Jesus Ministry Begins The Story: Jesus 101 Some people called Michael Jordan scary good. He was able to do so many incredible things with the basketball that it is almost beyond imagination. Behind the back passes, 40 foot jump shots and, of course, his reverse hand lay ups going to the basket with his right hand and then switching mid-air to his left to avoid a defender and plunk in the bucket. Some people called him scary good. When we see professional athletes accomplish plays like Michael Jordan, we want to ask, Who is that guy? How can he do that? When Jesus walked on to the scene, people asked the same thing. How can He change water into wine? How does He have such wisdom? Why do the wind and waves obey Him? Some might said about Jesus what they say about Michael Jordan: He s scary good. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver of Narnia tell their children about Aslan, the lion, the Christfigure in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The children were leery of approaching the lion and they ask, Is he safe? Mr. Beaver replies: Safe? Don t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course, he isn t safe. But he s good. Jesus is good, scary good - but He s hardly safe. And that s what we re going to see in The Story this week. Jesus is Good John the Baptist Our lesson begins with that strange and unusual character, John the Baptist. A relative of Jesus 6 months Jesus senior, he s out in the desert where it s stark and barren and he s dressed to the hilt camel s skin and eating gourmet treats like locusts and wild honey. He eats bugs. Maybe a little weird from a Snap Shot Story perspective but in the Big Picture Story, John has a divine purpose. He is a prophet, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, or in the terms of the rock musical Godspell Prepare ye the way of the Lord. John is about to introduce us to God s solution for restoring the people he loves to Him. John is about to introduce us to Jesus. Baptism Jesus comes out into the wilderness and approaches where John is baptizing. Jesus asks to be baptized. John is taken aback, says no, that Jesus should be baptizing John. But Jesus says, Well, let s do it this way for now. And so John baptized Jesus. Now, let s pause for a moment. I want to tell you about one of the very few mistakes in your book, The Story. You know that most of The Story is simply a word for word translation of the Bible and that there would be no mistakes. God s Word is not a mistake.
But you also know that sometimes in The Story, were there are transitions the authors supplied which are not Scriptural, there can be a mistake. And that s what I want to point out here. Maybe you caught the footnote on page 322 where the authors define baptism as A symbolic act demonstrating that new believers have abandoned their former ways and have embarked on new life. According to the authors, baptism is something we do. It s a sign of our obedience. I have a problem with that definition because that s not what the Bible says baptism is. The Bible says that Baptism is a gift from God. The Bible says that baptism is God s doing, not ours. The Bible says that baptism forgives sins, rescues us from death and Satan, and grants eternal life. Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name. Acts 22:16 don t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Romans 6:3 This water (of Noah s flood) symbolizes baptism that now saves you also... It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ... 1 Peter 3:21 Because baptism gives these wonderful gifts, we baptize infants. We baptize infants because in Baptism God is the One doing the work of creating faith. Jesus said to let the little children come to Him and Baptism is the chief way for children come to So, back to The Story. John Baptized Jesus. Why? Why was Jesus baptized? We can offer 4 reasons: 1. It indicated that Jesus was consecrated, set apart, by God; 2. It announced by John the arrival of the Messiah; 3. By His baptism, Jesus thoroughly identified with our sin and failure; and 4. His baptism was an example for His followers. So Jesus was baptized and the heavens opened and a dove descended on Him and a voice from heaven booms forth, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Matthew 3:17 By the way, this is the only time in Scripture where all three persons of the Trinity are described in one place. The Son played Himself, the Spirit was the dove and the Father was the voice. This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. In other words, the Father was saying, Jesus is good. He was set aside for ministry. My hand is on Him. Jesus is Scary Good Now, immediately after His baptism, Jesus was led out into the desert to be tempted by the devil. The name devil in the Greek is diabolos. It shares a root stem with the Greek word, diabellein which means to divide. The devil is a real being that seeks to divide. That was the devil s intent in the Garden of Eden, to divide Adam and Eve from God. Here the devil is trying to drive a wedge between Jesus and the Father.
Drama The devil sought to divide Jesus from the Father with 3 temptations: The Devil s Temptation Jesus Response What This Means If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down. The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me. It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. It is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. Jesus won t accomplish His mission by using supernatural powers for His own needs Jesus won t use power to win a large gathering of followers Jesus won t compromise with Satan Jesus resisted each of the devil s temptations. How did Jesus do it? What did He use? Jesus did two things. First, Jesus used Scripture. Last week we learned that Jesus is called the Word. We saw the power of the word. God chose to create the universe simply by speaking it into existence using words. We get faith by words. Faith comes by hearing, Paul says. The Bible is a book of Words telling the wonders of our God. Jesus is the Word made flesh. As He was tempted, Jesus used words to fight off the devil. The Word used the word. Second, Jesus relied on who He was. He wouldn t allow Himself to be divided from who He was in relation to the Father. Jesus baptism declared that. You are my Son with whom I am well pleased. He had a mission to perform, and wouldn t allow Himself to be distracted from that mission. So, the question is: how can we resist? And the answer is, the same way that Jesus resisted. You can resist the devil by using the word. In fighting against the devil, Paul says: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against
the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God... Ephesians 6:10-13 We re fighting against a very powerful enemy intent on dividing us from God. And we need to put on the full armor of God. Paul shares a number of things we have at our disposal to resist the devil but the one I want to center on today is the Word of God. Paul tells us: Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17 When the devil tempts you, remember Scripture, quote Scripture. Secondly, you can resist the devil by reaffirming your relationship with God. When Jesus was baptized, the Father affirmed Jesus identity. This is my Son with whom I am well pleased. Your baptism is an act of God that put you into a relationship of love with the Father. It was an adoption. It was giving you a birth right. It was making you His child. Truth is, you belong to God. You are a child of God. Every temptation you face is Satan s attempt to separate you from who you are as a child of God. The way to resist Satan is through Scripture and by re-affirming your identity as a child of God. So, Jesus is good, and Jesus is scary good. But, Jesus Isn t Safe. Let s look at Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the middle of the night. Now, Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a Jewish religious leader. The Pharisees were known for being more concerned about following the rules than about having a relationship with God. Nicodemus said to Jesus: Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him. (John 3:2) and Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. (John 3:3) Nicodemus scratched his head and wondered how a man could squeeze back into his mother s womb. And Jesus explained that He was talking about spiritual birth, actually re-birth, saying that no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. You see, Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was part of the religious tradition that said, try again and attempt again and work again but never born again. Pharisees had this image of God as a stern judge with a long list of rules who kept track of all the times the rules had been broken. But Jesus spoke of rebirth. He spoke of a new person. He said, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17) New birth This is a totally new person we are talking about. Rebirth, like our first birth, is something we have no control over. It s not a mulligan in golf, but a miracle from God. It s not a second chance, but a new beginning. And it s not a safe thing. New is not safe. We much prefer the old, the tried and true, the mundane. New is scary. New means setting aside our natural born inclination to do something to get God to love us. New means setting aside control. New means letting go of the idea that I can control my eternal destiny by the number of prayers I say or the tithe I pay or the good deeds I do.
It s not safe to set aside that mind-set and simply trust Jesus for everything. It s not safe to believe that every other religion in the world has it wrong and that only Jesus has it right. But that s what Jesus said to Nicodemus, echoed for us in the Gospel of John: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 For this works-righteous, try again, attempt again, work again Pharisee, to hear that all of his religious efforts to date was wrong; that he had to give all that up and simply trust was life changing. To hear that instead of working his way into heaven he simply had to believe and that heaven was a gift... That was not safe. And it s not safe that Jesus calls us to follow Him. Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:16 It is not safe to deny ourselves, to set aside our needs and desires because of Jesus. It s not safe to take up our cross, to realize we may have to undergo trials for Jesus. It s not safe to follow Jesus. The safe thing for Peter was to stay in the boat. The safe thing for Nicodemus was to stay at home that night. The safe thing for Mary was to cower in the dark of the early morning night and not go to the tomb. But Jesus said, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Jesus is not safe. The question we could ask ourselves is this: What unsafe thing does God want me to do? What is God asking me to do that will get me out of the safe confines of my boat? And will I obey, go and do it? Jesus was baptized by John and we know that Jesus is good. He resisted the temptations of the devil and we know that Jesus is scary good. And as we move from works to trust, as we deny ourselves and take up our crosses, as we faithfully follow, we find that Jesus is really not safe. But we also know that while not safe, He is secure. And that makes all the difference in the world, this one and the next.