June 21, 2018
We were buried with
him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from
the dead... we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4
Jesus killed sin in
us at our baptism, so don't let sin kill us by missing out on it.
Probably the two most misunderstood and misused sacraments
of the Christian Life is baptism and communion.
Maybe that’s why Paul wrote about both in his letters, to bring the
early church back to the core elements of both – and to help us see the power
of what happens in both activities.
Baptism has been modified so much from the original basic
action. Look at how we have turned
something so simple and significant in a Christian’s life into something
controlled and minimized:
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Some call it an act of obedience, yet baptism is
not a ‘work’. It is not something we
‘do’, it is done to us. Another
Christian is always the baptizer of a person giving their life to Christ.
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Some say it is not necessary. Then someone forgot to tell Jesus & Peter
– Jesus sends us to baptize people, and Peter said it was directly tied to your
original repentance from sin.
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For centuries, we have baptized babies by a
parent’s will. Yet Jesus chose to be
baptized around the age of 30, and called for adults to repent & be baptized
as their own confession of sin.
-
Many think of it as symbolic, but the Holy
Spirit says it is far more – He comes to reside in you at your baptism,
according to Peter.
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Some use baptism as an act of membership – and
certainly it would indicate our decision to join a local church. But it is far bigger. Baptism is about surrendering to the Kingdom
of Jesus.
In this passage, Paul says that something incredibly
miraculous happens at our baptism – our sin life is killed, and our soul is
resurrected! While we just see a person
go under water, God sees the person dying to sin and rising to eternity. That is INCREDIBLE! Baptism is a spiritual resurrection!
Now I don’t say all that to create angst about people who
have not been immersed. Nor is the
decision of who is saved & who is not saved based on our observation of
their actions – God decides salvation.
But let’s not be so arrogant, that we would dismiss the teaching and the
practice of Jesus and the early church by our so-called ‘advanced intelligence’. Jesus is doing something AMAZING in us at the
moment of our baptism. He is killing the
power sin has to control our lives, and giving us a far greater power to live a
new life with. He is marking us with the
seal of the Holy Spirit for resurrection day.
He is providing us the assurance of His forgiveness, and the joy of
reconciliation with the Father. Why
would we NOT want to repent and be baptized?
If you have made that decision, take a moment to celebrate
again what great gift you have been given.
And if you have not made that decision yourself, then find a
Bible-teaching church that practices it and give your old life over to
Him. You’ll be eternally glad that you
did!
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