April 07, 2010
Come on Down
An advertisement hook in Saturday’s paper reads, “Do you want to be baptized?” It then goes on to say if you’re a believer, 8 years or older, bring a towel, a change of clothes and come on down. The Bible reference says, “And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” (Acts 22:16 NIV) On so many levels I find the ad fascinating. People who excel in disciplining must be cringing at this shotgun approach.
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Gail;
-----Yesterday I saw a bumper sticker that read, “I was born OK the first time.” It bewildered me for a short moment, then I caught on. This person perceived his life was fine. Maybe he had some problems, but so do we all. That is what we are born into, and that is OK. Our lives have some joy and success, too. It is just the way things are. So he was born OK.
-----Come on down and be baptized! 1) If you want to be baptized. 2) If you are a believer. And 3) If you are older than eight years. This is strange. Why would I want to be baptized? My life is OK. It seems if the guy with the bumper sticker spoke more about baptism without a word than did this ad. And if I am a believer, it seems I would have already been baptized. Or does this ad without a word illuminate the rather common attitude of believing with no response of baptism. Finally, I suppose the Lord has decided to set the eighth birthday as a date of qualification for baptism. The day before - forget it. On the day - for joy! For joy! I can be baptized now!
-----These two public displays of wit have something in common. Lack of thought. Lack of insight. And very little connection with reality. The bumper sticker guy may not cast much thought forward to the fact he will certainly die sooner or later. And if he has, he evidently is OK with its prospect. I know I would be OK with the idea of my death were there no Bible or church. In a reality without one or the other of these it becomes, ”What the hey, you die and then whatever.” There would be nothing else to know about it, so OK is all there would be left. But the Bible and the church do exist. The Bible not only fills in enough essential detail about the other side of death, it has demonstrated itself through prophecy and history to be uniquely qualified to address the topic. And the twenty centuries of church existence verifies its message. What the Bible says about the other side of death is more than a formidable challenge to “I was born OK the first time”.
-----”Now come on down and be baptized,” was not the first thing Phillip spoke to the Ethiopian. What Phillip spoke first was the Gospel, beginning from the point of the Ethiopian’s questioning and extending through all its other relevant points, evidently including baptism. By this the Ethiopian was convinced he was not born OK the first time. So he exclaimed, “See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?” (Acts 8:26-39) As an appeal to God for a clear conscience, baptism must proceed from the awareness that I am not OK. And it must have the confidence that God can and will answer the appeal to make me OK. Being an appeal evidences a desire to be OK. And out of this expression of that desire God makes for us new birth. Neither baptism nor new birth are so sporty as to be effected by such trite sound-bites as “I was born OK the first time” or “Come on down and be baptized!”
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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