Sunday, September 03, 2006

Baptism: 1 Corinthians 12:12, 13 AND Your Story

This week we shift into something different. I enjoyed the Psalms, but it is time to leave them and focus on other things. We are going to spend 3 weeks unpacking this statement:

We are baptized believers participating in the life of God for the sake of others.

This week we focus on baptism. Tell me what you think about 1 Corinthians 12:12,13:

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

I also really want to hear about your baptism. Tell me what happened, what you remember about it; how you felt, what you thought, etc.

Let’s have a great week of thinking and sharing. I love hearing from you.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was baptized the Fall of my 8th grade year. I had accepted christ that past summer at church camp and then had to wait until the church's mass baptizim that fall. I had to meet with one of the pasters a few times (I think it was mostly them making sure I had really accepted christ and that i knew that that decision meant). Everyone being baptized had their parents or a significant person in their life read/tell a story about their life and how they came to the point of accepting christ. The entire time I was standing in the baptistry with one of the pastors and an aquantence of mine was there holding my hand (I've never understood why that person was there and why she had to hold my hand... it wasn't like I was scared to be baptized. I wanted to be and i knew that being baptized was the outward expression of my decision to follow christ... yet whenever i remember my baptizim i always remember this person and wonder why she was there and why no one asked her to sit down.) I was then submerged.
I remember feeling extactic afterwords and felt like nothing could touch me because I had Christ and I was a true Christian.

I think this verse puts significance not on the way we were baptized (submerged, sprinkled, etc.) but rather on what we are baptized into. We are baptized into a family, each individual is different and unique in their own way. Much like a family we come together and form a tight group with one common goal. And in order to be a part of this family we have to be baptized.

Anonymous said...

This versus is hard for me to put my arms around for the simple fact and this may sound very strange to some of you. Yet the last part is the hard part. Finding the way or let us say the feeling that I am living through Christ for the sake of others. What I am trying to say and may not be doing a good job of it; is I strugle every day to live like Christ and it is hard to feel as if I am doing or my life is doing anything for the sake of another. While reading this; it seems to sound somewhat selfish on my behalf, with what I have said. This is not at all what I am meaning; it is just that I know I am human and make mistakes everyday, that I am not sure others are gaining a better understanding of Christ through me. I hope this made sense.

Anonymous said...

I was baptized at about age 14, at a church camp. I wasn't attending, but our preacher was supervising that week. As I recall, I didn't have a big, emotional conversion experience. I just became convinced the gospel was "true," and that I was an errant sinner in need of salvation.
I was our preacher's first, and dI believe only, baptism. Shortly after he immersed me, he had a crisis of faith, left the church, and moved to Florida, where he got a job at Disney World wearing one of those big character suits. (Did you know that you can't take that head off, even if it gets so hot you throw up into it?)
Donna

Anonymous said...

This brings to mind a question I have had for years and no one has ever answered.

Is the response to the call to the cross supposed to be an intellectual one or an emotional one?

Intellectually...you read the verses and accept what they say...

Emotionally...you have a "fire" in your heart about it...

Allen said...

Really good stuff so far! Come on, church, help sort out some of the questions/concerns that the previous posts raise. [I am not sure what to do or say about the disney characters unable to remove their heads to vomit, however. There is probably a lesson about committment and loyalty there, I guess.] I would also like to hear from more of you about your baptisms and your thoughts on 1 Corinthians 12.

Anonymous said...

Dear "hard for me to put my arms around the meaning of this verse"

I too wonder at times if I am truely living like Christ for the sake of others myself. I think that ole devil just hates it when I get too close to God. He likes to trip me at work and at home to the point where one would wonder if I even know anything about Jesus. I just have to ask for forgiveness from God and those whom I may have hurt along the way, and let them know I too am a human who makes mistakes.

But thank God I was submerged, for I know that He has clensed all my sins, past present and future(the ones He knows I will commit scare me). Thru baptism, no matter what our background, color of skin, interests or gifts, we all have God's Holy Spirit within us, who loves us, and will help guide us thru anything. Even lead us to the gates of Heaven. Hallelujah!

Anonymous said...

The Church is made up of many different people, all having different talents and divine gifts. We all work together, uplifting one another, holding one another, caring for one another, helping one another, loving one another and hopefully, others see Christ in us, some of whom may or may not be baptized.

Christ was lead down into, and up out of, the Jordan River, this is plainly written. Why some of the other denominations want to alter that to fit their lifestyle is another firey conversation beyond my simple mind; sprinkling, the holy spirit.

I once heard a Christian minister sum it up for me, via his research. He believed that when King James had the bible translated into one common language, that those tranlators knew he had only been sprinkled, and not submerged under water. However, "baptizmo" translated into emersion, so those translators, who enjoyed their lives with their heads attached, chose to make up the word baptism, which could translate loosely either way.

No need to quarrel, I will not be the one to judge. I have been baptized by emersion, and I love God, his son Jesus. Sound the trumpet mighty One, I'm ready to come home anytime you call!

Anonymous said...

Do some of you think that if you weren't summerged when you were baptized you aren't a christian or aren't going to heaven? Just wondering.

Anonymous said...

I was 8 years old when I knew that I wanted God to be Lord of my life. I asked my dad how old you had to be to be a christian. Of course my dad talked and prayed with me and I accepted God then and there with him in my home but as soon as sunday came I was up forward letting others know that I loved God and wanted to be baptized to show I was washing away my old self to live for him. Even though I was very young I knew what this meant. I was very happy. None of us will ever be perfect because we live in a fallen world with satan around to tempt us but I will keep running the race knowing that God always forgives me and will help me in my weakness.I have to fully surrender to his will daily. Jamie

Anonymous said...

I don't think Allen wanted this to turn into a "mode of baptism" debate but, for the record, immersion was the preferred, but not only, method of baptism for the first 200 or 300 yrs. of church history. After that, everybody was sprinkled as an infant. If you could somehow gather together all the christians who've ever lived, right up to the present day, about 90% would tell you they were sprinkled. This was the case from shortly after the reign of Constantine until the time of the Anabaptists. I find it difficult to believe that, for over 1200 yrs of church history, nobody was saved because they weren't immersed.
I'm not making a case for sprinkling, or for infant baptism. But, I will say that I've known many godly, deeply spiritual, effective Christians who were sprinkled as infants. I can't imagine, for the life of me, that they're unsaved.
Hope I haven't made anybody mad.
Donna

Allen said...

Thank you to all you good bloggers!

Here is what I know for sure. The church of the N.T. practiced immersion; that's what the Greek word means.

Yes, things changed throughout history, but as I teach this beautiful doctrine, I try to teach what the N.T. says.

God is the one will sort it all out at the end. I trust him completely.

Allen said...

One last baptism comment by me. I failed to respond to the following comment in the blog or the sermon, so I'll do it now.

Here is the question:

Is the response to the call to the cross supposed to be an intellectual one or an emotional one?

Intellectually...you read the verses and accept what they say...

Emotionally...you have a "fire" in your heart about it...


I believe both must be present. I believe that the knowledge we receive from God and understand with our God-given intellect leads us to a heartfelt (emotional) response. The story of cross is packed with emotion; only the hardest of hearts would not be moved by what happens there.

I think baptismal response begins with knowledge (revelation) and ends with (informed) emotion. It is not purely a cognitive exercise, nor is it emotion without knowledge. It is emotion based on knowledge.

Did all that make sense? I feel a little cloudy this morning, just like the sky.