacence, if you burn to give yourself to something too large to do on our own. [Elton Trueblood, Baptist Hymnal, Wesley E. Forbis, editor [Nashville: Convention Press] 191, Brown No. 618] Join me in singing this great prayer if you want... to know that we are God's sons and daughters and that He delights in us, to glow with the burning intensity of the Spirit, and to be set apart for what we are to be and do. [This sermon is for circulation within the Woodbrook congregation and may not be reproduced without permission.] |