Charting The Course

Mark 1: 1-13

As we begin this new year, it would be a good time to talk about personal identity and spiritual integrity.
How shall we chart our course for the days ahead?
I believe the best way we can do this is to take a fresh look at the starting point
of Jesus' own pilgrimage -- His earthly ministry.
After Jesus is baptized, He goes away into the wilderness and remained there for a while.
After a period of time, He reemerges to begin His ministry.

We could say that His baptism was His inaugural.
It is here that He accepts His mission.
He confirms His identity.
He sets His direction.

There are some valuable lessons and directions that we can gain from Jesus' experience
as we prepare for the new year.
The essential question of life is here.
Though this is not a baptism of repentance for Jesus, it is certainly a turn toward the future for Him.
It is the decision about life's meaning and direction.

The challenge we face is to put life to some greater purpose -- great goals -- spiritual values
-- and important relationships.
For Jesus the experience of baptism and the retreat into the wilderness were days of facing forward.
He determinedly followed the Father's purpose for His life.

It may be that this is the invitation that you and I need to hear and heed in this coming year.
Perhaps, this is the essential decision that we must make.
The essential decision is what and who will reside at the center of our life.

There will be many choices we will be required to make.
We can live for things, for power, for self-interest, for pleasures, or for the expectations of people,
but none of these will make our live meaningful.
None of these will fulfill our needs.
Only a right relationship with God can do that.

The important lesson of Nazareth is also here. (Verse 9)
"Nazareth... of Galilee" was so small that Mark thought it necessary to identify the province as well.
But Jesus was from Nazareth, and His life had been forged in that little village
-- in the carpenter's shop -- by his family -- and by his hometown synagogue.
"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Nathaniel asked, and Philip said, "Come and see."
(John 1: 46)

Surprise!

That is the lesson of Nazareth.
Never underestimate what God can do with an insignificant, ordinary person, church, or city.
When you put your life in the hands of God -- watch out!
He might do something special with your life.
He might do something out of the ordinary as He did with an ordinary Nazareth.

Years ago in a shantytown near Johannesburg South Africa, a young school teacher, saw a white man
tip his hat to a black woman.
He'd never seen that sort of gesture from a white man before.
That woman was the young school teacher's mother, and the white man was a white clergyman
named Huddleson.

The school teacher and the clergyman developed a friendship.
In time the young school teacher also entered the ministry.
He became a bishop in 1976, and became a voice against apartheid.
In 1984, Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize.
But it all started in a shantytown with a passing gesture of courtesy and respect.

The important lesson of Nazareth is that God can use us where we've been, where we are and who we are.
God will shape our identity and our service in Christ.

The creative power of God is also seen here.

The Spirit descended "upon him like a dove." (Verse 10)
Jesus saw the heavens open.
He heard the voice.
He knew that whatever He had to do, the Father provide the strength and the resources to do it.

The dove not only symbolizes God's Spirit in bringing purity and peace, but it reminds us
of the second verse in the Bible, where we read: "The earth was without form and void,
and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

Hovering, brooding, creating, bring to birth something of significance.
As we open our lives to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, we receive the grace to do
what God has for us to do on our pilgrimage on earth.

One last point -- the first sign of integrity is here.
The wilderness came after the baptism.
The first sign of integrity will always be struggle.
The struggle for Jesus didn't end after 40 or 80 or 120 days.
The struggle for Jesus would last for His entire life.
It would last on through the years to His tears in Gethsemane and to His cry from the cross.

For us, as for Jesus, the testing will come early, late, and at all points in between.
The temptation will be to settle for lesser gods and secondary goals.
The temptation will be to abuse our freedom in Christ by irresponsibility, and lapsing back
into guilt as life's primary motive.
The temptation will be to settle for love as emotional and general rather than as concrete and specific.

The fact is we will go from Jordan to the wilderness.
We will go from the mountaintop to the valley.
We will go from the sure to the uncertain.

Jesus never said that the Christian life will be easy.
He did not say, "Believe and life will be simple."
He knew better.