Thoughts
on Devotions – LD26
Q.
69
How does baptism remind you and assure you that Christ's one
sacrifice on the cross is for you personally?
Q.
70
What does it mean to be washed with Christ's blood and spirit? Q.
71
Where does Christ promise that we are washed with his blood and
spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?
DeYoung,
in The
Good News We Almost Forgot,
titles
this chapter “Clean! Clean!” He points out that the Great
Commission has one imperative verb – make disciples. Often people,
mistakenly, assume that the main idea is “Go!”, but the emphasis
is on developing and building up the church, the body of Christ.
Baptism is part of the command and important in marking and helping
us remember what baptism signifies – that we are washed by the
blood of Christ and that, as part of the Body, we rely on the Spirit
and on brothers and sisters to combat and flee sin in our lives.
Monday:
The
spiritual changes that God makes in his people are invisible, but
baptism is something we can see. Baptism reminds us that God's
promises are real and that the spiritual blessings are for the person
receiving the outward sign. One important use of water is washing.
Christ came to cleanse our hearts of sin. He alone can do it and he
promises to do it by his blood and by his spirit for all who come to
him in faith. Baptism is the seal of that promise.
Matthew
3:11-12
“I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after
me is more powerful than I am - I am not worthy to carry his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork
is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will
gather his wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up
with inextinguishable fire.”
1
Peter 3:21-22
And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you - not the washing
off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God -
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who went into heaven and is
at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers
subject to him.
Tuesday:
The prophets looked for Jesus' coming and the promise God's people
would be cleansed of sin. The fountain mentioned by Zechariah is the
blood of Christ poured out on the cross. Those “in Christ” are
cleansed by that blood – it cleanses completely and God sees us as
though we had never sinned.
Zechariah
13:1 “In that day
there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty of David and the
people of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
1
John 1:7-9 But if we
walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all
sin. If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving
ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us
from all unrighteousness.
Wednesday:
The
prophets not only promised that people would be washed from their
sin, but also that they would given new hearts – to love God and to
want to do his will. They would be given the holy Spirit so that they
would be able to resist sin and to obey God. The catechism points out
that Christ cleanses us by his blood and by his spirit. Once our sins
are forgiven, the Holy Spirit enables us to live lives no longer
controlled by sin. Baptism is a picture of how we have died to sin
and are raised to a new life, pleasing to God.
Ezekial
36:25-27
I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be clean from all
your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. I will give
you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will
remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of
flesh. I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative
and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations.
Romans
6:3-4
Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him
through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a
new life.
Thursday:
The
catechism asks where Christ promises that we are cleansed from sin as
surely as we are washed with the water of baptism. The answer – in
the Great Commission – in which his disciples are instructed to
call others to faith and discipleship, and to be baptized. The
apostles baptized people as soon as they trusted in Christ.
Matthew
28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you
always, to the end of the age.”
Acts
2:37-41
Now when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to
Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and
your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our
God will call to himself.” With many other words he testified and
exhorted them saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse
generation!” So those who accepted his message were baptized, and
that day about three thousand people were added.
Friday:
In
Paul's defense in Jerusalem he told of his conversion and Ananias'
invitation to be baptized, washed from sin. He also mentions in a
letter to Titus the washing of regeneration and renewal. We again see
Jesus' promise of making his people pure and giving them a new life
and lifestyle by the Holy Spirit.
Acts
22:16
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your
sins washed away, calling on his name.ʼ
Titus
3:4-7
But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind
appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done
but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth
and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full
measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. And so, since we have been
justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident
expectation of eternal life.”
Saturday:
We
receive the Lord's Supper often, but baptism only once. But we
witness the baptism of others and we recall our own baptism. Watching
a baptism is not only a reminder, but also an assurance that Christ's
sacrifice is for each believer personally. It reminds us of our
cleansing, of our continued need for repentance – that we are
certainly forgiven – and can go forward in joyful thankful living
for God.
Acts
11:15-16
Then as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did
on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, as he
used to say, ʻJohn baptized with water, but you will be baptized
with the Holy Spirit.ʼ
1
Corinthians 6:11
Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God.
Reading
between the lines...
What
is “allowed” in public space – consumerism and marketing are
everywhere, but preaching Christ is frowned upon – it is expected
that this message should remain inside the church or inside the home.
Jesus said to proclaim it from the housetops – the home becomes a
pulpit and we are to proclaim the Gospel into the streets. We are not
to have a private faith, but a proclaimed faith – good news is for
sharing. God's Word is always seeking an audience, it has always been
outgoing. The Truth will out – if we don't feel something of the
outgoing impulse of the Gospel we haven't yet heard it as we should.
We have a faith that is to be shouted from the rooftops. George
McCloud: The cross should be raised in the center of the marketplace
as well as on the steeple of the church. Jesus was not crucified in a
cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves on
the town garbage heap at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had
to write his title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek, at a place where
cynics talk smut, and thieves curse and soldiers gamble, because that
is where he died and what he died about, and that is where churchmen
ought to be and what they should be about. When you know this Gospel
how can you not shout it from the rooftops?
Matthew
10:26-27 “Do not be afraid
of them, for nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing
is secret that will not be made known. What I say to you in the dark,
tell in the light, and what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from
the housetops.
Psalm
19:1-2 The heavens declare
the glory of God; the sky displays his handiwork. Day after day it
speaks out; night after night it reveals his greatness.
God
knows us intimately and deeply cares about our every need. Jesus
urges to know God's wisdom as we go out into the world, but also
assures us of God's love. God knows us better than we know ourselves.
Matthew
10:30-33 Even all the hairs
on your head are numbered. So do not be afraid; you are more valuable
than many sparrows. “Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people,
I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me
before people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven.
1
Corinthians 13:12 For now we
see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I
know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully
known.
We
know of losing ourselves to a larger group (e.g., a soldier as part
of a unit), but these are only echoes of what Jesus is talking about.
The original pattern is from before time – Jesus says that the
Father loves him because he lays down his life, only to find it
again. The eternal love of God is cross and resurrection shaped.
Losing your love to find it is an ancient path. The generous giving
and service is found in the love within the Trinity – a community
of persons that finds their lives in losing them. The Father sends
the Spirit filled Son into the world – and Jesus calls us to join
in. In this life there are many things that offer life, but we end up
losing our life. Jesus calls us to follow the path of the cross, to
lose our life for him; he promises to raise us up again. Die to self
and receive new life.
Matthew
10:39 Whoever finds his life
will lose it, and whoever loses his life because of me will find it.
John
10:17 This is why the Father
loves me - because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back
again.
What
is Jesus' identity - “who do people say that I am”? We should see
Jesus' outgoing love for the sick, for sinners as something positive
– the Pharisees saw it as a slur - “friend of sinners”. Jesus
owns the title with pride. How you see yourself will have a massive
impact on how you see Jesus. If you don't see your own indebtedness
you won't get Jesus and others' affection for him will seem strange.
If you, like the women in the story, know your indebtedness you will
love Jesus and won't care who knows it. Glen Scrivener (paraphrase
from here to the end): I don't picture my self as Simon, and I don't
picture myself as Jesus – but I don't picture myself as the woman
either. I see myself as just another dinner guest observing the scene
– as a neutral bystander. I need to repent! I am this woman. I am
in debt up to my eyeballs. If I knew a fraction of my spiritual
bankruptcy I would be on the floor kissing Christ's feet and wouldn't
care who saw me... do we really know Jesus? Do we really know
ourselves? We must come to Jesus and hear his pronouncement “your
sins are forgiven, your faith has saved you, go in peace!”
Luke
7:34
The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ʻLook at
him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!ʼ
Luke
7:39, 44-50
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to
himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what
kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”
...Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see
this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet,
but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
You gave me no kiss of greeting, but from the time I entered she has
not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but
she has anointed my feet with perfumed oil. Therefore I tell you, her
sins, which were many, are forgiven, thus she loved much; but the one
who is forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your
sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began
to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”
He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Can
people really change? We are tempted to consider the man with the
Legion as a different species to us, but Mark presents this as an
extreme example of the human condition common to us all. Our
struggles are reflected in those of this man in Matthew 5. If Jesus
can bring peace and order to his life he can do it for any life. This
is presented as a battle scene, but when it comes down to it the
powers that confront Jesus do not oppose him, they prostrate
themselves before him. As Jesus commands the wind an the waves, he
now commands these evil forces. They rush into the abyss. Both in the
NT and in modern encounters evil is not confronted with potions or
incantations, but with the Word - “in the name of Jesus”. The
world is afraid of Jesus' commanding confrontation, preferring to
stay in darkness they ask him to go. But the healed man wants to go
with Jesus, but Jesus says - go to your family and tell them of the
mercy of the Lord.
Mark
3:27
But no one is able to enter a strong manʼs house and steal his
property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can
thoroughly plunder his house.
Mark
5:6-7
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him.
Then he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, Jesus, Son
of the Most High God! I implore you by God - do not torment me!”
Mark
5:15
They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there,
clothed and in his right mind - the one who had the “Legion” -
and they were afraid.
Mark
5:20
So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had
done for him, and all were amazed.
Go
and do likewise... it is often assumed that Jesus is saying “go and
do likewise”, but what is the point of the parable? What is the
question being asked? What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus
asks the man what the law says and he answers well - “love God and
love your neighbor” - and Jesus says that is correct, do this and
you will live. But he wanted to justify himself and asks Jesus, “Who
is my neighbor?” Jesus is telling the parable to deflate the pride
of a self-justifier. In the story, the hearer is the man fallen into
the hands of the thieves (the fallen man) and must determine who is
the neighbor. We are fallen and religion is of no help (i.e., the
priest and the Levite). A stranger is the only one who can help; he
is described in the same words that usually describe Jesus. He cares
for us and pays for it all. The innkeeper is given 2 denarii –
implies that Jesus will come on the third day to complete the work
that he has begun. Have I put myself in the shoes of the fallen man?
Have I appreciated the love of the good Samaritan? Now, go and do
likewise. First experience the love of the good Samaritan, then go
and do likewise.
Luke
10:28-29, 37 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this, and you will live.” But the expert, wanting to justify
himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
...The
expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.”
So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
The
simple, child-like trusters will understand the things of God while
the wise and learned will have it hidden. Where will God hide the
truth? It is hidden on full display in Jesus. The good news is that
the Son reveals the Father. Coming to Jesus means that we will be
coming into true knowledge, coming into the true family and coming
into true life. We're already yoked to something that burdens us –
Jesus says lay it down and become yoked to him.
Matthew
11:25-30 At that time Jesus
said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you
have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed
them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious
will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one
knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except
the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him. Come to me,
all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to
bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”
