Coming....to Encourage Us

December 8   2nd Sunday of Advent Isaiah 11.1-10, *Matthew 3.1-12 “Coming to Encourage Us” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

Our gospel lesson from Matthew shakes us up with a lot of talk about changing our ways and judgment. Verse 11 brings some encouragement to balance the heaviness of the issues. It says “Jesus is coming to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” The promise of Jesus’ coming to baptize believers is something we can all look forward to.

Baptisms are happy occasions. Next week we will celebrate a baptism next Sunday.  We use water because it is a universal symbol of refreshing and cleansing. Everybody appreciates water.  (PowerPoint slide of refreshing waterfall). 

Water is so beautiful and necessary. For centuries water has been used to purify - in politics as well as in religion. You remember how Pilate took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd and said, "I am innocent of this man's blood…” (As we see in the slide)

Water is a powerful symbol. Its use in baptism makes for an absolutely perfect rite of passage into the spiritual life. After our initial baptism, whether through sprinkling, pouring, or dunking, there is the promise of Jesus’ coming to baptize all disciples with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Receiving Jesus’ baptism means our spiritual life can go to a whole other level.

In today’s religious circles, talk about fire baptism or being baptized with the Holy Spirit happens mostly among our Pentecostal and charismatic sisters and brothers. These holiness movements trace their roots to John Wesley the   founding father of Methodism. He and his classmates in Oxford University England formed Holy Clubs known for their very strict practices: fasting twice a week, meeting from 6-9 every day, and celebrating communion weekly. In later years, Methodists often expressed their faith with such electrifying emotion that they gained the reputation of being “shouting Methodists.”

Historians describe Methodist prayer meetings and worship services in the same way that the book of Acts describes Pentecost. Tongues of fire and loud praises to God made them look as if they were under the influence of too much wine.

There is no doubt that John Wesley was baptized by the Holy Spirit and with fire. That is an honorable part of our spiritual legacy. However, Wesley quickly came to understand that there was more to being a mature Christian than the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire and all the emotionalism that often accompanied it.

When Wesley sailed from England to Georgia, that settlement named after King George, he had high and holy hopes of fulfilling a mission to save souls. Instead, he got the shock of his young life. His health deteriorated, and he found more than a few unsettling conflicts to endure.  Baptism encouraged him to  keep his faith in spite of life’s challenges.  

Throughout the ages, the promise of Jesus to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire has been fulfilled. Believers of all walks of life, religious persuasions, and nationalities have been immersed, dipped, influenced, guided, cleansed, and overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. Of all these definitions of baptism, I appreciate the definition that baptism means being “overwhelmed.” Jesus’ baptism may mean that we are overwhelmed in the sense that a bear hug envelops us. (As this slide of father giving a child a bear hug shows)

Nineteenth century Revivalist Charles Finney described his baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire this way:

As I shut the door of the office after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It seemed to me that I saw Him as I would see any other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner as to break me right down at His feet. I fell down at His feet, wept aloud like a child, and made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed His feet in tears. I must have continued in this state for a good while. I returned to the front office, but as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost. Without any recollection that I had ever heard the subject mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to come in waves of liquid love; it seemed like the very breath of God. I wept aloud with joy and love.*

Being baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire is a heart-warming, personal, and memorable experience. It is promised to all who believe. It reminds us that we are deeply loved. It encourages us to keep our faith.

Our first thoughts about baptism may not include fire, but fire has a profound impact on our baptism. Fire gives light, defies gravity by always facing upward, and it defies the rules of nature by traveling faster uphill than downhill. We can see this when we light a match then turn it upside down. Wildfires cleanse the forest of disease and insects. Fire discourages wild beasts from approaching. Bishop Tutu declared that the prayers of God’s people were like a wall of fire protecting him from the enemy.

With Jesus’ fire baptism, we are able to fight fire with fire. Wildlife managers often purposely set fire to an area so that an oncoming fire will have nothing to feed on.  A duck hunter learned the value of fighting fire with fire. He was with a friend in the wide-open land of southeastern Georgia. Far away on the horizon he noticed a cloud of smoke. Soon he could hear crackling as the wind shifted. He realized the terrible truth; a brushfire was advancing, so fast they couldn't outrun it. Rifling through his pockets, he soon found what he was looking for, a book of matches. He lit a small fire around the two of them. Soon they were standing in a circle of blackened earth, waiting for the fire to come. They didn't have to wait long. They covered their mouths with handkerchiefs and braced themselves. The fire came near and swept over them. But they were completely unhurt, untouched. Fire would not pass where fire already had passed.*

So, like our founding father John Wesley, let us feast on God’s word, pray about everything, and serve with love for that is all we need to do to remember or to prepare for Jesus to encourage us by coming to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Amen.

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