Well Pleased - Mark 1:10-13

As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.” Immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan… Mark 1:10-13

Jesus is mine and I am His.

And Jesus, according to this passage pleased God the Father.

This means much for me and my life; Let me explain.

Paul says to the church in the book of Colossians -

“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1‭-‬3 CSB

So let me try to pull this together.

Jesus was pleasing to God the Father.

I have died with Him. My life is hidden with Christ in God. What?

My dirty, sinful, messy self is hidden. With Christ. With Christ.

And that makes me pleasing to God.

Now, I’m not claiming that God is pleased with my sin. No. I am saying that I am with Jesus. I am hidden with Christ. I am protected from the wrath of God.

And from that position, I am okay.

I am on a solid foundation. Not one I built. Jesus built it. So, in my struggle with life, with sin, even then, there is a sense in which I am well-pleasing to God.

Titus 3:5 says, “he saved us —not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy — through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

I am righteous, not because I did it. I am righteous because of His mercy and the Holy Spirit keeps on washing and renewing me. Wow.

Now here’s the interesting and even a little bit terrifying part; right after the Father declared that He was well pleased with Jesus, His son, the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. 40 hungry days.

Here’s the order.

    1. Jesus gets baptized.
    2. The heavens are torn open.
    3. The Spirit descends on Him like a dove.
    4. A voice from heaven (the father) says, "You are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased."

That is so amazing. What a great event! And it is. Then…

    5. The Spirit drove him into the wilderness.

This was no wilderness camping trip.  This was fasting. This was temptation. This was one hundred percent Jesus depending upon the Father. This was testing.

And it sounds awful.

But here’s the thing. Jesus was prepared for this. He did not stumble. He did not slip. With the help of his father, he prevailed. He passed the test.

What a major victory against Satan! Jesus looked him in the face and by the power of the Word, he crushed the temptation.

And then… he ate a sandwich. Not before.

This is my Jesus. Your Jesus.  The only Jesus.

He prevails over sin.

And it is in him I am hidden.

I’ve had those beautiful “mountain-top” experiences only to get immediately tested and find myself eating dirt.

See, in my mind, I had it wrong. I thought the camp-fire moment was supposed to last and grow and I would keep feeling beautiful all over.

Those moments when I know the Holy Spirit is right with me, may well often come right before he leads me into the lion’s den.

And in that dark place, I am to trust Him. To depend upon Him. To know Him.

He gives me what I need in that moment. That's grace. 

My life is hidden with Christ in God. Even when I feel God dumped me, He didn’t. Feelings matter, but they aren’t the guiding principle. God’s Word is.

He guides me. He hides me. Today.

Lord, I need you when I feel great. I need you when I need to get scraped up off the pavement of life. I need you when life is easy. I need you when I’m being attacked. And in all of this: my life is hidden in you. I trust you now. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.