Baptism doesn't just join you to the Church, it joins you to Christ.
Read / Listen
Read Romans 6:3-4
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 69
Q. How does baptism
remind you and assure you
that Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross
is for you personally?
A. In this way:
Christ instituted this outward washing
and with it gave the promise that,
as surely as water washes away
the dirt from the body,
so certainly his blood and his Spirit
wash away my soul’s impurity,
in other words, all my sins
Summary
In his letter to the Romans, Paul shares the significance of baptism. Baptism is a sign and a seal of God’s covenant of grace. In baptism, we proclaim that those who belong to Christ through faith are united to Him in His death and resurrection. Just as Jesus died and rose from the grave, the believer likewise dies to sin and is raised to new life.
Notice that baptism is not just an external rite to perform, but rather it's a sign of full participation in Christ. When you were baptized, it was much more than a photo op: you were spiritually joined into Christ's death & resurrection!
This means that those who've experienced baptism must live differently than those who've not. Those who've been joined to Christ's death have also been joined to His resurrection so that they may live a new life.
Dig Deeper
After a long day, few things are as refreshing as a nice hot shower. The water washes away the dirt and sweat that have accumulated throughout the day. And once you wash yourself clean, the water along with its newly acquired contaminates do not stay with you. The water, dirt, and sweat are washed down the drain never to be seen or heard of again.
Just as water washes away the visible filth our bodies accumulate, by the blood of Christ your inward impurities, your sin, is washed away. This is no partial cleansing, Jesus’ death and resurrection wash away all the sins of those whose faith is in Him for salvation.
Baptism does not bring about this cleansing, it instead points to the work of Christ. The visible cleansing of water seen in baptism is a visible representation of the invisible work of God in the life of a believer. Baptism points us to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and the cleansing that washes away your soul’s impurity, that is, all your sins. In the sacrament of baptism all present, not just those being baptized or bringing their child forward to be baptized, are reminded of Christ’s promise to wash away all our sins.
If your faith is in Christ and you have not been baptized, take a step of faith and talk to your minister about baptism. If you have been baptized already, remember the significance of this baptism and Jesus’ promise of new life in Him.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose glory raised Christ, and those who've been baptised into Him, from the dead
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: If you've been baptised, pray that you'll live the new life that you've been raised with Christ into. If you haven't, pray that God will lead you to the fount.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Colossians 4
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