Sam Houston was the first president of the Republic of Texas. It’s said he was a rather nasty fellow with a checkered past. Later in life Houston made a commitment to Christ and was baptized in a river. The preacher said to him, “Sam, your sins are washed away.” Houston replied, “God help the fish.” It’s fortunate that you and I were not baptized as adults in a river. Somebody would probably be saying, “God help the fish.”
A man named Ray says that at one point in his life he considered joining the Baptist Church. For those who don’t know, the Baptists practice total body immersion to baptize a person. Ray notes that he is a big man, so he was concerned about finding a baptistry in a church that could handle an oversized load. Luckily he knew a Baptist minister, having dated his daughter in college. Ray dropped by to see this pastor and asked him if he would consider performing the service. The good pastor paused a minute or two, gave Ray a long thoughtful look up and down and said, “Ray, if you’re serious about this, a dipping just won’t do it for you. We’ll have to find a place to anchor you overnight.” (1)
Yes, the same could be said for us. They’d have to find a place to anchor us over night. Today we celebrate the baptism of Jesus. At least there was one man whose baptism did not harm the environment--whose sins were no threat to the fish. One man who did not even need the baptism of repentance. One man whose baptism marked the beginning of a ministry that changed the world for all time.
Last week we acknowledged that what is unique about us is that we have been presented to God as perfect, valuable, worthy--not because of anything we’ve done, but because of what Christ has done. We do not need to hang our head. We are not perfect people, but we are Christ’s people. We have not arrived, but we are on the journey that leads to the kingdom of God, when God will reign in every heart. Key to that process is the sacrament of baptism.
John was baptizing in the river Jordan. Here is what is interesting about John’s ministry: usually baptism was reserved for Gentile converts. But John was calling for a new beginning for his own people. Think Billy Graham. Most of the people who have come forward in Billy Graham’s crusades were already believers. Most of them, though, wanted to make a new start. John the Baptist was urging his fellow Jews to repent from their sins, and the way they would symbolize this would be that they would be baptized.
Have you ever wished you could start over? Sometimes you hear people say, “I would like to be 18 again and know what I know now.” Don’t raise your hand, but is there anybody here who would like to go back and live your life over? Maybe you made some bad choices. People do that and some people feel great regret because of those choices.
In the 1800s, poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote one of his most quoted poems in the English language. The poem was titled, “Maud Muller.” You’ve never heard of it? Actually, not many people remember this sorrowful poem, but generations of people have quoted two famous lines from its final stanza.
“Maud Muller” is about a young maiden who, while working the fields one day, sees a handsome young Judge riding by on horseback. She offers him a drink of cool water. Their encounter lasts only a few moments, but it makes a deep impression on both of them. Maud is greatly attracted to the Judge, and she dreams of marrying someone of his gentleness and integrity. She could leave the fields behind and live as the wife of a wealthy and powerful man.
At the same time, the Judge is attracted to Maud. He is tired of his career, and he dreams of marrying a warm, compassionate woman like Maud and settling into a simpler life in the country. But neither Maud nor the Judge acknowledges their attraction to one another. They are from different social classes---they cannot risk breaking the bonds of social conformity.
Maud later marries a man who brings her much pain and hardship. The Judge also enters into a loveless marriage. In the final stanza of the poem, Whittier offers us this warning: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’” (2)
Have you ever quoted those two words about your own life: “It might have been”? Unfortunately, we are not given the privilege of reliving our lives. And that is probably good. We would probably make worse choices the second time around. But we can be set free from the emotional baggage that we carry around from those poor choices. We can be given a new heart and new mind so that we can find meaning and purpose in our circumstances as they are here and now. Theologically, baptism represents an identification with Christ’s death and resurrection. It symbolizes our inclusion in the body of Christ. But it can also mean a new beginning. When you understand the meaning of your baptism, you realize that, for those who have been baptized in Christ, each day is an opportunity to start over. Christ has taken away our hurtful past and opened the door to life abundant.
If we were psychologists, we might call this a self-actualized life. Self-actualization is a term popularized by the psychologist Abraham Maslow years ago. Self-actualization lacks the richness of the new birth to which Christ calls us, but there are some similarities.
A self-actualized person is an emotionally healthy and well-balanced individual. He, or she, is able to give and receive love. The self-actualized person finds purpose and meaning in life. He is inner-directed and doesn’t need the approval of others. He exhibits a healthy sense of self-control, but does not need to control others. These are just a few of the traits of a self-actualized person.
During his doctoral studies, psychologist Wayne Dyer took a class in which he and his fellow students studied the traits of self-actualized people. For the midterm exam, the professor asked only one question, an essay question. Listen to this question and pose your own answer: “A self-actualized person arrives at a dinner party at which everyone is dressed in formal attire--tuxes and beautiful gowns. He is wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt, sneakers, and a baseball cap. What does he do?”
None of the students passed the exam. The professor was looking for one particular answer, an answer that can be expressed in three simple words, “He wouldn’t notice.” A self-actualized person wouldn’t notice appearances. He or she is tuned in to more important things. (3)
Jesus was often accused of being a glutton, a party guy, a friend of “sinners.” He didn’t seem to notice the criticisms against him. He was tuned in to more important things than how he appeared to others. Perhaps it was because at his baptism he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” No wonder he didn’t live for the approval of the crowd.
How about you? Do you worry excessively about the opinions of others? Do you fear making a fool of yourself? Does that keep you from living the abundant life to which Christ has called you? Are you ready to make a new start with Christ’s help?
Author Marianne Williamson shares a conversation she had with a young man named Andrew. In his first year of high school, Andrew had acted like a self-described “jerk” and a “total loser.” He treated people badly. Then, he moved to a different high school for a couple of years. Now, he dreaded returning to his old high school for his final year. He knew how people remembered him. They would treat him like the old Andrew. But he wasn’t that guy anymore; he had matured and had a new perspective on his life. He didn’t want to be dragged down by old memories and old patterns in his life.
Williamson advised Andrew to ignore what others thought of him. Soon enough, Andrew’s old classmates would start to see the contrasts between the old Andrew and the new Andrew. They couldn’t hold the past against him for very long. She prayed with Andrew that God would give him a brand new start, with brand new relationships. As Williamson writes, “Spiritually, we are reborn in any moment we do not take the past with us.”
Andrew later reported back on his school situation. It was nothing short of a miracle. He had made new friends among the people he had once alienated. No one treated him like the old Andrew. (4)
Sometimes the biggest barrier to starting a new life is fear of how those closest to us will react. If we do change, our relationships will inevitably be affected. Other people are involved. We have responsibilities. If we change, how will our spouse react? How about our friends? It’s easier to stay in our comfort zone if we feel that others will regard us negatively if we seek to change.
However, probably the greatest fear we have about beginning a new life is that we will backslide. Isn’t that true? What if we don’t succeed with our new life? We tell our friends that we are going on a diet. The next time they see us, we are at Baskin-Robbins having a hot fudge sundae. It is embarrassing. Or we make a resolution that we are going to read our Bible each morning, and suddenly our schedule gets crowded and our good intentions vanish. And because we have failed at meaningful change in the past, we are hesitant to commit ourselves to any real change now.
It is interesting that after Jesus’ baptism, Mark tells us, “At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.”
I don’t know anyone who has attempted a real change in their lives who has not found themselves for a while in the wilderness. That is why resolutions rarely cut it. That is why good intentions are only good as paving blocks for the road to hell. There is only one way real change takes place--that is surrender of our lives to a Higher Power.
The reason baptism is so powerful is that it is not a psychological exercise, but a theological one. Want proof? Ask yourself why Alcoholics Anonymous has saved so many people from ruin when other similar programs have failed? Or why faith-based programs for helping drug addicts are so much more successful than government-run programs? You and I cannot save ourselves any more than a drowning man can lift himself out of the water by the hair on his own head. If we are going to have a new life in this new year, we are going to need help from above. We are going to need God’s help. But that help is available. It is available by faith in Jesus Christ.
In 1969, Bill and Gloria Gaither had just welcomed their second child into the world. Our nation was grappling with race riots, the war in Vietnam, political assassinations, and general cultural upheaval. There were few signs of stability. The Gaithers worried about the kind of world their young children would face in the future. Gloria remembers, “While pondering and praying about these things, we came to realize anew that our courage doesn’t come from a stable world, for the world has never been stable. Jesus Himself was born in the cruelest of times. No, we have babies, raise families, and risk living because the Resurrection is true!”
Out of that firm conviction, the Gaithers wrote one of their best-loved songs, “Because He Lives,” with its inspiring chorus, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know, He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives!” (5)
Change is possible, but we need God’s help to make it so. “Behold I make all things new,” Christ says to us in Revelation (21:15). You are invited to a new life in the new year. Surrender your life to Christ today.
1. ktodd@vci.net (Keith Todd) Sermon_Fodder-owner@onelist.com.
2. Wayne Dyer, Wisdom of the Ages (New York: Quill, 1998), pp. 149-150.
3. Ibid., pp. 207-208.
4. Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004), pp. 113-114.
5. Robert J. Morgan, Then Sings My Soul, Book 2 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2004), p. 299.