You know what people need in their lives today?  Direction!  People have lost their way. They have lost sight of healthy priorities.  Too many people in our world are just running around, doing whatever they want, with little or no thought for the consequences.  People need direction.  We need direction. And Jesus provides it.  Last week we talked about Jesus coming as Savior.  This week we will focus on Jesus coming as guide - the one who shows us the way, the one who is the way. 

Before Jesus came to offer himself as our life-guide, John the Baptist, a messenger of God, appeared in the wilderness of the Jordan announcing a coming kingdom.  Baptists are always where the action is at!  Following the Jewish prophetic tradition, John called the people of Israel to repentance - to turn back to God.  It was a familiar call - one uttered by many previous prophetic voices.  But John's message was different, for this repentance was necessary in order to receive the kingdom that was coming in a man named Jesus.  People needed to turn back to God so that they would be open to recognize God's actions as God set the drama of salvation in motion.  John cried, Aprepare the way of the Lord.@  And the Lord that was coming was Jesus. And so John was a guide in his own right - guiding people back to God, back to the root of their faith, back to God's priorities, but ultimately guiding them to Jesus.

John created a significant sense of expectation for the people .  He was the first prophet to appear on the scene for a very long time.  Israel had a rich prophetic history and an expectation that God's will was revealed through these special messengers who spoke the very words of the Almighty.  But there had not been a prophet in Israel for many generations.  There was a feeling that there might not be a prophet again.  Perhaps the people had angered God and God had abandoned them to their own devices.  And so there was great excitement when John arrived on the scene, looking like the one of the prophets of old, which is to say, looking weird.  But the presence of a prophet signaled that God was doing something important and the people came to John and were baptized.  And their coming reflected their inner desire to deepen their spiritual lives, to be part of what God was doing  - and the act of baptism signaled their willingness to make a new start - a new birth if you will, embracing God in a new and more profound way.

And so John's ministry was extremely significant in the spiritual journey of the Jews.  His call to repentance touched a nerve - tapped into a real need - and large numbers of people,  recognizing their own spiritual poverty, came confessing their sins - which is to say, confessing their need for God, confessing their inability to manage on their own, confessing their failure to follow God's leading.  In many ways they were coming to find direction - and John provided it by telling them to change their minds and change their priorities and change their behavior and to turn back to their God and be ready to respond to what God was revealing.

And what God was revealing was a Savior who would guide them in the paths of righteousness and lead them to everlasting life.  John spoke of him as Athe one who is more powerful than I - the one whose sandals I am unworthy even to stoop down and touch.@  This must have been a startling revelation to those who had come to be John's disciples.  For a substantial following of zealous Jews had gathered around John, seeing him as a modern-day prophet and maybe even more.  And they hung out with John and sought to learn from him and deepen their faith.  And they must have wondered who John could have been talking about, who could be so much better, so much more powerful, so much more worthy that  John felt he was not even in the same category.  What would this one do that would set him apart from John?

John makes it clear: AI have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.@  Now that is some kind of difference, isn't it?  Without minimizing the importance of John's ministry, it is clear that he had his limitations.  John baptized with water.  That is to say, John performed a ritual that confirmed a greater truth.  There was no power or magic in the waters of the Jordan.  There was no power or magic in John's hands as he submersed those who came to him in repentance.  John was merely a conduit through whom God inspired people to respond to the invitation to repent and confess their sins and change their lives. John's part was important, but it was limited.  And of course the same is true about baptism today.  There is nothing extraordinary about the water itself.  There is no power imparted by the one doing the baptizing.  Baptism is meant to reflect the reality of an individual's choice to accept Christ as Lord, to confess their need for God's love and grace and their desire to live a godly life, following Christ's leading.  If the individual is sincere of heart, then God honors their action.  And the action of accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord has spiritual implications that involve the Holy Spirit.  Jesus and the Holy Spirit are linked.  And that was revealed in the very next thing that Mark records in his gospel.  Shortly after John speaks of the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit, Jesus shows up, gets baptized by John in the Jordan and as he came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit, descending like a dove,  came to rest on him, confirming Jesus as God's own Son, the beloved of the Father, and the man of the Spirit.  And this Jesus not only had the Spirit - he had the Spirit to give away.

John guided people to turn their lives over to God.  And those that did were open to recognize the kingdom of God which was present in this Jesus. In John's gospel Jesus says of himself, AI am the way, the truth and the life.@  When we give our lives to Christ, that relationship enables us to see the way that we should go.  When we ask Christ into our lives, we receive courage and discernment to know the truth - the truth about ourselves, our world and our God. When we surrender to Christ,  we discover life in all its wonder and complexity and joy.  For Jesus gives us his Spirit, and that Spirit dwells in us - takes up residence within - becomes as close to us as the beat of our hearts or the moving of our breath.  Jesus says that we will know the Spirit, because the Spirit abides with us and will be in us.  According to Jesus, the Spirit guides us into truth, transforms us into the people of God, helps us in our walk of faith.  In fact, in John, the word Jesus uses for the Spirit is Ahelper.@  The Greek suggests one who is called alongside of - a companion who assists us in the way.

Part of the challenge of Christian faith is to become sensitive to the Spirit who seeks to assist us, the Spirit who is our companion on the way. And this means that we are to look within to discern how to live.  Sometimes we assume that the answer is Aout there somewhere.@  God is up in the heavens, far removed and remote and it's hard to make that connection and receive direction.  But we are to look within, where the Spirit dwells, to search our hearts to know what is good.  Another prophet, Jeremiah, anticipated a day when God would make a new covenant, one where God would write the law on our hearts.  ANo longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, >know the Lord', for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.@  We are the recipients of that promise and of course Christ was the one who established the new covenant.  And if we take the time and ask for direction and truly open ourselves to God's influence, we will receive direction.  And that's what we need. 

It is what the Jews who came out to John in the wilderness of the Jordan needed - direction, a sense of God's presence and purpose in their lives.  They came with an awareness of their need and they sought a spiritual answer.  And John pointed them back to God and told them to be ready to receive the one who would give them the Spirit to be their guide and companion. The direction lies within.  And when we surrender to Christ, we undergo a transformation where God's purposes are internalized and we develop a sensitivity to God's Spirit.  That is why prayer is such an important part of the life of faith, for when we stop and quiet ourselves and listen for that still, small voice, the Spirit answers and guides us into the paths of righteousness and delivers us from evil.  This sensitivity takes a while to develop - it is a life-long process, but the Spirit is there to help us in our weakness and show us truth, if we are willing to listen and respond.

I suppose that part of the challenge for us is to examine where we are at, and how we are following Christ in our walk of faith.  If we want the Spirit of God to work in our lives, we need to be willing to follow the Spirit's leading.  And this means we need to be willing to pay attention to the Spirit's promptings.  And that prompting happens throughout our day as we take the time to be sensitive to the Spirit's presence.  We live in a world where people need direction.  Our culture is slightly out of control as people live at a frantic pace, madly chasing after every new thing, seeking novelty, pleasure, security, meaning - often looking in the wrong places.  It is easy, even for us, if we're not careful, to go through the day without giving God much thought at all.  And it's hard for the Spirit to help us if we're tuned out.  And so we need to make sure that the lines are open - and when they are, the guidance we need is there.  What a wonderful gift from God! 

So let us renew our commitment to free up the Spirit to work in us and guide us in the way everlasting.  Amen.