Message from Scripture: 8/4/2020

Today’s message from Scripture comes from Rom. 6:3-4: “ 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.”

We are familiar with what Scripture teaches about being immersed into Christ. It is here that our sins are washed away and become a new creation, rid of the condemnation sin brings with it. This is what Paul is emphasizing in this passage. Like the physical body when it dies, the old man of sin is to be put to death, symbolized by our going into the water to be buried to die with Christ, that is, to be joined in the likeness of His death and gain the benefits it provides. We are then raised up from the water a different person, no longer a slave to sin, but having a new life in Christ, one of holiness and righteousness.

Our being immersed is a perfect figure of what happens to us through Christ. It also is a reflection of our letting go of self, to let God create us anew, thus the imagery of being born again (John 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:3). We are immersed by another, which reminds us we cannot save ourselves, it is the work of God in our submission to His will. People tend to want stay in control of every situation they possibly can, and it’s no different when it comes to being saved from sin. All the variations found in the religious world of what to do to be saved (confess Christ as one’s personal Savior, repeat the sinner’s prayer, go through some ritual prescribed by another person) are reflections of one wanting to pick how one should be saved, no matter what the will of God may actually be. It is a reflection of sin still being operative in a person’s life, those selfish desires still at work in the heart and mind.

Being immersed by another is a sign of submission to God, of letting go of the notion we’re still in control, as all that has done is lead to sin and more sin. We surrender our will to God, allowing another to plunge in the waters of immersion, that we might rise cleansed, a child of God. It is how God emphasizes to us it is what He is doing for us in Christ, not what we want for ourselves. That surrender continues throughout the course of our lives, in echoing the words of Jesus, “Not my will be yours be done.” Don’t surrender to Christ only in being immersed, just to cling to sin in the life that follows. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Matt. 7:21). Does that describe your life in Christ? God bless.

 

Robert