Oak Chapel United Methodist Church

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Few today worry about how they might be saved, about what might make them right with God. Because, frankly, they don't think they are "wrong" with God. So, what's the point? Besides, they've have heard all the answers and found them unsatisfying. So why worry about where the arrow lands? Just shoot it, and ride it the best you can. Among those who do think about salvation, and are Christian, not many would say they are saved by baptism. Yet many live as if they expect that -- as if some external sign of faith (a few drops of water on the head, or a dunking in the river, or whatever) - as if some external sign of faith is faith itself - and, will put them right with God. We know that's not true for many reasons, not the least of which is that the baptism of water is an incomplete sacrament. Listen to what John the Baptist said, "I baptize with water, but one comes after me who will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit." In John's Gospel, Jesus says, "Except a man be born of water and the Sprit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And St. Paul, pleading for church unity, reminds his feuding readers that "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." (The church.) Today, on this Sunday each year, we celebrate the baptism of our Lord, and it is worth remembering that immediately after Jesus was baptized by John, in the River Jordan, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended upon him. You can't avoid it. In the New Testament there is a clear connection between baptism and the Holy Spirit. We are born the first time in water, when our mother's water breaks, and the second time in water again - baptism, and by the Spirit. The Spirit is what makes the second birth different from the first.

It's like those new credit cards that come in the mail but are not activated until we call a toll free number. The card is there, in our hand. That we have it is a sign of our credit-worthiness (that some bank, somewhere loves us), but it can't be used (It has no economic power.) until it is activated. The Holy Spirit activates our baptisms. They are there, and they are signs God's great love for us, but they produce no results until the Holy Spirit comes. The strongest evidence of the importance of the Spirit in baptism, among the early Christians, is this intriguing little story in the Book of Acts. Peter and John are sent by the Christians in Jerusalem to Samaria where, it is said, some have accepted the word of God in Jesus Christ. When they arrive they discover that the new Samaritan Christians have been baptized but had not received the Holy Spirit, so (understanding immediately what was needed) Peter and John prayed for them, and laid their hands upon them, and they received the Spirit. Their baptisms were now complete.

Unfortunately Christians over the centuries, and even today, argue among themselves over what this "baptism of the Spirit" should look like. And too often the essence of the argument is this: I think the Spirit should manifest itself in you the same way it manifests itself in me! So, if I speak in tongues, you should too. If my gift is teaching, then teaching's the best gift. But it has always seemed to me that that's perfectly contrary to the point. The Spirit is free because the Spirit is God, and God is free. Jesus himself said we can't know what the Spirit's up to, where it's coming from or where it's going. So, by definition, the Spirit can, if it chooses, affect one person this way and another some other way. I know Paul lists "gifts of the spirit" in I Corinthians 12: being an apostle, prophecy, discernment, wisdom, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, and so forth, but I don't think Paul's meant his list to be exclusive. I have known people in whom the Holy Spirit has manifested itself in music, in art, in drama, in the ability to comfort those who are distressed, in bold leadership, in meek submission, and in love (which, in the chapter following his list of gifts, Paul said was the principle mark of the presence of the Spirit. Though I speak in tongues, like men and like angels, and have not love … I am nothing) To some the Spirit has come dramatically, to some quietly. We do not tell if the Spirit is present in someone by the intensity of his experience, but by his works. If the fruit is good, the tree is good.

Our founder, John Wesley, when he received the Spirit (on Aldersgate Street, in London) reported only that his heart "was strangely warmed." That's as close as John Wesley ever came, himself, to a dramatic religious experience. Yet there is no question that Wesley found the Spirit that day - his life changed! And when he preached, people who heard him would sometimes swoon, or start to shout, or speak in tongues, or fall over, and all the rest, and he never discouraged it. Because he knew that the Spirit of God manifested itself in many ways. Would that the church would learn that today! Wesley never had an altar call, because (I think) he thought that would be directing the work of the Spirit too much. If someone received his preaching with real interest, and inquired what it might mean for him, Wesley would invite him to attend the next Wednesday night meeting. His followers had all kinds of experiences in the Spirit (still do), some very dramatic. That was not Wesley's experience. But he respected the Spirit's freedom.

Having said this (that God's Spirit comes in many ways, and we should be careful not to prejudge how it will come, in whom and to what end) it is still hugely important for Christians to have their baptisms activated by the Spirit. It is still unacceptable to be like those Samaritans, and to have only the baptism of water. Next Sunday, at the eleven o'clock service, we will baptize eight children. Not infants, but preschoolers and school age children. What shall we say to them when we apply the water? "This is all there is?" "Make the most of it, in a world that will try you and tempt you in every way?' Or shall we say, "This is a promise of something wonderful. This is a promise of strength and courage, peace and satisfaction, for all your life, by the power of God's Holy Spirit?" Jesus actually told his disciples that they would be better off with him dead, because then they would then have the Holy Spirit. They couldn't imagine what he was talking about. Remember your baptism. Remember the promise. Don't wait for the Spirit.

Don't by afraid to seek the Spirit of God. It won't make you crazy. It is your rightful inheritance. Remember your baptism.