Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality
Bible readings: Isaiah 42:1-9; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17
Today, church member, Allan Hui, blessed us with a powerful sermon. We even learned the literal meaning of the word 'righteousness' in Chinese. Read Allan's sermon here.
Opening prayer: Heavenly Father, bless the words that I will be sharing with my brothers and sisters this morning and may they fulfil Your purpose. Amen.
My son Joshua was baptised on 12th October 2013. It was a full immersion baptism conducted by Reverend John Hung of the Chinese Church in London in Hammersmith. In the preceding weeks each baptismal candidate had to submit a testimony and this would be displayed near the entrance of the church. This is an excerpt of what Joshua wrote:
“I formally accepted Christ as my Saviour after an Easter Camp when I was around 8 or 9 but I feel that I was visited by the Holy Spirit a while before that. This was when I was around 7 years old and in Year 3. One morning before the beginning of break I overheard some Muslim boys talking about Allah; suddenly I was inspired to say that Allah was false and Jesus was the only true God. There were quite a few Muslims in my class at the time and as soon as I was in the playground, pretty much every Muslim boy in my year was crowding around me and they were already starting to swing punches at me. This was when I felt that God the Holy Spirit was with me because the blows didn’t seem to be that painful along with the fact that during the beating I felt like there was someone holding my hand and standing by my side. And afterwards I felt a great deal of inner peace.
Ever since my acceptance of Christ, I’ve had a very positive outlook on pretty much every negative thing that has happened to me. I feel that having God in my heart and knowing that He is by my side will get me through any hardships I encounter and help me see the good that has come from those hardships.”
I remember when Joshua came home from school and shared with Paula and I the events of that day. My initial reaction was horror and fury. But when Joshua then described the feeling of someone holding his hand throughout the ordeal, my heart turned to God and I thanked our Heavenly Father that Joshua was able to experience His love and presence in a tangible way.
I once heard a preacher share this particular insight: “Baptism is the outward sign of an inward reality”. That was what I saw when I read Joshua’s testimony and when I witnessed his baptism – an outward sign of an inward reality. And what was that reality? He believed in Jesus. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality. When Jesus was baptised by John there are three outward signs that were witnessed by the disciples and the surrounding crowd. The heavens opened, the Spirit descended upon Jesus as a dove and a voice from Heaven declaring “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased”. This verse harks back to our first reading, Isaiah 42, in which the suffering Servant was described; the suffering Servant who carries the sins of the world. Why did God say that He is well pleased with Jesus? Maybe that question can be answered by another question, which is why did Jesus, who was without sin, even need to be baptised? John the Baptist certainly wondered that. He said to Jesus, “I need to be baptised by you, and yet you come to me?” The words that stood out to me as I reflected on today’s Gospel reading are found in the response that Jesus gave:
“…it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.”
What did Jesus mean by this statement? How does the baptism of Jesus fulfil all righteousness? It is proper for the baptism to take place because it signified the completion of John’s mission to “prepare the way for the Lord” and the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The baptism of Jesus "fulfils all righteousness" because it was a pivotal moment in God’s redemptive plan. It showed Jesus’ willingness to identify with sinners, His obedience to the Father, and His commitment to fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. This would have been Jesus’ inward reality. Through His baptism, Jesus inaugurated His mission to bring about God’s saving justice, ultimately leading to the cross and resurrection. God is well pleased with Jesus because, through His obedience, God’s plan for the redemption of humankind as chronicled in the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament came to glorious fruition. His sacrifice enabled everyone who believes in Him to become sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. When Jesus was baptised it was not just for Himself but for us—to fulfil the righteousness that we could never achieve on our own. In this way, Jesus’ baptism becomes the basis for our own spiritual baptism, through which we are saved and transformed.
Some of you may remember many years ago I shared a pearl of wisdom from a dedicated Chinese Sunday School teacher that I served with in my youth. He was explaining the significance of the Chinese word for “righteousness” to the children gathered before him. He explained that if you were to separate the word for righteousness into its constituent parts, then you have the words “lamb” and “me”. The Chinese word for righteousness is literally “lamb over me”. He followed up by explaining to the children that Jesus was that lamb. I find it utterly amazing how a Chinese character that came into existence probably over 4000 years ago could offer a glimpse of God’s redemptive plan.
[Chinese Righteousness – Hope for the Hope Challenged]
(Taken from https://www.hope-challenged.com/chinese-righteousness/)
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Romans 3:22)
Heaven, which had been closed to humankind since the Fall, was now once more opened by Jesus’ surrender to the cross. And by the power of the cross we have received the spirit of adoption and the Holy Spirit himself testify with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:15-16). God loves us and His love is poured into our heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). “We were 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 6:4). Just as Jesus obeyed His calling to be a servant and aligned Himself to the will of the Father, so we, too, are called into a new life of dedicated service because the church is a servant community. We are to serve those around us and do what we can to meet their needs in good times and in bad. In addition, as Peter declared in our second reading, we are to testify. Testify that Jesus is the one whom God appointed. Testify that God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Testify that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Testify that “nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us” (Romans 8:38-39 MSG). And we are to testify in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the knowledge that we serve as sons and daughters of the living God through our Saviour Jesus Christ. The lamb who is over me. Amen