baptism, birth and family

Meaghan was baptized last night, along with another dear person from our church (Adriana). Here is the text of the short message I gave. I hope it blesses you! -Troy

Baptism, Birth and Family

There was a time when you were a baby, but you were still waiting to be born. That is the time when you were in your mother’s womb. Just before your birth you were a fully formed baby but you were yet to be born into the world. In some ways you were already in the world, because your mother was in the world and you were in your mother. But when you came out of her womb, you were in the world in a new and special way.

You are not the only ones to have experienced this. Before any of us were born, we spent a long time soaking in water. Nicolas, my son, was overdue, so when he came out he looked a bit wrinkled (in a cute sort of way) because, as my wife says, “He was soaking for a long time.”

I’ve been talking about wombs and water because it helps explain some things Jesus said once about God’s kingdom (and about baptism). One night, a religious leader named Nicodemus paid a visit to Jesus. Nicodemus wanted to hear more about some things Jesus had been teaching. These teachings had to do with participation in a new world called “the kingdom of God.” The kingdom of God consisted of a new way of life led by a new group of people in which they endeavored to live according to God’s desires and God’s authority over everything. Nicodemus wanted to know more about this so-called “kingdom of God.”

So, Jesus began their conversation by telling Nicodemus that, in order to enter this new kingdom, one had to be “born again” first.

This seemed a strange expression to Nicodemus, so he asked Jesus how it was possible to be “born again.”

Jesus explained that he was not asking Nicodemus to enter his mother’s womb all over again, but that Nicodemus needed to come forth from God’s spiritual womb: Nicodemus needed to be “born of the Spirit.”

These were Jesus’ words: "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'" (John 3:5-7)

In these words, we have a picture of what the rite of baptism portrays. Baptism is a picture of being “born of water and the Spirit,” as Jesus says. Baptism is a picture of spiritual birth. Just as you came out of water to be born into the world when you were a baby, so when you come out of water in baptism you portray that you have been born out of God’s watery womb. And just as there are some real-life consequences when someone is born physically, so in spiritual birth there are some big things we can notice.

In physical birth, babies often bear some type of resemblance to their parents. (The baby is not an exact duplicate of their parents, but there is usually some type of similarity.) When one is truly born of the Spirit, it is always the case that God’s child bears the marks of God. The child of God is not an exact duplicate of God, but there is always a likeness when one is truly born of the Spirit.

In physical birth, it is often the case that the baby is born to someone that cares for the baby, teaches the child and provides for them. In spiritual birth, God (our spiritual parent) never fails to care for you, teach you and provide for you.

In physical birth, babies are often born into a family that welcomes them and receives them. In true spiritual birth, this is always the case. In being “born again” of the Spirit, you belong. You belong to God; you are God’s child, God’s daughter. And God will always be there for you, helping you, cheering you on, forgiving you when you need it, loving you no matter what.

But “belonging” doesn’t just stop with you and God. There are also others that have been born of God. These “others” are your spiritual brothers and sisters. You have a whole family to which you belong. That’s why later, in your baptism, we’ll ask your brothers and sisters here tonight to say that they commit to caring for you. Hopefully, you will care for those who are in your spiritual family and they will care for you. But, if the family of God lets you down from time to time (and this is likely), always remember: you will always, always belong to God and you will always, always be God’s child no matter what. Nobody can take that away from you. That’s what’s so wonderful about being born of the Spirit.

So, baptism is a picture of being born out of water (God’s water) into a new world (God’s kingdom) to lead a new life (a life of trust in God and love for others).

I should also mention that throughout history baptism has meant a lot of other things, too. (It is so wonderful it can mean a lot of things all at the same time!)

Typically, Christians view baptism as a picture of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection—and a picture of our death, burial and resurrection when we place our faith in Jesus. Just as (when Jesus was crucified) Jesus died to sin, so we put sin to death in us by faith in Jesus. Just as Jesus was buried and rose again, so by faith in Jesus we bury our sins with him (never to cling to us anymore!) and rise again to a new life. When we go under the water in baptism we portray Jesus’ death and burial. Then, when we come up out of the water we portray the resurrection of Jesus--in our own lives.

Baptism also is a picture of new creation. Just as the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water in the first creation story, so in baptism we portray that new life is created in our hearts by God’s Spirit through faith in Jesus. Baptism helps us retell and relive the creation story, new beginnings. And just as in the original creation story, God wanted his creation to “go forth and multiply”, so in your baptism today you will be commissioned to “multiply” yourself in others by spreading the good news of this new creation.

In keeping with the fact that baptism portrays new creation, it is not far-fetched to say that the baptism tank provides us with a picture of being born out of God’s womb. After all, the creation story is a picture of what happens every time a baby is born—life emerges from the water. Jesus’ words to Nicodemus about being “born again” warrant this likeness to real-life childbirth. This is why Jesus goes on to explain to Nicodemus that the Father sent Jesus into the world to suffer and die for us.

In saying this to Nicodemus, Jesus pointed out that, just as natural birth comes through pain, so God endured pain in giving spiritual birth to us. But just as physical birth involves joy in the midst of (and after) the pain, so our spiritual birth also involves joy and results in joy. Yes, Jesus had to suffer for us, but because he forgave our sins through his suffering, we can have joy. The Bible tells us this when it says that Jesus endured the pain of the cross “for the joy set before him.” Like a mother in childbirth, Jesus endured the pain because he knew that through it joy would come in the morning.

Speaking of pain in childbirth, I’d like to explain now why, in today’s baptism, you’ll go under the water not just once, but three times. There are three big reasons why you'll do this. (The third reason specifically connects with this image of birth, pain and joy.)

One, just as a single symphony can have three movements, so your one baptism will have three parts. By going under the water three times, you will remember that you belong to One God that exists in Three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Think of this as One Baptism in the Name of the Three Persons.

Second, a teacher in the ancient church (Irenaeus) has said that, in going under the water three times, you are remembering that Jesus was buried three days. The ancients had a way of using repetition to say something more strongly. Baptism is the Christian’s way of emphasizing the point that “your sin is buried, your sin is buried, your sin is buried.” In other words: it is final; it is complete.

It could also be, however, that, because today’s baptism is about new birth, we could think of the three motions as three big contractions. You know that when a mother is going to have a baby, her womb squeezes from time to time to give birth. We call these contractions. Your baptism today portrays the pain Jesus endured to bring you new life. Like repeated contractions in childbirth, Jesus endured labor for the sake of joy.

In case you think this is too far-fetched, you should know that I am not just making this up. Irenaeus also draws this parallel about baptism: “That one moment [is] your death and your birth; that saving water was both your grave and your mother... [Solomon] said, ‘There is a time to give birth and a time to die’. But in your case it is the other way round—a time to die and a time to be born.”

Baptism portrays new birth. And just as, when a mother gives birth, there is cause for celebration, so today we celebrate that, because you have been born of God by faith in Jesus, you have a new life, a fresh life—a life in which death does not play a part. And we celebrate today that you are God’s daughters, and you are sisters to each other and I am your brother and those in this room are your family. That is because this water here today represents both your grave and your mother. The water here today represents these things to all who would look to Jesus to give them the life that only Jesus has. So, we celebrate now that Jesus has given you his eternal life. Amen.

monaca's baptism (a short sermon)

On Easter Sunday 2006, Oasis Madrid celebrated the rite of baptism with Monaca Thomas. Following is a short homily I gave just before her baptism.



Monaca’s Baptism
a short sermon by Troy Cady

Everything begins and ends with water. In the beginning, even before the creation of light, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Even before God created the sun and the moon, God created water. Yes, there was once a time that all was just God, light, and water. Then, God separated “water from water”, creating the sky. After that, God gathered “the water below”, and in so doing, created dry land, and that was day three. On day five, the first moving creatures God created lived in the water. It wasn’t until day six that God created the creatures that move on the dry ground, including man. And thus, in a truly biblical sense, life has its beginning in water. And it was very good.

But something went wrong. Humans rebelled. So, before 11 generations had passed, God made an end and a beginning to everything by covering the whole earth in water (and thus God brought creation back to the beginning, a time when all was water). It sounds strange to say this about the Great Flood of the days of Noah, but it’s true: the water gave humans a fresh start, another chance, a new beginning.

But, sadly, we all know how that turned out, now don’t we? Over time, at least two classes of people emerged: the slaves and their masters, the oppressed and their captors.

So, in the time of Moses, God set everything right through parting the waters of the Red Sea to make a way for the enslaved Israelites to pass through. The freedom purchased through the death of a perfect lamb on Passover found its completion in the midst of water. The Exodus reminds us: God performs miracles through water. God brings final deliverance and liberation through water. God does the impossible through water.

Is it any surprise, then, that Jesus’ ministry begins and ends with water? Jesus’ commences his ministry by becoming baptized with water. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water, even then. We know this because, as Jesus was coming up out of the water, the Spirit descended upon him in the likeness of a dove, even as the Father proclaimed, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

After this, Jesus performed his first miracle. Guess what? It involved water—and wine.

Later, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman. He tells her that he is the living water. That’s why, when Jesus attended a feast some time after that, he stood up “on the last and greatest day”, and “said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit…”

Then, on Thursday of the week Jesus was to die, Jesus took a towel and a bowl of water and he washed the disciple’s feet. So it is with a sense of irony that, less than twenty four hours later, Pilate, the Roman governor, took a bowl and washed his hands, sending Jesus to his death, which would become our life. Later, as Jesus hung from the cross, he cried out in a loud voice and died. The last thing they did to him before taking him down was stick him with a spear. With that (is it any surprise?) two things issued from his side: blood and water. Thus, the ministry of Jesus begins and ends with water.

But “wait a minute” you might say, “Jesus’ death is not the end of the story. Jesus rose again.” And that’s true. That’s why I find it interesting that we remember Jesus’ death and his resurrection with water: the waters of baptism. See, baptism is a Christian’s way of participating in the full ministry of Jesus.

First, it starts with the Spirit’s work. The Spirit of God is hovering over the surface of the water, waiting to alight upon you, as in the baptism of Christ.

But, before you come out of the water, you need to go into the water. In doing so, the Christian participates in the death of Jesus. Just as Jesus descended to the dead, so you, in going down under the surface of the water, descend to the dead. In going under the water, you are putting to death the thing that caused Jesus to die: your sin. In other words, you are saying “no” to sin. This is why, before you enter the water, you will renounce Satan and all his works, to declare your intention to say “no” to the devil and his ways.

But that is not the whole story, I’m happy to say. In coming up out of the water, you participate in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You rise to a new life. Thus, even as you say “no” to sin, you say “yes” to Jesus.

And as you come up out of the water, the Spirit is there, but so is the Father. And He is saying the same words He said to His Son, “I love you, Monaca. I am pleased with you, my child.” So, with those words of love, and with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit resting upon you, you begin a new life.

And that's a very good thing, because, Monaca, you’ve had quite a life. You’ve had more than your share of pain and suffering. You’ve been through hell. I don’t need to go into the details of this. You know the details. You’ve been through hell.

Even after you gave your life and your heart to Jesus, you went through the fire. And, like Jesus, you probably felt like you were being unjustly crucified: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” You didn’t deserve this torture. Like Jesus you thought and felt the words of the psalmist, a man who also was at the end of himself: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” Like Jesus, you at times felt alone, abandoned, forsaken, accused and attacked. “Many bulls surround me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water…They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing…I am poured out like water…”

Just like Jesus. But, the good news is: just like Jesus, you’ve seen that God, the Father, does not “abandon you to the grave. He will not let his Holy One see decay.” God is in the business of resurrection. God is in the business of liberation.

You’ve seen God doing miracles, proving without any doubt: “Wow! God is there! Jesus is there!” You’ve seen this not only in your own life, but also in the lives of those you love. When your Dad became a Christian you’ve seen there is nothing that God cannot do. And you told yourself, “Never, never doubt God’s power.”

In the midst of sleepless nights, you’ve been reminded: “Jesus is there.” And God has shown Himself to be a tower of refuge in a world of nightmares.

Monaca, this day, as you go down into the water, lay your head to rest on Jesus’ chest. Be still and know that He is God. Rest in Him and know that He is there. He is able. There is nothing too difficult for Him.

Just look at creation. Just look at the Red Sea. Just look at Jesus. There is nothing too difficult for God. He brings life from nothingness. He sets the captives free. He conquers death.

And it all begins and ends with water. This is why, in the Bible’s book of Revelation, a book about the end of time, we are left with this plea: “Come!” The Spirit says, “Come!” “Whoever is thirsty, let her come; and whoever wishes, let her take the free gift of the water of life.”

baptism as drama (a short sermon)

Dear Johanna,

This is a very special day for you. Today, you will be baptized. As you think about baptism, I wanted to share with you a little of its heart. So, I’ve written you this letter.

It’s hard to know how to start, so I’ll just cut right to it: Baptism is art. More specifically, baptism is dramatic art. In your baptism, we are going to re-enact a drama involving a bad guy, a victim and a hero. This way of thinking about baptism (as a drama) goes all the way back to many centuries before Christ lived. Baptism was foretold in a dramatic conflict called the Exodus. You’re familiar with that story, but let’s retell it to think of it through the lens of your baptism.

What happened in the Exodus story? First, there was a group of people loved by God, set apart by Him to know Him and to follow Him. These were the Israelites. One day, the Israelites decided to move from Israel to live in Egypt, thinking it would be a place where they would be taken care of. But Egypt ended up being a place of oppression for the Israelites, because the Egyptians eventually pressed the Israelites into slavery. The Israelites were forced to build things for the Egyptians that were made out of mud bricks. God saw the slavery of the Israelites and didn't like it, of course. So, God raised up a person named Moses to liberate the Israelites. Moses went to the king of Egypt with God's message: "Let my people go." But the king of Egypt wanted to keep the Israelites in slavery. So, a conflict arose and it climaxed in two key events.

The first climactic event was the Passover. To help the Israelites go free, the Egyptians were given a terrible (yet just) punishment by God: the death of every firstborn male in Egypt. Now, in order to save the Israelites from the punishing angel of death, God asked them to kill a perfect lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts of their houses. They did this so that the angel would know that that house contained people that followed God, so the angel would "pass over" that house. After that terrible night, the king of Egypt let the Israelites go.

But that wasn't the end of the story. The second climactic event happened right after the Passover. The Israelites left Egypt and headed towards their homeland. On the way, however, they came to the Red Sea. The Israelites were wondering how they were going to get around the sea, when the king of Egypt gathered his army to attack. The Israelites had nowhere to go. They had their backs to the sea. So, God parted the waters of the sea and the Israelites walked across to the other side. As they literally passed through the waters, they were saved. But the enemy came after the Israelites, following them through the parted waters. However, when the Egyptian army was in the middle of the seabed, the waters closed in on them, defeating them in a final, victorious triumph. The bad guys were vanquished.

Now, baptism is cool because it's a dramatic retelling of this original drama in the Exodus and of another drama: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this way, baptism is like a play within a play within a play.

First, there are the chosen people. Like the Israelites in the Exodus, the Bible tells us that all of us are singled out by God to know Him, love Him and follow Him. The Bible refers to this as "living in His kingdom." That means: living under His rule, authority, care and love. Think of this as "living in God's country."

But something has happened that gets in the way of that. First of all, like the Israelites, we all decide to live in another place that has another king. We move away from God's country. We move away from His rule, authority, care and love. Most of us do this because we think the other country looks like a good place to live (just like the Israelites did when they, by their own free choice, first moved to Egypt). We think, like the Israelites, that by going to this other country, we will have our needs met. So, we too, freely choose to do this. This choice to move from one country to another is what the Bible describes as choosing to sin. Sin is our way of saying to God, "I want to live life my own way. I don't want to follow your rule in my life." The sad thing is: we've all sinned. We've all moved from God's country (where He rules) to another country. And at first, moving to this other country feels fine.

But the ruler of that new country turns out to be not as nice as the ruler of the other country we were living in. In this case the ruler of the new country is not called the king of Egypt, but rather Satan. Like the king of Egypt, Satan is nice at first but really mean later on. In fact, he is a liar, a slave driver, and a murderer (just like the king of Egypt--only 27 trillion times worse!). And, just as the Israelites eventually had no choice but to keep doing stuff for the ruler of Egypt, so we, under the rule of Satan, are destined to keep performing works for him. This is ironic, because at first we chose to move from God's country by our own free will, but later on, like the Israelites, we no longer have a choice. We have to keep doing what our new king wants us to do. We truly are in slavery. We keep on sinning and sinning and sinning because we have to. What we don't realize is, it is killing us and Satan is slowly killing us.

Now: the part I like the best is where the hero comes in. God, the king in whose land we should be living, loves us so much that he sent us a special representative to help us. To the Israelites he sent Moses. To us, he sent Jesus. Jesus was different from Moses in one crucial way: Jesus was God himself who became man. Moses, on the other hand, was just a man. Now, it makes sense that God raised up Moses (a mere man), because Moses' enemy was a mere man himself. You send a man to do battle with a man. But, the real enemy in our case (Satan) is not a man, but a spirit. So, it takes God to do the work. That's why God became a man in Jesus Christ: Because it was mankind that needed to be saved, but only God had the ability to save and set us free from Satan's tyrannical grip.

So, in the same way that God sent Moses to set the Israelites free from slavery, death and the king of Egypt, so God sends Jesus to set us free from sin, death, and the devil. In setting us free from sin, Jesus tells us "You don't have to keep doing the works of the devil." Just as God wanted the Israelites to stop making bricks for the king of Egypt, so God wants us to stop doing things that contribute to the well-being of the hateful kingdom of Satan. God wants us to stop sinning, in other words. At first, it may seem like this is unreasonable, but what is He doing essentially? He's asking us to stop doing stuff that kills us. When God wanted the Israelites to stop making bricks it wasn't because he wanted to spoil their fun, it was because he wanted them to enjoy life and be set free.

So, Johanna, later in the baptism drama you are going to not only renounce Satan, you are also going to renounce his works. By renouncing Satan's works you are saying, "I want to stop sinning. I want to stop making bricks for Satan's kingdom of death."

But our personal choice to renounce slavery to sin and the devil only goes so far. Yes, the Israelites did need to make a choice to leave behind slavery, but it took a special act of God to make it possible for the Israelites to actually do that. They couldn't just walk out of the country because they wanted to (the king of Egypt would have stopped them)! In the same way, you can't just walk out of slavery to sin and the devil because you want to. For starters, you don't really have the power to do that yourself. If you tried, Satan, the evil ruler, would stop you from doing it. Freedom from slavery to sin and the devil ain't something you can achieve on your own. You need help from God. You need a miracle.

In the case of the Israelites, that miracle was the Passover. That's when the evil kingdom was punished by a miracle of God and the Israelites were spared by spreading the blood of a perfect lamb on the doorposts of their houses. If it weren't for that miracle, the Israelites would never even have been able to go free, regardless of how much they wanted to be free.

In your case, Johanna, it’s similar. Like the Israelites, all you need to do is spread the blood of a perfect lamb on the doorposts of your heart. The blood I am speaking of here is Christ's, whom we call the Lamb of God. When Jesus died on the cross, shedding his blood like the Passover lamb, the Bible says it was a moment of victory where Satan and his legions were defeated. It says, "When you were dead in your sins" (like the Israelites were dead in slavery!), "God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code...that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." The blood of Jesus shed on the cross, then, is like the blood of the lamb in the Exodus: it wins a victory for us, sets us free, if we apply it personally. By saying you believe in and want to follow Jesus, you are spreading the blood of Jesus (the lamb of God) on your heart. By placing your faith in Him you are set free. That's why I'll ask you about your belief in Jesus and His death later on in the baptism.

Now: That was the first climactic event, the first victory. But, remember, there's another victory. The drama isn't over yet. See, Satan is still running after us with all his soldiers. He wants to kill us, just like the king of Egypt still wanted to kill the Israelites after the night of the Passover. We find ourselves at the edge of a sea, like the Israelites, and we are wondering: how are we finally going to escape the clutches of the slave-drivers? God makes a way for us through the water in the same way he did for the Israelites. That's what baptism is. If we choose to pass through the water, following God, He will save us. By doing so, God will win the final victory over slavery to Satan and sin.

So, in the baptism drama, Johanna, you will pass through the water. This signifies that (first) Jesus died to make escape from slavery to sin and the devil possible. Second, this signifies that you want to walk away from sin and all that Satan wants you to do. Third, this signifies that you want Satan and his slave-drivers to be put to death in you. Fourth, this signifies that you want to live under God's rule now, in His country again.

In being baptized, Johanna, you are saying, “I want to live. I want to follow my leader Jesus Christ into the water. I can only survive by going through the water. The water sets me free. The divine, dramatic conflict is won in the water, where Satan can’t swim.”

Because of that, Johanna, this day I respond to your baptism the same way the Israelites responded when the evil tyrant and his kingdom were defeated: I respond with heartfelt rejoicing. At last, you are free.

Love,

Troy

baptism as drama (a short sermon)

Dear Johanna,

This is a very special day for you. Today, you will be baptized. As you think about baptism, I wanted to share with you a little of its heart. So, I’ve written you this letter.

It’s hard to know how to start, so I’ll just cut right to it: Baptism is art. More specifically, baptism is dramatic art. In your baptism, we are going to re-enact a drama involving a bad guy, a victim and a hero. This way of thinking about baptism (as a drama) goes all the way back to many centuries before Christ lived. Baptism was foretold in a dramatic conflict called the Exodus. You’re familiar with that story, but let’s retell it to think of it through the lens of your baptism.

What happened in the Exodus story? First, there was a group of people loved by God, set apart by Him to know Him and to follow Him. These were the Israelites. One day, the Israelites decided to move from Israel to live in Egypt, thinking it would be a place where they would be taken care of. But Egypt ended up being a place of oppression for the Israelites, because the Egyptians eventually pressed the Israelites into slavery. The Israelites were forced to build things for the Egyptians that were made out of mud bricks. God saw the slavery of the Israelites and didn't like it, of course. So, God raised up a person named Moses to liberate the Israelites. Moses went to the king of Egypt with God's message: "Let my people go." But the king of Egypt wanted to keep the Israelites in slavery. So, a conflict arose and it climaxed in two key events.

The first climactic event was the Passover. To help the Israelites go free, the Egyptians were given a terrible (yet just) punishment by God: the death of every firstborn male in Egypt. Now, in order to save the Israelites from the punishing angel of death, God asked them to kill a perfect lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts of their houses. They did this so that the angel would know that that house contained people that followed God, so the angel would "pass over" that house. After that terrible night, the king of Egypt let the Israelites go.

But that wasn't the end of the story. The second climactic event happened right after the Passover. The Israelites left Egypt and headed towards their homeland. On the way, however, they came to the Red Sea. The Israelites were wondering how they were going to get around the sea, when the king of Egypt gathered his army to attack. The Israelites had nowhere to go. They had their backs to the sea. So, God parted the waters of the sea and the Israelites walked across to the other side. As they literally passed through the waters, they were saved. But the enemy came after the Israelites, following them through the parted waters. However, when the Egyptian army was in the middle of the seabed, the waters closed in on them, defeating them in a final, victorious triumph. The bad guys were vanquished.

Now, baptism is cool because it's a dramatic retelling of this original drama in the Exodus and of another drama: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this way, baptism is like a play within a play within a play.

First, there are the chosen people. Like the Israelites in the Exodus, the Bible tells us that all of us are singled out by God to know Him, love Him and follow Him. The Bible refers to this as "living in His kingdom." That means: living under His rule, authority, care and love. Think of this as "living in God's country."

But something has happened that gets in the way of that. First of all, like the Israelites, we all decide to live in another place that has another king. We move away from God's country. We move away from His rule, authority, care and love. Most of us do this because we think the other country looks like a good place to live (just like the Israelites did when they, by their own free choice, first moved to Egypt). We think, like the Israelites, that by going to this other country, we will have our needs met. So, we too, freely choose to do this. This choice to move from one country to another is what the Bible describes as choosing to sin. Sin is our way of saying to God, "I want to live life my own way. I don't want to follow your rule in my life." The sad thing is: we've all sinned. We've all moved from God's country (where He rules) to another country. And at first, moving to this other country feels fine.

But the ruler of that new country turns out to be not as nice as the ruler of the other country we were living in. In this case the ruler of the new country is not called the king of Egypt, but rather Satan. Like the king of Egypt, Satan is nice at first but really mean later on. In fact, he is a liar, a slave driver, and a murderer (just like the king of Egypt--only 27 trillion times worse!). And, just as the Israelites eventually had no choice but to keep doing stuff for the ruler of Egypt, so we, under the rule of Satan, are destined to keep performing works for him. This is ironic, because at first we chose to move from God's country by our own free will, but later on, like the Israelites, we no longer have a choice. We have to keep doing what our new king wants us to do. We truly are in slavery. We keep on sinning and sinning and sinning because we have to. What we don't realize is, it is killing us and Satan is slowly killing us.

Now: the part I like the best is where the hero comes in. God, the king in whose land we should be living, loves us so much that he sent us a special representative to help us. To the Israelites he sent Moses. To us, he sent Jesus. Jesus was different from Moses in one crucial way: Jesus was God himself who became man. Moses, on the other hand, was just a man. Now, it makes sense that God raised up Moses (a mere man), because Moses' enemy was a mere man himself. You send a man to do battle with a man. But, the real enemy in our case (Satan) is not a man, but a spirit. So, it takes God to do the work. That's why God became a man in Jesus Christ: Because it was mankind that needed to be saved, but only God had the ability to save and set us free from Satan's tyrannical grip.

So, in the same way that God sent Moses to set the Israelites free from slavery, death and the king of Egypt, so God sends Jesus to set us free from sin, death, and the devil. In setting us free from sin, Jesus tells us "You don't have to keep doing the works of the devil." Just as God wanted the Israelites to stop making bricks for the king of Egypt, so God wants us to stop doing things that contribute to the well-being of the hateful kingdom of Satan. God wants us to stop sinning, in other words. At first, it may seem like this is unreasonable, but what is He doing essentially? He's asking us to stop doing stuff that kills us. When God wanted the Israelites to stop making bricks it wasn't because he wanted to spoil their fun, it was because he wanted them to enjoy life and be set free.

So, Johanna, later in the baptism drama you are going to not only renounce Satan, you are also going to renounce his works. By renouncing Satan's works you are saying, "I want to stop sinning. I want to stop making bricks for Satan's kingdom of death."

But our personal choice to renounce slavery to sin and the devil only goes so far. Yes, the Israelites did need to make a choice to leave behind slavery, but it took a special act of God to make it possible for the Israelites to actually do that. They couldn't just walk out of the country because they wanted to (the king of Egypt would have stopped them)! In the same way, you can't just walk out of slavery to sin and the devil because you want to. For starters, you don't really have the power to do that yourself. If you tried, Satan, the evil ruler, would stop you from doing it. Freedom from slavery to sin and the devil ain't something you can achieve on your own. You need help from God. You need a miracle.

In the case of the Israelites, that miracle was the Passover. That's when the evil kingdom was punished by a miracle of God and the Israelites were spared by spreading the blood of a perfect lamb on the doorposts of their houses. If it weren't for that miracle, the Israelites would never even have been able to go free, regardless of how much they wanted to be free.

In your case, Johanna, it’s similar. Like the Israelites, all you need to do is spread the blood of a perfect lamb on the doorposts of your heart. The blood I am speaking of here is Christ's, whom we call the Lamb of God. When Jesus died on the cross, shedding his blood like the Passover lamb, the Bible says it was a moment of victory where Satan and his legions were defeated. It says, "When you were dead in your sins" (like the Israelites were dead in slavery!), "God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code...that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." The blood of Jesus shed on the cross, then, is like the blood of the lamb in the Exodus: it wins a victory for us, sets us free, if we apply it personally. By saying you believe in and want to follow Jesus, you are spreading the blood of Jesus (the lamb of God) on your heart. By placing your faith in Him you are set free. That's why I'll ask you about your belief in Jesus and His death later on in the baptism.

Now: That was the first climactic event, the first victory. But, remember, there's another victory. The drama isn't over yet. See, Satan is still running after us with all his soldiers. He wants to kill us, just like the king of Egypt still wanted to kill the Israelites after the night of the Passover. We find ourselves at the edge of a sea, like the Israelites, and we are wondering: how are we finally going to escape the clutches of the slave-drivers? God makes a way for us through the water in the same way he did for the Israelites. That's what baptism is. If we choose to pass through the water, following God, He will save us. By doing so, God will win the final victory over slavery to Satan and sin.

So, in the baptism drama, Johanna, you will pass through the water. This signifies that (first) Jesus died to make escape from slavery to sin and the devil possible. Second, this signifies that you want to walk away from sin and all that Satan wants you to do. Third, this signifies that you want Satan and his slave-drivers to be put to death in you. Fourth, this signifies that you want to live under God's rule now, in His country again.

In being baptized, Johanna, you are saying, “I want to live. I want to follow my leader Jesus Christ into the water. I can only survive by going through the water. The water sets me free. The divine, dramatic conflict is won in the water, where Satan can’t swim.”

Because of that, Johanna, this day I respond to your baptism the same way the Israelites responded when the evil tyrant and his kingdom were defeated: I respond with heartfelt rejoicing. At last, you are free.

Love,

Troy