faith in the midst of financial crisis

from my sermon on 1/9/11, from Matthew 3:13-17

Who are you? What are you worth? Today we begin a 6 week series on Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. Today we also celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, a day when we remember that Jesus was baptized. I believe the sacrament of baptism has answers to the questions who are you and what are you worth.

Who are you? I have been reading Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller. It is the story of his coming to faith. In his chapter on money, he had a line that really got me: We are our possessions, you know.

So who are you? Are you your house? I remember when Cathy and I were able to purchase a house in San Antonio. Members of the church would ask us where it was. We would say 134 Hiler. What zip code is that? We would say 78209. They would say, "Oh, you are oh niners!" Does our zip code determine who we are?

I want you to do a memory exercise. Get a picture of the house you grew up in. We had mom and dad and four kids in a 3 bedroom, 1 and 1/2 bath house. Today Cathy and I live all by ourselves in a 5 bedroom, 2 and 1/2 bath house. What happened? I googled this info this morning: since the 1950's, the average U. S. house has doubled in size. Today the average house is 2400 sq. ft. Are we the size of our house?

Who are you? Are you the designer labels on your clothes, your shoes, your handbag, your fragrance? In the early service, Jay, who is quite rotund, called out that his clothes designer was Omar the Tentmaker!

Who are you? Are you your car? Are you know by its size, its safety rating, its price?

Who are you? Are you your stock portfolio? In late 2007, the stock market started falling. How far did it fall? 54%....you say. I wonder, did that make you 54% less than you were? Can you be 54% less a person?

Who are you? We have a great fear of identity theft. This is no laughing matter. A young man in our former church named James went into the Army, went to Iraq as a chaplain's assistant, came back, and someone got his bank acct. number, and cleaned him out. It has been a real mess trying to recover from that.

We are known by all kinds of numbers. You have your social security number, 9 digits. You are cautioned not to give it out. You have a bank acct. number, 10 digits. Then you have PIN to access that acct. Then you have a credit card number, 16 digits. Whenever you give it, you are asked for the expiration date, then on the back that security code.

We have passwords to protect our identity. And if you forget the password, you have a security question. What is your mother's maiden name? What is the name of your family pet?

Who are you? Are these numbers who we are? Can one really steal our identity by gaining access to these numbers? Is this who we are?

Who are you? Today, we say, you are baptized! We are not baptized in the name of Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and AIG. We are baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are not baptized in the name of Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. We are baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In this baptism scene in Matthew, we have the Son coming to John in the wilderness to be baptized by him. The Holy Spirit comes down in the form of a dove. The Father speaks, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Only Matthew tells the story this way. It is not the Father speaking to the Son, You are my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, but the Father speaking to the crowd, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. It is not Jesus who needs to hear these words, but us. We find out who we are by knowing who Jesus is.

Jesus joins us in baptism. Therefore, he joins us in our fear so we may know his freedom. He joins us in our brokenness so we may know his healing. He joins us in our sin so we may know his salvation. That's why Jesus is baptized.

Who are you? In debt...you are baptized. Well off...you are baptized. Stressed...you are baptized. Confident...you are baptized. Out of work...you are baptized. Gainfully employed...you are baptized. Market up....you are baptized. Market down....you are baptized.

God tells us who we are in our baptism. This identity is indelible. It doesn't wash off. Our identity is sure. That's why we are baptized once for life. Today we will be given the opportunity to remember our baptism...to remember who we are...as we come and touch the water.

What are you worth? We have several financial planners in this church. They may take you through an exercise where you list all of your assets: stocks, bonds, savings acct., checking acct., real estate, insurance policy cash values, etc. Then you would list all of your liabilities: mortgages, loans, debts, etc. The difference between the 2 is your "Net worth." But is that what you are worth?

Jesus is baptized to show us what we are worth. Only Matthew has this dialogue. John says, I need to be baptized by you. Jesus responds, Let it be in order to fulfill all righteousness. Righteousness doesn't mean rules and regulations; it means right relationships. Jesus is baptized to stay in right relationship with the Father. He is baptized to stay in right relationship with us. He does not follow the conventional wisdom, nor what the religous authorities want, nor what the politicians dictate. He follows righteousness. By being baptized, He sets in motions a series of events that lead him to a hill outside of Jerusalem. Jesus says in the gospels, "I have a baptism to be baptized with." He was talking of his death on a cross. What are you worth? You are of infinite worth. As it says in the credit card commercial, "Priceless."

How much is enough? Today we believe that a little bit of water in baptism is enough to tell us who we are and what we are worth.