Look, the Lamb of God!

John 1:29-41

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).

Look, the Lamb of God!

What do you do when you see something really cool? “Hey Don, did you see McDavid’s goal last night? You have to check out this replay.” “Oh man, look at that moose. It’s majestic.” Or, if you are my 2-year-old son and you see one of the 300 school buses that drives by every day, you go, “Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.”

When we see something amazing, we want to share that experience with the people we love. John the Baptist saw something amazing in our Gospel reading today: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said,

“Look the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”[1]

That one sentence is a sermon in itself. There is so much in those 24 words both for us to marvel at, and for us to share with the people we love.

I think the first thing that stands out to me is who it was whom John saw. It was Jesus. For the first 30 years of his life, Jesus certainly would have stood out as a very nice man, e.g. reliable, trustworthy, kind, humble, generous, etc…, but that’s about it. No one would have looked at Jesus and said, “Surely you are God in the flesh.”

But when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove – apparently just as God told John he would – and then, if there were still any doubts, the heavens opened above them and a voice spoke from the clouds, announcing, “This is my Son who I love, with him I am well pleased.”

God revealed Jesus to John and to the rest of the eyewitnesses on the banks of the Jordan River as the long-promised Saviour of the World. Without that revelation, people may have thought that Jesus was a good guy, but not much more than that. But because of that revelation, John could see Jesus walking his way and say,

“Look the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”[2]

It may seem like a simple and obvious statement that you’d expect to hear in a Christian church that Jesus is the Son of God and the promised Saviour of the world. But whether you’ve that truth once or a thousand times, it’s still worth hearing again because it reminds us who Jesus really is and clarifies why we come to worship him.

Jesus was not just a nice guy whose example we have decided we want to follow, like Gandhi or Mother Theresa. Our congregation does not exist to feed the hungry, clothe the cold, or comfort the lonely. We may and should do those things, but they are not our purpose or our reason for gathering together every week.

Similarly, Jesus is not just a great teacher whose instruction we want to learn so that we can be wiser, so that we can have answers to life’s greatest questions. We don’t come to church to become philosophers. We don’t come to church to make sense of the world, or to find our place in it.

That’s why Jesus’ question to Andrew and John is so perfect. When two of John the Baptist’s disciples decided to follow Jesus, he asked them, “What do you want?”[3] Not, “Who are you looking for?” but, “What do you want?”

Unfortunately, we follow Jesus for all the wrong reasons. I’ve hit rock bottom and I don’t know where else to go. I’m sick or dying, and now I’m afraid. I’m looking for someone, something, anything to solve my problem. I’m lonely and looking for my people. I cherish the values I learned as a child and want to keep being a good person.

Now, don’t get me wrong, whatever it is that caused you to come to church, to look at Jesus with curiosity or hope, even for a second, is a tool in God’s hands to bring you to where you really need to be. And your God does care about whatever it is your going through, whatever problem you can’t solve, whatever anxiety you can’t calm. But when John saw Jesus, he didn’t say, “Look, here comes your Problem Solver; here comes your Mentor; here comes your Medicine Man.” He said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”[4] That’s what John was excited to see and share.

This world does need people to take compassion on each other. This world does need believers who buy in to what the Bible teaches. In short, this world needs Christians acting like Christians. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? We don’t always act like Christians.

We don’t always answer the call to help people in need, even when that call comes to our doorstep, much less when we have to go looking for people in need. We don’t always look for the wisdom of God from his Word. Instead, to make sense of the world we live in, we turn to popular psychology; to learn how to be a better parent we look for hacks on TikTok. Sometimes, we even come to church or read God’s Word or turn to him in prayer not because of who he is, but because of what we think we can get from him.

If there are elements of your life that feel messed up, they are only a symptom of the sin that lives in each of us, i.e. the sin that makes us selfish, the sin that indulges in harmful craving without caring about the consequence, the sin that ruins relationships, that separates us from our God, that even makes our coming to church all about me and what I can get from God rather than a celebration of who my God is.

But that’s why John was so excited, because when he looked at Jesus, he saw the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

When God organized the Jewish religion, he gave his people a symbol of their salvation – the sacrifice of innocent animals. Those animals hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, God demanded that only the best lambs, without blemish or defect, were to be used for sacrifice. The people would lay their hands on those animals, symbolically passing their sin and guilt from themselves to the lambs, and then slaughter them on the altar of God to pay for their sins with that animal’s blood. Blood, death is the only thing that can pay for sin.

But all those animals for all those years were just symbols of salvation. They were all pointing ahead to the true Lamb of God who would take all our sin away.

I said before that to look at Jesus you would have seen a really nice guy – reliable, trustworthy, kind, humble, generous, etc… Well, that would be an understatement. He was perfect in every way. He always cared for other people. He always kept his priorities straight. He always did everything that a good person does, and he did it all for the right reasons – not for show or to get something from someone, but from sincere love for others and for his Father in heaven.

Another way you could say that is that Jesus was pure and spotless, a Lamb without blemish or defect. He was perfect in every way, which perfectly qualified him to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin. When Jesus went to the cross, it was as if each of us laid our sins on him, unburdened ourselves of our guilt and received the peace of his forgiveness. He took all our sins away. He paid for them with his holy, precious blood. He removed all our guilt from us forever when he died on that tree.

And yet that’s not exactly what John says here, is it? John doesn’t say, “Look, the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world,” or, “who did take away the sin of the world.” He says, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” i.e. “who is taking… who keeps taking… who continually takes your sin away.”

That’s the comfort you have knowing that Jesus is the Lamb of God. No matter how many sins you commit, no matter how many times you fail in your calling as a father or mother, a neighbour or a friend, no matter how many times you fall back into that same sin you just can’t shake, Jesus takes that sin away too. He is your never-ending, all-sufficient Lamb of salvation who takes every one of your sins away.

That’s why we come to church week after week. It’s not to become better people. It’s not to serve our community. It’s not even to become Bible scholars. It’s to be forgiven, to live in the grace of our God that sent his Son to be the Lamb of sacrifice to take all our sin away. We come here to hear those glorious words at the start of almost every service:

God, our merciful Father, has forgiven all our sins. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Redeemer and Savior. Jesus paid the penalty for our guilt by his death on the cross and freed us from death by his resurrection from the grave. We have peace with God now and forever.

It’s little wonder, then, that John the Baptist got excited when he saw Jesus. “Ooh, ooh, ooh! Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” It’s little wonder that the Apostles John and Andrew went and found their brothers James and Peter and said,

“We have found the Messiah!”[5]

That’s the joy and excitement we have every time we hear God’s Word, and that’s the opportunity you have everyday to say to someone you love, “Look, I can’t cure your disease or addiction; I can’t solve your problem, but I can point you to the one who supplies your greatest need. Look, the Lamb of God who takes your sin away. Let me show you Jesus, not for what earthly benefits he may offer, but for who he is, your loving Saviour, who shoulders your every sin, who bears your every burden, who frees you from guilt and shame and who gives you the hope of heaven. Look, the Lamb of God, who takes all your sin away!” Amen.

[1] John 1:29

[2] John 1:29

[3] John 1:36

[4] John 1:29

[5] John 1:41

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Baptism Binds Us to Jesus

Romans 6:1-11

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Baptism Binds Us to Jesus

Have I ever told you what my favourite winter sport is? Biathlon. I’ve never participated in the biathlon. I don’t even know how to cross-country ski. But whenever the biathlon comes on TV I cannot tear my eyes away. It’s fascinating!

For those of you who don’t know, biathlon is a sport in which you cross-country ski for a while, and then you take a break and shoot some targets with a bb gun you’ve had strapped to your back the whole time. Biathlon is the weirdest, quirkiest sport, and I’m here for it. I could watch it all day long.

I think what fascinates me the most is how biathletes have to somehow calm themselves down enough to be able to shoot a gun with any kind of accuracy. Imagine that you just skied over hill and under dale for 3km while racing other people and without skipping a beat you have to slow your breathing and calm your heartrate and try to hit a disc about the size of a coffee cup lid from 100m away.

To be fair, you do get eight bullets to hit 5 targets. If you miss once, that’s fine. Twice, you’re OK. Three times, now you have to be perfect the rest of the way. If you miss more than that, you have to ski an extra lap in the circle of shame, and your chances of catching up to anybody else and winning the race absolutely plummet.

Clearly I can talk about biathlon for a while, but that’s not why I’m standing up here today. Today is all about baptism, and while there don’t seem to be many similarities between baptism and biathlon, there is one similarity that is absolutely necessary for you to understand if you have any hope of getting anything out of baptism. It comes down to a single word that the Apostle Paul used 7 times in 11 verses: sin.

ἁμαρτίᾳ is the Greek word for “sin.” The picture behind that word is of a target, like a biathlete would aim at. “Sin” is anything other than hitting the dead centre of the bullseye. That is the standard that God sets for your life. He doesn’t just want you to hit the target. He demands that you hit the bullseye.

Unfortunately, oftentimes, I’m afraid that we have a very different understanding of what sin is. We all know that it would be terribly wrong for a biathlete to take his rifle, turn around and fire on the crowd; that’d be awful, inexcusable, punishable to the highest degree. Even if they accidentally clipped their opponent while loading their gun, they’d be disqualified from the race, not because they’re hate-filled monsters, but because they’re recklessly endangering other people’s lives.

We understand that actions have consequences. I don’t have to convince you that murder is wrong, or that endangering other people’s lives because you’re driving recklessly on the Henday deserves to be punished.

The harder truth in Christianity is that that’s not all that sin is. The harder truth is that anything less than perfection is sin. You can hit the target – you can be an eyelash away from the bullseye – but because you didn’t do exactly what you were supposed to do, exactly how you were supposed to do it, with exactly the right attitude in your heart about it, you’re sinful.

Now, my guess is that most of us here would think that we’re pretty good people. We’re in church on a Sunday morning, after all. I heard recently that only 13% of Canadians go to church regularly. You’re in the top 13%... if you’re here regularly. Even if you were here every week – even if you were part of every Bible study, every outreach event, every community service activity – it doesn’t matter. You’re sinful, even while you’re here.

Here's something that none of us wants to hear: a Christian sins in all of his good works. We sin while we pray, we sin while we’re at church, we sin while we listen to God’s Word. Do you ever pray as earnestly and selflessly as Jesus taught you to? Do you ever listen to God’s Word as attentively as you should? If you are anything less than absolutely perfect all the time, then you’re sinning.

And the terrifying reality about sin is that the wages of sin is death. The soul who sins is the one who will die. In God’s court of law, there are no do-overs, no mulligans, not even three extra chances to get it right or a circle of shame to ski around to try to make things right. Sin, of any quantity and of every variety, is punishable by death, both on earth and in eternity.

You don’t have to be a hate-filled monster to be a sinner. Everyone in this room is a sinner, including the 10 month old baby, the guy in the front wearing white, and you. Everyone here deserves to suffer the consequences of their sin. Everyone here has earned death for their sin.

But for everyone in this room – and for everyone everywhere who hears God’s Word of promise – there is grace. You can literally hear the sound of that grace right now; it’s bubbling over in the baptismal font you all walked past to be here today.

Baptism is this amazing gift that God gives us to save our lives and to change our lives. The Apostle Paul laid it out for us in Romans 6:

All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. 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.[1]

Now, Paul packs a lot into a few words. If your eyes glazed over a bit as I read that to you, I wouldn’t blame you. Allow me to unpack it for you.

The first thing to notice is how intimately baptism binds you to Jesus. You were baptized into Christ Jesus and into his death. You were buried with him into death, so that you could be raised with him to new life. Baptism binds you to Jesus so that you become the beneficiary of everything he did for you.

I said before that the wages of sin is death, and that every one of us is guilty of sin, and therefore every one of us deserves to die. Well, we have died – in baptism, because baptism is the thing that connects you to the death of Jesus. When he died on the cross, he sacrificed his perfect, sinless life for yours. He paid your debt. In baptism, God assures you that Jesus’ death paid for your sins.

And after Jesus died, he was buried. For three days he stayed in that tomb, but when Easter morning dawned, he rose from the dead a completely different person. He wasn’t meek anymore; he was mighty, because he was done bearing the burden of your sin. He buried that sin in the grave and left it there.

Baptism is the thing that connects you to Jesus’ burial. It was a happy accident in our church architecture that the basin for our baptismal font looks vaguely like a coffin. It wasn’t intentional, but it fits this imagery very well. In baptism, we were buried with Christ and our sins were buried too. That’s why we have this tradition of stones with our baptismal date engraved on them forever “buried” in the waters of baptism. You can rest in peace, knowing that God does not count your sins against you anymore, because in baptism, you were buried with Jesus.

And after Jesus was buried, he rose to new life. That’s your daily reality too. The remembrance of your baptism gives you the ability to wake up every day and say, “I have died to sin; how can I live in it any longer?” “I know that my old self was crucified with Christ; I’ve been set free from sin.” “I consider myself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Baptism gives you a whole new lease on life. It’s not a second chance. It’s not a do-over or a clean slate, as if from now on you have to try to be perfect. Boy, if that were the case, we’d be conducting baptisms all day, every day. No, baptism gives you a new lease on life, a new perspective and a new purpose.

Your goal isn’t to be perfect. That’s what Jesus did for you. Your goal isn’t to be good enough to get into heaven. That’s God guarantee to you by grace. Your goal is to be alive to God, to live for him, to let your life be changed by what God did for you in your baptism, to let your life be changed by being connected to Christ.

That’s the new life that Paul talks about in Romans 6. It’ll look different for each of us. We each have our own pet sins that we will struggle to set aside. We each have spiritual gifts and God-given opportunities that are unique to each of us. So, the new life that is ours in baptism isn’t always going to look the same, but there are some things about that new life that are universal – coming together regularly for worship, studying God’s Word together to grow our faith, working together to spread that life-saving, life-changing Gospel with others, celebrating gifts of God’s grace like baptism together.

Baptism binds us together with Jesus and makes us beneficiaries of his life, death and resurrection; in baptism, we receive the benefits of forgiveness for our sins, a new lease on life here in this world, and eternal life with him forever in heaven.

If you have a stone with your name on it in our baptismal font, wonderful! I rejoice to know that we get to share this precious promise together every week as we gather together as a church family. If you were baptized somewhere else and don’t even know when, wonderful! You are still a child of God, bound to Christ and a beneficiary of his grace. If you haven’t been baptized yet, I know a guy. He’d be willing to baptize you today if you wanted, or to talk about it, at least, for some day in the future.  

Whoever you are, whatever your story, baptism is for you. Baptism saves lives and changes lives. It binds you to Christ, buries your sin in his grave, and frees you to live for God. May God strengthen you to live in your baptismal grace all the days of your life. Peace be with you. Amen.

[1] Romans 6:3,4

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