What you see isn’t always what it seems. There’s more than meets the eye. Have you ever thought about how quickly we make evaluations based off a first impression? In a split second, from the moment the eyes see to the moment the brain processes, so much analyzing takes place. We can judge a restaurant by the cleanliness of the bathroom floor, a book by its cover, a movie by a poster, but as you know, often what our eyes tell us isn’t the full story. If there’s one story that illustrates that better than any, it’s Jack and Beanstalk. Jack and his mom are on the verge of starvation, so he sells their cow for some beans. His mom obviously is ticked off, he was scammed! Or was he? All of a sudden the next day, a huge beanstalk appears, some “fi, fi, fo, fum’s” are heard, gold is grabbed, the giant chases and the beanstalk falls. But after that stalk came down, Jack and his mom have more gold than they ever dreamed. Those “worthless” beans were in actuality the rescue from poverty they needed. To Jack’s mother’s eyes they were seeds of death, but to Jack and as the story proves, they were the beginning of a new life for their family. The philanthropy of the man who traded the magic beans led to a whole new existence and purpose appearing. Do you think God’s philanthropy for us is like that? His special and unique love for us human beings that appears in ways that betray our vision? Is there more than meets the eye?
Whenever we hear that word “philanthropy” it’s almost always in connection to someone wildly wealthy right? The Bill Gates’s and the Jeff Bezos’s of the world. They give millions to the underprivileged all over the globe. Their foundations feed the hungry and heal the sick. So much goodness meets the eye! The word “philanthropy” comes straight from Greek and its base meaning is “love for people.” It’s a beautiful thing when such gifts of kindness happen, but there’s often more there than meets the eye. Many of these philanthropic efforts are done for the goal of gaining glory or feeling warm inside, and every one of these efforts is done for people we pity in some way, shape, or form.
Now imagine with me for a minute if philanthropy was done for people who abused us personally. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen or heard a news story of someone giving a huge sum of money to a person who was an emotional or physical abuser. I’ve never witnessed someone give millions to someone who rejected them, ghosted them, or abandoned them. Yet, that’s exactly the brand of philanthropy, love for people, that our God has.
The people of Crete are a prime example. Titus was a young pastor on this island, and the Apostle Paul had grand plans for Crete. It had all these international harbors and his hope was that Crete would be the launching pad of the gospel for the entire Mediterranean region. But there were some temple-sized problems in that plan. Cretans were well-known for their culture of lying and abuse. They held up Zeus as their role model for life, this idea that people could become gods, that people could eventually do whatever they wanted like Zeus did, whether that was being a womanizer or a never-to-be-caught thief. In other words, on Crete, their whole culture was based on a lie. The lie that you deserve whatever it is that fancies your sight and you can do whatever it takes to get it. It wasn’t philanthropy, it was philan-selfy, the love of self.
How could God love people like that? Make that question personal, and its impact hits home. How could God love a person like me? In Titus 3:3, Paul lays out who we used to be without Jesus, “foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” We are Cretans by nature. We shame others on social media to build up our personal brand. We are driven by what we want in the moment. We abandon God. We ghost God. We lived deceived. And maybe, there’s no more debilitating deception in Satan’s locker of lies, than the lie that our baptism means and does nothing.
You all see this font. You see the water dripping from my hand. Self-reflect with me for a minute, when was the last time you thought about the day you were baptized when you were at home, in the car, during supper, or at work? I’ll be the first to confess that it is a rare day when the wonder of my baptism leaves me breathless. To my shame, it’s far too easy to minimize baptism to just some water droplets and 13 words and leave it at that. What meets the eye in baptism doesn’t seem like much. A ceremony that lasts 5 minutes can’t mean a whole lot. Or so the deadly deceiver declares. He says as much because he knows where God’s philanthropy, his love for people, appears. It appears, it has its epiphany, in things that are far more than meet the eye.
Without Jesus in our lives and hearts, we are self-promoting Cretans. We disregard and minimize the things of God. We criticize God. We abandon God. It’s in those moments of being lost, it’s in those moments that outward appearance betrays the dangerous state of our hearts, that God’s philanthropic love for you enters in. Titus 3:4-7 was written for you, take in the words of a God who despite us causing him harm, wouldn’t be stopped from being moved to give us the greatest treasure, the most wonderful gift of philanthropy ever, “But when the kindness and love (that word literally means “love for humanity”), of God our Savior appeared, he saved (you), not because of righteous things (you) had done, but because of his mercy.” God’s mercy, not giving us what we deserve, leaves us breathless. When his love appeared, your life shifted in an entirely different direction. Do you know how that love appeared? How God’s unique and purposeful philanthropy for you was uncovered?
Listen closely, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Can you guess why this baptismal font is at the front? Why this is designed to be one of the first things you see when you enter your Father’s house? Your baptism was when your Father, your Savior, and your Sanctifier entered your heart and life forever. Through some water droplets and 13 words spoken over them, you were reborn. You are no longer a sin-stained Cretan, but a blood-bought child of God. Your identity is no longer confused, or full of suffering, or a dead end. Your identity, washed in the blood of Jesus, is now Christian. You have been reborn, every day you wake up renewed by God’s grace. Restored to live a new life, with joy splashing over everything you do. In this most unexpected of ways that defy the sense of sight, Jesus personally entered your life. The Holy Spirit crafted faith, your world changed forever. Through those tiny drops of water, you were transferred from death to life. God the Father looks at you just like he looks at Jesus. He sees you through the sight of Jesus and says, “This is my son, this is my daughter, whom I love. With him and with her, I am well-pleased.”
Why would his philanthropy appear for you and for me? Because that is simply who God is. His character is defined by selfless, self-giving love. Through your baptism, that is how your true identity and character is defined as well. Just look at the automatic result, the certain future that is yours through baptism: “so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Because you are a baptized and believing child of your heavenly Father and sibling of Jesus, you receive the greatest gift of God’s philanthropy: Certain hope. Don’t think that the “might” in this verse makes this hope uncertain. While it isn’t the best English grammar, this can be translated: “We got to become heirs.” There is no doubt of what you have through faith and baptism: The inheritance of heaven, and this gift of hope that transforms everything your eyes see in life.
You see water dripping from a faucet and you remember the identity Jesus gave you through baptism. As you dry your hands only to find your kids in tears, struggling to share, you calmly empathize with them, humbly call out their sin, and excitedly talk about Jesus and how he shared the greatest gift of all with us. When you hop into your work Zoom meeting and you see that co-worker who likes to talk over everyone else, instead of internally fuming with annoyance, you internally pray that she grows closer to Jesus, because maybe in her life she feels like no one takes her seriously or cares about her deeply. When your baptism is at the forefront of your mind, it changes how you look at your spouse. You look past faults and you have one purpose: To love them like Jesus so they can stand with you in heaven forever. As a baptized believer, you approach your friends with compassion and empathy. When you see your future through the certain waters of your baptism, you are empowered to live fearlessly. You see hope in the darkness and run to the Water of Life, your Savior, who pours grace into your life by the ton, not by a trickle.
Baptism isn’t some imaginative fairy tale of magic like Jack and the Beanstalk. It’s the real, authentic, and visible evidence of who you really are. It is the day that the Lord rejected Satan from claiming you as his property. It’s the moment your sins were drowned forever. It’s the springboard to every relationship and conversation you will ever have. It’s the moment God’s philanthropy appeared in your life, and it’s the moment all of heaven rejoiced because Jesus made you a child of hope with a family who will welcome you forever. Amen.
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