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Dietrich
Bonhoeffer was right in saying that “we should listen with the ears of God that
we may speak the word of God.” It is
also right to say that in order to live the Word spoken we must face that
internal struggle. It is imperative that
we seek with willingness, intentionality and sincere accountability inward
transformation from the Old self to the New. Jesus ordination through his
baptism by John not only begins his three year ministry but begins his example
to us all of what it means to live into the New nature reality of a lifestyle
of GRACE.
In my
text study Saturday morning, there were two Words to wonder about spiritually
in relation to where we are as disciples of Christ: Indicative and imperative. What does indicative mean in relation to the
character of God and our commissioning into the priesthood of all believers? The indicative is merely a matter of
information. It informs us of something
accomplished, a fact that has already been declared about you. The imperative
however is a command, a direction given through a new law—one constructed by
God to respond to.
Just
this past Thursday in another group study, we were looking at the idea of
Worship as repentance which the book by the same title talks and critiques in
depth our wandering away from both the process of sanctification spiritually
and the imperative to preach and teach the Gospel. At the font, we turn our eyes towards the
pastor and share in a corporate confession—in addressing the “why” of worship
it was to remind our hearts’ internal journey of the process of confession,
reflection, repentance and renewal. Over
the years the Law was softened as that mirror we need to see ourselves in
before the Glory of the Gospel transforms us with spiritual formation GRACE.
Before
this begins to dive off course into merely being a commentary on where we are
jointly as the corporate church… We need
to return to talk about the other sanctuary—the one that is mobile: our hearts
or the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit to work upon us and through us! With Jesus
we see Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled: “9See, the former things have come to pass, and new things
I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”
Well, what has God been telling us for the last 2,000 something
years? St. Paul’s letter today begins on a similar note addressing our
discipleship imperative: “6What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that
grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in
it? 3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we have
been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of
life.”
Baptism is a rite of transformation including with it
accountability—an imperative to be obedient in humility to the Will of God—to
cast Satan and the Old Nature aside for the path of true righteousness—The
lifestyle of GRACE: Kingdom of God. It
never ceases to amaze me of how much we advance in all areas EXCEPT the
lifestyle imperative of GRACE. We are in
a graceless wilderness where sin is the new presence and ruler of our lives’
motivation and God becomes irrelevant to the world of the self.
The other lectionary dodges the imperative aspect, Law and
Gospel bullet by focusing us on Peter’s journey to reconciling himself to
minister to the Gentiles. It merely
begins to indicate his struggle with coming to understand Cornelius’ conversion
and the ramifications of how he needs to grow as a disciple/ servant of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.(Acts 10:39b-43 ): “They put him to death by hanging him
on a tree; 40but God raised him
on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41not to all the
people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank
with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to
preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge
of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets
testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of
sins through his name.”
By telling the story we are to grow into continuing the
story—this is the truth of the cost of discipleship BUT how is this made an
imperative—heard internally/ battled with internally in the heart? Luther says
in one of his lectures on Romans chapter six: “But now that you have been set
free from sin and have become slaves, through the righteousness of faith, of
God, the return you get, that is the merits and joy of a good conscience, is
sanctification, that is through purity and chastity of body and soul, and its
end, reward, eternal life. For the
wages, the rewards which are the final end, of sin is death; the end of those
things is death, but the free gift, the present , of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord, that is, the grace which is in us in Christ personally
and through faith in him as we participate in it and receive it through
imputation.”
Imputation theologically means reckoned to a person—attributed.
Participating in it is living into the imperative given in our Baptismal
discernment to become active disciples for Christ. It goes way beyond a “Sunday morning” affair,
it goes way beyond membership… As Peter says: “34b… “I truly
understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation
anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” We are to internalize the “Why” of all we do
together and on our own to realize our initiative which is to transform into
the New Life given to us through Christ Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the
devil—GRACE.
GRACE is more than a name we have given to understand the Truth
of the Gospel. The very first cursillo,
I made the year of my conversion experience taught me the imperative of
spiritual formation into the kind of disciple Christ Jesus wants me to be. Pastor Kathy’s talk about how Grace is like
the dust in the air all around you, upon everything you come across, in your
path is that motivation to realize your baptismal calling…
In today’s Gospel we are witness to Jesus’ Baptism or ordination
into his ministry which was to redeem the world. “13Then Jesus came
from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14John would have
prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to
me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for
us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16And when Jesus had
been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were
opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting
on him.17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with
whom I am well pleased.”
Perhaps
as a people of GRACE, we need to return to deeply listening for the Voice of
God to challenge us to persevere? We
need to embody that Voice like prayer, as prayer as a New initiative—imperative
from God to LIVE.
The
Prophet Isaiah’s Voice of leadership: (Prophets Now!) “As His beloved servants,
you are objects of His Joy and delight.
The paths you travel will not be smooth; there will be enemies to face
and failures to contend with. The people
you are to serve. You have been endued
with the Spirit of God. Thus with conviction and courage you can speak of God’s
infinite love, and you can demonstrate such love in your struggles to bring
light to those in darkness, freedom to the oppressed, sustenance to the
deprived, and dignity, opportunity and justice for all of God’s creatures in
your generation.”
Our
daily Baptismal confession: (Epistles Now!) “We are now even as sinners, the
sons and daughters of righteousness. We
have, in effect, been crucified with Christ and raised with Him from the dead. We are new people, focused upon new goals,
compelled by new ambitions, committed to new objectives. This means that we cease yielding to
self-interest and self-concern. We have now been reborn. All things have become new. Whereas we were once slaves to self-concern,
we are now set free from its destructive bondage to be followers of Jesus
Christ. While we celebrate our
redemption, even while we fail at times to reflect and communicate the loving
Grace of God, this is the stand we take and this is the goal we pursue. Service to God, and to our fellow person for
God’s sake and by His Grace, fills life with joy and meaning and purpose.”
Our
absolution: We do have one faith, one
Lord and one Baptism, each of us… Now
what are you intending to do with it?
AMEN
January 12th, 2014;
Baptism of Our Lord; 1st Sunday after Epiphany; Year A; SOLA
Lectionary
Psalm 29; Isaiah 42:1-9; Romans
6:1-11; Matthew 3:13-17 RCL: Acts 10:34-43
Nicole Collins
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