Wading into Water: Baptism, Belonging, and New Life

Devotional

Day 1: God's Persistent Call to Return

We often find ourselves prone to wander, drifting away from the path we know we should follow. Yet, even in our straying, a loving God continually calls us back, drawing us closer to the divine heart. This persistent invitation reminds us that we are never truly lost, for God's grace is always reaching out, guiding us home. It is a comfort to know that even when we feel we've moved away, God keeps showing up for us. [23:40]

Psalm 23:1-3 (ESV)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Reflection: When you sense yourself drifting or feeling distant, what specific practices or memories help you recognize and respond to God's gentle call to return?

Day 2: Solidarity in Suffering and Shared Righteousness

The journey of faith is not a solitary one, nor is it lived in isolation from the world's pain. Just as Jesus stepped into the water in solidarity with humanity, we are called to enter into the brokenness around us. God's way of setting things right, of bringing righteousness, is a shared work, a mutual participation in healing and justice. This means actively engaging with the suffering of others, refusing to normalize violence, and working for a justice that truly heals. [44:30]

Matthew 3:13-15 (ESV)
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

Reflection: Where in your daily life or community do you feel God inviting you to step into solidarity with those who are experiencing pain or injustice, and what might that look like practically?

Day 3: Claimed by Love: God's Delight in Us

Imagine a moment when the heavens open, and a voice declares your profound belovedness. This is the truth of our identity in God's eyes. Before we achieve anything, before we have it all figured out, we are chosen and marked by divine love, the very delight of God's heart. This deep affirmation reminds us that our worth is not earned but freely given, a foundational truth that empowers us to live from a place of secure and unconditional love. [40:42]

Isaiah 43:1-3a (ESV)
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

Reflection: How might truly internalizing the belief that you are God's delight, chosen and marked by divine love, shift your perspective on a current challenge or decision you are facing?

Day 4: Embracing the New with Active Participation

The divine promise is that new things are always on the horizon, even if we cannot yet see them. Like seeds quietly soaking underground, new life often begins slowly, requiring patience and resolve. We are not passive observers in this process; rather, we are called to actively participate in the unfolding of God's new creation. This means looking forward with hope, engaging with the present, and contributing our energy to building the world we long to see. [43:33]

Isaiah 43:18-19 (ESV)
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Reflection: What "new thing" might God be stirring within your heart or community, and what is one concrete step you could take this week to participate in its quiet, slow unfolding?

Day 5: Faith as Active Engagement for Justice

Faith is not merely a set of beliefs we hold, but a dynamic force we enter into, like water that flows and reshapes. It is meant to carry us, not around the pain and brokenness of the world, but straight through it, toward the justice God is already bringing to life. This active faith calls us to make love a strong choice, to embody compassion, and to work for healing and righteousness in all our interactions. It is a commitment to living out God's transformative presence in the world. [48:16]

Micah 6:8 (ESV)
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Reflection: Considering the challenges in your sphere of influence, how can your faith actively flow into a specific act of justice or kindness this week, reflecting God's transformative love?

Sermon Summary

People are portrayed as wanderers who nonetheless are continually invited back into God's presence. The narrative moves from quiet, personal moments of prayer and grief into sustained reflection on water as both life-giving and soul-cleansing. Water becomes theological metaphor and sacramental reality: it sustains the body, carries tears, and frames Jesus’ first public action—baptism—as a deliberate act of solidarity with a broken world. In that watery act, God’s voice affirms Jesus—and by extension every baptized person—as chosen, delighted in, and sent into the world.

Baptism is reframed not as a private credential or a once-and-done ritual but as an embodied beginning: a way of entering into God’s ongoing work, a promise that shapes identity and calls for participation. Faith is promised not as a static assent but as movement—like flowing water—that reshapes the faithful toward justice, healing, and persistent love. New life, the preacher insists, often begins underground and unseen: growth requires soaking, patience, and the willingness of the community to labor together.

This calling to belong carries an ethical edge. True righteousness is not mere moral posturing but mutual, embodied work—wading into the waters of grief, refusing to normalize violence, protecting the vulnerable, and standing for justice that heals rather than destroys. Communion and the Lord’s table are presented as extension of that same claim: an open table where all are invited, where barriers are removed because God intends a shared life. The congregation is urged to remember baptism, to touch the water, to be sent out—convinced that God is already at work bringing new things to life, and that participation in that work is the appropriate response.

Key Takeaways

1. Humans are prone to wander The human heart regularly drifts away from the place it knows it needs to be; yet divine love continually reaches back. This wandering is not merely failure but evidence of longing—evidence that being called back matters. Remembering this pattern allows for a posture of return rather than shame, directing energy toward restoration and recommitment.
- Water shapes and sustains faith
Water is both mundane necessity and theological sign: it sustains bodies, cleanses wounds, and carries tears that reveal grief and hope together. As a symbol and sacrament, water models faith’s movement—slow, erosive, patient—forming new channels and life where nothing seems to be happening. Cultivating a watery faith means learning to wait, soak, and be reshaped.
- Baptism names and claims identity
Baptism announces belonging before achievement; it marks people as chosen and delighted in by God. That identity is not static but a sending: those claimed by love are also commissioned to participate in God’s justice and mercy. Remembering baptism renews courage to live as God’s child in the world.
- Righteousness requires embodied, risky action
God’s way of making things right is mutual, embodied, and costly—Jesus wades into the water rather than offering distant commentary. Responding to violence and grief calls for public grieving, truth-telling, protection of the vulnerable, and concrete work toward healing. Justice here is steady and restorative, not simply punitive or performative. [19:41]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[19:26] - Congregational Prayer and Praises
[31:48] - Prayer for the Word
[32:28] - Childhood Water Story
[35:24] - Water: Life, Tears, and Cleansing
[36:40] - Jesus’ Baptism in Matthew
[40:06] - God’s Voice: Chosen and Delighted
[42:07] - New Things Are Coming
[44:06] - Call to Embodied Righteousness
[45:14] - Remembering Our Baptism
[50:59] - Communion and Great Thanksgiving
[67:06] - Benediction and Sending

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading

Matthew 3:13–17
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Isaiah 42:1–4, 9
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he faithfully brings forth justice. 4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law... 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Observation questions

In Matthew 3:14–15, what is John the Baptist’s initial reaction to Jesus’ request for baptism, and what is the specific reason Jesus gives for why it must happen? [37:44]
According to Isaiah 42:2–3, what are the specific characteristics of how the servant brings justice? How does he treat those who are "bruised" or "dimly burning"? [41:13]
After Jesus comes out of the water, what two things happen involving the Spirit and the voice from heaven? [40:06]
In the Isaiah passage, what does God say about "new things" and when He announces them? [41:29]

Interpretation questions

Jesus insists on being baptized to "fulfill all righteousness." If righteousness is understood as "mutual participation" and "alignment" with God’s work rather than just moral perfection, how does Jesus’ act of wading into the water with John demonstrate this? [38:35]
The Spirit descends like a dove—a symbol of peace—before Jesus has performed a single miracle or preached a sermon. Why is it significant that God’s declaration of "delight" comes at the very beginning of his ministry rather than at the end? [40:20]
New growth often begins "underground and unseen," requiring "soaking, patience, and waiting." How does this perspective change the way a community views seasons of grief or "waiting" where it feels like nothing is happening? [42:07]
Baptism is described as an "embodied beginning" and a "solidarity with a broken world." How does Jesus’ choice to enter the water—rather than standing safely on the bank—shape our understanding of what it means to follow him into "risky, real-world action"? [44:06]

Application questions

We often feel "prone to wander" or drift away from the places we know we need to be. [19:26] When you feel yourself wandering, what are the specific "anchors" or reminders that help pull you back to the God who loves you?
Water is a mundane necessity that also "carries tears" and "cleanses wounds." [35:24] In your current season, does the water of your faith feel more like a quiet soaking or a rushing river of grief? How can this group help you "soak" in God's presence right now?
God calls you "chosen and marked by love" and says you are a "delight." [40:20] How would your self-talk or your interactions with others change this week if you truly believed you were God’s delight before you "did anything right"? [45:37]
Righteousness isn't just a private feeling; it’s a call to "refuse to normalize violence" and "protect the vulnerable." [44:30] Is there a specific "water" in your community or neighborhood that you feel called to wade into this week to work for healing?
Faith is meant to "move, flow, and reshape us" rather than being a static set of beliefs. [48:16] In what area of your life is God currently "carving a new path" or asking you to be flexible like flowing water?
New things are "bursting forth" even when they aren't fully visible yet. [42:34] Where do you see small signs of "new life" in your own heart or in our church, and how can you participate in making that new thing a reality? [43:33]

Sermon Clips

My mom tells a story that we went to a drugstore. Back in the day, drugstores had a lunch counter. And we're in the drugstore shopping, and little Gail starts to ask for water. And my mom was embarrassed to go to the lunch counter and ask for water. So she went to the lunch counter and she purchased a Coke. And she said it before me, And I refused to drink it because I wanted water. Water. [00:32:55] (35 seconds) #ChooseWater

Water sustains life. We use water to clean wounds when we get hurt. What's the first thing that we do? Right? We go to the sink and we wash it. Get it clean. Water. Water even when it looks like it's not moving in a river, it's still moving and it's still making a path. It's still carving away. And maybe if we're honest, water reminds us how fragile we are without it. How fragile life itself is. [00:34:47] (41 seconds) #WaterSustainsLife

The killing of Renee Good that maybe feels personal to many of us. Names, lives, stories cut short, communities that are shaken, violence that's broken out into places where we feel like we should feel safe, grief, grief that comes rushing in from all kinds of places. Maybe some places we expected and maybe some places that we didn't. Grief. Grief maybe shows up in tears, water, cleansing our soul, water washing us clean, because water holds both life and tears. [00:35:39] (53 seconds) #GriefAndCleansing

It's no accident that Jesus's public ministry begins at water. In water. Up until this moment in Matthew, Jesus really hadn't done anything. Been born. Taking a trip to Egypt when his family fled come back to Nazareth, grown up to be an adult. We don't know much about that. But Jesus hadn't really done anything that we know about. And then and then, Jesus shows up as an adult and then this one of the first public acts, it isn't that Jesus shows up and offers a sermon. It isn't that Jesus shows up and offers this miracle to us. What Jesus does is shows up in this baptism. Jesus shows up and says, water. [00:36:32] (60 seconds) #JesusBeginsAtWater

And he shows up in this baptism that that maybe makes people a little uncomfortable. You see, John tried to say, no, no, no, no, no. I'm the one who needs to be baptized by you. Why are you coming to me? Don't ask me to baptize you. And Jesus responds in my brain like a Nike commercial. Just do it. You know? And I'm like, oh, okay. There's a lot to be said for a Nike commercial. Just do it. God's work. Putting things right. It isn't a solo moment. It isn't something that Jesus did by Jesus' self. Jesus asked John to agree to do this with him. [00:37:32] (62 seconds) #JustDoBaptism

Which means that when violence takes lives, we are not called to thoughts and prayers. We're called to step into the water. We are called to grieve out loud. We are called to refuse to normalize violence. We are called to speak the truth. We are called to protect the vulnerable. We are called to work for justice, a justice that heals, not destroys. [00:44:24] (31 seconds) #ActNotThoughts

What does it mean to belong? Baptism reminds us that we are claimed by love, that we were claimed by love before we did anything right. Before we got it all figured out, before we stepped fully into god's call, god marked us as people who are willing again and again to step into the water. [00:45:40] (25 seconds) #ClaimedByLove

Because faith isn't something we believe. It's something we enter. Again and again and again. Faith like water is meant to move, to flow, to reshape us, to carry us, not around the pain of the world, but to carry us straight through it. Toward the justice, god is already bringing to life. Amen. [00:48:04] (44 seconds) #FaithIsEntering

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