I was baptized young.
Not so young that I did not know what I was doing. After all, I believe in
believer baptism only … just like the scriptures tell us.
I was around ten, I think. I asked for it to happen. No one
pushed me. And at that time, I had a ten-year-old’s faith, and a ten-year-old’s
understanding. Nothing wrong with that … it’s just not where I am today.
It took place in a chapel building. It was conducted with appropriate simplicity and dignity. An elder performed the actual baptism. I had a chance to say what I believed before I went under, and so far as I can recall, I spoke the right words. Then people clapped, and it was over.
It’s only right that when a person is saved they should be
baptized, and the more immediately the better. Young or old, it shouldn’t
matter. If anything, I waited longer than perhaps I should have, and thought
about it more than was required.
I don’t regret my baptism. It was real for me then, and
since I have only grown in my love and commitment to the Lord, by his grace. But
I confess there are aspects of how it went down that I do regret. It was so
cloistered, protected, sheltered and minimal in personal cost. And it happened
in such a controlled, civilized environment. Really, to the world at large it
had no testimony I can detect. I think hardly anyone outside of the immediate
Christian community knew it took place at all.
But I didn’t get to say what I would say now. And I didn’t
get to make my statement count the way I would want to now.
Regret is pointless, and whining is useless. So let me get
beyond regret, and do something positive with this realization. For there are
still many people today who are thinking of baptism, and perhaps if they know
what I would do differently they can think about possible changes to the
circumstance and conduct of their own baptism. And that would be a good thing.
So here it is now: how I want to be baptized.
Where?
To begin with, I definitely don’t want it to be in a church
building. Nope. I want it in as public a place as I can reasonably find. Maybe
a lake or river. Certainly I’d want it to be where the maximum number of
onlookers was possible: especially unbelievers. And I’d want the invitation to
witness the event to be completely open, so that as many as possible would be
on hand. I’d want unsaved family members and friends, and even people I had
never met.
Actually, the believers could stay home … unless they
wanted to come.
Who?
I wouldn’t want to be baptized by any clergyman or even an
elder. I’d want to be baptized by somebody who had been key in my conversion
and my spiritual growth, but a layperson only. I wouldn’t want anyone thinking
this is merely some kind of church ceremony or religious ritual. I’d want them
to know that this was being done by me, and done for real.
I’d want my baptizer to wait while I told all the assembled
onlookers why I wanted to do this. I’d want them to understand that I was
completely done with their world, and completely committed to living for
Christ. I’d want to challenge them to call me on that: that if I should turn
out to be wavering, inconsistent or unfaithful, they were to feel welcome to
call me to account.
What?
Then I’d want them to understand what I was about to do. And
in describing it, I’d want maximal shock and awe. I think that the fact that the
world is not properly horrified that we continue to baptize people is perhaps
an indicator that we are falling short of showing baptism for what it is.
It’s a death.
Does that sound harsh? Well, okay. But today we usually
don’t get that. We think baptism is some sort of happy ritual, a chance to
retell our life’s story to your friends and supporters, say a few prefabricated
phrases to please the clergy, to be ceremonially soaked down, and then to
receive a celebratory round of applause from a supportive audience, and perhaps
a commemorative Bible.
It ain’t that.
And I wouldn’t want any hint of that.
How Could He?
I can see how I would want it all to play out.
Half of the onlookers would be hushed in awe, and the other
half in horror. For all would know that I was dying before their eyes.
Maybe my unsaved friends and relatives would weep. Maybe some
would cry out in outrage. And maybe the saved on hand would bow their heads and
pray for their brother, that I would have the strength to see so profound and
daunting a commitment through. For who is adequate?
But nobody would be unmoved.
My Confession
And I would have to be very clear with everyone about what I was doing. I wouldn’t want any misunderstanding. Above all, I would want
everyone to know what this meant to me personally — that I’d read what the word of God says about
what I was going to do, understood its implications thoroughly and was ready
to pay the full price of obedience.
So before I went down into the water, I would say this:
“My life is now over. I am dead to
this world, and am of no use to it anymore. By the grace of God, I will now
live by the resurrection power of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. May God give me strength.
I ask no favors. I crave no
quarter. I will not look back. For me, it is all over — my hopes, my
dreams, my ambitions, my plans, my future. My values now are only to know the
Lord, whether in the joy of his love or the fellowship of his sufferings.
At all costs, and with no holding
back, I give myself to Christ that I may live and die only with him.
This world I entirely condemn to
death, by this demonstration in my flesh. It stands under the judgment of a holy God. I confess his righteousness in judging it. Through faith, I now disown all of my
association with this world and in its place throw myself wholly on the mercy
of my Savior God.
And when one day I stand before the
Righteous Judge, as surely we all shall, I shall trust only in the sacrifice of his Son to save me from the wrath we all so richly deserve.
Now bury me.”
Paying the Price
True, some who saw what was happening might actually be
supportive. But others would surely be disgusted and appalled. Some would
probably be picking up rocks.
After all, when someone sells out to a cause to this degree,
and you happen to hate the cause …
Aftermath
Now, like I said, I’m not speaking ill of my original
baptism. And I’m not thinking of doing it again. But if it were today, then I would definitely do it as I have described above. I’d want to make much more
clear what was really at stake.
Baptism is a death and resurrection. And resurrection
doesn’t mean you didn’t die.
It means you did.
And resurrection isn’t a way out of death … it’s a way through.
Salvation
I guess I’m not really talking about baptism today. I’m
really talking about salvation. For you see, baptism doesn’t save us. Christ
does, when we give up our lives to him.
But on the flip side, the faith that saves entails baptism. What I mean is that
unless you understand the bargain you’re making, you’re not making the bargain
at all. It’s your life for his. If you don’t think it’s that, then you’re simply
not saved.
Whether you have water or not, you are buying into your own
death, and with it, the death of the world to you. And this is exactly what
salvation demands.
Christ himself told us. We have a choice:
Die now, and be raised again.
Or die later, on your own terms, and really die.
Take your pick.
Interesting, as always. And so is this. Just returned from a trip to Florence and Rome. It was a terrible heat wave there and yet you went out as any good tourist would and viewed the phenomenal achievements of ancient Rome and the religious art, marble statue after marble statue of amazing craftsmanship and artistry to the point of exhaustion that if I would have to view one more than I did I think I would have turned into a marble statue myself. Twenty or more paintings each of the last supper, the Annunciation, the Assumption of Mary, the Crucifixion of Christ, the Brave Knights and Wealthy Noble Men, or Clergy, etc , ad infinitum. And all done with stunning artistry and talent for the uplifting of the human spirit by conveying something about the glory of God. Tourist lines stretched around blocks and, I kid you not, most of them seemed to be of people from far off Asian countries who very likely were not Christian and not baptized. Now, obviously, all of them are therefore not saved. How unfortunate. At the same time it was apparent that the phenomenal talent on display must have as it's source the divinity it is attempting to honor or such talent could not exist. So, here is God advertising on his own behalf to perhaps make an impression on all types of minds and hearts to perhaps turn hearts and minds towards him. A far cry from the certainty of being saved and yet obviously part of his plan, or there would not, could not, be this immense talent. This experience strikes me as a reminder that God saves according to his way and not according to ours.
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