All God's Kids Call Him "Abba"

As a Christian, you’ve entered into a relationship with God that presses past knowing him as King, Creator, Judge, and Ruler over all things and have come to know him in the most tender, the dearest, the most intimate and heart- moving way. You know him now as “Abba.” This little word only shows up three times in the New Testament, but don’t let its brevity drive you to miss its immense importance. As Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating blood, knowing the brutal death that awaited him the following Good Friday morning, Mark writes, “Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible, the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will’” (14:35­–36). Paul uses the phrase two times. In Galatians 4:6 he writes, “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’” And in Romans 8:15, he says, “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”

Ronald Fung, a research fellow of the Chinese University in Hong Kong, writes, “Abba is an Aramaic affectionate diminutive for ‘father’ used in the intimacy of the family circle.”[1] Commenting on Galatians 4:6, Protestant reformer Martin Luther said, “Although I am oppressed with anguish and terror on every side, and seem to be forsaken and utterly cast away from Your presence, yet am I Your child, and You are my Father for Christ’s sake; I am beloved because of the Beloved.”[2] Luther understood that no matter what was going on in his life, one thing was sure—he was God’s child.

The Christian God is three-in-one. Three distinct persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–and yet One. This is known as the Trinity. Notice what Paul is saying, in the Galatians reference; the Trinity is at work in this Galatians verse: God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” Believer, prop up your feet in the hammock of the love of God for you. God does not disown his children, though his discipline can be quite painful at times. Because you are in Christ, you are just as safe, loved, and welcomed as Jesus is right now. Jesus has dealt with your sin at his cross, he has gifted to you his righteousness, and your identity is secure.

The craziest idea in the whole universe—that God cherishes you, sings over you, delights in you, and is wild over you being his child—is actually true! All the demons of hell, the liars in the streets, and even the deceptions of your own heart are no match for the landslide of the love of God that has broken loose for you. Nothing can quench the raging, blazing, longing heart of Almighty God! Your Abba will always be tender, truthful, and available to you.

Excerpt from The New Believer's Guide to the Christian Life: What Will Change, What Won't, and Why It Matters, pp. 54-56.

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[1] Ronald K. Fung, New International Commentary on the New Testament: Galatians, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids (1988), p. 185.

[2] Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians, Fleming H. Revel Publsihers, Grand Rapids, (1999), p. 253.

What Are My Feelings For?

This overlook is where one of my dearest friends processed some of his deepest pain. Love you, Mo.

Feelings. What on earth are my feelings for? How are feelings practical? What do they accomplish? If I feel one way, does that make me righteous? If I think another way, does that make me sinful? What exactly are these things that I can't see but can become visible to everyone around? Am I responsible for how I feel? That's a serious question. After all, in the ancient Greco-Roman world

"Emotion was sometimes considered a force beyond a person's control. Lenience could be granted to someone in a trial because their offense was committed under the influence of anger."* 

I have the honor of serving as Pastor of Preaching and Theology at Redemption Church in Seattle. However, don’t think for a moment that the role implies that all I do is sit in my study with my "friends" (my mother's name for my books). In addition to study, I get to spend lots of time with our people and questions surrounding our emotions often arise. As we all know, our emotions can be extremely powerful. But are they beyond our control? The Scriptures teach us that human beings are not merely primal creatures with chemicals firing off in the brain, causing us to move in one direction or another. Instead, human beings are made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27). Contrary to what some believe, I don't think this is some sort of summons to ignore our biological makeup. Rather, it means that we understand that part of being in God's image is that we are emotional creatures.

Many of us tend to fall off on one side of the horse or the other when it comes to how we view our emotions. Some believe that our emotions need to be ignored or suppressed because they aren't to be trusted. “It’s not about your feelings. It’s about your faith!” This kind of remark makes sense, but it is only half-baked as we’ll see below. Others believe the opposite and choose to allow one’s emotions to have absolute rule over them throughout each day; way up one moment and way down the next and everything in between. 

MOVING TO A SPACE OF TRUST

As followers of Jesus, we are to submit everything in our lives, including our feelings to him. At the Last Supper, Jesus commanded the disciples “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” So they weren’t supposed to be anxious about his departure? Where would they go? What would happen next? How can Jesus command them to personally take control of their feelings and to route them away from being “troubled”? How is peace possible when the circumstances are submerged in anxiety? The answer lies in the next statement. “You believe in God. Believe also in me" (John 14:1). It was natural to feel anxious in this situation, but Jesus calls the disciples to push past what they saw and what they felt and to move to a space of daring trust; to take him at his word that everything really will be OK. In fact, in the end, they'll be better than OK. Jesus is not saying "Ignore the pain and pretend everything's great." This is Jesus saying, "In spite of the pain, with heartache still intact, take another step closer to me."

OUR EMOTIONS TELL US WHAT WE VALUE

For me personally, this has been a big challenge throughout my life.  To take ownership of my emotions and realize they are my responsibility has not come easy. It's been quite the battle. Perhaps being a 4 on the Enneagram explains it. Maybe it's biology. Perhaps it has to do with the family I was raised in or the church I grew up attending. I don't know. But like everyone, I suppose, getting a grip on the human heart hasn't come easy. I'm grateful to my therapist and good friends (both books and real people) that have helped me along the way.

As with everything, our emotions are to be stewarded just like our resources and relationships. So why did God make us emotional? One reason God made us emotional is to help us see what we value. Catch that. Our emotions tell us something about what we truly value. We sometimes value the right things and sometimes we value the wrong things. Our emotions give us a good read on what we believe to be of worth. Here’s what I mean. There are things in the news today that ought to elicit emotions such as grief and anger. Jesus himself was angry on a number of occasions, and it was right for him to be angry (Mark 3:5, for example). When injustice is done, amongst many things, anger should surface. When good deeds are done, and someone experiences grace, freedom, and success, emotions like gratitude and joy are to be expected.  

EMOTIONS & VIRTUES

Before signing off, it is helpful to remember two things about our emotions and our virtues. Emotions, in and of themselves are not to be considered virtuous. They’re embedded within the individual. Thinking a good thought, though praiseworthy, (Phil. 4:8) is not the same thing as a virtuous deed. Christians are repeatedly commanded to perform good deeds (Matt. 5:16, Eph 2:10, Titus 3:8, 1 John 3:18. Or perhaps the entire book of James would be good to look at as well). And yet, these good deeds are to not to be done divorced from our feelings. Extending a helping hand, showing mercy, and seeking justice with disengaged or disingenuous hearts reduces Christianity to mere moralism, which isn’t Christianity at all. Thus, our emotions matter. Not only do our emotions matter, but they are also essential to those of us who dare to live the eternal life in the here and now.  

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Matthew Elliot, Faithful Feelings: Rethinking Emotion in the New Testament, 63.

Michael Horton on Being Ordinary

"My concern is that the activist impulse at the heart of evangelicalism can put an enormous burden on people to do big things when what we need most right now is to do the ordinary things better. We can miss God in the daily stuff, looking for the extraordinary Moment outside of his Word and conversation with Him in daily prayer, family worship, and especially the public gathering of the saints each Lord's Day. If we were more serious about these ordinary means of grace, I'm convinced the church would have a much stronger witness in the world today." 

– Michael Horton, Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World

Holy Fun: The Peach Jolly Rancher

– Seattle, Washington (Ballard)

Do you remember your first Jolly Rancher? The candy that could make your day or break your teeth is one that I’ll never forget. It's funny being 38 years old and a father of two that somehow lately memories that have been tucked away in the outskirts of my mind are being dislodged. Some are painful, some are beautiful, and some are fun, and some are holy. This memory is sacred and fun. Those things can and should go together, you know? Don't let anyone lie to you and tell you that holiness is the enemy of fun. Holiness is no more the enemy of fun than Mickey is the archenemy of Pluto. They belong together. In fact, when one exists without the other, we end up sounding like a weary Solomon rather than a rejoicing Siemon in the temple cradling the Messiah or a Mary who knows how to pick the good portion and find a seat close to the Savior. 

I remember being about 9 years old in Panama City Beach on our family vacation. We loaded up in my mom’s Aero Star minivan and made the 6 or so hour trek down to what some call the “Redneck Riviera.” Maybe I was too young to notice or care for the snarky comment about where we went on vacation. My mom and brother were on the beach, and my dad and I were to go grab something from our condo. My dad had the 80s vibe down. He was wearing short green swimming trunks, a white v-neck, and his flip-flops. He also donned his aviators with the kind of swag that American Apparel today attempts to recapture. We made our way to the lobby and boarded the elevator. It smelled of bleach, and there was sand in our sandals. You know that gritty-Florida-vacation-elevator-feel? It’s as good as Christmas morning or a Friday afternoon in the sun with a good book, friend, or both. 

When we arrived on the seventh floor, we took a right, and three doors down was the Early palace for the week. My dad reached into his right pocket and pulled out the key and opened the door. The bone-chilling air conditioning rushed out upon us like the wind of Pentecost. Nobody spoke in tongues and yet, I was standing in the middle a miracle and didn't know it. How do we not know it right then and there? Even the disciples didn't recognize the Savior on the Emmaus road, for goodness sake. 

For that brief moment in time, which lasted no longer than any other time a father and son walk through a door, I now believe that moment was filled to the brim with something sacred. As sacred as anything I've ever heard about anyway. Be it  Moses and the burning bush or Elijah's calling down fire or whatever other fantastical scenes… That fraction of a second in my memory is like a grain of sand under my toes. We were utterly still I could not see his eyes. Instead, I saw myself in the reflection of his sunglasses, a shirtless little boy, gazing up like those resurrection-struck-buffoons at the ascension of our Lord.

I looked in his hand, and he also had two Jolly peach Ranchers. I’d never seen one. I don’t know how I’d lived nine whole years on God's green earth and never actually come across one of these marvelous little creations. My dad handed one to me and said, “Here. Eat this. It’s peach.”   I took it, opened it up, and popped it into my mouth. He said, “Don’t bite down! It’ll break your teeth!” I listened. For maybe the first time in my life, I listened to my dad, and I’m glad I did. 

To this day that was the best Jolly Rancher I ever had. I don't think I've had one since I was in high school. I did try grape and watermelon, and all the others. But the peach one… in the doorway… with the ghost of Pentecost blowing… and my reflection in his aviators…. peach is the best Jolly Rancher. 

Leaving Social Media

– Lake Kachees, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest

Hey everyone! After giving it a good bit of thought, I've decided to walk away from social media for the foreseeable future. I just feel like it would be good for me. However, I do plan on updating my blog, sermons, and food posts regularly.  

I would love to stay in touch with all of you. Believe it or not, I'm good at responding to emails. You can contact me here on my website or at Alex@redemptionchurchseattle.com.

Love to you all! 

Abba's Child,

Alex

Timothy Keller on Being Known and Loved in Marriage

“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”

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Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God, 101. 

Brennan Manning Asks 15 Questions to Examine the Conscience

I'm slowly reading through Brennan Manning's very first book, Prophets and Lovers: In Search of the Holy Spirit. Like everything he wrote, it is wonderful. I heard him mention these questions in sermons on a number of occasions. Seeing them again this morning... well... they're as sobering as they ever were. In 1976, Brennan was asking:

1. Have I missed the message of Chicago, Birmingham, and Detroit and failed to take the initiative in working for social justice?
2. In reading the daily paper and seeing a black youth being torn at by a police dog, a black priest having Catholics refuse to receive Communion from him, wretched living conditions in ghettos, full grown men still unable to get jobs, and youth of every race and color wasting away from alcohol, sex and narcotics, have I ever felt real anguish for the misery of others?
3. Have I had habitual contempt for others: less educated people, people of different national, racial or economic groups? 
4. Dismissed all old people as medieval ("My father is 10,000 years old," said a young co-ed) and never tried to make them feel their worth as persons and their dignity as members of the human community?
5. In any way stifled the personal development of another? 
6. Sought to be respected without respecting others?
7. Often kept others waiting? 
8. Forgotten or not kept a date?
9. Been difficult for others to reach or too busy to put myself at their disposal?
10. Not paid attention to the person speaking to me? 
11. Refused to become involved in the troubles of others and dismissed them with a pat reassurance, "Don't worry. It will work out."? 
12. Kept silent out of human respect when different personalities were pulverized? ("We do not have the right to be silent watchdogs and silent sentinels," wrote DeFoucauld, "We must cry out when we see evil being done").
13. Seen only those whose friendship might prove profitable?
14. Blackened the character of anyone by harmful remarks (false or true)?
15. Betrayed a trust, violated a confidence or involved myself in others' affairs through indiscreet words and actions?

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Manning, Prophets and Lovers: In Search of the Holy Spirit, pp. 54-55.

Trinity: Persons, Not 'Parts'

The very first course I had in Systematic Theology was in 2001. I was a student at North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina. My teacher was a gentleman named Walter Johnson. Dr. Johnson was a tall man, well-bearded, and wore round glasses. (Standard theologian attire). He was very bright and had a wonderful way of helping us students really grasp the content of what we were studying day in and day out. Dr. Johnson was the first person to press me (and probably most of my classmates) to think and articulate myself much more specifically than I had up to that point regarding the Christian faith. Like my cluttered shed out back; there were Bible words that were in my vocabulary that needed attention and I suppose this will always be the case. Some of those words needed to be thrown out (Rapture!) Others needed shaping up. There were also a few (not many!) that were perfectly fine, in need of no repair.

For example, God. When I'd say "God", it needed some shaping up. I mostly meant God the Father. This was good, not great. It was good because when I said "God" I was not thinking of Allah, Vishnu, the Dali Lama, an impersonal space deity, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or any other religious idea about the divine. I was vaguely thinking of the God described in the Old and New Testaments. This was good but still wildly incomplete (and I fully acknowledge that to this day, my thoughts remain incomplete. I cannot and will never be able to think at once about all of who God is, what he has done, or will do. He is omniscient. I can't find my keys on a regular basis). Though I believed in Christ his Son and the Holy Spirit, it wasn't natural for me to think much of the Trinity. One day Dr. Johnson pointed this idea out to me in class. I said, "Well, yes. Of course, I believe in the other parts of God." He stopped, looked at me, and kindly said,

““Parts? What do you mean by ‘parts’? God doesn’t have ‘parts.’ God is a Person and Persons. God doesn’t come in ‘parts.’” ”

That may sound a bit pedantic to some. (And believe me, some theologians appear to have minored in pedantic studies). But he wasn't being unnecessarily punctilious. He was helping me big time. He was good theology. That rainy, Thursday South Carolina morning at 11:00 A.M. he was teaching me to think about what the Bible says and to use words that the Bible itself uses to describe God. "Parts" wasn't the right word to use when describing God. Person(s)? Now that's a good word. A better word. A truer word. A clearer word.

The God of the Christian faith is a personal God, a knowable God, a relational God. Ontologically speaking, the Trinity is a loving, harmonious, glorious relationship (perichoresis). God relates not only amongst the members of the Trinity but to creation in general, and to his children uniquely. God isn't to be broken into parts like some impersonal, nonliving, machine that can be disassembled, studied, and put back together. God is eternal, lacking nothing, unchanging, and has no weakness in himself... with the exception of the ministry of Christ; in which the eternal Son humbled himself ... but that discussion belongs over in the field of Christology... and see? We're off to another doctrine altogether! Isn't theology fantastic?!

In short, be reminded today that God is personal, relational, and beautiful. In His grace, he has reached out to us. Give yourself a full, undistracted 60 seconds to sit still and be mindful of our great God who knows us and invites us to know him.

Oh... and here's the great Dr. J. 

It's You I Like by Fred Rogers

It’s you I like,
It’s not the things you wear,
It’s not the way you do your hair–
But it’s you I like
The way you are right now,
The way down deep inside you–
Not the things that hide you,
Not your toys–
They’re just beside you.

But it’s you I like–
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings
Whether old or new.
I hope that you’ll remember
Even when you’re feeling blue
That it’s you I like,
It’s you yourself,
It’s you, it’s you I like.

Henri Nouwen: A Friend Who Cares

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”

— Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life, 38.

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G.K. Chesterton on the Easter Garden Jesus

"On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realized the new wonder; but they hardly realized that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but of the dawn.”  

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G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, 192.

John Stott on "Where's the Salt?"

“God intends us to penetrate the world. Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars; our place is to be rubbed into the secular community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it going bad. And when society does go bad, we Christians tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-Christian world; but should we not rather reproach ourselves? One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: Where is the salt?” 

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John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, 65.

Prayer of St. Augustine

Breathe in me O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen.

Charles de Foucauld: Prayer of Abandonment

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you
with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.

Charles Spurgeon on Preaching the Law and Gospel in Hopes of Seeing Conversions

"... what else should be done if we hope to see conversions? Assuredly we should be careful to preach most prominently those truths which are likely to lead to this end. What truths are those? I answer we should first and foremost preach Christ and him crucified. Where Jesus is exalted souls are attracted – "I, if I be lifted up will draw all men unto me." The preaching of the cross is to them that are saved the wisdom of God and the power of God. The Christian minister should preach all the truths which cluster around the person and work of the Lord Jesus, and hence he must declare very earnestly and pointedly the evil of sin, which created the need of a Saviour. Let him show that sin is a breach of the law, that it necessitates punishment, and that the wrath of God is revealed against it. Let him never treat sin as though it were a trifle or a misfortune, but let him set it forth as exceeding sinful. Let him go into particulars, not superficially glancing at evil in the gross, mentioning various sins in detail, especially those most current at the time: such as that all-devouring hydra of drunkenness, which devastates our land; lying, which in the form of slander abounds on all sides; and licentiousness, which must be mentioned with holy delicacy, and yet needs to be denounced unsparingly. We must especially reprove those evils into which our hearts have fallen, or are likely to fall. Explain the ten commandments and obey the divine injunction: "Show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins." Open up the spirituality of the law as our Lord did, and show how it is broken by evil thoughts, intentions, and imaginations. By this means many sinners will be pricked in their hearts. Old Robbie Flockhart used to say, "It is of no use trying to sew with the silken thread of the gospel unless we pierce a way for it with the sharp needle of the law." The law goes first, like the needle, and draws the gospel thread after it: therefore preach concerning sin, righteousness, and judgement to come. Let such language as that of the fifty first Psalm be explained: show that God requireth truth in the inward parts, and that purging with sacrificial blood is absolutely needful. Aim at the heart. Probe the wound and touch the very quick of the soul. Spare not the sterner themes, for men must be wounded before they can be healed, and slain before they can be made alive. No man will ever put on the robe of Christ's righteousness till he is stripped of his fig leaves, nor will he wash in the fount of mercy till he perceives his filthiness. Therefore, my brethren, we must not cease to declare the law, its demands, its threatenings, and the sinner's multiplied breaches of it."

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Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 337-338.

Robert Capon on the Reformation

"The reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellar full of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two hundred proof grace – bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly. The word of the Gospel–after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps–suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started. Grace has to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale, neither goodness, nor badness, nor the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter into the case.”

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Robert Farrar Capon, Between Noon and Three: Romance, Law, and the Outrage of Grace, 109-110.

R.C. Sproul on the Bible

“I think the greatest weakness in the church today is that almost no one believes that God invests His power in the Bible. Everyone is looking for power in a program, in a methodology, in a technique, in anything and everything but that in which God has placed it—His Word. He alone has the power to change lives for eternity, and that power is focused on the Scriptures.” 

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R.C. Sproul, The Prayer of the Lord, 101. 

Brennan Manning on Jesus' Feelings

“We have spread so many ashes over the historical Jesus that we scarcely feel the glow of his presence anymore. He is a man in a way that we have forgotten men can be: truthful, blunt, emotional, non-manipulative, sensitive, compassionate–his inner child so liberated that he did not feel it unmanly to cry. He met people head-on and refused to cut any deal at the price of his integrity. 

The Gospel portrait of the beloved Child of Abba is that of a man exquisitely attuned to his emotions and uninhibited in expressing them. The Son of Man did not scorn or reject feelings as fickle and unreliable. They were sensitive emotional antennae to which he listened carefully and through which he perceived the will of his Father for congruent speech and action.”

– Brennan Manning, Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging, 71. 

A Brief Background of the Sermon on the Mount for Redemption Church

Here's a very brief background to the Sermon on the Mount that I put together for our people at Redemption Church! Join us on Sunday at 10 AM! 

The background study is here!

On Baptism

Click here to sign up to be baptized during our worship service this Sunday, January 28! 

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For anyone who would follow the Lord Jesus, baptism is a commandment. Like all of his other commands to disciples – they are just that commandments, not suggestions. And if we understand who he is and what he’s done then we can agree with St. John's and say from the heart “his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

The glorious sacrament of baptism speaks directly to who God is and what he has done in Christ, through the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Church! Here at Redemption Church we rejoice from the heart each time a brother or sister repents to Jesus, trusts in Jesus, and follows after Jesus, our Lord and Savior. 

The New Testament teaches us much about the meaning of baptism. Here are three things we gleam from the gospel, history (Acts), and the words of St. Paul to the church at Corinth.

GOING PUBLIC

Jesus commanded that all who would come after him as his disciples are to follow him in being baptized. This action of being submerged in water and being raised out of the water is public declaration that one has been plunged into a living relationship with the Triune God, remembering that we are “baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). Notice here that Jesus says “name” and not “names.” Why because of the Oneness and Three-ness of our God.

"Baptism was to conversion something like what the engagement ring is to many engaged couples in modern Western society; the official, public declaration of the commitment."*

 

As a church family, we joyfully heed Paul's instructions to "do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Gal. 6:10). 

Washing of sins

In addition to a living relationship with the Triune God, baptism also is a picture of a particular kind of cleansing; a cleansing of sin. Look at this beautiful statement from Ananias to Paul upon his conversion to Christ, “And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16). Notice the close connection between baptism and "calling upon his name." Australian scholar, David Peterson says,

“Outward washing with water expresses the cleansing from sin that is proclaimed in the gospel and received by faith sacramentally in baptism.”* 

We are now cleansed before God through Jesus. Baptism points to this reality.

DEATH, BURIAL, AND Resurrection depicted

Nearing the end of his letter to the Corinthian church, in his lengthy treatment of the resurrection, Paul writes,

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

 

Baptism is a picture of Good Friday and Easter! When someone goes into the water, they’re declaring that their sins are buried with Christ. When someone comes up out of the water, they’re identifying with the resurrected Lord Jesus!

WOMB & TOMB

There is a saying from the early church that can serve to help us better understand what water baptism is and what it represents. Sofia Cavalletti, a woman who lived in Rome and worked with young children on their spiritual formation, writes in her book Living Liturgy: Elementary Reflections:

“The catechumens [Christian converts awaiting baptism] went down into the baptismal pool, which was considered both the tomb of the old person and the motherly womb of the church, which gave new birth to the new person. Going into the pool was like going down into the tomb, and coming up out of the pool was the return to a new life, the life of the risen Christ.”

 

So, if you walk into your church and you see the baptismal font, think to yourself, from death to life. You see, when you're baptized, you’re in a sense reaching back in time to hold the hands of the saints who have gone before us, and remembering the stark reality that our old lives with all of our sin and folly are buried in the tomb, and by the grace of God, we emerge to live new lives from the womb as the people of God.

The baptismal font is the tomb and the womb.

So if you’re a believer in Jesus and are ready to take your next step of faith and be baptized, please fill out the form and one of our pastors will follow up with you right away. 

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[1] Ryken, Wilhoit, and Longman III, gen. eds., “Baptism,” Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, 73. 

[2] Peterson, D. G. (2009). The Acts of the Apostles (p. 603). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 

[3] This article is a brief summary of the chapter entitled "Baptism" in my book The New Believer's Guide to the Christian Life: What Will Change, What Won't, and Why it Matters.