You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Galatians 3:26-27Galatians 3:26-27
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
26 All of you are God's children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes.

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On Sunday we had the wonderful pleasure of celebrating the baptism of several people at The Mount.  It was such a time of joy as we witnessed their public profession of faith in Jesus Christ.  While we do not believe that baptism is the point of salvation (because that takes place prior to baptism when an individual invites Christ into their hearts and begins a personal relationship with Him), we do believe that it symbolizes the spiritual cleansing that Christ provided for all mankind through the shedding of His blood on the cross.  Through Jesus’ sacrifice, all those who give their lives to Him through repentance of their sins can be forgiven and united with all fellow believers into the family of God.

Baptism is a beautiful representation of that cleansing as those who have recently given their lives to Christ step into the water and are immersed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  As each person is dipped below the water, it is a portrait of Jesus’ death and burial, and as they are pulled back out of the water, it is a picture of Jesus’ resurrection.  All who pass through the baptismal waters are united in their public declaration of what God has done for them in making them a new creation.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:172 Corinthians 5:17
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
17 Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.

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Though I do not remember the specific date, I do recall the day I accepted Jesus as my Savior in 1977.  I was listening intently to the lesson being shared in children’s church and after it was over the teacher asked if anyone would like to invite Jesus into their hearts.  I had attended children’s church for many months and heard many stories about Jesus during that time.  But this particular day, I felt a tugging on my heart and a need to make sure that I did invite Jesus to come and live in my heart.  I remember stepping into a side room with a few other people and saying a prayer to ask Jesus to forgive me for the sins I had committed up to that point in my life.  I remember people sharing what my decision meant and how Jesus now had a home inside my heart.  The memory of that day has lingered with me ever since.

Shortly after that our church held a baptism service at the home of one of the congregations members.  They had an in-ground swimming pool.  I remember being nervous as I entered the water, but there were other people there with me, so it wasn’t too bad.  That was over 32 years ago now, but that day in that swimming pool in the backyard of a home in North Central Ohio represents the day I gave my first sermon.  For, it was the day I was baptized in the same manner as my Savior, when I publicly declared in front of all who were there that I had accepted Jesus into my life and that I had entered into the joy of being in relationship with Him and everyone else who was a member of His family.  It was one of the greatest days of my life, and I am so thankful for the peace and strength having a relationship with Jesus has provided me over the years.  I cannot imagine life without Him and without my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

If you haven’t entered into a personal relationship with Jesus yet, what are you waiting for?  He wants to welcome you into the family and expose you to the joy that comes from being forgiven! In fact, Jesus even prayed for your unity…

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

John 17:20-23John 17:20-23
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
20 I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me. ²¹ I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me. ²² I have honored my followers in the same way that you honored me, in order that they may be one with each other, just as we are one. ²³ I am one with them, and you are one with me, so that they may become completely one. Then this world's people will know that you sent me. They will know that you love my followers as much as you love me.

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Regardless of any man-made denominational labels we may wear in modern society, whether we call ourselves Baptist, or Presbyterian, or Methodist, or Lutheran, etc.  If you believe in Jesus Christ and that He is the only way to heaven, then you can enjoy the unity that God has provided for all mankind to have with Him.  Jesus paved the way for all of humanity to be united…through His death and resurrection, and all of us who accept Him as Savior live in that unity.  And baptism simply punctuates that we have entered into that unity.

You are no longer to be dominated by sin. Yes, you’ll struggle against sin for the rest of your days. But there is no need to be mastered by it.

Baptism is a symbol that a boundary has been crossed. A transition has occurred, and there is really no “going back” to the way you were. The price for sin has been paid, and you now walk in forgiveness! The old you that you are so familiar with is a thing of the past:

Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Romans 6:3-4Romans 6:3-4
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
3 Don't you know that all who share in Christ Jesus by being baptized also share in his death? ⁴ . When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ. We were baptized, so that we would live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father.

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Think back to before you came to know Jesus. How would you describe your life? What did you struggle with? What temptations were present? Now think about today. Same questions, but present tense: What do you struggle with? What are the temptations you deal with? For some, the struggles are completely different. For others, they are the same. You might be daily fighting against the same sinful attitudes you once did. As you have followed Jesus, he might have brought victory in some areas, allowing others to come to the forefront. But we are tempted daily. We all struggle – if not with sin, then with what is best; what is God’s will, his current activity, his desire for us every moment of every day.

Baptism signifies this break. Life before Christ is looking for excuses to cover our sin. It is hiding from judgment. It is looking for the comfortable, the way out, what is pleasant, what satisfies our cravings – at least for a time. Our whole nature was bent on suiting ourselves, or excusing ourselves. Well, no more, thank you!

On this side of the baptismal waters, we find that life isn’t about us. These “new lives” aren’t to be squandered on selfish ambition or pleasure, or finding loop-holes through careful reading of God’s word. Jesus didn’t just drain the sin tank, making room for more evil. In these new lives we will struggle against sin. But on this side, we have new hearts. We have new minds. We have purpose and connection we didn’t have before. We can overcome sin, as we draw closer to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Paul wrote the words of Romans 6 to people who were questioning what God’s grace meant in their lives. Some were saying that continuing down a path of sin would actually bring God more glory, by highlighting his mercy even more! Paul quickly points out that this argument misses God’s desire and heart for us. He didn’t die so that we could continue with life as it was, now protected by some magic pixie dust that assured our good standing in the last days. He died to destroy the hold sin had on our lives. And he rose again, not to assure us that we would have some happy ever-after spent in self-indulgence, but to give us confidence and hope.

Confidence, that we can please him as we run from sin and follow God’s will – becoming more like his Son. Hope, that one day we will share in his resurrection and his victory over death.

Jesus, Son of God, was born to Earth as a flesh and blood child, that we might be able to relate, one on one, with God. He took on the features and flesh of man. He grew among the Jewish people. He partook in all that life had to offer… except sin. He identifies with us in every emotion, every feeling we have, because He, himself, felt those in his ‘humanness’.

At about the age of thirty years He knew that the time had come to begin His ministry. He knew what He should do to accomplish the work that God, the Father, had set before Him. One of those things was to go to His cousin, John the Baptist, to be baptized. When John saw Jesus at the river, he asked why he should be baptizing Jesus. He said that Jesus should, instead, be baptizing him. Jesus answered that it was necessary for himself to be baptized to ‘fulfill righteousness.” (Matt 3:15Matt 3:15
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
15 Jesus answered, “For now this is how it should be, because we must do all that God wants us to do.” Then John agreed.

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At Calvary, Jesus, who was sinless, (John 8:7John 8:7
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
7 . They kept on asking Jesus about the woman. Finally, he stood up and said, “If any of you have never sinned, then go ahead and throw the first stone at her!”

WP-Bible plugin), laid down His perfection for a few brief hours and He picked up the sin of all humanity. He identified himself with us, by carrying the guilt and filth and sinful acts just the way we had done. He traveled to hell, leaving that horrible burden behind the gates, locking them behind Him. That provided the way for us to have freedom from sin and to gain righteousness in Christ for all eternity. Praise be to God for such a plan! Christ took on our humanness, just for that short time, but what a powerful gift that was for Him to give!

Charles Swindoll in Signposts Along Life’s Journey (1997), Insight for Living, CA, p. 10, wrote that the word ‘baptize’ comes from the “root word, bapto, which was a term used in the first century for immersing a garment first into bleach and then into dye, both cleansing and changing the color of the cloth. (Note its similarity to baptism’s cleansing of sin and becoming a new person through Christ.) Stated another way, when you process cloth to change its color, you are said to “baptize” it.

When Jesus was baptized, He set an example for believers to follow. When we accepted Christ as our Savior by faith, we were cleansed by His blood. At that moment, we were completely forgiven of all of our past, present and future sin. When we followed His example of baptism, we were plunged beneath the water, symbolic of the cleansing we’d received at Salvation. Our baptism was a testimony to the world that we have been changed! We signified that were burying our sin, and rising in life anew. In such a way, we identified ourselves with Jesus, both inwardly and outwardly for all to see. (It is not the baptism that renews us, it is the faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection that does that work. Baptism is a testimony that we have been changed…renewed by the power of His righteousness.)

Let us, daily, renew ourselves in Him, as we remember that our sins are dead to us, and go forth to live in the newness of Life in Christ!

Man has come a long way in his acquisition of  knowledge and power. From the horse and buggy to the space shuttle and from the flintlock rifle to the atomic bomb, we’ve made progress. There is always a cost attached to man’s progress however. The cost seems to always be in damage to the environment or through death itself.

The strongest power that has ever been experienced on earth is not through mankind’s doing however, but  through the resurrection of Christ. Unlike man’s power, Christ’s power does not result in destruction, but rather in victory over death and in eternal life. Far more powerful than a nuclear reaction, Christ had the power to raise His own bloody, unrecognizable, lifeless body from the grave in perfect form. Now that is power!

That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 1:19Ephesians 1:19
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
19 I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used

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Because Jesus said “I and my Father are One” we can know that the God who raised Christ through the power of the Spirit are all the same person. That in itself staggers the mind, so brace yourself for this next part.

The same power that rose Christ from the dead is within us if we have accepted Him as our Savior!

There is no more beautiful example of this than the one we see exemplified through believer’s baptism. The plunge underneath the water represents our burial with Christ and death of our old life. The resurrection of Christ is represented as we emerge from the water to a new life of service for Him.

If we truly understood that the power that raised Christ from the dead is residing within us, there would be nothing we would ever need fear. This same power not only empowers us for daily living but will some day raise us from physical death into eternal life with Him. Grasping that, we can join Paul in saying,

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His suffering, becoming like Him in death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:10-11Philippians 3:10-11
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
10 All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him to life. I want to suffer and die as he did, ¹¹ so that somehow I also may be raised to life.

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Give, and you will receive.  Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap.  The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.

Luke 6:38Luke 6:38
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
38 If you give to others, you will be given a full amount in return. It will be packed down, shaken together, and spilling over into your lap. The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.

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Our family gives financially to God’s Kingdom.    We have made that a non-negotiable practice from the time we first began managing money together.  And the amount we give is sacrificial.  It is not given from the left-overs of our resources, but from the first-fruits. God says we are not to rob Him, and that we are to give Him the first-fruits of our labors,  our income (Malachi 3:6-11Malachi 3:6-11
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
6 . Descendants of Jacob, I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I never change. That's why you haven't been wiped out, ⁷ even though you have ignored and disobeyed my laws ever since the time of your ancestors. But if you return to me, I will return to you. And yet you ask, “How can we return?” ⁸ You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, “How are we robbing you?” You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me. i the ten percent ... to me: The people of Israel were supposed to give a tenth of their harvests and of their flocks and herds to the Lord . ⁹ That's why your whole nation is under a curse. ¹⁰ ; I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing. j open the windows ... blessing: This may refer to rain, since there seems to have been a terrible drought at this time. ¹¹ I will also stop locusts k locusts: A kind of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to plant life. from destroying your crops and keeping your vineyards from producing.

WP-Bible plugin).  I know this is a controversial subject and that many people would just as soon avoid it, but did you know God talked about money more than just about any other topic in the Bible?  Do you know why? Because what we do with the money we’re given (notice I didn’t say “our money”) is a barometer of our heart.  Jesus knew that, and if you want to get a clear indicator of what’s important to a person, just track where they’re spending their money.

I know lots of people who are more adamant about the appropriate 18% tip we’re supposed to leave on the table for a waitress or waiter than they are giving a sacrificial portion of their resources to God.  Interesting.  But, once we’ve learned how to make giving a matter of loving worship and obedience, we’re also freed from trying to figure out how little we can give so we can focus on trying to give even more for the right reasons.

Nothing we have really belongs to us.  All of it is a direct result of God’s unmerited favor and blessing on our lives, and He deserves the credit and gratitude for everything.  We have certainly not earned it, regardless of how much time, energy, and thought we’ve put into amassing “stuff.”  All of us, regardless of our position or paycheck, have fallen short of God’s standard for righteousness and holiness, so anything we’re given by Him is a gift, not an entitlement.

Why does our family give?  It’s simple, actually.  Because God first gave to us, and continues to give to us. He sacrificed for us, so how can we not do the same for Him?  And our biggest sacrifice could never compare with His.  He spared no expense to purchase our redemption.  He sacrificed the blood of His one and only Son so that you and I may have eternal life.  No matter how much we give to God, we will never and can never out-give Him.

So, does that mean we don’t stretch ourselves to give more because we know we can never out-give God anyway?  Of course not.  What it does mean is the more we give to God, the more evident our trust and faith in Him is, because we know that He will be faithful to always provide all we need, and the more He has the opportunity to prove His promise to bless us.  As we give to God, it demonstrates our recognition of Him as the Source of all we have and our gratitude to Him.  And God, in turn, gives back to us manifold blessings for our obedience.  He gave, we give in grateful return, and He gives even more.  It is a cycle of perpetual love and those who are obedient to God in this regard often find themselves blessed to the point of being able to give more and more.  The Bible also clearly states that those who are faithful in little will be faithful in much (Luke 16:10Luke 16:10
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
10 Anyone who can be trusted in little matters can also be trusted in important matters. But anyone who is dishonest in little matters will be dishonest in important matters.

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I can speak from experience, you can never out-give God.  He always provides, always supplies, and always blesses beyond our comprehension, often in ways we never saw coming. I urge you to take a careful look at your finances.  Is God and His Kingdom a priority in your budget? Does your level of giving reflect an immense trust and dependence on Him?  Be sure of this, you can never out-give God.  He stands ever ready to bless your faith in Him and has promised to always supply all of your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:19

We give because we’re grateful. We give because we’re in love with Jesus. We give not because we have to, but because we want to in light of all God has given to us.  How ’bout you?