Tag: epiphany

A Real Glimpse of God’s Glory

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(2 Corinthians 4:3-6)

Nobody likes a fake. Especially when you paid a lot of money for it. The Saudi Crown Prince had da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” proudly displayed, hanging in his personal yacht – or so he assumed. Imagine how he must have felt then, having paid $450 million for the work of art, only to find out it was a fake. Art professionals determined it wasn’t actually an original, but rather a copy. Nobody likes a fake.

Fake art is one thing; fake people are another. When we refer to someone as a fake, we are not paying that person a compliment. What we’re saying is that they may present themselves one way, but it isn’t an accurate representation of who they really are. They are pretending, like an actor so immersed in the character he’s playing that he refuses to ever depart from the role.

If people didn’t know who Jesus was, it wasn’t because he was a fake. Jesus wasn’t pretending to be something he was not. No, any groups or individuals who had an issue with trying to figure out who Jesus was struggled because of their own preconceived notions or opinions about who he was or who they thought he should be. Jesus didn’t hide who he was. Nonetheless, even though he wasn’t hiding who he was, he did still need to reveal himself.

That’s what the season of Epiphany in the church year is all about: revealing who Jesus is. At Jesus’ baptism the voice of his Father’s approval was revealed. At a wedding in Cana his divine power over nature at even a molecular level was revealed when he changed simple H2O into the finest wine. Through his words and actions, his teaching and preaching, at a pace which allowed the Holy Spirit to work in the minds and hearts of the slow-to-believe, Jesus was revealing who he was over the course of his ministry. As his time on earth drew to a close, he knew the view that awaited his disciples and onlookers on Good Friday. So he gathered on a mountain with just three of his disciples and made his most spectacular revelation yet. 

That event – the Transfiguration – could have been what Paul had in mind in verse six. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” Where else was God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ as it was at the Transfiguration, where the Gospels describe him as emanating a light brighter than any natural light they had ever witnessed? “There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light” (Mt. 17:2).

Jesus’ face shifted supernaturally right before the disciples’ eyes, and the glorious light beaming from it was more than the human eye could handle. If you’ve ever had the chance to watch a solar eclipse and tried to view even the slightest bit of it without the recommended eye protection or other protective measures, you learned the hard way how unwise that is. Staring into the sun is a sure-fire way to go blind! 

But seeing that light in the face of Christ was so very important for the disciples, for in a short matter of time, it would appear that that light would be snuffed out. They would descend from that glorious experience to the foot of the mountain, where the final walk of Jesus would end in Jerusalem. There he would endure a week of enemies plotting to extinguish that light. Finally, as the last breath of life escaped from Jesus’ lips on the cross, surely it looked as if the light of Jesus’ life had given way to darkness, that death had won yet again, continuing its 100% success rate. 

For death had always won up to that point, with the exception of two miraculous occasions by which God chose to circumvent death and usher his own directly to heaven without experiencing it (Enoch and Elijah). Otherwise, death darkened the light of life in everyone who was ever born. No one has ever been able to manufacture a method of keeping that light of life burning forever. Nor will they.

So Jesus revealed who he was, pulling back the veil briefly for his inner circle of disciples to witness. And in the face of Christ the disciples could truly see a taste of what God was all about. God and his glory were and are inextricably linked to the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all.

While God did in fact reveal his glory in the Old Testament, we notice that God’s glory in those cases was terrifying. Why should his glory be terrifying in those cases? Because God’s holiness was so clearly and profoundly on display, not only through the giving of the law, but in the show of holiness that was powerfully manifested both audibly and visually. That glory was terrifying! Yes, his righteousness, his perfection, his holiness rightly cause sinners to crumble in his presence. But it was only one side of the coin of God’s glory.

Christ, however, completes the picture of that glory. Christ not only embodied the righteousness, the perfection, and the holiness in his flesh and flawless life, but also the grace, the compassion, and the mercy of God, which are also very much included in the full picture of his glory. We could not know that forgiving grace apart from knowing Christ, and God’s glory would remain only a terrifying thing. But in the face of Christ, God’s glory is made complete. That makes perfect sense, because in Christ we see what God looks like. That is the big reveal: Christ shows us the face of God. 

Yes, in Jesus, we see what God looks like. Paul states it plainly in verse four: “Christ… is the image of God.” You know how frustrating it can be when someone tries to describe what a person looks like. They describe the color of their hair, maybe the cut. They might describe any pronounced features. Perhaps they’ll try to compare the person to a celebrity or an athlete who may have a similar look.  At any rate, no matter how detailed their description may be, there’s a better way.

That’s why we ask if they have a picture. A picture shows us what the person looks like. Whereas a description gives us a fuzzy likeness, a picture sharpens the detail and fills in the blank. When we see a picture, an image of the person, we know what they look like.

To see Christ is to see God. Christ is the image of God. Christ is what God looks like. 

And the image of glory is maximized when we see the Christ on the cross. There the glory of God’s holiness is plain to see as the wrath against lawbreakers and the unholy is poured out. There also the glory of God’s forgiveness is plain to see in how God’s grace put his Son in my place to endure it. It’s not me on the cross, but the Holy One! It’s not his sin being paid for but mine. It’s not his sin needing forgiveness but mine! That is the greatest glory of God, and we see it more clearly because of the glory Jesus first revealed on the mountain.

What is tragic is that not all see this glory. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ” (v.4). It isn’t that God’s glory isn’t there, but some simply cannot see it. They have been blinded to it. The “god of this age,” Satan, is the one behind this work.

Why does Paul refer to him as the god of this age? He isn’t somehow putting him on a similar plane to the true God, but is rather underscoring two things: 1) unlike the true God, Satan’s power is limited. Whatever power he has will come to and end when Jesus comes again. Unlike the true God, his power is not eternal. 2) the title simply reflects that he dwells in the heart of all of those who don’t belong to the true God. No, they may not outwardly worship the devil, of course (most don’t!), but to reject the true God is to belong to the one who opposes him, the one who calls truth lies and lies truth. To not have the Triune God as one’s God is to have the devil rule in the heart in his place. 

But One who revealed his glory on the mountain still reveals it today. Though not through a brightly beaming face, his glory is nonetheless revealed powerfully through the gospel. What is the gospel other than pointing to Jesus and his saving work? Paul wrote, “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (v.5). The god of this age delights in keeping the attention on self and selling the lie that we are in control and calling the shots in our lives. But Paul and his companions preach a different message – as do we today.

Jesus Christ is Lord. The One who paid the precious price of himself wants not only to be our Savior, but our Lord, the One who calls the shots in our lives because he alone knows the absolute best paths of blessing for our lives. The One who bought and paid for us to be his own longs to guide and direct his own in paths of righteousness and fulfillment. 

And he isn’t asking to be the equivalent of a business partner, going 50/50 in overseeing our lives; he longs to be the Lord, the authority, the ruler in our hearts and lives. And this is no outrageous demand that causes us to bristle or stubbornly dig in our heals in defiance, but one that we crave, a relationship arrangement that we are obliged to submit to, for we know he has our best interests in mind more than we ever could. When the Lord of love is the Lord of your life, blessings in Jesus reach new heights.

That allows us to humble ourselves to new lows, to truly see ourselves as Paul did, as “your servants for Jesus’ sake” (v.5). When Jesus is my Lord, overseeing my life better than I ever could, I am free from the stress and strife of thinking I can somehow manage my life better than he can, and that freedom then allows me to be your servant for his sake, and you to be your neighbor’s servant for Jesus’ sake. 

If the veil is ever going to be lifted, if those blinded by the god of this age are every going to see, it’s going to be through you and me. The glorious Jesus reveals himself to his disciples, as he did on the mountain, not only so that we can see his glory ourselves, but also to awaken in us a burning desire to serve others in ways that might allow us to point them to Jesus through his gospel.

In that way the veil can be lifted. The blind can see. And what shall they see? Not a fake. Not a pretender. No, they shall see the most glorious sight imaginable: their very real loving Lord and Savior, Jesus.

It Begins with Baptism

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(Romans 6:1-11)

Every amazing contribution that mankind has had throughout history has at least one thing in common: a beginning. Anything meaningful and significant happened because someone started. The first step was taken. The rough draft was drawn up. The initial trial run took place. While the first attempt is rarely the final attempt, since polishing and trial and error are typically required to fine-tune things, none of that happens without a start, without a beginning. Countless good thoughts or ideas never amounted to anything because without taking a first step or beginning, those thoughts and ideas remained just that – thoughts and ideas. Beginnings are hugely important. 

Beginnings are also undoubtedly on our minds at this start of the new year. There is a 100% chance that every one of us will experience new beginnings this year. Some of them will be by choice; others will not. The start of high school or college will mark a new beginning. A new beginning may be in store regarding a job or relationship.

But 2024 may also bring the beginning of a new treatment plan or surgery. For those having lost loved ones, this year will include new responsibilities that used to be carried out either by or with that loved one. Beginnings, both the ones we choose as well as those we don’t, can serve as major turning points in our lives. 

The start of Jesus’ public ministry was one such turning point. As he carried out his work as preacher and teacher of the Word and Savior of the world, how did it all begin? With his baptism. 

During the season of Epiphany, we celebrate that the child born in Bethlehem was born to serve as the Savior not just of one nation or race, but of all people everywhere. And the start of Jesus’ saving work of everyone everywhere began at his baptism. In the days of the early Christian church, in one of his sermons that he preached in the house of a Gentile named Cornelius, Peter highlighted the importance of Jesus’ baptism when he said, “You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:37-38).

Jesus’ baptism was the beginning. It marked him as loved and chosen by the Father. It anointed him with the Holy Spirit, arming him with the power necessary to take the battle to the devil, healing the hurting and freeing those under his control. It was a milestone in his perfect life of obedience, not because he needed to be baptized for the forgiveness of his own sins, but to give power to our baptism for the washing away of our sins.

Baptism didn’t just mark the beginning of Jesus’ ministry; it also marked the beginning of his work in many of our lives as well. Baptism marked us as loved and chosen by the Father. Baptism anointed us with the Holy Spirit, arming us with the power necessary to continue taking the battle to the devil. Baptism was a milestone, a turning point in our lives, because through it God applied Christ’s perfect life of obedience and washed away our sins.

When others limit baptism’s significance to only being reflective of our devotion or commitment to God, they bottle up baptism and the full measure of its power. Baptism is so much more than our effort at grabbing God’s attention so he takes note of our intended allegiance to him! Rather, it is God grabbing us and claiming us as his own to demonstrate how devoted he is to us and to our salvation. Can you think of a better way to begin?!?

There is something we’re drawn to about beginnings. They hold out promise. Beginnings make us optimistic. We get excited about possibilities. Think of the beginning words of a new book or opening scenes of a movie that instantly grab you. Think of that great first day of work or school that far exceeded what you had expected. We love beginnings.

But as important as they are, beginnings are also just that: beginnings. While a beginning can offer unlimited possibilities and potential, what happens after the beginning is going to determine the finish. The statistics of failed new year resolutions serve as a proof that what happens after the new beginning matters very much! Many a sports team has started strong at the beginning only to fall apart after that. Many businesses get off to a flying start at the beginning but still end up bankrupt and broke. What happens after the beginning matters, too!

So, Christian, how has it been going in your life since your beginning, since your baptism? What happens after the beginning matters, too! Like the doting grandparents commenting on how big their grandchildren have grown, would God say the same about you, spiritually speaking? Would he look at how far you’ve come since your baptism and say, “My, how you’ve grown!”?

Are the fruits of the Spirit more abundant in your life, or would you have trouble even being able to list one of the fruits? Are you more likely to invite a friend to church because you’re so excited for them to experience what you have in Jesus? Or, do you tend to be the one explaining to others that a person doesn’t have to go to church to be a Christian? Do you find yourself proud of how consistently you give an offering but quickly overlook that your giving hasn’t increased in years? Do you view needy people as an obstacle or an opportunity? Is your prayer life as active as your social media accounts or is it more like 9-1-1, reserved only for emergencies? Do you have a devotional life? Is it daily? Is it driven by duty or delight? Are you more forgiving? More loving? More discerning? More humble? 

Which one struck a chord? If you need help, it may have been the thing I wrote that caused you to think, “there he goes with that again.”

When we take the time to assess our spiritual growth – which is itself an indicator of growth, as so many don’t ever even bother to do that! – not only do we see areas where little to no growth has occurred, but we also see troubling trends of digression. Instead of making progress, we digress!

Forgive us, Lord, for our lack of attention to the most important matter of our spiritual growth! Don’t treat us with the same indifference that we treat our sanctification! Don’t hold against us that we have made so little of our Christian living that started out with such promise at our baptism! Don’t give us the wretched end we deserve for taking for granted the beginning you graciously worked in us!

And here is what makes baptism so profound and powerful: it isn’t just the beginning; it is everything after as well!

How can this be? Because by your baptism you are handcuffed to Christ. What was his is yours. When he died, was buried, and rose, via your baptism, you died, were buried, and rose. Paul put it this way: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4). New life! New beginning! Newness in Christ each and every day – all of which began at our baptism. 

Again, how can this be? Paul explains, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (v.6-7). The old sinner in you was nailed to the cross with Christ. So if that sin has been paid for, then you are no longer a slave to it. If you have already died – which you have, with Christ – then you have been set free from sin.

Now let us make sure we understand the full extent of this freedom that our baptism offers. Baptism isn’t just freedom from the condemnation of sin; it is also freedom from the control of sin! That accuser Satan cannot charge you with sin that has already been paid for and forgiven. By that same token, sin that has already been paid for and forgiven has no power or control over you, either! You are free to choose a different path, the path of righteousness.

At your baptism, the Holy Spirit didn’t just zap you with some spiritual superpower; he completely changed who you are. See in these verses that Paul is revealing how powerful baptism is – it doesn’t just give you the power or ability for good in your life, but also entirely changed your status. You were a slave to sin with a reservation in hell. Now, though, you are free and to you belongs a reservation in heaven, where Jesus still lives in service to God. 

You know the Wanted posters from the wild west. They showed a picture of of an at-large criminal with the promise of a reward if the criminal was turned in – whether dead or alive. One or the other – it didn’t matter, so long as the criminal was no longer a risk. 

In baptism, we aren’t dead or alive, but rather dead and alive. “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (v.11). You were baptized, but that was just the beginning. Because of it, you are now very much alive to God in Christ Jesus. This year, perhaps more than any other, let’s begin to live like we’re alive in Christ – because by virtue of your baptism, you are!

Jesus Appears As the Lamb of God

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(John 1:29-41)

We care quite a bit about our appearances in a number of different ways. Some care about how they look physically. They eat well and work out because body fitness and physique matter to them. Fashion and style matter more to others as far as appearance is concerned. They stay on top of who is wearing what and what’s in style and what’s not. But even those less concerned with how they look physically still care about how they appear to others. Social media also provides a platform that allows people to portray themselves as they want to appear to others. It doesn’t take very long to swipe through a person’s account to be able to determine how they want to appear – “car guy,” “dog lover,” or “sports nut” are just a few examples of appearances we see.

But we also know that how a person appears may not actually line up with who they are. Christians are not immune to this. In fact, it can be an extremely damaging thing to Christianity’s reputation. When Christians are more concerned with how they appear to others than who they actually are, there can even be eternal consequences. When the churchgoer mask or makeup comes off at home and who we are around other Christians ends up being a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde difference at home, that’s a significant spiritual matter. 

Yet if there is one individual for whom it is essential that reality matches appearance, it is the Savior. It is Jesus. It would not matter how Jesus would appear if he had not ended up being who he appeared to be. And that’s why this season of Epiphany is so important. At Christmas, the Savior appears, and during Epiphany, he is revealed to be the Savior that he appeared to be. The account recorded for us in John 1 reveals Jesus appearing as the Lamb of God.

John the Baptist pointed it out on back-to-back days: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (v.29).  With this one sentence, John was making a monumental revelation about who Jesus was. To appreciate the significance of a lamb, consider every thought and feeling that immediately fills your mind whenever you see the image of a cross worn or displayed. There is so much meaning packed into just that one symbol that for us summarizes the basis of our relationship with God.

Now imagine the lamb carrying that same significance for Jewish people in John the Baptist’s day. Instead of a cross, people would have worn necklaces with lambs on them. A lamb would have been the picture on the T-shirt of believers. The lamb was the centerpiece of what we’d call their church services. The lamb represented sacrifice for sins that was absolutely essential for fallen man to have a relationship with a holy God. John, pointing to Jesus, revealed that he was that lamb, that sacrifice, that means to a relationship with God.

To make that matter even more certain, John emphasizes that he is “of God.” John hadn’t hatched some hair-brained idea to fleece his followers and deceive them into thinking Jesus was something that he wasn’t. This Lamb was “of God.” Jesus wasn’t some charismatic cult leader who paid John to promote him and start his own movement. This Lamb was “of God.” Sometimes believers describe an experience or event in their lives that was above and beyond chance or coincidence as being “a God thing.” They are demonstrating that things tend to carry more weight when God divinely intervenes. John was emphasizing the clout Jesus carried by describing him as the Lamb “of God.”

Finally, in John’s power-packed proclamation, he highlighted that this Lamb, Jesus, would do what no lamb before him ever could: take away the sin of the world. Of all the daily lambs sacrificed by the priests throughout Israel’s history, of all the lambs served up in the Passover meals of countless Jewish families for generations and generations, not a single one of them, nor the whole vast quantity of all of them taken together, could take away so much as the smallest sin. They could only symbolize. They could only foreshadow. They could only point ahead to the perfect Lamb who would be revealed. And on this day, with this simple statement, John declared the fulfillment of all of it. The Lamb appeared, the only Lamb who could take away the sin of the world – all sin of all people of all time. 

Notice what John did next. After making a profound theological statement, proclaiming the good news of the gospel for others to hear, he shared his own personal experience. He gave a testimony of why this all mattered so much to him. “Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One’” (v.32-34). 

John had just shared the most powerful message that any ear can ever hear – the good news of the gospel that Jesus, the Lamb of God, Jesus, the Savior, takes away the sin of the world. That message and that message alone is what brings life from death, light from darkness, faith from unbelief. We cannot in any way improve or upgrade that message!

But, we can personally validate its significance and impact in our own personal lives for others to see. In our skeptical, truth-seeking, fact-checking world today, your personal experience is starting to carry more clout.

We have been in the progress of moving beyond the foolishness of postmodernism’s “everyone’s truth is valid” as a license to provide permission for anyone to live and do as they see fit. We’re recognizing the collateral damage that has come with believing the lie that associated permissiveness with personal happiness. That deceptive connection between the two continues to become unstuck like a house held together with scotch tape. People pursuing “their own truth” continue to arrive at a dead end. The result is an increasing openness on the part of people to pay more attention to the truth of others. So when your truth, your testimony, matches and verifies the powerful message of the gospel, there is potential for great kingdom impact. Look at what happened after John shared his testimony!

“When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ)” (v.38, 40-41). Note the two things that happened: they followed Jesus and they invited others to do the same. John proclaimed the good news and shared his testimony and it resulted in people following Jesus. Then, those people who followed Jesus invited others to do the same. 

Do you see the kingdom building going on and how it was taking place? It happened exponentially, like compound interest. As some of John the Baptist’s listeners heard the good news, that good news took root and faith sprouted. Then, as that faith sprouted, it spread to others. Followers of Jesus were implementing a key quality of disciples of Jesus: disciples disciple. When we were called to faith in Jesus, we weren’t called to perform a solo act; sorry to say it, but he didn’t want just you. But not sorry to say it, because he doesn’t just want you, he wants others to join in the party!

We were called to be disciples who make disciples who make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Get it? The process doesn’t end. God’s design for your discipleship was not that it would stop with you, but would continue through you. That is to say, if there there is no element in your life of discipling others, then you are missing out on a notable chunk of what your own discipleship truly involves. And that doesn’t just affect you; it affects others who are missing out on Jesus because you have too narrow a view of your own discipleship. Yours is a tunnel vision discipleship if you mistakenly think that your discipleship is only about you.

Does all of this terrify you? Does it make you feel inadequate? Does it make you feel guilty for making so much of your discipleship about yourself and not making disciples? Good, then you’re where you need to be, right back at square one, which is realizing how important the primary calling of a disciple is: to follow Jesus.

The whole process of discipleship and making disciples hinges on John’s seismic proclamation that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That includes your sin, your guilt, your inadequacies, your shortcomings – all of it. Jesus appeared as the Lamb of God to take all of that away and in its place provide you with everything you would need to point others to him in some way or another. But you will have neither the interest nor the ability to disciple others if you yourself aren’t closely following the Lamb of God as his dearly loved disciple.

Have you ever been on a group hike and found yourself somewhere in the middle of the pack? In that spot, two things are going on. One, you are making sure the hiker in front of you doesn’t get so far ahead of you that you can no longer see him. If he does, you might end up losing the trail. Not only that, though, you also risk leading astray those who are following behind you. See how it all starts with making sure you are closely following the person in front of you?

So it is with Jesus. The closer we are to him, the less risk that we will be lost, and the closer we are to him, the better position we are in to lead those following us. That is how discipleship works. 

That is how it has worked ever since that first day John pointed others to the Lamb of God. His disciples made other disciples who made other disciples all the way down the line like links in a continuous chain until you became a disciple. Now you get to continue that same process of discipling, and you get to do it the same way John did: let others know that the Lamb of God who has appeared is their Lamb of God who takes away their sin of the world. And he longs for them to follow him and make disciples, too.

Anointing Uncovered

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(Luke 3:15–17, 21-22)

Plot twists. Remodels. Voting results. Learning in general. There are things in life that have to be revealed to us – things that we either do not have the authority, the ability, or the necessary information to figure out. Such things need to be made known to us. They need to be revealed and/or explained to us.

As we shift in this new year from the church season of Christmas to the season we call “Epiphany,” we are entering a season in which the entire focus is on something that needs to be revealed. That is actually what the word epiphany means in the first place: “to make known” or “to reveal.” So over the course of these weeks of Epiphany, just what needs to be made known or revealed? This simple, yet essential truth: Jesus Christ, the very One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is the Savior of all people. 

In this series then, Uncovered, we follow Jesus at the outset of his ministry, stopping at key events through which he reveals – uncovers – for us truths about God that we simply cannot discover on our own. For unless Jesus had revealed these truths to us and God had recorded them in the Bible, we would remain in the dark, closed off and clueless to the realities of a gracious God who both laid out and carried out every minute detail necessary for our salvation. 

We need only look at the history of man’s contrived religious efforts to see failure after failure at achieving any closeness or relationship with God on our own. Mankind is driven toward the divine, for it is imprinted in us by God himself that he exists. But apart from what must be revealed to us about him, man will only succeed in drawing up a woefully inadequate version of God. Man’s best effort at identifying God on his own will be a far cry from the faithful Triune God who delights in revealing himself as the Lord who saves. 

This morning, God uncovers for us something that at the time was quite unexpected: Jesus, not John the Baptist as some had surmised, was in fact the Chosen One, the One anointed by God to carry out our salvation. There was obviously enough about John that led people to the conclusion that in him God was finally making good on his promise to send a Savior. “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah” (v.15). John, the desert-dwelling hermit, was different, and not just in terms of his diet and dress. His preaching was powerful and the number of his followers was trending upward. 

But as John explained, he was not the One; rather, he came to ready the world for the Anointed One. As God has made clear time and again, he doesn’t look at the things man looks at. John clarified it this way: “John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (v.16-17). John was not the One, but rather came to prepare people to receive the One. He came to pull back the curtains and uncover the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. 

This needed to happen, for Jesus had not been on anyone’s radar. Of course, his birth had been a big deal, as we were just reminded in so many ways during the season of Christmas. Since then, though, there had not been much about Jesus’ life that was all that noteworthy, as God didn’t see fit to record any of it for us until this point in Jesus’ life. Aside from Jesus staying behind as a twelve-year-old in the Temple, we know nothing of Jesus’ life until the Gospel writers pick up his life with the event recorded for us this morning, Jesus’ baptism. Prior to this, not much had been revealed about Jesus; he was largely unknown.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It could still be said today that Jesus is largely unknown. Sure, people know the name, Jesus, but that isn’t the same as knowing Jesus, is it? A recent interview with Elon Musk revealed that he agreed with the teachings of Jesus. While being familiar with the teachings of Jesus may put him in a different class than those who know nothing other than his name, isn’t that still quite a different thing from knowing why Jesus came and actually believing it? Still today then, how many “know” the name Jesus, but remain in the dark about the salvation he came to bring? 

But God’s people don’t gather together on Sunday morning to focus primarily on what the unbelieving world knows or doesn’t know of Jesus. No, our time is better spent reflecting on how much of Jesus has been revealed to us. How much still needs to be uncovered for us? How much still needs to be made known to us? 

If we can get straight to the point, if our Christian faith was compared to an end-of-the-year performance review at work, many of us would be fired! We show up at work (church) once in a while. We’ve learned nothing new in our field, acquired no new skills, and concern ourselves only with the bare minimum – just enough to pull in a paycheck. Some of Jesus has been revealed to us – the veil has been lifted ever-so-slightly, but we have never bothered to uncover more of Jesus in our lives. WE know him only slightly better than the unbeliever! 

So Jesus needs to be uncovered for us as much as ever! We know him so little! We are far too satisfied with far too simple an understanding of the One who gave himself up for us to that we might have a future, an eternity. Meanwhile, the devil runs about in the world today, trying to cover up any light with darkness, always seeking to snuff it out so that we are not drawn to it. He would keep us in a dimly lit room, unable to see and experience the full light of our salvation. 

And we are a willing party to it. We sample the light, but it bores us. We find so much more fun in the dark. We want to celebrate what the world celebrates, to think as the world does, to elevate what it does, praise what it does, and pursue what it does. The dark, after all, is so much easier on the eyes, isn’t it? The glaring light of salvation not only hurts our eyes, but it also exposes those things about ourselves which we’d prefer to keep hidden in the dark! 

See how desperately we need his light to shine into our lives, to see him for who he is! It was so in his day, too – it was necessary that the world come to know who he was. And the Father made it so at his baptism, leaving no question about who the Messiah was. It was not John the Baptist, but Jesus. The Father made it known in a spectacular scene. “And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (v.21-22). 

Think of all the effort an individual or a business has to go to today to get noticed: ads, social media campaigns, word of mouth, etc., and still it may not bear any fruit! The Father left nothing up to chance, splitting open the heavens so the Holy Spirit could make a visible entrance in the form of a dove, and doing his own voiceover in one of the most iconic scenes ever witnessed in history. 

Do not let Satan keep this significant event hidden in the darkness of so many other meaningless historical events. This one matters! This is God making it official: the Messiah was on the scene. The Savior had been revealed! 

This was so much more than the high school Senior making a big deal on signing day by revealing the college he’ll play for. This is so much more than the teaser trailer revealing an upcoming flick. This is bigger than the tech giants revealing the game-changing new device or next model. This is God uncovering for the entire world to see: Sin wouldn’t win! Satan would be smacked down in defeat! Eternal death’s suffocating grip would be loosened forever! The Savior was ready to be set apart for his saving work and to get his elbows dirty working out our salvation for us!

And so he was baptized. And friends, this was not just a meaningless dunk in the Jordan River. This was not just an empty ritual required of him. This was not merely an act of obedience to be imitated. No, this was his anointing! This was the equivalent of the Old Testament prophets and kings having oil poured out over their heads to mark them as designated by God himself! This was the Father saying, “Look not to John the baptist for your salvation. Look not to the nation of Israel for your salvation. Look to Jesus, my Son, the Promised One – he alone saves!”

What did the Father say of his Son? “With you I am well pleased.” The Father is pleased with the Son! And what does the Scripture call you again and again? Children of God through faith in this very Jesus. Daughters! Sons! The Father is pleased with his Son – he is pleased with you. He delights in you. He wants forever with you, and the Son is the proof, for he came to make it so. And the One set apart for that work carried it out all the way up until his “It is finished!” from Calvary. It is done.

His work is done. Yours is not. Pull the veil back further this year on your relationship with Jesus. Uncover more of him. Know him better. The Holy Spirit is not content merely to have shown up in a remarkable scene at Jesus’ birth and then exit stage right. He wants to continue to reveal more to you about your Savior. He wants to uncover the blessings that you have allowed to remain hidden from you for far too long. Why not this year? Why can’t this year be the year you come to know Jesus better than ever before? Why can’t you allow the Holy Spirit to uncover more and more and more for you about Jesus? He stands by. He waits. Let him uncover more of what the Father revealed at Jesus’ baptism – your Savior has come, and he can be the best thing that ever happens to you this year.

Revealed to Be Made Known (Sermon)

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Though some may frown on the practice of re-gifting, there is an appropriate place for it. When it comes to God’s gift of grace, each of us can say along with Paul, “God has given it to me, for you.” Grace in Christ Jesus is for everyone, and it was revealed to us in part so that we can then make it known to others. So then, grace is meant to be re-gifted. 

Listen to the sermon audio here.

“Revealed to Be Made Known” (Ephesians 3:2-12 sermon), was preached at Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS) on Sunday, January 5, 2020.