Following Jesus: The Call and Significance of Baptism

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In the journey of Christian living, we are not alone, but indeed we are surrounded in many ways by a great cloud of witnesses, those who have gone before, their portraits as it were hanging in the gallery of our memories, their example something to emulate, the courage and fortitude that they showed in the face of their losses and their failures and their illnesses, reminding us that you are sufficient in every circumstance of life. [00:01:48]

We begin by recognizing that Jesus as the captain of our salvation has blazed the trail for us, not least of all in the issue of baptism. You will recall if you know your Bibles at all that when Jesus came to be baptized in the Jordan by John it really put the cat among John's pigeons, because John could not understand why it would be that Jesus would be baptized by him or it not to be the other way around. [00:05:37]

And in his baptism Jesus was first of all identifying with those who were to become members of his team. He recognized that as the promised Messiah he was called to identify with those he had come to deliver, and although he in every realistic sense needed not to be baptized he chose to be baptized as a means of identification. [00:06:12]

Baptism then is an indication to of the fact that the life of the individual is now interwoven with Jesus. I suppose we could use the picture of marriage and say that in much the same way as before you're married, you are single you come down the aisle as a single you go back interwoven with this individual in a way that marks all that is still to follow. [00:09:50]

Thirdly baptism is also an indication of our willingness to follow Jesus if baptism was for Jesus a consecration to the Father's will so baptism is for us a consecration also it is if you like a promise of loyal obedience, and I think it is for that reason that some stay back from it. [00:10:38]

That's why the reformers referred to these two ordinances of the church as being visible words of God visible words of God they were portraying symbolizing expressing in an outward fashion that which would be explained by turning to the Bible. That's why we never want to engage in baptism without turning to the Bible nor in the celebration of the Lord's Supper either. [00:12:14]

And if he is my captain, I will be prepared to do everything he says, and if he is my captain, I will be prepared to play in any position he asks, because he is the captain. And so on an evening such as this, when we have the opportunity of the word visibly portrayed, tied to the word that we have in the Bible, we have the opportunity then to answer in a way that demands inevitably, ultimately some kind of public response. [00:21:29]

Peter the same Peter who's preaching here in Acts 2 when he writes his first letter and he refers uh to baptism in first Peter chapter 3 and he refers to it as a pledge, as a pledge, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God, it saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ who's gone into heaven and so on. [00:15:29]

Now that's what Jesus as our captain is asking, he is the one who takes the initiative, he is the one who comes and is at where taps is on the shoulder stirs within our hearts uses people circumstances a variety of things to say to us unmistakably sister brother, hey, I have died for you I want you on my team, but I want you to understand the terms of being on my team. [00:17:23]

If you're going to be on my team you're going to have to say no to yourself every day, you're going to have to die to yourself, and you're going to have to bow before me as the captain of your salvation and so as your captain let me ask you says Jesus, do you accept the terms of my service, do you accept the privileges and promises, and are you willing to undertake its responsibilities and to face its demands, no matter what it means, no matter what it costs, no matter where it takes you. [00:19:05]

And now you find yourself confronted as it were by the captain of the salvation you profess, asking you to step up from anonymity, to come out from behind potential cowardice, to get off that rather uncomfortable fence on which you have been sitting, and by life and by lip and by word and by deed to make a serious commitment to being on Christ's team. [00:22:39]

I just think for a moment of Jesus as the captain of your salvation, and imagine that now here is your science lab, and Christ who has died for you, who lives to intercede for you, who at great cost has given everything for you, calls your name, says, I want you on my team, I have your jersey for you I'm going to give it to you, and I want you to be baptized and when you come out of the water I'll give you your jersey. [00:21:29]

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