Are You Ready? (2)
John 1:1-14
I chose this passage to demonstrate
the importance of being ready to receive what God prepared for us.
Jesus is sinless. He does not need baptism. Yet, he wants to be baptized to demonstrate his solidarity with the human
problem. We need to be baptized, because we all are sinners and we all need to
die to the old nature to have new life with Jesus. Our sinful nature should
die. All of humanity needs this, yet many of us take this lightly, or reject it
completely.
In the passage that John wrote,
three times we read about rejection:
“The light shines in the
darkness, but the darkness has not
understood it.” (John 1:5)
“He was in the world, and
though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” (John 1:10)
“He came to that which was
his own, but his own did not receive him.”
(John 1:11)
Rejection,
not understanding, not receiving…..
I was listening to a
Christmas sermon by Rev. Greg Harutounian. In his
sermon, he was talking about giving gifts. The Christmas season is good for the
economy. I mean everyone is going shopping. People are waiting to receive
gifts. Children have expectations. Adults have expectation. In the rush of this
season, we also remember to give gifts to Jesus, by helping
someone, by giving to the Church. It is a wonderful act to give gifts to
people. But we should be cautious when we give gifts to God. Does God need my gift?
He certainly does not need my
gift or your gift. God wants us to
receive Him: to receive the best gift. We are so busy with our gift
exchange, and with giving to God “something”, we forget the best thing, to receive
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“He came to that which was
his own, but his own did not receive him.”
(John 1:11)
Jesus Christ is complete. Let
us read again what John says:
“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has
been made. In him was light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyman.” (John 1:6-9)
God is complete. Jesus is complete. We need Him. I need Him. I need to receive His grace everyday. Therefore, in baptism, Jesus is declaring that his
ministry is bringing that new life, the Good News, the Good News of salvation. He wants us to receive it, simply receive
it.
He is the Good News. There,
immersed in the water, in the act of baptism, he is demonstrated to us what is to
come. That is the reason he said to Zebedee’s sons, “Are you ready to be
baptized with my baptism?”
His baptism is a tough one.
In his baptism, Jesus is looking forward to a new beginning,
he is teaching us and demonstrating to us by dying to the old nature and having a new
one. Let us not take this lightly; it is a very serious thing to be baptized.
It is a declaration that one has accepted Jesus Christ and is ready to die to his sins.
“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may
live a new life” (
In his sermon, Rev. Greg mentioned
that his brother Paul, for some reason, returns all his Christmas gifts to the
givers. It is strange; yes, he returns them without even opening them!
Rejecting the gift of Jesus salvation is like rejecting
the gifts you receive.
How do you feel when you
prepare a gift, a brand new one (not leftover), present it, and are rejected?
Unfortunately, many of us
reject the gift of salvation. Many of us are careless in accepting the gift and
growing in our spiritual life.
Today, how can we approach His
table without receiving Him in our life?
Arnold Palmer
is a famous golf player and teacher. He even has a website for shopping. Once
he was invited by the Saudi King to train him. He went to
Next day
the news came to him that the King would feel very bad if he rejected the gift.
He was only joking. The next
morning he received in his hotel room a 500
acre golf club title. Yes, a golf club with 18 holes and everything in it…
If an
earthly king is giving such an enormous gift, how about our heavenly Father, and
the Son, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? He is offering the best gift, to free us from our sin
and to give us new life. How can we reject such a gift?
I want to close by what God
the Father declared about Jesus:
“You are my
son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”( Luke 3:22).
You know, by accepting Jesus,
we are going to be called son and daughters of God. How can we reject such a
precious gift?
Open yourself to Jesus this
morning. Accept him in your life. You will see new changes in you. Accept him;
do not reject him.
Let us approach the table
prepared for us by our Lord.
Amen