Hey Everybody,
This week was the first presidential Debate between the two front-runners of our two major political parties. I don't hop onto my social feeds very often. Still, during the Debate, I opened up the Book-Face and noticed that there were LOTS of comments about the Debate flooding my feed. Most comments were vague because they didn't mention the candidate they discussed in their post. Then I noticed a friend of mine who posted something to the effect of:
Not to offend, but I can tell who you are voting for because everyone is saying that the candidate they oppose is "dancing around the answers." You do realize they are BOTH doing that, right?
In our hot political climate, everyone is taking to the socials to either share who they are FOR or tear down who they are AGAINST, but in both instances, they are identifying their political leanings. I'm not sure if my feed is like yours, but I have a lot of people on both sides of the aisle, and both sides seem to be equally as passionate about their candidate of choice. It seems that when you are passionate about something, it can be hard to keep it to yourself. You start sharing what you believe and identifying yourself as Team Republican or Team Democrat.
If this is true of our politics, shouldn't it be even more true in matters of faith? In an upcoming message, I say that it would be a shame if you reached the end of your life and people knew who you voted for but didn't know who you lived for!
Last week, we were introduced to John the Baptizer in the kick-off of our current series, Less is More. His mission was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah, and his message was simple. Luke tells us that "John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven." (Luke 3:3)
Baptism is an outward sign to people that you have had an inward change. Turning from sin and turning to God can be hard to "see," so there is the sign of baptism. The first baptism of the new ministry year at Believers is coming up on Sunday, September 22, after the second service. At Believers, baptisms are always celebrated big, because we believe someone embarking on their faith journey with Jesus is a really big deal! If you have recently come to faith in Jesus or have never publicly identified yourself as a follower of Jesus through baptism, sign up here.
Of course, baptism is just the beginning. After baptism, how you live and conduct yourself identifies you as a follower of Jesus. And just like it's easy to identify your political leanings when posting about politics on your social feeds, it should be easy to identify you as a follower of Jesus by the way you live your life. To those being baptized, John told them how to live, demonstrating their repentance so that others could see the change in them. He said:
"If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry." Luke 3:11
To the tax collectors, he said, "Collect no more taxes than the government requires." Luke 3:13
To soldiers, he said, "Don't extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay." Luke 3:14b
John effectively says that the lives of those who have turned to God in faith should look different than those who haven't. That seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? Let me encourage you: as we make our way through this toxic cultural moment, let's conduct ourselves in such a way that it will be obvious to people around us that we are followers of Jesus. That will make a FAR bigger difference than who you vote for. Who you vote for could change policy. But who you live for could change hearts and eternities!
Looking forward to seeing you and those you invite to sit with you this Sunday as we continue our series, Less is More.
Pastor Jamey