- “I am very pleased with you.”
- Has anyone ever said that to you?
- People are much more ready to criticize us than approve of us
- Our parents and teachers, our friends and colleagues, our workmates and boss, our spouse and children are all too often critical of us.
- They criticize our behavior and character, appearance and work.
- They also withhold their approval and use their disapproval of us as a weapon to manipulate and control us, hurt and punish us.
- And we are often our own worst critics.
- We feel that we are not good enough.
- No matter how successful we are, we don’t even measure up to our own standards and expectations.
- We are ashamed because we aren’t the kind of people we know we should be, let alone the people God wants us to be.
- That is aggravated by our arch-critic, the devil who accuses and condemns us, who slanders us and tells us that we are not good enough for God to accept us and love us.
- So we work hard to gain the approval of others and of God.
- We fear disapproval and rejection.
- We crave true acceptance and genuine recognition.
- We try hard to please others.
- Today we celebrate the baptism of Jesus and consider how it affects us.
- In contrast with Matthew and Mark, Luke does not actually focus our attention on his baptism but on its outcome for Jesus and us.
- His baptism sets the pattern for his treatment of us and shows us what we receive from baptism.
- It shows us what God has done to make us well pleasing to Him.
- Well, why is God the Father well pleased with us?
- Like parents who approve of the woman that their son has married, he is pleased with us because of our union with Jesus
- That involves three things that are all parts of one package: our baptism, the baptism of Jesus, and his praying for us.
- This story from Luke gets us to picture Jesus coming at the tail end of a crowd of people who line up to be baptized by John and see him praying for them as he is baptized.
- Consider yourself and us as part of that crowd and note how your baptism is connected with his baptism.
- Consider how you are not baptized by yourself apart from him but in a large crowd together with him.
- Well, why does Jesus choose to be baptized together with us in this crowd of people who repent and seek God’s pardon for sin?
- Jesus identifies himself with us and unites himself with us as sinners who are doomed to suffer eternal death as the penalty for our revolt against God
- He swaps places with us.
- He stands in our shoes, so that we can stand in his shoes before God the Father.
- While we get rid of our sin through our baptism, by his baptism he takes on our sin with its penalty, the sentence of death.
- His baptism leads to his death on the cross for us, so that through our baptism we may have eternal life through his resurrection and ascension.
- He offers us his righteousness, purity and innocence to remove our guilt, cover our shame, and gain God’s approval of us.
- So as Jesus is baptized, he prays for all the people who share in his baptism and are baptized with him.
- He doesn’t find fault with them and criticize them.
- Yet at the same time he doesn’t overlook their offences and pretend that they don’t matter.
- He doesn’t ignore their needs.
- Instead, he pleads with his heavenly Father for them and his acceptance of them.
- He did that for you at your baptism and still does for you
- He has always been praying for you and will always pray for you as long as you live.
- Just as he prayed the Lord’s Prayer for you at your baptism, so he still prays it for you and together with you.
- In that prayer he puts you in his shoes and identifies you with himself as God’s Son by praying that God the Father will give you His holy name as your Father, His kingdom as his royal children, and everything that he wants you to have.
- In it he also puts himself in your shoes and identifies himself with you and your needs by praying that God the Father will give you daily bread, release from sin, protection from temptation, and deliverance from the devil.
- By his prayer for you as come the Holy Communion today, Jesus regards you as his brothers and sisters, people who have been united with him in baptism and adopted by God the Father, and covers you with prayer.
- In his prayer for you he asks God the Father to give you all the benefits that he has gained for you by his death and resurrection.
- What do you now receive from God through your baptismal union with Jesus and his prayer for you?
- Luke tells you that you receive three wonderful things: access to God the Father in heaven, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and assurance that you are well pleasing to him.
- First, Luke tells you that as Jesus was praying, heaven was opened.
- Heaven is now open for before you and above you through Jesus.
- Human access to heaven has been lost since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin: they were driven from God’s presence in the Garden of Eden and exiled from life with him in heaven.
- Since then, all their descendants have been alienated for God and cut off from Him: they are far from God
- They are plagued by a bad conscience that fears death as God’s just penalty for sin.
- But through Jesus heaven is once again open for you though baptism.
- He opens heaven for you by his presence and intercession for you.
- You now have access to God’s presence through him.
- Hebrews 7:25 sums up that amazing fact with these words: Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
- Second, Luke tells you that as Jesus was praying, the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.
- So as you join Jesus in praying his prayer, the Holy Spirit comes down on you and hovers over you like a dove.
- Since God the Father has adopted you in your baptism, He now gives you His Holy Spirit as you listen to Him and pray for yourself and others here in church and your daily devotions.
- The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin and assures you of your justification.
- The Spirit brings you peace and joy and confidence.
- The Spirit did not just descend on you when you were baptized, but does so whenever you ask God the Father to hallow his holy name by teaching you his holy word and to make His kingdom come by giving you His Holy Spirit.
- Third, Luke tells us that as Jesus was praying, a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
- Since you are baptized and believe in Jesus, God the Father acknowledges you as His child and approves of you wholeheartedly and unreservedly.
- When He looks at you, He doesn’t see your old self but the new person that you are from your union with Jesus and your transformation by his Holy Spirit.
- He sees you without spot or wrinkle or anything ugly but blameless and holy and lovely to Him.
- He says the same words to you as He did to Jesus at his baptism and then later at his transfiguration: “You are my beloved son; you are my beloved daughter; with you I am well pleased.”
- He is pleased to have you as His child and love you as He loves Jesus.
- He is pleased to be with you here today.
- He is pleased that you listen to Him and trust in Him as your heavenly Father.
- He is pleased to meet with you here today and thrilled to enjoy your company.
- Because you believe in Jesus and are baptized, He now no longer regards you apart from Jesus but as are together with him
- He is as pleased with you as he is with Jesus.
- He is so pleased with you that He wants you to share His life with you now and for all eternity.
- Even if no one has ever told you: “I am very pleased with you,” God the Father tells you this again and again.
- He is pleased with you because Jesus took on you sins and the penalty for them at his baptism
- He is pleased with you because you are joined with Jesus by your baptism and your faith in Him and His word.
- He is well pleased because you have come here today to pray for His Holy Spirit as listen to Him and receive the body and blood of His Son3.
- So rejoice that He is pleased with you and that heaven is now open above you through Jesus and your faith in him
- As you come to Holy Communion, pray this prayer
Spirit of God, you show me
Heaven right here on earth;
Here, in the midst of dying, is birth:
Water and word combine,
And all your gifts are mine;
O how the light of Jesus shines.
Spirit of God, fly like a dove,
Carry your gifts of faith and love.
