Very soon you will be entering the waters of baptism. Once you arise from the water nothing will ever be the same again. You may not look any different but you will have, as Paul says in Galatians, “put on Christ.”
This is a new beginning, your date of rebirth. We generally remember our birthdays and anniversaries but too few remember the date of their baptism. Yet, this is the most important date of all! Here we are this morning on your birthday — the day you come forth as “newborn babes.”
As we witness your baptism today, we should all remember the day of our own baptism, which may be 10 or 30 or even 60 years ago. And as we remember it, we can all ask ourselves, “How much progress have I made?” Are we still longing for spiritual food? Have we moved on to the meat of the Word? Are we as excited about being in Christ as we were then?
Measuring progress
How will we measure our progress? It cannot be measured in terms of how successful we have been in this life, although some of us may immediately think of that. Success in this life is too often gained at the expense of lack of involvement in the Truth. As you have witnessed at your interview, you believe the word of God is true. That Word says, “You cannot serve God and Mammon.” You cannot be dedicated to Christ, which you are about to be, and also be fully involved in this world. You cannot properly desire the kingdom if you want this world as well.
Please be aware that some of us are having a hard time with this very point. The world can be a very attractive and alluring place. It promises great things and makes them accessible. If any of us here are trying to serve two masters, now is the time to stop!
This morning you are saying, “Lord, I want to be with you in the kingdom. I have counted the cost. I know there will be a cost and I desire to live forever.” But more than this, “I have looked at my life up until now. When I do, I see you hard at work in my life directing me and using others to guide me, many of whom are in this hall this morning. You have called me, Lord. I am obedient to your gracious invitation.”
No congratulations
This is not a graduation, not a guarantee, not the end, but the beginning. In this act, you are recognizing your own inability to save yourselves from your sins. You are declaring your need for a savior and your need to start life afresh.
As we partake of the emblems with you for the first time this morning, we are going to join you in rededicating our lives to the service of our Master. We have done it before, and failed. We have promised to serve our Lord and broken our promise. We have determined not to lust after this world’s pleasures, and knowingly or unknowingly, have been enticed by them. We have resolved to take up our cross and follow him, only to put it down quickly if the going got rough. We are all still human beings and very frail ones at that, but ultimately we will not be able to use that as an excuse. We fail, all of us do and some of us quite a lot. Some of us sin openly, some in secret — and our Lord knows all about our failings. He doesn’t like them, but He will forgive them if we continue in faith and in confession of our sins and in making progress. That’s right, the Lord expects us to grow from the time of our new birth; he expects us to mature as disciples.
The Lord is the standard
So let’s get back to our question, “How will we measure progress?” In all such measurements, the standard is our Lord, not our brethren and sisters. This is worth remembering. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (I Peter 2:21-24 RSV).
This is our example, our standard for comparison: no sin, no guile, never reviled back, never threatened. “So put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander” (I Pet. 2:1 RSV). This is how we start to measure our progress, or lack of it. How are we doing with malice, hateful thoughts, deeds or words, guile and insincerity?
Such things take many forms: “Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds…you did not so learn Christ!” (Eph. 4:17,20). This is what the Truth is all about. It has to make us different, different in the way we act, the way we talk, what we talk about, the way we react to the hurtful words and deeds we face. Follow the example of our Lord. This is how progress in the Truth is measured.
Any progress?
Each of us must ask ourselves this morning, “How have I progressed in these matters?” How successful we have been in a career is not mentioned. How eloquent a speaker we are is not mentioned. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23 RSV).
In Luke, we read of two special women, one probably younger than either of you, one considerably older. They lived in a time of general anticipation; but to Mary and Elizabeth, it was a time of great personal fulfillment and of quiet deliberation about what God was about to do for them and through them.
God, our Father, has waited almost 2,000 more years for you. You, too are special to Him. While there will be no appearance by the angel Gabriel, we know that the angels have been at work in directing you both. They now rejoice in heaven because your baptismal day, the baptismal day of any of us, is a special day. And so on this day, it is a fresh start for you and for all of us as now we have you as new members in our family to help us and to need our help.
Some in this room are still not convinced of the necessity for baptism. Some may have forgotten what it means. You have the ability, under God’s grace, to help change such attitudes. By your example of steady progress in Christ, you can show others what is really important in this life, what real progress is. Life will not always be easy. But as you will now publicly confess, you believe in God’s promises and you now commit yourselves to growing in Him. May God’s richest blessing be with you now and until our Lord returns to gather his own in love.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One