Jeremy Hoover

 
 
Study notes for this sermon are available here.
 
 
Download these notes (PDF).
As everything can't, and shouldn't, be crammed into a sermon, here are some additional study notes for you to reflect on ahead of, and after, Sunday's sermon.

Introduction (Luke 3:15-20)
We're studying Jesus' baptism and the implications of it as reported in the Gospel of Luke 3:21-23. John the Baptist has been preaching and leading people to be ready for Jesus, but a misunderstanding has arisen and some are wondering if John himself might be the Messiah!

John corrects this in Luke 3:15-17 by proclaiming that one "more powerful" than himself is coming. The difference between the two is in their baptisms--John is a baptizer in water, the Coming One will baptize with the "Holy Spirit and fire." This is simply a biblical way of saying that the Coming One's baptism will judge-and-purify the repentant one being baptized and will also unite that one with God through the Spirit. (Many biblical references testify to the power of the Spirit to guarantee our salvation with God; for example, Ephesians 1:14; Acts 2:38-39.)

Although the Gospel of Luke reports that John's "fire and brimstone"-style of preaching is "good news," the downside to John's testimony is that he suffers imprisonment that eventually leads to his murder. Sometimes being on the front lines for Jesus means taking on risk that you won't be accepted...or worse. Yet, Jesus still calls us to remain faithful to him.

Jesus' Baptism (Luke 3:21-22)
Jesus' baptism itself is presented to us differently in Luke than in Matthew or Mark, where the emphasis is on the new age being brought into place in Jesus (Mark) or on who is doing the baptism and what this means (Matthew). In Luke, the Gospel neither tells us who or how Jesus was baptized. But we learn that Jesus prayed after his baptism, and that during that time heaven opened--which is another biblical way of telling us God was doing something new and important in Jesus--and a voice speaks!

The voice is not directly attributed to God the Father, though the language used makes clear it is this God who is claiming Jesus as his own beloved Son. This language is interesting also for what it tells us about Jesus and his relationship to God and role as the Messiah, God's anointed one who would save the world.

Psalm 2:7
There are two aspects to God's speech that tie in to Old Testament promises. First, God calls Jesus his "Son." Specifically, the voice says, "You are my Son." This is a direct quote from Psalm 2:7, in which God is speaking to the king of Israel. God calls the king his son and tells the king that he--God--has become his father. The function of the psalm was to bestow legitimacy upon the king as an agent of God, rather than that agency wresting solely among the priests. Yet, it took on a messianic function as well, and was used by Jews to think about the coming new age when God would restore their fortunes. The Messiah would be God's Son. And here, in Luke 3:22, God claims his Son, the King--Jesus.

Isaiah and the Servant Songs
Secondly, God claims about Jesus that he loves him and is well pleased with him. This phrase is connected to Isaiah 42, and to the set of hymns in Isaiah that are known as the Servant Songs. In these Songs, a representative of Israel is set up who will suffer to atone for the sins of Israel (in this way, the representative serves Israel). These songs became messianic prophecies, and here, in Luke 3:22, God claims Jesus as his suffering servant, foreshadowing the ministry (and death) Jesus would have.

The language from Luke 3:22 is specifically linked to Isaiah 42:1, in which God says, "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, / my chosen one in whom I delight; / I will put my Spirit upon him...." Of course, Jesus receives God's Spirit in Luke 3:21, and this concept is picked up again in Luke 4:14-30 (which references a different of the Servant Songs).

Summary
One last thing to note in Luke 3:21 is that nothing special occurred around Jesus' baptism (only after). In fact, Luke clearly tells us that Jesus was one of many who were being baptized. This is important because it relates to us Jesus' common humanity with us. He is not different or "above" us--he is one of us. As Hebrews says, we are Jesus' brothers and sisters (Heb. 2:11).

Yet, in sharing a commonality with us, Jesus is distinguished in being our representative as well. ("Servant" [cf. Isaiah 42:1] often carried the notion of being someone's "trusted envoy" in ancient near eastern culture.) Yet he is also our King (Psalm 2:7). In leading us, he represents us, and suffers for us, so that we can be made whole before God and rescued.

Is it too much to submit to our king's authority and to live like him?
 
 
The Christmas spirit is not about the coziness of the manger scene on many Christmas cards. The Christmas spirit is about humbling yourself like Jesus did and serving others in his name.
 
 
Just as we trust and follow road signs as we drive, we need to trust and follow God's signs. In Isaiah, God promised a sign of deliverance in the form of a baby...and he calls us to orient our lives around that sign. God's gift to us is a child, a baby called "Immanuel," which means, "God is with us."

Sermon: Trusting God's Sign

Accompanying slides can be viewed here.
 
 
Jesus is God's sign that God is with us. We need to trust God's sign. (From Isaiah 7:10-14 and Matthew 1:22-23)

These slides are a rough draft. I'm out of town from today through Saturday and won't have an internet connection, so I posted early. See you Sunday!
 
 
In this video devotional, I look at how we need to find balance between our personal spiritual disciplines and our action towards others in Jesus' name.
 
 

One way of understanding Gideon's story in Judges 6-8 is through a cycle.

There is a pattern throughout the book of Judges that indicates the Israelites moved through a cycle of committing evil, being turned over to a foreign nation by God, as punishment for their evil, being oppressed and crying out because of the oppression, being rescued by God through a deliverer (a judge), being at peace while the deliverer was living, and finally reverting back to evil after the deliverer dies, thereby starting the cycle all over again.

Gideon exists within this cycle and is a deliverer raised up by God. (We may, of course, question whether he was a good deliverer or not.)

His story also takes place in the context of a cycle. Gideon is called by God (6:1-12) but tests God because he is fearful (6:13-24). He then serves God (because God "passed" the test; 6:25-32) but falls back into fear and tests God again (6:33-40). He overcomes his fear (7:1-15), serves God and receives victory (7:15-25) but falls back into sin because of his arrogance and self-sufficient ways (ch. 8).

He bounced back-and-forth between serving God and serving himself.

These two cycles in Judges indicate to us that we, too, can become trapped in a vicious cycle, going back-and-forth between serving God and serving ourselves. We need to watch ourselves and avoid temptation.

In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus overcame temptation and served by God by maintaining his focus on God and worshiping him, referring to teaching from Deuteronomy to bolster his faith. We, too, should keep our spiritual eyes on Jesus and his teaching in the bible to keep strong in our faith to overcome the cycles of sin and faith in our lives.

What cycles do you identify in your life?

 
 

This is a video introduction to my sermon for Sunday.

 
 

I've been thinking a lot the last couple weeks about the forms of Christianity that we teach in the church. Perhaps I've given something away even in my description because if the emphasis in "church" is on "teaching" then the form we use primarily is information transmission. This doesn't mean we don't connect with people and other things aren't done; just that we view the primary reason for gathering is to transmit information about the bible.

The idea is, if you know more about the bible, you should be a better Christian. But the result is often very different from this.

I've been thinking through these ideas with others on Facebook and Twitter. Why is it that we seem to treat our Christianity as a checklist rather than a relationship--with Christ and others? Why do we view our relationship with God not as a true relationship but as a list of things we must do or a set of requirements we need to fulfill?

Why do we wait for others to take the initiative? Why don't we really connect with each other away from the church building?

Jesus said, "I did not come to be served, but to serve" (Matt. 20:28). We are called to be followers of Jesus. A follower, well, follows! So we should be doing the same things Jesus did.

If Jesus did not seek to be served BY others, why do many of us? Why do we criticize the minister or someone else for not visiting us when we never bothered to pick up the phone or make an appointment to spend time with someone else?

Jesus served others. He added value to the lives of others. The best question we can ask ourselves is not how we can fill a building with people, or how we can get others to do what we want them to do, or how we can make sure the minister "does his job."

The best question we can ask ourselves, to be a true follower of Jesus, is:

Who can I love right now? And how?

That's what it means to follow Jesus.