Sermon John 1 29-42 Bringing People to Jesus

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon John 1 29-42 Bringing People to Jesus

January 19, 2014

This is the second Sunday of Epiphany, and we are looking at the manifestation of God on earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Last week we saw that Jesus began his ministry on earth with his baptism. His ministry was to bring people from the darkness of their ordinary lives into the bright light of faith. And at the end of his ministry he gave this task to the church. Our ministry is to bring people into the light of faith. Today we will see how this is done, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

John 1:29-42 ²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' ³¹ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel." ³² Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. ³³ I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' ³⁴ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

Notice that in John's gospel the baptism of Jesus is not told as a story the way Matthew did last week. In this gospel the baptism of Jesus is a remembered event in the life of John the Baptist. John saw an extraordinary event. Jesus was baptized. A dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit came down from the sky. John the Baptist saw this and recognized God in it.

This is the first step in evangelism. We see God at work in the world around us. God is constantly doing things for us and for our families and friends. These things are going on all the time, but we usually miss it. It is hard to see God at work in the world. So what can we do to help us recognize that God is actively doing things around us? The best thing we can do is to be in small group Bible studies. The stories in the Bible are records of the interactions between God and people throughout history. As we read these stories we learn how to recognize God at work. Our study of the Word of God helps us to see God working in the world. So the very first thing we do in evangelism is to study the word of God with a group so that we will recognize God when he does things for us. Though Bible study we begin to notice God working today. And this becomes the content of our testimony. So, attend a Bible study and then start looking for evidence that God is a work in the world. Let's go back to the gospel of John.

³⁵ The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

This is the second step in evangelism. Once we recognize God at work in our world then we share this with someone else. We tell our testimony of what God is doing in our lives to our friends and families. The American church has been very good at telling our testimony to our children. We want our kids to be nurtured in the faith. And so we tell them about God working in our lives and we bring them to Sunday school where they learn Bible stories. This is a wonderful ministry and we are very good at it. But it is not enough. We can no longer sustain the church just by evangelizing just our kids because the culture is against us. There are many things pulling our children away from the church. And many of them are growing up in the darkness of unbelief. Today there are many people, right here in Pocomoke, who to not regularly study the Bible in groups and therefore are unable to see God at work in their lives. They desperately need you to share your testimony to release them from the darkness of unbelief.

It is hard to share your testimony with others, but this is a skill you can develop. As you attend Bibles studies you have the opportunity to talk about your faith with other people in the group. By doing this regularly you develop the skill of sharing your testimony with others. So continue to attend Bible studies, look for God in the world around you, and share your testimony with others who cannot see God for themselves drawing on the skills you have developed in your group. Let's get back to the gospel of John and see what happened after John shared his testimony.

³⁷ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. ³⁸ Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" ³⁹ "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

The third step in evangelism, after you have recognized God at work in the world around you, and after have shared your testimony, is to invite people into a relationship with Jesus. I know that this is the hard part. We find it very difficult to invite people to come to church, or study the Bible with us, or even to pray with us. We are not very good at this. John the Baptist wasn't good at this either. All he could do was share his testimony. The invitation to follow Jesus had to come from Jesus himself. All we need to do is to recognize God in the world around us and share our testimony with others. Jesus will invite them into a relationship. Let's go back to the gospel and see how all this works.

⁴⁰ Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. ⁴¹ The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). ⁴² And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).

So Andrew spent an evening studying scripture in a group with his Bible teacher, Jesus. He was enabled by this to recognize that Jesus himself was the Messiah that was promised. So he shared this testimony with his brother, and brought him to Jesus. Jesus initiated a relationship with his brother calling him “Peter”, the “rock”, because Simon would become the rock upon which the church would be built.

So what should we do to fulfill our mission to bring people from the darkness of unbelief into the bright light of faith? Study the Bible in groups. Recognize God in the world around you. Share your testimony with others, introducing them to Jesus. And let Jesus initiate a relationship with them bringing them from the darkness of unbelief into the light of faith.

There is a interesting story that illustrates all of this going around the internet as I speak. There is a dog in Italy named Tommy. Tommy was a stray German Shepherd, but he found a good home. And he formed a strong relationship with the woman who cared for him. She went to church every day for prayers and took Tommy with her. Recently this woman died and Tommy went to the church to find her. He arrived during her funeral and walked down the center aisle to lie down in front for the ceremony. Since then every time the church bell rings, Tommy, the German Shepherd comes to church. The church feeds and cares for him while they pray for him to find a new human. I think Jesus has adopted him. Let's pray.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/01/18/loyal-dog-continues-to-attend-mass-every-day-at-church-where-his-owners-funeral-was-held/

Father in heaven, help us to see you at work in our world. Gife us the skill of sharing our testimony with others. And invite our friends and families into a relationship with your son, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Sermon Matthew 3:13 - 17 To Fulfill All Righteousness

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon Matthew 3:13 - 17 To Fulfill All Righteousness

January 12, 2014

We are now in the season of Epiphany. An epiphany is an appearance of God on earth. We had an Epiphany when Jesus walked on this planet. This year during Epiphany we will follow Jesus through the early stages of his ministry through the eyes of Matthew and John as recorded in their gospels. We begin today with the baptism of Jesus. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Matthew 3:13 - 17 ¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" ¹⁵ Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. ¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

I recently heard a story about a man who had been homeless living on the streets of New York City. He is currently living in a church run shelter and is active in the church. Recently, his church celebrated his 60^th birthday with a dinner at the shelter. A person in the church remarked that he did not look like a 60 year old man. So he opened his wallet and removed two cards. The first, was a drivers license that clearly showed him to be 60. The other was his baptismal card. He had been baptized in an Episcopal church in the city as an infant and had carried this card with him all his life. This card showed that he belonged to the family of God.¹

Like this man, when we were baptized, we were adopted into God's family. And at our baptisms, or later at our confirmations, we pledged to be followers of Jesus Christ.

Jesus began and ended his ministry on earth with baptism. According to Matthew, Jesus went to the Jordan river to be baptized by John to begin his ministry. And at the end of his ministry he took his disciples to a mountain in Galilee where he told them to make other disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

John's baptism was for people experiencing guilt for the sins they had committed. John wanted them to experience God's forgiveness by symbolically washing their sin away and by telling then to repent, to stop sinning and obey God. The last thing Jesus needed was this sort of baptism. We know that Jesus was free from sin. He had no need for repentance and forgiveness. Coming to John for baptism just didn't make any sense at all. So when Jesus arrived for his baptism John argued with him. Something else was going on, but what was it? What might this something else be? Why was Jesus at the Jordan with John?

Jesus answered these questions with this: “it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Does this make any sense to you? I sure have no idea what Jesus is talking about. I'm not sure if John had any idea what Jesus was talking about, but he went ahead and baptized Jesus anyway. What could Jesus have meant when he said that his baptism was “to fulfill all righteousness”? I think the God, his Father, gave us the answer when he shouted down from heaven, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." When God spoke these words he was echoing the words of the Prophet Isaiah which you heard earlier.

^NIV Isaiah 42:1 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.

Clearly, Isaiah saw the day when Jesus, the Son of God, would be baptized by the Holy Spirit coming down from God, the Father, who would then speak these words. And Isaiah told us that when this happens God will enter into a new covenant with us. Here is what God said to the prophet.

⁶ "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, ⁷ to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

We learn from this that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river by John to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah that through Jesus people living in darkness will see the light. Jesus had come, not only to heal the blind, but to bring people from the darkness of unbelief into the light of faith, fulfilling the righteousness of God.

We will see this as we follow Jesus in his early ministry. Through his teaching and healing he will be bringing people into the light of faith. And we are to do the same. As baptized Christians we are to follow his commission and bring others to faith in Jesus Christ making new baptized disciples. This is our ministry, the ministry of the church.

There are people right here in Pocomoke who are living in darkness. They know little or nothing about Jesus. They are slaves to sin. And sin has so stained their lives that they have little hope. The only hope they have is if a follower of Jesus Christ tells them that Jesus can break the yoke of their slavery to sin and offers them new life. This is why it is so important for us to talk about our faith with others. We are comfortable talking about faith with other Christians, but our ministry is to talk about our faith with people outside of the church. We are equipped for this work by our worship, prayers and Bible studies. But this is just the beginning. Our ministry is to get out of the church and proclaim the good news of new life in Christ to people living in darkness, who desperately need to hear it.

One of my great joys in ministry was to baptize a homeless man in Los Angeles. Dirk had been a successful businessman. But his addiction to drugs and alcohol and his failure to pay child support caused him to live on the streets. All he had was a dog for protection. I encouraged Dirk to come to church where he would find a hot meal we prepared every Sunday night. I also encouraged him to attend worship. He became one of our most faithful volunteers. He asked if he could join the church. So, I taught a class to prepare him for baptism. On the night he was baptized the church was packed. It seemed that every homeless person in the community had heard about what was happening and came. It was glorious night as I baptized Dirk into his new life in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Dirk had come from the darkness of homelessness and addiction into the bright light of Jesus Christ.

I found great joy working with Dirk. You too will find this joy when you tell the good news of Jesus to people who need it. So build up your faith by praying every day, and worshiping on Sundays and attending Bible Studies. And then talk with others about a faith that brings light into the darkness. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus Christ, in your baptism you entered into a covenant where your disciples would bring the light of faith into the darkness of peoples lives. In our baptisms we accepted this covenant and pledge to grow spiritually to pass on our faith to others. We pledge to make disciples of you baptizing them into this covenant. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.

1Patricia Calahan, Feasting On the Gospels, ed. Cynthia Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson (Louisville: Westminster - John Knox Press, 2013), 44-46.

Sermon –Ephesians 1:3-14 – Gifts from God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon –Ephesians 1:3-14 – Gifts from God

January 5, 2014

Tomorrow is the day the church remembers that God appeared on Earth. This is called an Epiphany. God came as Jesus, a flesh and blood human. For the last 12 days we have been celebrating his birth. But now it is time to take down the tree, put away the decorations, and write all those thank you cards. This is important work and we will get to it shortly. But first, let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Ephesians 1:3-14 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. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace ⁸ that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹ And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment-- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. ¹¹ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-- to the praise of his glory.

When you opened your Christmas gifts this year did you do it by yourself, or did you do it with friends and family? I think, for most of us, we open gifts with others. Christmas is a time to gather together in groups to share what we have been given. So too with gifts from God. We gather in groups, called churches, to open the presents God gives us at Christmas. Sadly so many Christians today see no need for church. They see only the need for a personal, individualistic relationship with Christ. They can worship God by reading the Bible on their own and watching sermons on the internet. Church seems unnecessary. But we know that receiving gifts from God is always better when done together. That way we can share our blessings and praise God together as church. Church is vitally important because the gifts we receive are meant not for the individual but for all of us. We have receive many blessings from God. And it is time to write our thank you notes.

As we gather up the Christmas gifts to write our thank you notes, let's take a look at some of the presents we have received. The first thing we see is a big box labeled, “spiritual blessings”. This one came from God, the Father of Jesus Christ. Inside we find what we have wanted, for a long long time. God has granted our request that we be a part of his holy family. Even though we are not descended directly from Abraham and Sarah, God has decided to adopt us into his family as a gift. What a wonderful gift to receive at Christmas. And there is something extra in this box, a bonus gift from God. God has chosen us to live holy lives. We have been given the great honor of being the ones who will obey his commands. God chose us for this glorious task before he created the world. And this Christmas we have received it as a glorious gift. Let's remember to write a thank you note to God, the Father, for these wonderful gifts of adoption into his family as obedient children.

And this is another box under the tree. Let's open it up and see what's inside. It is a gift from Jesus, and the box is filled with wisdom and understanding. And here is another box from Jesus with a second gift. It's not under the tree. It is on the table where we eat and drink the bread and juice of communion. Let's look in this box. It is the gift of redemption. We no longer have to worry about the devil and his temptation leading us to sin. We are free from slavery to sin and the clutches of Satan. We are free to live lives pleasing to God. What a great gift! And look here, there is a third box from Jesus. And inside is still another gift. It is the gift of forgiveness. All that we have done is forgiven. The shame and guilt we have carried for years is washed away. Remember to write thank you cards for these gifts from Jesus of redemption and forgiveness of sin.

So, how did all these wonderful gifts get under the tree? Did Saint Nicholas bring them or someone else? Maybe a group of wise men from the east put them there. These are all possibilities. But I think that the person who came down the chimney with these gifts was none other than the Holy Spirit who brings these gifts to us whenever we assemble to hear the Word of God read and proclaimed.

Oh, I almost missed it. There is one more gift, but it's not under the tree. It is sitting on the pulpit wide open. And it is for us, right here in Pocomoke. The wrapping paper around the box says “Hope”. Let's open it up. And inside, look at what we have found. It's a book with the title, “Bible”, and it has God's plan for us. God is going to use us to bring the whole world under the lordship of Jesus. Every thing, every nation, every leader, every person in heaven and on earth will be subject to our Lord Jesus Christ. And God is working through us, the church, to make this a reality.

So now it is time to write those thank you notes. We need to thank God for choosing us as his people. We need to thank Jesus Christ for redeeming us from slavery to sin. We need to thank the Holy Spirit for working though God's word sealing these gifts upon us. So how do we thank our triune God? Well, the best way to do this is to gather as church and offer up our praise and worship. This is why we come to church each Sunday, to receive God's gifts and offer our prayers of thanksgiving to our wonderful God.

We have been chosen by God, before time began, for the very special purpose of leading obedient lives. We have been redeemed by Christ, freed from slavery to sin and forgiven. All these gifts have been sealed upon us by the Holy Spirit working through the proclamation of the Word of God. God's purpose in doing all this is to bring of all creation into unity in Christ. So let's thank God for all of this. Let's offer our praise and thanksgiving to God in worship. Let this be our New Year's resolution to be God's people. Let's pray.

Father in Heaven, we thank you for choosing us as your people and we pledge to lead obedient lives. Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for your gifts of redemption and forgiveness allowing us to lead lives pleasing to God and in service to others. Holy Spirit, we thank you for being with us today sealing these gifts upon us through the proclamation of God's Holy Word. We thank you God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for inviting this church to be part our your holy family. Amen.