the_repercussions_of

The Source

Commentary

" The Repercussions of Baptism"

Today during church, the pastor was reading from the 2nd chapter of Acts, starting at verse 14 where Peter was addressing the crowd. At the completion of Peters speech the people
were "..cut to the heart..." and they asked the Apostles "Brothers, what shall we do?". And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
The pastor commented about the repercussions of being baptised in those times. How for most people, to be baptised and make that profession of Christ, meant to loose their jobs,
their families and sometimes their lives.

The pastor talked about how these days we take baptism for granted. Granted it's not the baptism that delivers salvation, but it is a public proclamation for your belief. To be Jewish in
those days meant that your family would turn you away and not even speak to you. Even today, for some Jewish families it is still unforgivable to proclaim Christ as your savior.
In the days of Christ, the Apostles and the disciples were being persecuted by the Jewish leaders. So not only did they have to fear loosing their families, they had to worry about going
to jail and possibly even being killed.
To accept Christ and publicly accept baptism was a big deal. It meant that something had changed in your life so greatly that you were willing to lose everything and everyone you'd
held dear, and possibly suffer more than ever before; All to follow the way of the one named Jesus, you were willing to die for your beliefs.

Today when we have baptismal services in church we clap and hoop and cheer, and when the service is over, we go to lunch or go home and life goes on. No real persecution persists,
no danger of loosing you life, no worry of job loss. Not in America anyway.
Unless your a real Orthodox Jew, or Muslim, you don't even have to worry about loosing your family.

I remember, in 1993 my oldest daughter Leesa went to a Baptist Church Camp for the summer. I had been saved a little less than a year and was eating, drinking and breathing the
Word at the time. When Leesa got home she was all excited and told her mother and I that she had got saved while she was gone to camp. I remember telling her "Thats good baby, I'm
so proud of you" and giving her a hug....and that was it.
Don't get me wrong, I was happy, but in retrospect,,,I should have called everyone we knew and told them the good news (in front of her). I should have taken her to dinner, and made a
real celebration out of it. It should have been a greater celebration than any birthday she had ever had.
It was the greatest thing that had ever happened in her life and I treated it as if she had got an "A" on her report card.

We as Christians don't make a big enough deal out of those commitments. Today, in some other countries, people still suffer the same persecutions that the people in Christ's days
suffered. They risk loosing their families, or jail, or even their lives, yet they still feel compelled to be baptised...to make that glorious profession of Jesus Christ as their savior, publicly
to all the world.

I pray that we as Christians will start showing those people who commit their lives to Jesus what a truly glorious decision that they have made. Let's celebrate newly won souls to Christ
as the angles do in heaven.

Todays message made me stop and think about how complacent we have become.

I thank the Lord that my pastor is obedient to the word of God and teaches the things that the Holy Spirit places on his heart. It was obvious to me today that his heart is set to making
Neighbors Friends and Friends Family and introducing those in our Families to a knowledge of Christ Jesus.

Bryan & Elizabeth Woods
09/09/07