Sermon on Mark 1 – God Is Well Pleased



Sermon on Mark 1 – God Is Well Pleased!

“At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”

Last week I had the opportunity to visit some of our members at Hinsdale Hospital. Visits where God allowed me to see the beginning of life and the end of life in two rooms only one floor apart. To rejoice with a mother as she held a beautiful newborn baby in her arms. To weep with a wife as she gazed upon her husband of close to sixty years lying in a hospital bed. To see a baby girl who has her whole life in front of her, and a gentleman who had experienced 83 years of God’s grace here on earth.

In today’s world, many might dismiss it as part of the Circle of Life, but as Christians, we know better. The psalmist David wrote, “But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands.” David also wrote, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…you knit me together in my mother’s womb…all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” In this month of Roe vs. Wade we really don’t have to wonder where David stood when it came to life issues which means we really don’t have to wonder where God stands either.

Life is precious. Every moment of it, because every moment of it is part of the Time of Grace God gives us here on earth. A time that is to be used to, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” Whether a person lives to be three, thirteen, thirty three, or eighty three, a person’s Time of Grace is to be used first and foremost to come to know and believe in Jesus as their Savior to have the sure hope of spending an eternity in heaven where keeping track of time really won’t exist. As the hymn reminds us, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years bright shining like the sun. We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.”

Ford used to have the motto: “Quality is Job One.” In today’s world it seems like Customer Satisfaction has become Job One, because if customers aren’t satisfied, they’ll take their business elsewhere. We want to be pleased with the products and services we purchase and at the same time we want others to be pleased with the products and services we provide. It makes us feel good when people are pleased with us. It hurts when they aren’t. We can probably think about times in our lives when we’ve hurt or offended others and experienced their displeasure.

Let me ask you a question. How well do you think God is pleased with you? The God who tells you in His Word, “be holy because I the Lord your God am holy…be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect…” and for those who aren’t…. “the wages of sin is death.” If we’re honest with ourselves, we have to admit just how sinful we are. Our sinful thoughts, our sinful words, our sinful actions. We might be able to deceive others, we might even be able to deceive ourselves, but we can’t deceive God. He knows all. He sees all. If we hope to stand before God one day on the basis of the good things we’ve done in life, we’re in trouble, because he’s also going to see all the bad things we’ve done in life. The Apostle Paul writes, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and the more time we spend in God’s Word the more we see just how far we fall short. Our many sins and failures might often lead us to wonder, “can God be pleased with someone like me?”

Yes! In fact the same words God spoke concerning his Son Jesus on the day of his baptism are the same words God speaks concerning us because of his Son! How well do you think God is pleased with you? Dear friends in Christ, God is Well Pleased! I. With His Son Jesus. And II. With Us Because of Jesus. This past week I was speaking with a man about sin, repentance, and our need of a Savior. Repentance isn’t just something we do once a week in church. Repentance involves examining your thoughts, words, and actions on a daily basis. Doing so will lead to contrition, which is sorrow over sin. But may sorrow over sin never lead to despair for as Paul tells us, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…and…are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Whereas last week found us worshipping the baby Jesus with the Magi of old, this week finds us some thirty years later standing on the banks of the Jordan River at Jesus’ baptism.

Our text tells us, “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.” At first, “John tried to deter him saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’” John knew the story of Jesus’ life. He thought there was no reason for Jesus to be baptized. Jesus had no reason to hang his head in shame for anything he had thought, said, or done. His Heavenly Father was already well pleased with him and would make that known at his baptism. But before John could argue, Jesus said, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Contrary to what John might have thought, things weren’t as they seemed. Jesus didn’t request baptism for the forgiveness of sins, rather he requested baptism to fulfill all righteousness, not for himself, but rather for us. With his baptism, Jesus declared himself to be one with sinners. By declaring himself to be one with sinners, he put himself forward as the Redeemer of sinners. His baptism was a way of telling us, “You haven’t and can’t live the perfect life demanded of you, but I have and I will continue to do so as your substitute. You’ve fallen short of the glory of God but I haven’t and I won’t and I will see your cause through to the very end. The bitter, yet glorious end that will culminate on a cross on Calvary and an empty tomb just outside of Jerusalem.” Jesus’ baptism was one of the many ways he would fulfill all righteousness so that you and I would be declared righteous in the sight of God through Him.

Our text tells us, “As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” And as hard as it might be to believe sometimes because of our many sins and failures, the same approval God poured out on his Son that day is the same approval God pours out on you because of his Son. For a few of you, it happened when God’s Word was first shared with you and the Holy Spirit first worked faith in your heart. For many, if not most, of you, it happened on the day of your baptism. When water was applied to your head in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. When your sins were washed away and life and salvation became yours. And although the rafters of the church weren’t torn asunder, nor did a voice from heaven thunder from above, the still, small, gentle, voice of the gospel whispered, “this is my child whom I love with him or her I am well pleased and with him or her I will always be well pleased, not because of who they might become or how they might serve me, but solely because of my Son Jesus who has paid the price for their sins with his death and resurrection.”

Even though the life I live hasn’t always been nor will it always be pleasing to God because of my sins, because of my Savior I can truly say that God is well pleased with me. The Greek word that is used in our text is eudoknsa which has the idea of “I take delight in…I take great joy in…I am truly happy about.” Far greater than the joy that parents experience at the birth of a child. Far greater than the joy grandparents and greatgrandparents, aunts and uncles take in grandkids and greatgrandkids, nieces and nephews, is the pride and joy God takes in us. The thought of experiencing that joy for all eternity is what led God to send his Son to be our Savior in the first place. And as the Apostle Paul writes, “you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Our baptism connects us to Jesus. It makes us the recipients of everything Jesus accomplished through his life, death, and resurrection. As Paul writes, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Through holy baptism some eighty-three years ago, God assured a baby boy by the name of John Bailey that he was well pleased with him because of Jesus. Through holy baptism some weeks from now, God will assure a baby girl by the name of Madeline Daehnke that he is well pleased with her because of Jesus. Through holy baptism, some years ago, God assured you and me that he is well pleased with us because of Jesus. Because of Jesus we can look forward to the day when the heavens will be torn open as it were, the day when God will be well pleased to welcome us home for all eternity.

May the thought of that day and the truth that we don’t know when it will happen lead us to see life as God’s precious gift. May it lead us to cherish the opportunities God gives us to grow in our faith through Word and Sacrament. May it lead us to live our lives in ways that are pleasing to God to say thank you to the one who is well pleased with us because of Jesus. How comforting to know that in a world where people aren’t always pleased with us, where we aren’t always pleased with ourselves, that God is well pleased with us! Well pleased with us because of Jesus and will continue to be well pleased with us because of Jesus, here on earth and for all eternity in heaven.

Amen.

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