May 13, 2012 am

05/06/12 pm

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The four gospels are full of accounts of people responding to Jesus. Some ignored him. Some rejected him. Some persecuted him. Some believed, but wouldn’t admit it. Some believed, but wouldn’t follow. Some believed, but later fell away. Some believed and sacrificed everything to follow him. Peter was one of these, and put words to the response Jesus was looking for when he said, “See, we have left everything and followed you” (Matthew 19:27). Jesus asked for total commitment: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). I think the first thing that would stick out to me were I reading the New Testament through for the first time is the all-encompassing scope of Jesus’ invitation. He wants me to give him everything!

As I try to imagine I’ve never read these verses before and think freshly, hopefully without prejudice, I’m compelled to examine the response to Christ I’ve made to this point. I’ve done a lot of things in response to the gospel message. Have I responded with a total self-sacrificial commitment to Jesus? It’s arguably the most basic thing he asks a believer to do. Have you? Last week I wrote, “If someone were to read through the New Testament for the first time and believe it all, what would he do in response to the gospel? I think that’s a question we would all do well to ask and try to answer without the filtering effects of prejudice.” I want to take the next step in trying to answer that question.

Remember, we’re starting from the standpoint that someone has read the New Testament and believed. There’s no doubt belief is the first appropriate response to the gospel (John 8:24). So, someone reads and believes and grasps the full-scale, sacrificial commitment Jesus is asking for. Is the willingness present to make the needed change of purpose and loyalty? Someone said, “The gospel does not allow the luxury of indecision.” When you realize what the gospel is about, and what Jesus demands of you, you have to make a decision—and WILL make a decision one way or the other.

What I’m talking about is repentance. It means to turn around, to make an “about face,” in military terms. It’s a change of mind that results in changed behavior. To realize Jesus is calling for you to make him your leader and teacher is to realize YOU aren’t equipped to lead and teach yourself. No one other than Jesus is suitable to be your leader and teacher, because no one is his equal. In every way in which you have not followed his way, you have sinned. You have been in rebellion against your Maker, destroying yourself, and headed for ultimate destruction. God’s love doesn’t want that for you, so he calls you to make a change. Jesus said it this way, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5). I think it’s pretty plain that among the first things one notices when reading the New Testament freshly is the call to repentance. We’ve got that right! So, will you repent and turn to Jesus?

Continuing with my effort to answer the question of this series, we come to baptism. If I read the whole thing freshly and believe, what do I understand about baptism? I think this is the first response to Jesus with which a present-day reader would have some trouble understanding. I’ll try to talk through what I think an objective thought process would be and highlight likely difficulties.

The first encounter with baptism in the New Testament is Matthew 3:5-6: “Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (ESV). Reading on through reveals baptism is done in a river, in water, for repentance, for remission of sins, to make one a disciple, with belief, for salvation, as an appeal to God for a clean conscience, as a symbol of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, to wash away sins, and in obedience to command. Jesus was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness.” There is “one baptism.” All that is as clear as a bell, so coming to the text without prejudice, the believing reader just accepts the aforementioned truths about baptism and moves forward to do it. But, to do what?

I’m writing this with the understanding that the reader has an English translation of the New Testament. Baptism is in water. Philip and the Ethiopian went “down into the water” (Acts 8:38). Jesus was baptized “in the Jordan” (Mark 1:9). We are “buried” in baptism (Romans 6:4). All this clearly points to burial in water, or immersion, but the word baptism in English doesn’t make that clear, and if the reader went to any number of churches for baptism he may be taught sprinkling or pouring water on his head is sufficient. Another reader might get confused about water baptism versus Holy Spirit Baptism. It would be very easy at this point for our first-time reader to be misguided, and is the first step along the way where centuries of disagreement and division make simple obedience to the gospel difficult. The reader needs to do his homework at this point. I’ll write something about that next.

—JLP

03/18/12 pm

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