8-15-10 Baptism Sunday – at a local lake

Skit done by member of youth group

Jesus: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture said, streams of living water will flow from within him.

Disciple 1: Why does he always do that?

Disciple 2: Do what?

Disciple 1: You know!

Disciple 2: No. . .What?

Disciple 1: He’s always talking in hyperboles

Disciple 2. You mean parables don’t you?

Disciple 1. (said in anger) Hyperbole’s, parables, why doesn’t he just say what he means?

Disciple 2: I don’t know

(Pause)

Disciple 2: What do you think he meant?

Disciple 1: Maybe we’re supposed to ask him for  a drink?

Disciple 2: No, I did that once and he gave me a bottle of Aquafina

Disciple 2: So, what did he mean?

Disciple 1: I don’t know. (Short Pause) – Maybe he meant that we were supposed to drink a lot of water

Disciple 2: Yeah, maybe this is a test, we’re supposed to do this on faith. We’re not supposed to ask questions, we’re just supposed to drink A LOT like we’re really thirsty.

Disciple 2: (looks at small glass) What are you doing with that?

Disciple 1: I’m drinking!

Disciple 2: (laughing) That’s a little girl glass. (Deep Base Voice) This is a man sized glass, for a man sized thirst. (Drinking a lot)

Disciple 1: Do you see anything coming out of me yet?

Disciple 2: Nope. (Pause) Do you see anything coming out of me yet?

Disciple 1: Nope. I’m starting to sweat, do you think that counts?

Disciple 2: No! (Fidgeting like a little kid who needs to go to the bathroom) I need to really go. Do you think that’s what he meant by streams of living water coming out of you?

Disciple 1: No!

Disciple 2: Then what did he mean when he said, “If you are thirsty, come to me and drink, and out of you will flow streams of living water?”

Disciple 1: I don’t know.

Disciple 2: I’m not feeling so good!

Disciple 1: Yeah, you drank a lot of water.

Disciple 2: (Looking really sick, acting like he’s ready to vomit.) Vomiting

Disciple 1: (Looking at the audience, asking them) Do you think that’s what Jesus meant when he said, “Streams of living water will flow out of you?”

Disciple 2 I hope not!

Run off stage.

Message:

Jesus said, If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. And then John, the writer of this account of Jesus’ life said, by this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Generally speaking in our culture we try to take in, get more, make more, have more. We try to get better jobs so that we can make more money, so that we can buy more things and then that cycle repeats itself as often as we can in our life time, get a better job, make more money, so that we can buy more, have more, own more. That is the American Dream! It’s all about taking more in.

 Having more is fun for a while, but then once the fun and the newness of it wears off, you find that it’s empty and you start asking yourself is this all there is. And you catch yourself thinking “It seems like there ought to be More, it seems like there ought to be more to life than this. The American Dream is all about the illusive carrot that keeps on luring us toward . . . More.

The illusion in the American Dream is that some day you won’t need MORE. Is that true? Has it ever happened to you or someone that you knew, where you stopped one day and said, “You know that American Dream.” I got it. I have enough. I don’t have to keep trying to make more, because I have enough.

I know some very rich people, but they’re still chasing that elusive carrot. They have A LOT, but they still need more. They have desires in life, but ultimately those desire are never met. We try to fill our hearts with things on the outside, but ultimately they leave our thirst, our desires unmet. They don’t deliver what our heart longs for. That’s the American Dream.

Then there is the Jesus Dream. Jesus offers us a relationship with our Creator. He offers us forgiveness. He offers us unconditional love. He offers us power to live as we could never imagine, full of love, full of peace, full of joy, full of purpose, full of blessing, full of goodness.

Jesus asks us, “Do you desire what I have to offer?” Are you thirsty for what I have?”  You can’t do life well without me. You can only do life well by thirsting or desiring for what it is that I offer. Jesus says, “I don’t offer a quick fix. I don’t offer you a painless journey. I don’t offer you a life without troubles. I offer you my life. Your life will still be hard with me, but it will be foundationally filled with goodness.”

How do we come to Jesus and drink? Jesus offers us the free gift of his forgiveness. The question is, “Do you desire it. Are you thirsty for it?” Jesus was willing to step down out of heaven to show you and I how to live and how to love, then he demonstrated how we are to love by loving all of humanity, you and I so much that he was willing to sacrifice his life so that you could have yours. He loved you and I so much and he wanted a relationship with you so much that he was willing to die in order that you and I might live.  Do you ackownledge your need for forgiveness? Are you thirsty for what it is that Jesus offers?

Second, Jesus asks you and I, “are you thirsty for my Spirit – that is the Holy Spirit?” Jesus taught that you and I have two parts, a physical self and a spiritual self. We have the part of us that everyone can see and then we have that no one can see. There is the outer you and there is the inner you. There are arms and legs and hair and then there is your ability to love or hate, to be patient or impatient, greed or generosity, kindness or cruelty, joy or depression, and to be filled with peace or hostility. Jesus says that if you want the former, the good, you must be born of him.

When we are thirsty for Jesus, we have to desire a relationship with him. In order for that to happen we have to ask for forgiveness and we have to vow to follow Jesus and trust Jesus with our life and say, “Your will be done and your kingdom come, not mine. Not my will, Lord, but yours be done. If you’re thirsty for that, then you are thirsty for Jesus and you are ready to be baptized.

When you confess publically that you are thirsty for forgiveness and thirsty to follow his will for your life, and are baptized, then the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus plants a seed in your soul, an eternal seed. Eternal life doesn’t begin when you die. Eternal life begins when you Jesus and receive his gifts of love and power inside of you.

That eternal seed that the Holy Spirit, which is planted inside of you, needs water to grow. Thirsting for Jesus is not something that you do once, but forever. It is a desire for a relationship with your Creator. It is a desire to love your Creator and it is a posturing of our spirit to receive the gift of his love inside of us. That’s what waters the eternal seed inside of you.

We are told in Galatians 5:22 what it means to be fully mature as inwardly. The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Generosity, and Self-Control. There is no law against such things.

What does it mean to have streams of living water coming from within you? It means that the thirst for more is consumed by the thirst for Jesus and instead of wanting, desiring, striving for, living insatiably for more and more, instead, you are content with becoming more and more because the Spirit of Jesus quenches all other desires. Let me say that again (repeat).

As you become more and more, your desire to take in is replaced by a desire to give, to be generous, to be an encourager, to give someone a break, some slack, to give someone forgiveness, to give someone a hand up, to give someone the benefit of the doubt. It means that instead of serving our self, we become servants. It can’t be done of our own power, it cannot be done by thirsting for the things of this world, it can only be done by thirsting for Jesus.

So, this morning we’ve come to a lake to baptize some people who are thirsty for Jesus. Why come here? Why didn’t we do this in our normal worship space? I’d like to give you a couple of reasons for that.

1. It is about receiving forgiveness of our sins – being dunked in the lake symbolizes taking a physical bath. As we accept Jesus’ forgiveness of our sins, our soul is washed as white as snow and our sins are cleansed.
2. Being dunked under the water is like dying because we can’t breath under water, the old us is dying, while when we come up out of the water, it is like us having a new life in Christ
3. Being dunked under the water is symbolic of a person being physically born, since in our mother’s womb we were surrounded by water and the coming out of the water is symbolic of the water breaking and us being born. This is symbolic of the new life we have in Christ.
4. A lot of water is needed in order for a newly planted seed to sprout and grow. So it is that lot’s of spiritual water (Jesus) is needed in order for the eternal seed that is planted within us by the Holy Spirit
5. To answer the question, “Are you thirsty?” The lake reminds us that God’s provision never runs out and will always satisfy our thirst.

 Testimonies

Baptisms and dedication in the Lake