A Baptism In The Desert

—A word about Hertzlers being gone for a few weeks

—A word about Overseer?

A couple of weeks ago when Tanner contacted me, and expressed his desire to be baptized, I have to say my heart was joyful.

Because the older I get, and maybe the longer that I am in this position and get to take part in baptisms, the more I am convinced of the power and the blessing of this symbol.

I was 13 when I got baptized and I remember the experience very clearly

It’s true that at that time I didn’t understand fully what was going on. I was only 13.

But that’s OK, I think.

Baptism, like so many other symbols and teachings of Scripture, is one of those things that as you live and learn and walk with Jesus that should increase in it’s preciousness and power

There are a number of Scriptures that we could turn to that talk about baptism

But there is one account that we are very familiar with that talks about an experience that someone had with being baptized

That is the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts chapter 8

It’s important to note, that the eunuch was not the first person to be baptized after the coming of the Holy Spirit

But we have more details surrounding his experience than that of just about anybody else in the NT, except for possibly the Apostle Paul.

So you can be turning to Acts 8:26.

And this account falls hard on the heels of another story of a man that we know as Simon the Magician,

Simon lived in the city of Samaria and was used to being someone great and amazing people with what he could do

But Philip arrived in the area and began to preach the gospel and all the people paid attention to Philip

And it says that Simon also believed, at least to a certain extent, and was baptized

But then later had a pretty contentious exchange with Peter and John when he tried to buy the power of the Holy Spirit with money

Their response to him was at it should have been! They rebuked him pretty firmly

It seems that Simon did not have a true conversion

or maybe we get too hard on him

Perhaps this was just Simon as a very immature believer, still with a lot of growing to do.

The Holy Spirit still had a lot of work to do on his heart

I just have to say, I’m so glad that the Holy Spirit does have patience with us and works on our hearts

We all grow at different rates, we mature differently

Simon might have grown into a powerful Christian witness. We don’t know

Acts 8:26-40 “26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Some things I noticed about this

God at work

Philip was directed by an angel to a certain road in the desert…a remote area

I assume, a well-used road since it was going from one main city to another: Jerusalem to Gaza on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea

But, it was a desert road

And he was directed by a messenger of God, an angel, to go and meet this Ethiopian eunuch at that very place at that very time

This appointment between the eunuch at Philip was a God-ordained appointment

Philip wasn’t told why he was being directed to this dessert road, and the eunuch was not told that he was going to be meeting Philip there

Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit had already empowered Philip to minister to the eunuch and the Holy Spirit was working in the heart of the eunuch and drawing this man to himself

And I love this thought because as humans, we like to have things well-planned and thought out in advance

Even when it comes to ministry, there are all kinds of books and seminars about strategies and how to evangelize and how to make your church grow

And all of those are good to a certain extent. But our ministry must be Spirit led. It must be comprised of God-orchestrated moments

Where Spirit-filled people are actively listening and being led of the Spirit

And where people who are searching are being drawn to Jesus by the Holy Spirit

John 6:44 “44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

So, the hand of God was on this meeting between the eunuch and Philip

this eunuch was being drawn to Jesus by God

And, Tanner, I believe that you, too are being drawn by God. He has led you to this very moment, and will continue to lead you forward

· The power of the Word

The Holy Spirit was using Scripture to prepare the heart of the Eunuch

And it wasn’t just an intellectual exercise for him. He wasn’t just curious about what the Jewish scripture had to say

But I believe that he was honestly searching for life and for direction

And the Holy Spirit, through the words of Scripture opened up his heart and softened him and drew him and prepared him to hear about Jesus

Because, it’s in Scripture that we discover Jesus, the Giver of Life

Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, “you search the Scriptures thinking that in them you have life. But what you don’t realize is that those Scriptures are talking about me. And you refuse to come to me so that you can actually find life!

for the Jewish leaders, they thought that the most important thing was to simply know what the Scripture said so that they could teach others or answer other people’s questions, or simply so that they could feel good about themselves

But Jesus said, “No, the most important thing is that you come to ME, the Giver of Life. That is where the real power of Scripture lies”

And in this story of the eunuch, that is what we see happening

We see him reading the OT prophet Isaiah, and something stirring in his heart and the Holy Spirit moving

And he knows in his heart that he has to find out whom this Scripture is talking about.

Like the blind man, when Jesus asked Him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man”,

And the blind man replied, “Who is he, sir, that I MAY believe in him?”

I want to believe! Please tell me whom it is that I am believing in!

This is where the eunuch was. I believe that his heart was crying out, “Who is this man that I may believe in Him?”

And as Philip read to him, he discovered Jesus, the Giver of Life in the pages of Scripture

And I encourage you, Tanner, and all of us, make Scripture reading an active part of your life

Not so that you can sound smart in Sunday School or at youth group, but in order to discover Jesus there. The One who gives life!

The Eunuch recognized his own desire to be baptized

It’s important to note that baptism was not a completely new thing to Jewish people who were coming to faith in Christ

Water baptism, or water purification ceremonies were something that was deeply rooted in Jewish law and practice

But, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, and people coming to faith in Christ, water baptism took on a deeper significance

Joining a new community of Believers

identifying with the death and resurrection of Jesus

And this eunuch, even though he was Ethiopian, had apparently converted to Judaism sometime in his life.

He went to Jerusalem to worship

He was reading the Jewish Scriptures

Either that, or he was deeply interested in the Jewish religion

But, when he found out the WHOM of Scripture, and he believed, he said, “I must get baptized! What’s stopping me?”

Nobody suggested this to him

Nobody said to him, “Well, don’t you think it’s about time to settle down and join the instruction class and get baptized?”

When I was 12, our family had moved from Canada back to Delaware for a year of sabbatical

and my great-uncle who was one of the ministers at church stopped by and said that he thought it was about time i got baptized

I remember how much this took me off guard

I honestly had never given it a thought

And I don’t regret that this happened. There may be times when that approach is fine

But, I really love it when someone expresses their own desire to be baptized!

As a natural expression of what is taking place in their heart

The dying, the rising

The transformation

The passing away of the old, the arrival of the new

The say, “What is stopping me from being baptized?”

this is what Tanner did, and I was blessed

Belief and baptism were closely tied

In this story, and in other case in the NT, belief and baptism took place hand in hand

Which I think is something that we should consider carefully

In our conservative churches, we have this idea that someone can “accept Jesus”, but then there needs to be a time of testing to see if this person is “in the faith” or was really serious about their commitment

And then we put them through a class to make sure that they understand all the different parts of our faith before they take this step of baptism

Again, I don’t want to come down hard on that. But I have wondered if, by delaying baptism for so long, that we deprive people of an amazing and crucial part of their sanctification process

and that, maybe if we baptized immediately upon a confession of faith that we would give the Holy Spirit “freedom” as it were, to work in the heart of this new believer

Now, is their room for discipling? Absolutely! Should there be intentional teaching? Yes!

But for our young folks who grow up in church, they should already be receiving that discipling and teaching at home and at church, should they not?

So, I believe that this is something that we should consider. Someone believes and they are baptized

Baptism was a cause for rejoicing

Well, why not!

It is a joyful time! It is a joyful experience!

And there is lots that could be said about it.

But one of the biggest causes of rejoicing that I can think of when it comes to baptism is

there is a change of identity.

Identity is so important for us, isn’t it? We need to know who we are, what group of people we belong to, what kind of work we associate with, what our giftings are

There are so many things that play into this identity.

But, baptism is a declaration of a change of identity!

Paul makes it clear in Romans and in Colossians that by baptism, we are identifying with Christ, not to a particular denomination or church, but with Christ

In Christ’s death

By going under, we are symbolizing that we are dying

Dying to our flesh

To a former way of life

In Christ’s resurrection

By coming up under the water, we identify with the resurrection of Jesus

He had a new Body

There was a change in Him. His life and ministry had changed

And for us, we identify with that.

Our lives also change. We have the same body, but our lives change

Romans 8:11 “11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

And, in identifying with Christ, we are identifying with The People of Christ

As we have been studying in 1 Peter, we identify with those who have been called out

This new community of Believers

So, yes, there is cause for rejoicing as we baptize Tanner today

So, again, I am excited to be able to baptize Tanner today

Testimony

To Tanner

_____________, as you are baptized today, do you declare that just as Christ died on the cross, you also have died to living for your flesh?

And do you declare that just as Christ arose from the grave by the power of God, you also desire to walk in a new life by the power of the Holy Spirit?

Do you commit yourself to Christ’s body, the Church, where ever you gather to worship: to sacrificially serving your brothers and sisters in love, and being an active part of the life of the Body?

To the Church

Tanner, because of your faith that you have professed, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

You have been buried with Christ in baptism, and raised again by the power of God who raised Christ Jesus from the dead

Play “Kind of Man” by The Color