In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; Luke 3:15-22, Acts 8:4-17

Jesus commanded part of the disciple making process is to baptize in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as recorded by Matthew in what we know as the Great Commission.  Today we have two stories of baptisms that don’t use this formula—one in Acts, and Jesus’ own baptism.  Is the Trinitarian formula all that important?  We consider baptisms that don’t use the Trinitarian formula invalid, so why wasn’t it used in these two cases? 

We see in our Acts passage that in fleeing persecution, Philip went to Samaria, taking the gospel with him.  Just as Jesus said, the gospel was proclaimed in Jerusalem first, then Judea, and then in Samaria.  Philip’s evangelistic work wasn’t wrong.  Many people were coming to Christ and were being baptized.  When Peter and John are sent to check out what was going on, what they saw in the believers was a testimony to the work of Philip.  The gospel was preached and received.  But Philip’s work wasn’t complete,; he only baptized in the name of Jesus, and baptism into the name of Jesus wasn’t enough.  Did Philip not know about the Trinitarian formula?  Perhaps, if this is Philip the deacon and evangelist and not Philip the apostle, which is most likely.  And yet even Philip the evangelist was well acquainted with the baptism of the Holy Spirit for he had received it himself.  Did he think that it was only the apostles who could baptize in the Holy Spirit?  Perhaps.  But I think Philip baptized in the name of Jesus to show the people that Jesus was God, and most likely it is because the apostles needed to know that in Christ, there was no difference between Samaritan believers and Jewish background believers.  The apostles complete the work of Philip and recognize the Samaritan believers as equal brothers and sisters in Christ, breaking down hundreds of years of hostility. 

In our Luke passage, Jesus wasn’t baptized in the Trinitarian formula, and yet Jesus was baptized with Holy Spirit.  We know from historical Jewish records that John would have said something very close to the following.  He would have prayed, “Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us in tevilah (immersion or dipping for ritual purification).”  And as Jesus was baptized, John might have said, ”May God, whom we call Mikveh Yisrael (the Purifier of Israel), be a source of hope and sustenance to you, now and always.”  John might have added, “As you enter the waters in peace, may you emerge as a source of peace to your family and to the Jewish people.”  And truly Jesus is the source of peace, not only to the Jewish people, but for all people. 

What John wouldn’t have said is “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  This is the way Jesus commanded us to baptize, and yet we still see that all members of the Trinity were present in Jesus’s baptism.  Jesus is obviously present.  The Holy Spirit appeared as a dove, and the Father’s voice was heard from heaven.  Note that the Holy Spirit rested on Jesus.  Jesus was empowered with the Holy Spirit to begin His public ministry.  Jesus received the power of the Holy Spirit at Baptism.  Jesus wasn’t baptized using the words of the Trinitarian formula, but this was a Trinitarian baptism.  Jesus lived continuously in the power of the Holy Spirit. He could say, “I do nothing of My own.  I only do what I see the Father doing.”  He could say, “I and My Father are One.” 

            In looking at the Greek text, the Acts passage doesn’t say, “The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive THE Holy Spirit” but just “that they might receive Holy Spirit,” implying not the person of the Holy Spirit, but the work of the Holy Spirit.  The evidence of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit were missing even though the presence of the Spirit is obvious by the faith of the believers.  What the apostle’s did in the laying on of hands was for their benefit and the benefit of the Samaritan believers to recognize who had the gifts of the Spirit needed for leadership in the church and to do the work of ministry.  It is God who gifts and equips.  It is God who ordains.  The laying on of hands makes manifest those things, just as it does today.  The presence of the apostles also demonstrated that there was no distinction in the Spirit between Samaritan and Jewish background believers.  It represented the unity in Christ. 

The Trinitarian formula is important for us today.  Baptism is directly linked to the coming of the Holy Spirit, but the order is not always the same.  In the case of Cornelius and his friends, they received the power of the HS first and were baptized with water afterwards.  True baptism is an invitation for the Holy Spirit to work in your life to the good of the church.  The Holy Spirit can work without baptism.  You do receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion.  Conversion and baptism were closely linked in the NT and still are often today.  Baptism invites the work of the spirit, not the person of the Spirit who works independently, and indeed the Holy Spirit is active in our lives well before we are aware.  For it is the Spirit Himself who enlightens our hearts to recognize Jesus Christ.  This is why we can baptize infants. 

Baptism is a seal of the Holy Spirit.  Think of a passport.  It has a seal that shows that one is a citizen of a particular country.  Baptism shows that we belong to God and God’s kingdom.  We are citizens of the kingdom of God.  We have a new nationality, if you will.  The role of the Father in baptism is to say as He did to Jesus, “This is My beloved child.  This one is mine!”

Jesus was baptized for us.  John’s baptism was the baptism to show repentance, but Jesus has nothing from which to repent.  This is why John said to Jesus, “You should be baptizing me!”    Reverend Edward Markquart points out that “Jesus was baptized not to get rid of his sins, but in order to carry our sins on the cross.  So it is with our baptism: when we are baptized, it is guaranteed that Christ carries all of our sins on the cross.”  He reminds that when the Father spoke from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased,” that God is specifically identifying Jesus for the people that Jesus is the Servant spoken of in the book of Isaiah.  For example, Isaiah 42:1—“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One in whom My soul delights.”  And from the great Servant Song of Isaiah 53:10-12:

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes[a] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life[b] and be satisfied[c];
by his knowledge[d] my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[e]
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[f]
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors. 

 

The Servant is the Sin-bearer. 

 

John the Baptist said Jesus was the One who would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  Jesus is the One who baptizes.  The Holy Spirit is with every believer and desires to work through every believer.  Because the Holy Spirit is with us, we have immediate access to the power of the Spirit, to the comfort of the Spirit, to the wisdom of the Spirit.  But the Spirit must be invited to work in and through our lives.  As long as we want to be the ones in control, the Holy Spirit takes a back seat.  That’s why we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  It is why these believers in Acts were taught about and filled with the Spirit. 

You’ve heard how we have a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts.  Blaise Pascal originated this phrase except his original word was abyss.  We have an abyss, an infinite void in our finite bodies that cannot be filled with finite things.  It can only be filled by an infinite God.  The Holy Spirit fills our void. 

We can ask the Holy Spirit, “Do what you want to do with me just as you did with Jesus and with these believers in Acts.  Empower me.  Guide me as You did Jesus.”  We can live in the same Spirit power as Jesus did and as these believers in Acts did.

Keep on Watching!; Luke 21:29-38, Matthew 6:25-34

 

Friends, Christmas is coming!  Tonight we celebrate that God stepped into the world in human form as a little baby many years ago.  If we believe that is true, we know what God can do.  Surely, the One who came insisted He would be returning one day.  We must believe the truth of the return of Christ as much as we believe that He came the first time.  Advent is a season of expectation.  We have been waiting to celebrate Christmas, but even more we have been waiting for the return of Jesus.  Advent is the season of expectation.  Yet as Advent ends and Christmas begins, we are called to live in a permanent state of expectation until Christ comes again, keeping watch. 

            Our passage finishes up what we hear of Jesus’s public teaching ministry.  From this point, Jesus is focused spending time with His disciples, especially getting ready for the Passover.  In this last little bit of Luke 21, Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree.  It’s simple, we know by watching deciduous fruit trees what season is coming.  When the leaves appear, we know summer is coming.  Note, it isn’t summer yet!  We still have spring to go through, but summer is still on its way.  Last week, we heard the signs of the times.  They show that Jesus might not be coming just yet, but He is still on the way.  I’m sure that there were some followers of Jesus who recognized that the temple was about to be destroyed, just like Jesus said it would be.  But that made many of them expect the return of Christ even more.  John was blessed to see the return of the Son of Man in a vision given to him when he was in exile on the Island of Patmos.  It is the book of Revelation.  We already know the ending of the story.  We know what is waiting for us.  Knowing the ending should cause us to have hopeful expectation that Jesus will return.  How many of you have been paying attention to the volcano in Iceland?  A month or so ago, they thought it was going to erupt very soon, so they started evacuating people.  There were a lot of earthquakes in increasing frequency.  Some lava did start to flow, but not towards the town.  Week before last, they thought the volcanic activity was starting to die down.  Earthquakes were lessening in frequency.  Then this week, volcanic activity increased again, and the lava is heading toward a power plant.  All the geologists knew the volcano would have a major eruption, but they didn’t know exactly when. They could read the signs and prepare the people.  The signs tell us that Jesus is coming, but we don’t know when.  We need to keep watching. But unlike a volcano erupting, which I actually find interesting and fascinating, but can be destructive and dangerous for people living near them, the return of Christ is a joyful event!

Jesus reassures us that even though heaven and earth will pass away, His words will not pass away.  His return is certain.  Jesus’s promise that “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” not only meant the judgment upon Jerusalem would come, or that John would see the return, but is also a promise that no matter how bad things get, no matter how even corrupt the visible Church gets, there will always be a faithful body of believers on the earth until Christ returns.  As we wait and endure the “signs of the times,” Jesus tells us to keep on watching, which is what the apostles did, not really knowing if Jesus would return in their lifetime or not.  We too must keep watch with expectation.  Jesus instructs us what watching looks like.  It is a very active state.  As the watchman on the wall stays awake looking for signs of potential trouble, looking out for travelers in need of shelter, allies coming to make a treaty, or dreaded enemies planning an attack, we are to keep watching.  The first thing Jesus tells us to guard is our own hearts.  We aren’t to get drunk.  There are two different Greek words for drunk.  The NIV uses carousing and drunkenness.  Whether alone or together, inebriation to the point of losing control of one’s faculties or abilities, even to the point of having a headache the next day, yes the Greek is that specific, is sinful.  We know that Jesus drank wine.  He’s going to soon be offering it to His disciples as a sign of His own blood.  But though He was accused of being a drunkard, He never imbibed to excess.  You can’t be in your right mind when you are drunk. One of the words is not even alcohol specific.  Any substance or thing which causes loss of self-control could fall under these words.  In our day, we know there are other addictions besides substance abuse.  We can be addicted to electronic devices or what we find on them.  But it’s not just about addiction.  There are people who get drunk who are not alcoholics.  There are people who get high who are not addicts.  We can spend too much time numbing our senses and being distracted so that we aren’t being watchful.

We are also to keep watch over our hearts in regard to not being weighed down by the worries of life.  For most of us, this is probably a lot more challenging than not getting drunk!  When we see the “signs of the times,” wars, persecution, natural disasters, it’s a challenge not to worry or be fearful, especially when we feel helpless.  How much harder when they actually affect us directly!  But we are even more prone to worry about the stuff that affects our daily life—our own or a family member’s illness or injury, whether or not we can meet our financial obligations.  But once again, we see Jesus harkening back to His early ministry—the Sermon on the Mount, those words we heard from Matthew 6.  We aren’t supposed to worry about what we will eat, what we drink, what we will wear, where we will live.  Keeping watch for Christ’s return by guarding our hearts against the worries of life could keep many of us busy until He comes, especially when we do it by seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness.  Practicing right living and working towards serving and growing the kingdom of God, we have plenty to do.  Our lack of fear and worry is also a witness to others.  We have a whole generation growing up in fear.  When you look at data about how many young people today are on antianxiety medications, it’s appalling.  There are people who have chosen not to have children because of “climate change.”  There will be climate change!  You can’t have the disruption of the heavens that Jesus has talked about without major climate change.  That doesn’t mean we panic about it.  Nor does it mean that we don’t do our part to steward the earth as was commanded to the human race at Creation.  But we don’t have to fall for climate panic.  The news media does everything it can to create fear over everything.  I still see people in a car by themselves wearing a mask.  The world is a scary place for a lot of people.  The temptation to join in the fear panic is strong.  But if you are not fearful and full of worry, you can be a non-anxious presence for another person.  You can share why you don’t have to be afraid all the time, because you know the end of the story, and it’s a happy, wonderful ending!  And in the meantime, you are not alone.  God is still with you. 

But Jesus gives us one more command to keep watch.  That is to pray, to pray for ourselves that we will have the strength to escape “all these things that are about to take place and stand before the Son of Man.”  How can we escape the “signs of the times” when Jesus said that we will have to endure them?  Well, some of this escape could be referring specifically to the destruction of Jerusalem.  But I think the command to pray remains for us in the midst of the signs in our times.  Certainly, we can literally pray for escape from these things, but know that God’s answer won’t always be a yes, though many times it will be.  Think of how many disasters from which God has spared us.  What if Florence had been a Category 4 like it was at one point!  We pray for escape that the coming of the Son of Man will be our time of redemption, not of judgement.  We pray of course for salvation, but Jesus uses praying here in the continuous sense.  Praying for escape means these things won’t cause us to lose our faith and our hope in Jesus.  We pray against despair.  We pray for strength.  We pray to escape temptation—temptation to give up and give in.  If we are in constant communication with God, we won’t be caught off guard. 

Remember that expectation implies not resignation—bad things are going to happen, life is hard and will be hard—no expectation implies excitement and joy!  We keep watch, not for signs, but for the Son of Man.  We keep watch for a person, a person we love and who loves us!  We keep watch for a Savior, just as the shepherds joyfully sought the Savior of the world in Bethlehem.  I heard a sermon this week where the pastor said, “There is a difference between watching for a train to arrive and watching for a person that you love to get off the train!” 

We are the watchmen on the wall.  We must first keep watch out and for ourselves.  We don’t want to be caught in God’s judgement, but we want to be ready to welcome our King.  Second, we keep watch for others.  We are called to warn and encourage people with the truth that the Lord is coming again with power and glory to judge all people.  Because we don’t know when, we must be ready at all times, which means that today is the day of salvation.  But salvation isn’t just for the future, it is for now, to know that God will be with you and will see you through whatever hardships come your way.  Remember that the return of Christ is good news!  It’s something we look forward to with anticipation.  It’s the signs that are the hard part, but when Jesus returns all hardships, all pain, all evil will be ended!  Everything will be perfect and good.  Maybe Jesus will return in 2024!  That would sure be wonderful, but may watching by living soberly, by not worrying but by seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness, and by praying keep us busy until He does come. 

Signs of the Times; Luke 21:5-28

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Don't Lose Heart; Luke 18:1-8

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Be Prepared; Luke 17:20-37, Rev. 19:17-21, I Thess. 5:1-11

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The Day of the Lord Part 2; Acts 17:22-31, I Thess. 4:16-17

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Let Justice & Righteousness Flow; Amos 5:18-27

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