Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....December 16, 2019
I had the honor of Baptizing a patient last week. He asked if I would do it since his parents, who were Methodist missionaries, never did. He could not understand why they never proceeded with this most inportant Christian ceremony. By the way, he is 94 years old which says it is never too late. So this weeks question is for all of you who have not taken this step....What is the importance of Christian baptism?
Christian baptism is one of two ordinances that Jesus instituted for the church. Just before His ascension, Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20). These instructions specify that the church is responsible to teach Jesus’ word, make disciples, and baptize those disciples. These things are to be done everywhere (“all nations”) until “the very end of the age.” So, if for no other reason, baptism has importance because Jesus commanded it.
Baptism was practiced before the founding of the church. The Jews of ancient times would baptize proselytes to signify the converts’ “cleansed” nature. John the Baptist used baptism to prepare the way of the Lord, requiring everyone, not just Gentiles, to be baptized because everyone needs repentance. However, John’s baptism, signifying repentance, is not the same as Christian baptism, as seen in Acts 18:24–26 and 19:1–7. Christian baptism has a deeper significance.
Baptism is to be done in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit—this is what makes it “Christian” baptism. It is through this ordinance that a person is admitted into the fellowship of the church. When we are saved, we are “baptized” by the Spirit into the Body of Christ, which is the church. First Corinthians 12:13 says, “We were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” Baptism by water is a “reenactment” of the baptism by the Spirit.
Christian baptism is the means by which a person makes a public profession of faith and discipleship. In the waters of baptism, a person says, wordlessly, “I confess faith in Christ; Jesus has cleansed my soul from sin, and I now have a new life of sanctification.”
Christian baptism illustrates, in dramatic style, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. At the same time, it also illustrates our death to sin and new life in Christ. As the sinner confesses the Lord Jesus, he dies to sin (Romans 6:11) and is raised to a brand-new life (Colossians 2:12). Being submerged in the water represents death to sin, and emerging from the water represents the cleansed, holy life that follows salvation. Romans 6:4 puts it this way: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
Very simply, baptism is an outward testimony of the inward change in a believer’s life. Christian baptism is an act of obedience to the Lord after salvation; although baptism is closely associated with salvation, it is not a requirement to be saved. The Bible shows in many places that the order of events is 1) a person believes in the Lord Jesus and 2) he/she is baptized. This sequence is seen in Acts 2:41, “Those who accepted [Peter’s] message were baptized” (see also Acts 16:14–15).
A new believer in Jesus Christ should desire to be baptized as soon as possible. In Acts 8 Philip speaks “the good news about Jesus” to the Ethiopian eunuch, and, “as they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?’” (verses 35–36). Right away, they stopped the chariot, and Philip baptized the man.
Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Everywhere the gospel is preached and people are drawn to faith in Christ, they are to be baptized. So for those of you have have "NOT" taken the step of Baptism, how about making the decision to have this Sacrement performed at out next Baptism? Check the bulletin for details.
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
Rocks and Sand
A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in
front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2" in diameter.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The students laughed. The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your health, your children - anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed.
"The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. "The sand is everything else. The small stuff.
"If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, you will never have
room for the things that are important to you.
"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Go out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean
the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.
"Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
Our next session in traveling through Gods Word....From Slavery to Revelation
The Book of Exodus
After the death of Joseph the children of Israel - literally, Jacob’s descendants - remain in Egypt, and we skip to a time years later when Egypt’s reception becomes much less friendly. We are told that a new Pharaoh arose, who felt these people - we call them Hebrews - were becoming a threat. And so he makes slaves of them, not only for material gain but in order to control them and ensure they cannot rebel.
Under the misery of this oppression the people nearly collapse in hopelessness. One very reluctant Moses hears a call to step up and lead his people to freedom. He tries to resist it, but knows in his heart he has been given a great responsibility. It is not only to liberate his people, but to carry forward Abraham’s legacy.
Moses confronts Pharoah, with mixed results. Pharaoh refuses to take Moses seriously, until a strange sequence of destructive events strikes him and his people. Seeing in these “plagues” the hand of a power greater than his own, Pharaoh relents, only to reverse himself at the last minute. Finally Pharaoh backs down long enough to give Moses and the children of Israel time to escape.
But soon the people wish they had never left. They wander for years in the dry desert, not knowing where they are headed, scarcely able to find adequate food and water, frequently on the verge of losing their faith. They complain to Moses often, wishing he had left them in Egypt where they forgot how miserable they were.
Then at an undistinguished mountain called Sinai they experience a spiritual rebirth. God speaks to them directly: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
This is the first of the “Ten Commandments,” although it is hardly a commandment at all. It is a statement of Abraham’s legacy: God exists, and is actively involved in human life.
At least at this high moment, even if they are to forget it many times over, the people rediscover their spiritual inheritance. It is a renewal of the Covenant, or the promise of God’s direct involvement in human life. This idea of the Covenant, which runs throughout both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, challenges us today when we are torn between a sophisticated, science-inspired atheism and a popular theology of a God who sympathizes with us but who refrains from any intervention in our lives.
The next scene portrays the fragility of faith. Moses spends more time on the mountaintop, continuing to receive revelations. In Moses’s absence the people start to panic. They cannot tolerate insecurity. They need a leader they can see, and in the leader’s absence they need a god they can see. They prevail upon Moses’s brother Aaron to help them make such a god, a calf-form that emerges when they melt down their golden jewelry. When Moses returns he sees the people worshiping this object, as though they never heard the words God had spoken to them, and in a rage he smashes the stone tablets upon which God's words are engraved.
And so it goes throughout these forty years in the desert. Time after time Moses must confront his people’s fears, their inability to hold onto their faith. This is a generation conditioned by slavery, too afraid of change. This generation is not ready for the challenge of settling in a new land. Time has to pass for the next generation to emerge.
But one man from the older generation does survive to become their leader, once they no longer have Moses to guide them.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou