Paddling Upstream

 

our 2nd Sunday of looking at the 

We jump into our 2nd Sunday looking at the Sacraments and the matter of Baptism. 

Last week, we covered the basics of the holy plunge into the water. Whether you have been sprinkled or poured upon or dunked into the deep, there should be a desire in our hearts to want to separate from the old life before we knew Christ as we make a commitment to follow Him. This moment we are brought to is conceived and brought to fruition by none other than the Grace of God. God Himself draws us to him. When we approach with faith and trust, we find ourselves becoming a child of God. Jesus set an example for us to follow. Being a child of the Almighty means putting off ourselves (our haphazard wants, our flimsy cares, our carnal desires) and listening to the call from Above. But, what happens if we don't stay the course? What happens if we don't continue to follow Jesus? What if our desires try to pull and tug us in another direction instead the way we intended to go after our baptism? Paul has some words for his Galatian audience about being a Child of God that apply to our subject today.

In an article titled "The Battle After Baptism", Darci Claggett of Discovery Church in Orlando, FL sites the struggles she has had in her own life following the moment of baptism. She says "My new walk met me with immediate attacks from the enemy. Sin brought me down again and again leaving me to question whether I had really been saved. It wasn’t until a couple years after my baptism that one of my dear friends and mentors taught me that Christ followers are in a spiritual battle every single day. You see, the enemy doesn’t have to fight for you when you are already walking with him. But as soon as the enemy knows you have been washed by the blood of Jesus, he rallies his army and begins to fight against your salvation." There's a certain weakness in the law that does not have the power of salvation to hold us up. The law can only point to what is correct and right. And, we can nod and accept that we know what the right thing is to do. Our enemy knows this. Under our own strength, with the light of the law shining into our world, we are powerless to follow. On our own, we cannot do what God wants. It is through believing in what Christ has done for us, through faith and trust in Christ Himself, that we find the help we need. 

Without Christ in our lives, the fight to do what is right can seems like an uphill battle. Imagine what it would be like to fight the current going upstream in a boat? I want to immerse us in the field of analogy and illustration this morning. Too often we gather for a message or a study and we want to simple be told what to believe. Even when we are given a picture image by which to explain something we come away with the matter cemented in our heads. "That's exactly how it is!" Too often we miss the moment to think deeply about something through the use of illustration. Now, lets use this subject of baptism and the idea of not keep instep with our vows and drop our minds into the area of what it would be like to fight and struggle like a salmon going up stream in the American West. What do you know about the life of a salmon fish? Finn Sky has been an avid fisherman since learning to fish with his dad in the 1990s. He’s caught over 50 species of fish and makes a habit of trying out as many new techniques and fisheries as he can. His specialties are salmon and trout fishing, but he also has experience fishing for tropical and pelagic fish such as marlin and tarpon. Finn wrote a piece just a few months ago in November 2021 about the life and trials of salmon during late September or early October in places like Oregon and Washington. The one thing that seems to intrigue most people is simply - WHY? Why do these fish fight to go upstream like this? Most of them die in the process and the ones who do make it to their egg laying destination will die not long after they make it.  There are lots of simple reasons that seem to make sense. The safety and security of these egg laying areas provides protection for their new salmon. Many more of their eggs will survive if hatched upstream then they would if opened near the ocean where so many predators could snatch them up for a meal. The ocean with its heavy currents can wash away newly laid eggs. Still, it is mind boggling to think that these fish give everything they have to make this trip just to lay some eggs. For distance sake, let find out just how far 2 miles is. The thought might make you wrinkle your eyebrows. It is 2.5 miles from the Thornville United Methodist Church out to Deere Valley on St Rt 204 east of the Village. That really doesn't seem very far. Most folks probably think they could walk there and back in one afternoon. Why would it take these fish weeks to get from point A to point B on the map?

Now, imagine if you will with me that the whole trip is uphill, as if Deere Valley were on top of some distant mountain. We are doing it on foot. These fish are swimming upstream. The current is coming at them, downhill, toward the ocean. To make the matter harder to deal with, some times there are man made dams in the way. These are necessary for the preservation of some rivers and lakes. But, its another obstacle making the trip tougher for the fish. If we were on foot and the wind were blowing hard from the east, right into our faces, how hard would it be to make that up hill walk? I dropped Caleb off at school on Tuesday morning when the wind was blowing really hard from the Southwest. Many of the kids had taken refuge around the corner of the building as they waited for the doors to open and let them in for the day of classes. Have you ever driven your car down the road on a day like that? Even zipping along at 55 MPH it can feel like your car is going to blown off the road. 

You might be thinking, where are you going with all this preacher? That's partially my point. We don't process illustration very well. We want to be told what to believe and we don't want to have to think for ourselves. Can we put ourselves in the shoes of the salmon fish for a moment and liken it somehow to our own uphill struggle in life? What if the whole trip from here to Heaven and being with Jesus were only a simple 2.5 mile trip? But its all uphill with the wind in our face? There's nothing but water crashing against us as we are jumping waves and currents and trying to get over man made barriers put in our path? I say all of this to you today to reassure you of this. There is nothing wrong with you. This is how it's supposed to be. Salmon fish give everything they have for the simple cause of giving birth to new offspring that will venture down stream, back toward the ocean and repeat the same process their ancestors did. Our cause is to reach people with the love and grace of Jesus Christ, giving of ourselves all along the way for the betterment of others. If we can parallel the analogy to our own lives and church, we see the struggle is very similar. High points. Low points. Times where the river is calm. Times where the river is a battle just to stay afloat or alive. The enemy wants us to give up on the trip. The river itself challenges us to keep going. We might lose some people along the way. The destination is always out there in front of us. We keep pressing on until we reach the goal. Until we have reached another person for Christ. Until we see Him face to face. Until we hear "Well Done." 

And the journey will have been worth it.