52: Baptism Matters!

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53: If Your Pastor Thinks Church Is Business, He Shouldn’t Be Leading One

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Welcome to the Ready for Eternity podcast, a podcast and blog dedicated to inquisitive

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Bible students exploring biblical truths that might not be fully explored in typical sermons or Bible studies.

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My name is Eddie Lawrence. It's very typical for church leaders to downplay baptism because they've misunderstood it as a work, but baptism is

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God's way of making grace tangible, something we can see, feel, and remember.

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Let's talk about why that matters more than we think. Baptism matters because we humans need something visible and tangible to cement in our minds that God's promises are true.

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Consider Abram in Genesis 15. God had promised him a child, and in Abram's extreme old age,

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God speaks to Abram to reconfirm his intentions. He also reiterated the land promise, but Abraham asks,

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Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? In response, in response,

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God made a blood covenant with Abram to reassure him. You see, we humans need assurance.

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We believe the gospel and repent, but God knows that like Abram, we need a sign or a right to solidify the promise in our minds, and the right changes everything.

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People need rituals. The following illustration by Jay Guen helps us to understand the process of becoming a

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Christian. Consider a young couple. The young man embraces his girlfriend and for the first time says,

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I love you. She hugs him, smiles, kisses him passionately, and the evening ends.

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Later, he discusses the evening with a friend over coffee. The friend says, wow, it's great that you have a girlfriend who is so affectionate.

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Can't you see in her eyes how much she loves you? Yes, I know she loves me, the young man says, but I need her to say that she loves me.

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In fact, if she won't say it, I don't think I can continue in this relationship. Is he right to consider her reluctance to express her feelings a barrier to their relationship?

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Why not travel on her body language and behavior? Why are the words so important?

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And, you know, the words really are important. Not because of tradition or his inability to perceive her emotions.

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They are important because his girlfriend has to make a decision. She may feel love for him very much, but saying that she loves him changes their relationship, and it changes her.

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It forces her to admit to herself that this is how she feels, and once she admits that, it changes her life.

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As soon as she admits her love, she has to make a commitment and be willing to make sacrifices.

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Moreover, once he hears her words, he'll behave differently. He'll see her as a companion.

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No more will they just be dating. They'll be bound to one another in a way that's radically different from before.

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The words matter, and if she never says the words, their relationship will not progress much at all.

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In fact, it will end. So when did she fall in love with her boyfriend?

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When she first felt those feelings. When she started imagining what it would be like to be married.

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When she found her dreams filled with him. When she says the words, well, she fell in love over time.

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For some, it takes a few weeks. For others, it takes years. But true love is never at first sight.

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It always takes some time. When did their relationship change? Well, it changed incrementally, a bit here and a bit there.

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They were strangers, and then two people on a date, and then they were a couple, and then they were a couple in love.

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When do they become a couple in love? Well, not until they admit it to themselves, and then to each other.

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The words matter. The words change everything. The words change both lives forever.

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But, of course, many couples say, I love you, and don't mean it. The words only matter between honest people.

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Lies happen. And then there are some couples, not many, who fall in love, get married, have children, and grow old together, never having said,

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I love you. Is it essential that you tell your boyfriend that you love him if you want to one day be married?

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Yes, well, almost. Relationships don't always follow the rules, but the rules are the rules for a reason.

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They matter. Like the young couple who acknowledge and verbalize their love and commitment to each other, immersion is the result of deciding to make a commitment to God.

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It changes us, and it changes the way other people see us, because the initial evidence of our commitment is our baptism.

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But that's not all. The Old Testament washings for purification were a shadow of that which was to come, according to Hebrews chapter 10.

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The substance of those Old Testament purification rites is found in the waters of baptism, during which the

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Holy Spirit performs the ultimate purification, the removal of our sins.

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This is why baptism matters. Thanks for listening to the podcast.

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We hope this episode has deepened your understanding of Scripture. If you found this content valuable, please share it with your friends.

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For more biblical studies, visit our website at ReadyForEternity .com. That's the word ready, the number four, and the word eternity.

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ReadyForEternity .com. Be sure and leave a comment on the Ready For Eternity Facebook page, or reach out on Twitter.

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That's all for now. Keep studying your Bible, growing closer to God, and getting ready for eternity.