& come to me

i'm gonna set you free

A sermon on Jesus' baptism:

They say a little time on social media can cheer you up. Getting updates on old acquaintances. Checking in with friends. And if you’re Amanda, getting your daily-dose of dog pics; those are all things that can brighten you day…

Like many things, though, too much of a good thing tends to have the opposite effect. At a certain point, instead of cheering you up, spending time on social media will start to bum you out. Until the whole thing goes upside-down; and you log off UNhappier than when you started!

Now surely there’s plenty of reasons for this, but one must be our perennial tendency to measure ourselves against others. 

After looking at yet another picture of some friends vacationing, your life starts to look a little shabbier. Scrolling through curated pic after curated pic of others living their best life, tends to cast a shadow over your own…

It used to be that after high school we were freed from that tired, old game of constant comparisons. But thanks be to God, the old game lives on yet, on social media…

No matter how great our vacation was, someone else on social-media is posting a more exotic, and more recent one. For as happy as we are with our family; someone else is posting the latest, best way to raise a family. For as proud as we are of our achievements, someone else is posting even greater accomplishments. 

And on and on it goes, doesn’t it? It never ends! Do we measure up, or not? Where do we stand in the pack? 

We can never be sure. So the game goes on, and on…

Well, the bad news is, this game is older than we might guess. And, it’s apparently even harder to quit, too…

After all, even good, ol’ John the Baptist seems to be stuck playing it.

By his dress, diet and digs you’d think he’d be free of that kind of game. 

But when Jesus shows up, John shows himself to be all too familiar with its rules…

Isn’t that why John is so put off when Jesus goes to him to be baptized? John knows how the pecking order works; and Jesus outranks him! So, to John’s way of thinking, it’s not right that the lesser should baptize the greater!

And that ought to give us pause today… 

To realize our tendency to measure ourselves isn’t limited to facebook, instagram, or whatever social-media site you use. To realize we even play this game in the church. We dress it up in religious garb!

We’re constantly measuring ourselves. And even if we opt out of the game in one place, there’s a million others we’re still stuck playing it! Isn’t there? So much so, we’ll even play it here in the church… 

That was the realization that scared the wits out of Martin Luther, you know.

At a certain point, young Luther wanted to be free of the rat-race. So he fled to the monastery, where he could focus on one thing, measuring up to God. 

What he discovered, though, was it doesn’t matter where you play the old game of measuring up. It always works the same, old way! It never ends!

That led Luther to the realization, the law always accuses. Or we might say; that you never measure up, in the game of measuring up! 

Because the game of measuring up never ends! No matter where you play it; on social-media, or the church! There’s always a little more, a little better. And just like on social-media, that little more, that little better; casts a shadow over you and your life…

But, and here’s where it gets good; now that you know the bad news, you’re ready to hear the Good News. Because what scared the wits out of Luther, is also what led him to his evangelical breakthrough!

And it will lead you there, too!

The truth is, there are no six simple steps to winning the game of measuring up! It’s a game that never ends. And so, a game you can only, ultimately, lose!

Which is why Jesus REFUSES to play that tired, old game with the likes of us!

I mean, Jesus doesn’t, does he? Jesus didn’t take John’s objections under consideration. Did he? He didn’t negotiate with John.

No! When John tries to get Jesus to play by the rules of that tired, old game of measuring up; Jesus just orders John to quit! To quit, & baptize him already!

What’s more, Jesus says it’s proper they do this. That it fulfills ALL righteousness!

And when Jesus said that, he meant it! 

John isn’t the only one ordered to quit playing that tired, old game of measuring up. Luther was ordered to quit, too. And so are you!

Whenever God’s people sit under the shadow of constant comparison, The One who opens the heavens shows up; and brings an end to that tired, old game!

When Jesus comes to be baptized by lowly John, he says it’s because it fulfills all righteousness. In other words, Jesus baptism ends the game of measuring up! Completes it! Fulfills it!

…Honestly, there is something salutary about our propensity to measure ourselves. It’s a way we try and work out of the fact that we didn’t create ourselves. 

Things go sideways, though, when we try and work out the standard of our creation, by measuring ourselves against all sorts of other things!

…I bet you didn’t think we’d end up talking about the metrics of creation when we started this sermon, did you? 

But, do you want to know why you exist? 

You exist because God loves you. God wants you around so much, that every moment of your existence only ticks by because God says your name over and over again! Constantly creating you out of nothing over and over again!

The trouble is, you’ll never see this, so long as you, like John and Luther before you, insist on looking at your own righteousness. Playing by the rules of measuring up…

So Jesus, beloved Son of God that he is, opens the heavens to you and orders you to quit playing that game! To see his baptism ended that game once and for all, for you!

And not some future, idealized version of you, either. But the you that exists right now! The you that’s sitting there in the pews doing nothing! The you that’s sitting there, hearing these words as from Jesus himself;

Are you ready?

You measure up before God. Not on account of anything you’ve done; but by the fact that in your baptism, Jesus gave you his — and all it’s righteousness, too!

The game of measuring up never ends, which is what makes it so deadly. So Jesus Christ took your place, and played it all the way to the end! To its deadly last move for you…

In Jesus, it’s not a matter of where you measure yourself. Or even how often you bring out the old measuring stick. It’s a matter of not measuring up at all!

Then, when you find yourself sitting under those shadows, you are really under the clouds Jesus’ baptism opens! You are finally ready to hear what Jesus heard at his baptism, that Jesus is The beloved son. The One with authority to bring the game of righteousness to its end, fulfill it once and for all!

The truth is, our lives will be read over. 

But not the way you scroll through a facebook feed. Instead, it will be read from The Great Scroll. The scroll of the living and the dead. 

And Jesus, in his baptism, fulfilled, measured up to every standard there is on that scroll! 

Transforming it, from just another in a never-ending series of lists you’ve spent your life trying to measure up to; into a testament of the lengths God has gone through for you!

In Jesus baptism, your game of measuring up is over, now and forever! 

Now, it’s not a matter of measuring up, but of living into the UNmeasureable love of God! The love that no height or depth can separate you from God!

Folks, if you’re here and you’re worried about where you measure up. If you’re here and you can’t quit comparing yourself to the people around you; than you’re right where you need to be to be lifted up into the heavens Jesus has opened! You’re most ready to hear what Jesus has to say to you: 

Quit playing. Let it be, for God has sent the Son to be your righteousness. To measure up for you. 

Let this promise break every other standard! It’s no longer a matter of where you measure up, but of the place Jesus took all that upon himself, and died to it - for you! Brought the tired, old game of measuring up, to its end for you. Fulfilled it for you.