First Act of Obedience
April 28, 2001
What is the first act of obedience to God supposed to be? Do you know what you’re meant to do as a first expression of your deepest gratitude to God when you accept free salvation and grace given to you through Jesus Christ? Do you know that you are supposed to do something? I believe we know, in a general way, that our lives are to reflect our relationship with Jesus and with God. I believe we know that gratitude is meant to show itself in actions of obedience. But do you know what the first act of obedience is supposed to be?
Let’s consider a couple of rather definitive passages that point us to this.
Matt. 28. 18- 20- do you see the progression? Jesus instructed His disciples to go and to teach all nations, and to baptize them, and to continue to teach them so they would become disciples, too. That’s one definitive passage. Our Lord tells us something there.
Acts 2. 37- the giant crowd responded to the stinging and honest words of Peter. They shouted out, asking what they were supposed to ‘do’? Sometimes Christians get all bent-out- of-shape over the idea of ‘doing’ anything. They can get all haughty and upset and indignant and express the idea, “I don’t have to do anything.” In one way, they’re right, but, also, they’re very wrong!
v. 38- here’s how Peter responded. Notice that he didn’t say they were to do nothing. Although he would be the first to preach “Jesus did it all”, that is not what he declared to these people. He said what? Read it with me, please. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Peter is rather clear, wouldn’t you say? The first act of obedience is to be baptized! This is important to know. When we come to Jesus and are convicted by Jesus, and when we accept Him as our Savior, and when we declare for Him and ask Him to be our Lord and Savior (two different concepts, by the way), then we are to be baptized.
It’s important to note, too, that a new believer doesn’t have to know a lot. He/she doesn’t have to know all the books of the Bible, or all the prophets in order of time written and the central message of each one. He or she doesn’t have to have all sorts of verses memorized. He or she doesn’t have to have his/her life straightened out. He or she is to have repented, and to be baptized. Baptism is not unimportant. Baptism is not even optional for the Christian seeking to follow God’s Word to us. Baptism is the first act of obedience.
So, is it just some ceremonial thing we do? Is baptism just something symbolic of something and nothing more? (In our society, many tend to think of symbolic acts as unimportant or superfluous acts- as something to take or leave, but not as really important.) Again, let’s permit scripture to speak to us.
Rom. 6. 3, 4, 5- baptism speaks loudly to Christians. It speaks of being with Jesus in death and resurrection. It tells us something about what happens in our lives. We haven’t just ‘accepted Jesus’, but we actually go where Jesus went and then begin to live where Jesus now lives. We get to walk in ‘newness of life’. If we’ve actually been together with Jesus in death, or the likeness of His death, then we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. This does NOT speak of something for our future. This speaks of what happens NOW when someone is baptized and comes up out of the water. This speaks of the new and present reality! The new Christian NOW lives in the likeness of Jesus’ resurrection. Resurrection happens NOW, not at some unknown distant future time. (Oh, there is to be something in the future, but we must not downplay the importance of what happens now!) The new Christian begins to live with resurrection power and begins to live the Kingdom life NOW, not just at some time in the future! Baptism does more than picture this. Baptism is the vehicle for this to happen!
Col. 2.12- speaks of the same things. Paul declares that God is involved and something spiritual is happening. He calls it ‘the operation of God’, and applies it to what happens as God is involved in the rising of the new Christian from the dead!
1 Cor. 12.13- tells us that the Holy Spirit is involved in baptism. On this, let’s be clear that Jesus brought something better than existed before He came on the scene. There was baptizing going on. Most notably, John the Baptist used baptism. However, even though his baptism prepared the way for Jesus to come, it was inadequate- second rate.
Mk. 1. 4- 10- We have to notice, especially, verse 8, where John declared the difference. He only baptized with water, and there was symbolism in that as his baptism symbolized covered sins. However, Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit. That’s what Peter declared to that crowd in Jerusalem on the first day of the Church! He told them to repent, be baptized, and then they would receive the Holy Spirit. And that’s what happens. Again, baptism is so important. Through it, one begins to unleash the power of the Holy Spirit as He comes into the life of the new Christian. (Some Christians, who want to be exclusive and feel specially important, like to understand that this ‘baptism of the Spirit’ is something other and more than it is. They believe that being baptized is not enough, but then there’s another one to come, yet, and it’s only evident in such ways as speaking in tongues, ecstasy of some sort, visions, or the like. That idea is stretching scripture quite a little bit and seems, to me, I admit, part of an effort by insecure people looking for some way to ‘feel extra special’. So, you have two classes of Christians, supposedly. You have those who are baptized, and those who are baptized with the Spirit. And you’re ‘really special’ if you’re baptized and really, really, really extra special if you’re ‘baptized with the Spirit’.) Don’t accept that and please be careful to consider the human element that comes out in some such beliefs. John declared that Jesus’ baptism was with the Holy Spirit. Were you baptized and did you have hands laid on you afterwards? Then you have the Holy Spirit and you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit!
Notice, further, something that the apostle Peter wrote about baptism and its importance.
1 Pet. 3.21- Peter tells us how important baptism is for the new Christian, and for the older Christian, too. He tells us that the symbolism of it is very great and the impact on the inner person of the Christian is important. Doing something IS important to the Christian! It’s not to wash away outside dirt, but the new Christian knows he/she has obeyed God when baptized. His/her conscience, then, is right toward God. And there is this action or doing that always stands as a testimony to what occurred. Satan, who loves to discourage people, will always try to help the new Christian to doubt his/her new life in Christ. (Remember that Jesus had to confront Satan after His baptism, and so does the new Christian, today.) But God gives something to make it easier to resist Satan on that score and to give confidence to the Christian. He/she was baptized and united with Christ in baptism, and resurrected with Christ in rising from the watery grave. He/she declared repentance before going under, and, ever after, will remember being under, being wet, being brought up, and that means something. He/she can say to Satan, “What do you know? I obeyed God in everything I knew to do at the time and true to His Word, He made me a new child of His Kingdom! I was baptized. I’m not yours anymore! I belong to God, to Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit. I belong to God’s family and Kingdom now! Get out of here!” That’s what Jesus did and said, and is what every new Christian has to do. Oh, how God has provided for us as Christians walking, yet, with our flesh!
So, baptism, itself, is important. But that’s not all. Let’s go back to the time of Jesus’ baptism and see something that happened there, and that must continue to happen.
Mk. 1. 9- 11- Jesus was baptized and there was evidence of the Holy Spirit coming down. Does this mean that Jesus didn’t have the Holy Spirit before? I doubt that, and I imagine you do, too. Please recognize that this is true, too, in the life of the new Christian! But then notice what happened! God blessed Jesus. God, the Father, declared for Jesus. He had declared for God- that’s what baptism does, you see. The new Christian declares for God. He/she says, in effect, “I’m changing sides. I’ve tried to do it myself for too long. I’m on the Lord’s side, now!” “Who is on the Lord’s side? I AM!!) And the Father declares for the Christian, like He did for Jesus.
This is what laying-on-of-hands is all about.
Acts 18. 25- 28; 19. 1-6- Here is something amazing. This tells us that John’s baptism wasn’t enough. This tells us of the need to be baptized, as Jesus instructed (some make far too much of the wording here- ‘into the name of the Lord Jesus’- obviously, since Jesus was God and was being presented as God’s Son, focus came on Him. But let us not deny what Jesus said to do!) This tells us how and what to do after baptism, and what the result is. Notice verse 6, where Paul laid lands on Apollos. What happened here is the same as what happened to Jesus. The Holy Spirit came and where one of God’s representatives laid on hands and prayed, the Father gave the blessing, as to Jesus. The new Christian, led entirely by God, declares for God in being baptized and obeying in that. Then God declares for the new Christian.
God set in motion this idea of giving blessings. We see the idea of blessings of fathers throughout the Old Testament. We see examples of Abraham blessing his son, Isaac blessing his son, Jacob blessing his son, and so on. This is something for every father to do, regularly. As a father, you can bless your child in Jesus’ name! You have that right, opportunity, and example to follow! So, God the Father followed through with what He had being done for thousands of years. And He continues that to our day, today! How many really appreciate this? God, in essence, says to each new Christian, as to and of Jesus, “You are my child and I love you!” (Matt. 3. 17).
Baptism is the first act of obedience. It’s not the end of obedience. It’s just the first act. It’s much like a marriage ceremony. That’s not the beginning of the relationship. But, neither is it the end of the relationship. It’s just the formal beginning of the relationship. In it, a couple stands before witnesses who are there to support them and to tell them that they will stand with them through the coming years. God declares His blessing on this new marriage.
It’s the same in baptism. It’s the beginning, not the end. Witnesses declare themselves as supports for the new Christian. God declares His blessing on this new son or daughter!
And then, the party begins.
Lk. 15.7- joy is in heaven each time someone declares for God! There’s a great celebration in heaven. It begins at baptism and stretches until the Christian joins the throngs of the Kingdom at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!
Let no one lead you to believe that baptism is not important! It is the first act of obedience to God. Jesus said to practice it and He exemplified it, setting us the example.
