Baptism, A New Start |
We have come a long way from the brief survey of the wonders of nature with which we began. We started there because it was important to see today's problems in the context of the original design and purpose which God had with our planet. It was vital to go to the Bible for essential background: there is no other authority, no better source of information about the future of the world.
But our search has already shown us that we are not like spectators viewing events from a safe distance, and clapping when all goes well. We ourselves are part of the drama. Christ's coming was for us; his death, if we will accept it, was for us; his return to the earth will also be for us, if we want to be with him and assist him. If we thought that the world could be improved and perfected without any demands being made of us, then we are to be disillusioned. Like Jesus, we have to end one life and begin a new one, recognising, as we saw from Genesis, that God still will not allow disobedient people to live for ever. He wants us to recognise that He is our Maker, and respond by serving Him.
You may prefer to move on quickly to the fifth and final chapter of this short book, and discover what we have to say about the New World of God's Kingdom, but this chapter is a necessary prelude. We may never see, and we shall certainly not be part of God's New World, if we do not take the word commitment seriously, and show by our way of life that we really do want to be in His kingdom.
What are we to do? "Wait and see" is not a safe response, for events are already gathering momentum and the signs that Jesus Christ will soon be here are multiplying, showing to the believer that the time of these great events is near. What we have to do is what Peter asked his audience to do:
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We actually left out an important introduction to what Peter said, and omitted other words of Peter to the crowds in Jerusalem:
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of
the Lord ... Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins ... Be saved from this perverse
generation"
Acts 3:19; 2:38-40 |
Repent ... be baptised ... remission of sins; what strange old-fashioned language! We have quoted from a modern version of the Bible, yet it may still sound a little quaint. You and I live in a digital, computer-aided, shrink-wrapped society. We have become clever and sophisticated. We may enjoy accelerating in the fast lane. Even the least materialistic of us keep up with the latest hi-fi, we read the glossy holiday brochures - or if not holiday brochures, then gardening catalogues or keep-fit magazines. Let us not pretend we are not part of the world of the 1990's with all its comforts and opportunities. We have benefits our parents never dreamed of, and we understandably want our children to do better still.
So are we really expected to repent and be baptised? Isn't this something out of a Gospel movie? Something you associate with Christians in Roman times - not with modern Christianity?
If these are the pictures the word "baptism" conjures up in your mind, then you are well on the way to understanding baptism, for certainly it was in the early Christian era that adult baptism - a ceremony where the new believer is fully immersed in water - took place. Remember how John the Baptist used to baptise people in the river Jordan (Mark 1:9)? Remember how Philip the Evangelist found a pool of water, and how both he and the Ethiopian believer "went down into the water" (Acts 8:38)? Archaeologists have unearthed very early Christian churches which have a built-in bath of sufficient depth and length for an adult to be baptised - to be completely covered in water.
Against the clear teaching of Jesus Christ and the Apostles, Bible baptism in many churches was replaced by an act of infant sprinkling: a few drops of water from a font is all that survives in most churches of the ceremony which even Jesus himself - at the age of 30 - submitted to, and countless thousands of early Christians. Should we not do as they did?
But the difference between old-fashioned baptism and modern "christening" is not just to be seen in the quantity of water used. Another important difference is that while an adult is capable of fully understanding what is going on, a baby cannot have the slightest idea. Baptism should be a ceremony in which a new believer knowingly and willingly takes part. It is carried out only when he or she understands its significance.
And now we can introduce that other word which Peter used, repent. Repentance is the humble response of someone who comes to know the Gospel, understands its demands on him or her, confesses a need of Christ's sacrifice, acknowledges his or her own waywardness (what the Bible calls sin), and desires to be associated with Christ. He or she will then want to be baptised. As Paul explains in one of his letters:
"Do you not now that as many of us as were baptised into
Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? Therefore we were buried with
him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life''
Romans 6:3,4 |
So there is more to baptism than some readers may perhaps have imagined.
And it really isn't so quaint or old-fashioned. It is a humble, yet dignified act of belief, confession and commitment.
When it takes place in a Christadelphian meeting-room, it is not with handclapping or excessively emotional displays, but with joy on the part of the candidate, and delight on the part of those whom he joins in fellowship.
So Christadelphians have a rather different answer to the environmental problem. Our view is that:
Some readers will be reasonably familiar with these lines of argument, yet may never have taken any action to put them into practice in their own lives we urge them to do so. To others the whole story may appear unlikely and unreal: to them we say, "Give it further thought; go back over the points we are making, ask yourself whether you can find any more promising solution to the world's ills, any more certain answer to man's insoluble problems".
But to all readers who have got as far as this point, we now say: "Come with us into the final chapter of this booklet. We want to tell you what the Bible really has to say to you and to your children about God's New World".