I’m fine with people that testify that baptism is important in the Christian disicpleship, although I myself don’t find it an obligation. I find it intresting that the writer of this gospel (John 4:1-3) thought it necissary to mention that it was the disciple nd not Jesus doing th baptising. If I were a requirement obligated by God then wouldn’t Jesus be the one doing the dipping? Theology and methodology aside, what exactly is baptism? The word means to immerse, or to saturate. Those that hold to the idea of immersion as the only way to baptise do have a point, since that is what the word means. But what about the saturate part? To be saturated completly with the Spirit is the essence of what baptism represents. To leave what was before and beng filled completly with something as to change the form. I like to think of it as the little foam animals that used to come in the capsules. You put them in water and they grow several times larger than the original size. That is what life is like before and after being immersed and saturated by the Spirit of God. Yes just like the animal in the capsule has the potential of being enjoyed as a dinosaur or giraffe but it first must be immersed. Without being saturated the potential is never fully seen or explored. This gets me to thinking about my own life, have I allowed the Spirit to saturate me completly or am I trying to hang onto the shell that keeps me from being exposed? And what would my potiental life be if I were to fully immerse my life in the Spirit? Probably a more intrestin question would be what would our churches and meeting look and act like if we were fully saturated in the grace of God.
Then I wonder what is holding me back? I can say that what holds me back isn’t God. I get trust issues at times. I like to see things fully before I act. Which is really hard with God. He doesn’t always show us everything and that’s actually good, He only shows enough to get us going. If He would have said to me, “go to Ukraine teaching English and sharing the Gospel, then come home and enter into the ministry.” I would have gone running the other direction. But he saturated my desire to see Ukraine wth an opertunity that made sense to me (He met me where I was) then he added more Spirit in other areas till I realised that I should pursue something I my life beyond crop genetics. Till I was immersed and saturated enough to become a pastor. I’m sure He isn’t done yet and there are more areas of my life that are still in need of the saturation of His Spirit, but I can say that I am the one holding myself back.
Jesus didn’t baptise his disciples did. Sure he didn’t oppose the use of this symbolic practice, but only because it pointed to a greater reality. God saturates and immerses, we respond to what He is doing. The disipline of baptism is an institution ad requirement men imposed to help us understand that God is washing us clean and making us new. Beyond that it is just a ceremony where a pasto or priests gets to play with water at your expense.
John’s teaching about Christ, in these two verses, is very enlightening. Most of us have been to a wedding and understand that that day is for noone else but the couple, the bride and the groom. I am going to go to a wedding real soon as a best man, and it is a great joy. I am almost as happy for the groom as I was when I myself was a groom. (Well I only say this because it is my brother so it’s pretty awsome). But in all my joy it is not self centered. It is all for the ones getting married. I have been with him I have talked with him through many areas of his life. We have shared rooms and apartments. His life is moving forward and I am happy, and proud of my brother.
So how does this encourage faith? Marriage is a religious institution, first and formost. I would be glad if it would stay in the religious realm so we can stop debating over the definition. Marriage is a reflection of the relationship between God and His people. A relationship of submission, honor, love, and commitment. These are shown throughout scripture, especially in God’s relationship with the Hebrew people. Marriage should reflect God. Each meber should think first for the other and devote their lives to them. Often they break down because one member stops thinking of the other and devotes ther life to their own desires.
But this isn’t a teaching on a good marriage but a good friend. A friend brings the best out of you. A friend knows your desires, dreams, and hope and they will do all they an to assist you to getting there. That is why we need friends. A friend is the person encouraging you when it seems everyone else is against you. John the baptist was Jesus’s friend, and Jesus returned the same devotion when he says about John “no other man born of a woman is greater than he.” Now if that isn’t encouragment I don’t know what is. Just as in a marriage the friend must deminish their own desires for the sake of the other. In a healthy friendship this is mutual and it doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice. Those that only take and never give drain a friendship, and both suffer.
The friendship of John and Jesus is one to reflect upon. We don’t hear much about their interactions but we do know that they were very close. This weekend consider your friends, and then compair it to that of John and Jesus. Enjoy that friendship as we enjoy the weekend.
I have been stuck in awe with this teaching Jesus gave to Nicodemus. (John 3:1-21) Here is a pharisee a teacher of Israel and he’s being taught by this traveling preacher. You could sit and reflect for months on these twenty-one verses.
Have you really thought about the whole idea of being born again? Its a term that is so used today we have forgotten what it means in many cases. And to be honest our understanding is much like Nicodemus’s. It is being born. It is labor, it is a process of being in one place and moved through to another. Think about it. It is more than just saying I’m a Christian. It is the process of being involved in spiritual labor. The time we acknowledge our faith in Christ is just the water breaking it isn’t the birth. That is when we as spiritual fetuses start to turn to God and make the journey to the next place.
From that point on we are in a place of transfer, movement, birth. First get these urges these nudges and pushes move. We may not want to but eventually we turn and move. Then we crown our head and mind enter into the realm of God. We begin to gain some understanding. Our eyes are opened into something strange and unknown we are no longer caught in a place where our only focus is ourselves. Next our shoulders and arms are freed and we begin to reach out to do various thing to pull ourselves into this new world. Next our hips emerge and our legs. I think you get the picture.
The thing is that God does most of the work. He provides the way and the means. This is why Nick had such a hard time with the teaching. He like us all thought we provide the means through our sacrifices. But the sacrifices aren’t our way to God they are our way to realise and recognize that God is really involved in every aspect of our lives, our finances, career, family and marriages. Our only place is to acknowledge that God the Father, through Christ, by the Spirit has done this for us. Then we should live accordingly.
Where does condemnation come from? It is our refusal to participate with the work God is doing. Condemnation is like a toddler throwing a fit and holding their breath till they pass out because they don’t get their way. When we think about it isn’t that really what our rebellion from God really is, throwing a fit because we aren’t getting our way?
Today imagine the process of being born again. Recognizing our various trials are like the contractions that are compelling us to the new life. Examine your life and see where we are rebeling and then ask God how we can embrace Him more fully in these.