Rambling Rev

Scripture:  Deuteronomy 32:7, Hebrews 12:1-2
(preached at FBC Nitro, 5/27/2012)

On November 19, 1863 President Lincoln was making his way to a Pennsylvania battlefield.  He feared that he might be the last president of the United States.  The country teetered on the brink of self-destruction – the Civil War had taken an enormous toll on the nation.  The ceremony he would attend that afternoon would dedicate a cemetery for over 40,000 soldiers killed at Gettysburg in a three-day battle the previous July.  Lincoln’s remarks provided the beginning of what would later be known as Memorial Day.  He began by saying, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,…”  Less than two minutes later, he concluded, “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here (referring to the sacrifice of the soldiers).  It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.  It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

Over the next few years, many communities set aside special days to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War.  Some services were quiet and contemplative, others had marching bands and speeches.  All of them included decorating soldier’s graves with flowers and flags.  Most towns referred to the event as Decoration Day.  After World War I the day expanded to honor the American heroes of all wars.  Then gradually, the custom of decorating graves of relatives and friends became a part of the day.  Eventually the name of the holiday was changed to Memorial Day.  Originally, Memorial Day was always observed on May 30, regardless of the day of the week.  In 1971, the US Congress moved the date to the last Monday in May to provide a three-day holiday.  So the reason we have Memorial Day is to help us remember, because we have a tendency to forget.  We need to remember the lives, the legacies, and the lessons of the people upon whose shoulders we now stand.  We need to remember the men and women who secured our freedom with their blood.  Jesus himself said in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Memorial Day is not primarily a day to celebrate the unofficial arrival of summer or the end of another school year.  It is not primarily a day to enjoy the pools that have recently opened.  It is not primarily a day to focus on grilling and interacting with family and friends.  The primary purpose of Memorial Day is to remember.  Remembering the heroes of the past and learning from them is important – throughout God’s Word we are encouraged to draw inspiration from the past.  Memorial Day is meant to remember — there are at least four ways in which that is the case.

First of all, Memorial Day is meant to remember our fallen soldiers.  We’ve already heard about how the holiday began – it began with a focus on the sacrifice of the military.  Every generation of Americans has heroes who have defended freedom and have laid down their lives for their friends.  This Memorial Day weekend the traveling Vietnam wall will be at Oakes Field in South Charleston.  The wall is as long as a football and bears 58,277 names of soldiers who gave their lives for freedom in the Vietnam War.  It is not the only such monument that remembers.  Eight years ago the World War II monument was dedicated in Washington DC.  There is a field of 4,000 gold stars that honors over 400,000 lives that were lost in that conflict.  Then there are the sacrifices that have been made in Iraq and in Afghanistan and in other places around the world.  Listen to these words that were written by someone who remembered, “It is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press.  The soldier not the poet gave us the freedom of speech.  The soldier, not the politician, has given us the freedom to vote, to assemble, and even to demonstrate.  It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag.”  Memorial Day is meant to remember our fallen soldiers.

Then, Memorial Day is meant to remember our departed family.  Our passage says in Deuteronomy 32:7,  “Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.”  When I was a child, Memorial Day was a big deal for our household.  In our family, there were four major holidays each year – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and Memorial Day.  One of the traditions we had was to go to each cemetery where family members were buried.  We made sure the gravesites were decorated and well-kept.  We would hold hands and pray, giving thanks for the memory and the influence of those people who were no longer with us.  Our extended family was a large one, with several cemeteries involved, so that was the bulk of our day.  We had relatives who would travel several hours to return to the Charleston area so they could visit the cemeteries as well and participate in the same event.  Then, when we had finally finished making the rounds, we would enjoy a meal together, visit a bit, then the ones who had traveled would return to their homes.  We only had one day to get it all done, because Memorial Day had not yet been moved to the last Monday of the month.  We weren’t guaranteed a three-day weekend.  I remember that kind of practice, 45 years ago, was not just isolated to our family.  Other families did the same thing.  It was a tradition, and keeping some traditions is a healthy thing.  That is one we do not have to sacrifice with the passing of time and the changing of our society.  We are who we are because of our parents, our grandparents, our aunts and uncles who left their imprint on our lives and sacrificed so we can have the life we now enjoy.  Memorial Day is meant to remember our departed family.

Then, Memorial Day is meant to remember our church pioneers.  Our second passage says in Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,…”  “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…”One of the principles of Bible study is that when we encounter a “therefore,” we want to look and see what it is “there for.”  The author of Hebrews in chapter 11 goes into great detail describing past heroes of faith who had died.  After that entire chapter, at the beginning of chapter 12 he writes, “therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…”  The cloud of witnesses refers to the people of God who have died.  The present-day congregation of First Baptist Church of Nitro owes a debt of remembrance to the church members who have preceded us.  None of us here possessed the initial vision of creating the Lock Seven Baptist Church, nor made the sacrifices necessary to bring it into reality.  These pioneers at the turn of the 20^th century were forward-thinking, cooperating with God’s Spirit to lead people to Christ and to make disciples in a local congregation.  They were people of energy and innovation, so much so that they used a railroad car as a meeting place for Bible study, prayer and fellowship.  In 1924 the name of the Lock Seven Baptist Church was changed to the First Baptist Church of Nitro.  Many of us here today can recall past church members who inspired us and who molded and shaped the spirituality of the church.  On this day, we remember them and give thanks to God for them.  Then we think not only of local church pioneers but also of pioneers among the broader people of God.  We find them in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  Then when we study church history, we find them as well.  It’s important for us not to ignore church history, not to skip from the characters of the people to the present day saints.  There is a rich heritage and a wealth of inspiration to be found in men and women who have followed Christ in the 2000 years or so the church has existed.  We are all familiar with Martin Luther King Jr., but are we familiar with Martin Luther?  We’ve all heard of West Virginia Weslyan College, but we do we know anything about John Wesley?  We have several youth and some adults who are involved in missions and passionate about missions, but do we realize we are not the first ones who have felt that way?  William Carey, Adoniram Judson and Hudson Taylor were all pioneers in missions.  Many of us love good preaching, so we listen to podcasts of well-known preachers.  Are we are aware however, that Charles Spurgeon was so powerful in the pulpit that he still bears the name of the “prince of preachers?”  The point is that we enjoy many of the things we have spiritually because of the saints who have gone before us.  Someone may say, “Well pastor, I really don’t care about past Christians.  I just want to study my Bible.”  Do we realize that the Bible was not always available to everyone in the church?  There was a time when the Bible was only possessed by the priests.  John Wycliffe was a man who had a passion for God’s Word being in the hands of all believers, not just the clergy.  His vision resulted in the first translation of the Bible into English.  Memorial Day is meant to remember our church pioneers.

Then, Memorial Day is meant to remember our life-giving Savior.  If Memorial Day was just about recalling people who have died, it could get pretty depressing pretty fast.  Memorial Day is also meant to focus on our life-giving Savior.  Because of what Jesus has done for us by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead never to die again, we have hope of seeing again the people who have gone ahead of us in Christ.  Jesus also sacrificed his blood so that we might have freedom.  The freedom He gives us however, is not just political freedom but spiritual freedom.  He frees us from sin.  Romans 5:6-8 says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Revelation 21:4-7 says of Jesus, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”  Memorial Day is meant to remember our life-giving Savior.

As you look back to the past and remember, there is so much that has been given to you.  You have your nation.  You have your family.  You have your church, both local and universal.  You have your Savior.  The greatest thing you can do to leave a legacy for this present generation and for future generations, is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Jesus offers to save you from our sin, but you must make the choice to allow Him to do so.  He is not really your Savior until you become His child.  Until you give your life to Him, all He has done has no benefit to you.  Jesus wants you to ask Him to forgive you of your sin and to be saved from it.  Will you do so?  You may need to rededicate publicly.  You may need to join this church family – as you do so, you will become a part of the heritage of this congregation. (Prayer)

Scripture:  Ruth 1:1-22
(preached at FBC Nitro, May 13, 2012)

I’ve never been one to read romance novels, but this last week I actually read one.  It’s in the Bible – it’s the book of Ruth.  This particular romance novel is as appealing to men as it is to women.  It is also true, rather than being merely fictional.  Ruth is set in the land of Israel during the time of the judges.  It was a period when, according to the Bible, “every man did what was right in his own eyes.”  It was a chaotic time, but this incident gives clarity and light in the midst of the confusion and darkness.  We see God at work in the lives of regular, ordinary people.  On this Mother’s Day, the entire book of Ruth has a great deal of guidance for all of us.  In particular for mothers it has a lot of direction.  There is a time for mothers to be happy and to be grateful to God for all He has done.  There is also a time for mothers to be sad, and to mourn people or things they have lost.  There is nothing wrong with having an aching heart.  On this special day, I would daresay that many of the mothers here this morning are grieving in one way or another.  There is pain down deep inside.  It is okay to feel that way – this story of Ruth gives us insight as to how to respond to grief as a mother.  At the very beginning of this book, a man named Elimelech dies.  He leaves behind his widow Naomi, a single mother in a foreign country.  As a widow in that day and age, she had no way to provide for herself.  She could only wait until her sons became old enough to care for her.  It’s not exactly clear as to how much time passed, but the two sons took Moabite wives for themselves, Ruth and Orpah.  Then, as if the loss of Naomi’s husband isn’t enough, her two sons die.  It’s tough for us to imagine the emotional toll these losses must have taken on her.  In addition to the emotions, there were the financial implications.  Naomi was now financially helpless.  There was no Social Security, she had no life insurance policies to cash — she is in a mess.  She’s likely too old to marry, doesn’t have any grandchildren, and is still working through all the pain of two sons dying in addition to her husband.  This mother has suffered loss in a number of ways, and she is doing what is natural to do – she is grieving.  So for all of us here this morning whom may be grieving in some way, but especially mothers, this passage has much to say.

First of all, we see that a mother deals with her grief through choices.  When we are grieving, whenever we are broken-hearted, sooner or later we have to make a decision as to whether or not we are going to move forward with our lives.  This last week I read about Gerald Sittser, a professor at a college in Spokane, Washington.  About ten years ago his minivan was struck by a drunk driver.  In a moment’s time, he lost three generations.  In the car with him were his mother, his wife, and his small daughter.  They were all killed.  He later wrote a book entitled “A Grace Disguised.”  In it he tells of his loss and his experience with grief.  He writes, “I felt like I was staring at the stump of a huge tree that had just been cut down in my backyard.  That stump, which sat all alone, kept reminding me of the beloved tree I had lost.  I could think of nothing but that tree.  Every time I looked out the window, all I could see was that stump.”  Some of us here this morning, some mothers here this morning, can only see a stump when you look through the window of your life.  It’s a painful thing.  Sittser however, doesn’t stop there.  He later says, “The experience of loss doesn’t have to be the defining moment of our life.”  Instead he says, “The defining moment can be our response to the loss.”  In other words, he says that we do not have the ability to choose what will happen in our lives, but we do have the ability to choose how we are going to respond.”  So how do we respond to crushing loss?  How did Naomi respond?  The first thing Naomi does is to make a choice.  Verse 6 tells us, “Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food.”

“Then she arose….”  She chose to get up and to begin to move forward.  She didn’t have a lot of hope, but she had a little.  With what little hope she had, she took a step forward.  That’s important.  Sometimes it is tempting to hold to the last remnant of our past and just remain frozen where we are.  In our depression over the loss, we lack the will or the energy to do anything at all.  We want to give up, we want to keep counting our losses, we want to wallow in our self-pity.  Naomi here didn’t run from her pain – she still felt it.  She did however choose to move forward in the midst of her pain.  She made the choice to live and to receive again from God.  We can make the same choice as mothers, and as people in general.  The first step forward for you might be to see a Christian counselor – that’s okay, you’re not crazy.  As a matter of a fact, if anything is crazy it’s when you are deeply troubled about something and you do NOT see a Christian counselor.  The first step forward might be to attend church regularly again – never underestimate the power of meeting together regularly with God’s people.  The first step forward might be just get out of bed or to get out of the house when you really want to withdraw.  Whatever it may be, God will give you the strength to make the right choice, just as He gave Naomi the strength.  A mother deals with her grief through choices.

Then, a mother deals with her grief through companions.  When Naomi makes the choice to head back to Israel, she wants Ruth and Orpah to stay in Moab.  They are still young, they could find husbands, life would be better for them there.  Ruth and Orpah start on the journey with her.  Naomi then basically says something rather strange, “Do you young women think I have sons in my womb that can be your husbands?  Even if I found a man and conceived sons, you’d have to wait for them to grow into men before you could marry them.  Stay in Moab!!”  In other words, “You are from Moab, you need to stay in Moab – the chances of you finding husbands are nil if you return with me to Israel.  What man in Israel is going to want a Moabite for a wife?”  Her words persuaded Orpah, so she kissed Naomi and remained in her homeland.  Ruth still wouldn’t leave her.  God had given Naomi a companion in Ruth that refused to leave her side, even when times were hard and even when it would involve sacrifice to do so.  Then Ruth responds to Naomi with what are now well-known words:  “But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you’” (verses 16-17).  Today we often hear these words as part of wedding vows, but initially they were spoken as words of deep friendship.  Ruth is so attached to Naomi that she not only commits to stay with her, she also commits to serve Naomi’s God.  Regardless of the hardships they both had experienced, Naomi had been blessed with a strong friend and mentor in Ruth.  If we are going to survive times of loss and tragedy, we have to give and to accept this kind of companionship.  As brothers and sisters in Christ, we cling to one another as Ruth clung to Naomi.  The tendency is to isolate ourselves, but strength and recovery are found when we extend ourselves.  The answer isn’t in closing ourselves off from from friends, but opening ourselves up to friends.  So Ruth and Naomi, arm-in-arm begin making the journey across the mountains to Bethlehem.  Verse 19 tells us of their arrival there, and the word spread quickly in such a small town.  She had left with a life that appeared to be full – she had left Bethlehem with a husband and two sons.  Now she returns with a Moabite daughter-in-law.  Moabites were not well accepted in Israel, and they were not allowed to worship in the Temple.  Still, Naomi had a loyal friend in Ruth.  A mother deals with her grief through companions.

As Naomi talked with the people of the small town, they asked, “Is it Naomi?  Could it be?”  There isn’t any indication here they were mocking her – apparently they were really glad to see her.  “She responded, ‘Don’t call me Naomi anymore.  Call me Mara, for God has dealt bitterly with me.”  A mother deals with her grief through confession.  At first glance it may seem that Naomi is not very spiritual, speaking in such a way.  She is being honest however, she is being transparent.  This time isn’t the first or the last that one of God’s people vented honest frustration to God and to others.  She’s in good company with Jeremiah, Job, Moses and David.  God is more pleased with our honesty, and others are more touched by it, than any kind of plastic piety.  When we are really close to someone, we share our feelings, positive and negative.  We cross into sin when we rebel against God or lash out against others.  Giving voice to our pain however, is something that actually can glorify God.  Naomi said what she did about God because she was convinced God is in charge of everything, that He is sovereign.  In verse 21 she says, “I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty…”  She thought God had taken everything from her, but that wasn’t the case.  Verse 22 continues, “So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab.”  She had Ruth with her, which was a treasure she didn’t have when she left.  Naomi’s grandchild through Ruth was Obed, who was the grandfather of King David.  Eventually Jesus the Son of God would come from her lineage.  God was in control of her life, glorifying Himself, accomplishing His purpose and taking care of her.  God is doing the same with your life today, whether or not you realize it.  It is okay to vent to God and to be honest with others – just continue to trust in Him and realize He knows more about your situation than you ever will.  A mother deals with her grief through confession, through confessing her own pain, and through confessing that God is still in control.

This morning on this Mother’s Day, how will you choose to respond to life’s hardships?  Will you respond by pulling back from God, or drawing closer to Him?  Will you pull back from the Christian friends God has given you, or will you draw closer to them?  The first step is to know Jesus as the Lord of your life and your Savior from your own sin.  The second step is to confess Him publicly through baptism.  The third step is to be a part of a church family – all of us need a spiritual home.  Will you respond to your grief in your own way this morning, or will you respond in God’s way?  The choice is yours.

Scripture:  Romans 6:1-4
(preached at FBC Nitro May 6, 2012)

While preparing this message last week, I listened to the song, “Mercy Came Running” by Philips, Craig and Dean.  I heard it previously, but listened to again when I came across someone mentioning the title.  I am always fascinated by God’s mercy and His grace.  I have heard some people saying that they want to get into the “deep things of God and His Word.”  If that’s ever the case with you, try exploring more about God’s mercy and His grace.  It is an inexhaustible storehouse of treasure.  Anyway, this song is about a special place in the Temple called the Holy of Holies.  Part of the words say, “Once there was a holy place, evidence of God’s embrace.”  The Ark of the Covenant was kept there.  In that room, God’s presence dwelt.  In this small area, the justice of God, the righteousness of God, and the grace of God were all mixed together.  This room was blocked off from the people of Israel because they had sin in their lives.  There was a veil that separated this area from the rest of the Temple.  In this Holy of Holies, only the high priest was permitted to enter once each year to offer a sacrifice for the people’s sins.  God’s mercy had not yet been extended to all the people.  Then the song continues later by saying,

“Looking down with longing eyes, mercy must have realized once His blood was sacrificed freedom would prevail.”  The scene shifts from the Temple to Calvary.  Jesus is hanging on the cross, and God is looking down upon it all.  Once this transaction between God and man’s sin is completed, all mercy will break loose.  When Jesus said, “It is finished” and died, the veil in the Temple was split from top to bottom and God’s mercy began to flow in a way it had never done previously.  That mercy has chased down each of us who have been touched and changed by Jesus Christ, and our lives will never be the same.

What do all of these things have to do with baptism?  Before anything else, baptism is an act of worship.  It is the first step of following Jesus after we have become a part of His family of grace.  We see baptism described several places in God’s Word, and one of them is our passage for this morning.  Baptism is an extremely important part of experiencing God’s mercy and grace.  It isn’t required to receive them, but it is one of the first things we want to do after we have.

Baptism humbles us through obedience.  Jesus and the authors of the NT tell us very clearly that everyone who has been transformed by God’s mercy and grace is to be baptized.  After we have professed Jesus as our Savior, after we have realized that we have done nothing to deserve salvation, and that God has saved us from self and from hell for all eternity, then we are to stand in front of a group of people and be baptized.  There are two types of baptism practiced in churches today – one is infant baptism, the second is believer’s baptism.  As Baptists, we are very particular about the matter of baptism – we don’t do infant baptism, we only do believer’s baptism.  The reason is that the Bible doesn’t tell us to baptize infants – baptism is something a believer in Christ freely chooses to do.  Someone else does not make a choice for that person – the person who has come to Christ makes the choice.  Now if we think about it, baptism is rather weird.  A guy stands in the water next to another guy (or gal) and dunks the person under the water.  Then the person is lifted from the water and a lot of people watch it.  The person who is baptized gets wet – for women it isn’t very attractive, and for men it isn’t very macho.  Actually baptism is humiliating.  One of the first things we learn as followers of Jesus however, is that we need to kiss our pride goodbye.  If there is a choice to make between our own ego and image, and obedience to God, obedience to God is to win every time.  That’s the design of following Jesus.  Does anyone remember the story of Naaman?  2 Kings 5 tells us about him.  Part of what happened to him is that he was initially too proud to be submerged in water in obedience to what God had told him to do.  He humbled himself however, and he was blessed for his obedience.  Baptism humbles us through obedience.

Then, baptism reminds us of our sin.  Listen to our passage again from Romans 6:1-4, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  Sin is a fatal problem that each one of us faces.  No one is exempt from it, and there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from it.  Our sin separates us from God – there is nothing we can do to remedy that separation.  We can’t be good enough. We can’t be religious enough.  We can’t be nice enough or loving enough.  Sin is an insistence on doing things our way rather than God’s way, and every single of us is plagued with it.  There is only one remedy for sin – that is surrendering our lives to Jesus and asking Him to forgive us of our sin.  If we continue in our sin without a relationship with Jesus that saves us from it, we are deprived of life.  Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Sin results in separation from God now, and separation from God after our bodies die.  Apart from God, there is no true life.  We may think we are living, but we cannot truly live without Jesus.  Jesus says in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  To put it another way, when we begin to realize that we will be forever separated from God, it takes away joy from life today.  Imagine yourself standing before a jury.  The jury determines you are guilty of horrible crime, and then the judge gives his ruling.  His gavel slams on the bench and he say, “you will be sentenced to death.”  So you enter a cell, but you must wait three months before the lethal injection comes.  You could say, “I only have three months left, I’m really going to enjoy them.”  Thing is, it is tough to enjoy life and be happy on death row.  When we come to grips with the reality that we will spend eternity separated from God, the situation is the same.  Some of us may have only a few hours left, others of us a few years – we really don’t know for sure.  Regardless of the time we have left, if we do not have Jesus we are sitting in a cell on death row.  Baptism reminds us of our sin.

Then, baptism symbolizes our salvation.  v. 4 again says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  As we trust in Jesus, we believe that he died for us, that he took the punishment and the death that we deserve for our sin.  As Jesus did so, He saves us from our sin and gives us new life.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  So we come to believe in Jesus for our salvation, as Chloe, Trey and Dallas have done, we stand before God and say, “I can’t live my life anymore by my own efforts.  I am claiming the death of Christ for me.  I believe that He is the Son of God and that He rose from the dead.  He alone can save me from sin.”  At the moment we come to that point, we are then washed clean by the blood of Jesus.  As a result of our trusting in what Jesus did for us, we have a relationship with God beginning now that lasts for all eternity.  Baptism is an outward expression of what took place inside our hearts and minds.  When we are placed under the water it symbolizes being buried with Christ in his death.  We are raised from the water, it symbolizes being raised with Him to new life.  The Greek word for baptism in our passage is baptizo – it means literally to immerse.  Everybody who was baptized in the Bible was baptized after placing their faith in Christ.  So it isn’t that we believe in adult baptism, we believe in believer’s baptism.  Children and youth can believe in Christ just as adults can.  It isn’t restricted to adults.  In fact, Jesus says that unless we have more of the attitude and trusting nature of a child, we can’t be saved.  Baptism is something we do after trusting in Jesus to save us, but it is soon after that event.  In the Bible, salvation and baptism are closely linked – we don’t have to be baptized to be saved, but if we are saved we will want to be baptized, and it will occur as soon as possible after we’ve trusted in Christ.  Baptism symbolizes our salvation, and it is God’s way for us to identify ourselves publicly with Jesus.  Baptism symbolizes our salvation.

Then, we see that baptism demonstrates our devotion.  Let’s go back to the first century in the days of the disciples in Jerusalem.  Most of the people living in the city were devout Jews, following the law as given in the Old Testament and through the Pharisees and Sadducees.  Whenever a Jewish man, woman or child came to trust in Jesus, it was a very dangerous thing.  New believers would go into the Jordan River in a very open, public place.  There were a lot of people there watching.  Members of the early church were watching, community and business leaders were watching, friends and family were watching.  Several of them would say, “If he or she goes down in that water, I’m done with him or her.”  You would be looked down, others would talk about you in a negative way.  Your reputation in some ways would be ruined for identifying yourself publicly with Jesus.  So because of the social pressure, it was tempting to believe in Jesus privately, but not to identify with Him publicly through baptism.  For them the cost of identifying with Jesus was too high.  If the cost of identifying with Jesus is too great for us today, then we need to ask ourselves if we know Jesus at all.  When we truly know Jesus, we will want everyone to know that He is our Savior.  Baptism demonstrates our devotion.  How would a man or woman’s fiancée feel if the statement was made, “I really love you, but I don’t want to stand in front of a crowd of people and say so.  It’s just too embarrassing for me.”  Would there be enough of a relationship there at all on which to build a marriage?

Will you ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and give you new life? Will you place your confidence in your own ability to overcome your sin, or in Jesus’ ability to save you from your sin?  Will you be baptized to be obedient to Him and to demonstrate your devotion to Him?  Will you become a part of a local church family that seeks to lead others to Jesus?