On Baptism
Yesterday, I was baptized at Reston Bible Church. Many volunteers and staff worked hard to make the event a God-glorifying one, and I appreciate their efforts. Many others came out to attend the service, some traveling from out of state!
This was no ordinary baptism service (although, now that I think of it, no true baptism service is ordinary). For the one performing the baptisms - Jason VanDorsten - not only got baptized himself by Paul Goodnight, but also baptized his wife.
What a blessing it was to see this take place! Two things stood out to me:
1) The display of Christ's deep love for His bride, the church. This was so evident in the verbal and non-verbal communication between Jason and Katie. Surely Christ's love is "deeper than my view of grace." And this idea ties in to his testimony, that if Christ truly is who He says He is - God incarnate - and His love is so great that while His children were yet sinners, He died for us, (Romans 5:8), bearing all of our sin on the cross, then my response not only cannot be nominal, but it must be no less than total worship for all of eternity.
But therein lies the problem, right? God has revealed the depths of my sin to me, showing me that "nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh" (Romans 7:18). I am utterly incapable of a true and pure response to Christ's atoning, wrath-absorbing sacrifice. Which brings me to point #2:
2) In a marriage relationship, the man symbolizes Christ and the woman symbolizes the church (Ephesians 5:22-33). When Paul Goodnight baptized Jason, and then when Jason baptized the rest of us, they referenced Romans 6:5 in that water baptism symbolizes that we are buried in the likeness of His death, and raised in the likeness of His resurrection.
This part wasn't new to me. The new part was reflecting on the idea that not only was baptism symbolizing my conversion, but also symbolizing that God alone brought me to Himself! In more detail, God the Father draws His people to Himself through God the Son by the power of God the Holy Spirit (John 6:44, 6:63, 6:65, 14:6, Romans 10:17). Christ through Jason performed her water baptism (Galatians 2:20), a symbol of the result of God's grace toward her in giving her saving faith (Ephesians 2:8, 2 Peter 1:1) .
This was no ordinary baptism service (although, now that I think of it, no true baptism service is ordinary). For the one performing the baptisms - Jason VanDorsten - not only got baptized himself by Paul Goodnight, but also baptized his wife.
What a blessing it was to see this take place! Two things stood out to me:
1) The display of Christ's deep love for His bride, the church. This was so evident in the verbal and non-verbal communication between Jason and Katie. Surely Christ's love is "deeper than my view of grace." And this idea ties in to his testimony, that if Christ truly is who He says He is - God incarnate - and His love is so great that while His children were yet sinners, He died for us, (Romans 5:8), bearing all of our sin on the cross, then my response not only cannot be nominal, but it must be no less than total worship for all of eternity.
But therein lies the problem, right? God has revealed the depths of my sin to me, showing me that "nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh" (Romans 7:18). I am utterly incapable of a true and pure response to Christ's atoning, wrath-absorbing sacrifice. Which brings me to point #2:
2) In a marriage relationship, the man symbolizes Christ and the woman symbolizes the church (Ephesians 5:22-33). When Paul Goodnight baptized Jason, and then when Jason baptized the rest of us, they referenced Romans 6:5 in that water baptism symbolizes that we are buried in the likeness of His death, and raised in the likeness of His resurrection.
This part wasn't new to me. The new part was reflecting on the idea that not only was baptism symbolizing my conversion, but also symbolizing that God alone brought me to Himself! In more detail, God the Father draws His people to Himself through God the Son by the power of God the Holy Spirit (John 6:44, 6:63, 6:65, 14:6, Romans 10:17). Christ through Jason performed her water baptism (Galatians 2:20), a symbol of the result of God's grace toward her in giving her saving faith (Ephesians 2:8, 2 Peter 1:1) .
posted by G Cracka X at 3:08 PM
1 Comments:
Good word, brother. Thanks for the reflections. It was an honor and a privilege.
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