Living the Baptized Life
What’s the Bog Deal About Baptism?
For many of us who consider ourselves followers of Jesus, we would say that in many ways, that journey began with our baptism. Our baptism was a literal watershed moment for us. A moment where, if we believe what we say we believe, everything changed for us.
But what really happens in baptism?
For someone who doesn’t know much about church or about baptism, they might wonder… Is there something special about the water? What’s the big deal about getting dunked? Why would anyone let someone else push them under water and hope that they pull them back up again?
And here’s the big idea I want to begin with today…
Baptism is relational, not mechanical.
I’ll explain that more in a moment, but hang on to that idea.
Check List Please
The other day my wife sent me to the grocery store to pick up a few things we needed.
Now, in our family, I’m more than happy to do anything I need to do when it comes to cooking, cleaning, chores, whatever. But over the years, Alisha and I have been married for 25 years, there are just certain things she tends to do most of the time and other things I tend to do most of the time.
We divide and conquer on many things. But when it comes to the grocery store, that’s certainly more in her wheelhouse.
I don’t mind going to the grocery store, but I don’t know where things are. It takes me forever to find stuff. I almost always have to call her to tell me where to go, what isle to look on, to find whatever it is we need. And I don’t necessarily mind it, but one thing I have to have if I have to go to the grocery store, or Walmart, or wherever, I need a LIST.
I’m not going to remember the 45 things she told me to pick up. There’s always one more thing, or an, “O by the way…” Or a, “Don’t forget about…”
So I always tell her, just text me a list. It may take me three days to find it all. But text me a list. And if she can send me a list in a note with those little check boxes beside it so I can mark things off as I find them, that’s even better!
How Many of You Like a Good List?
Whether it’s a grocery list, a shopping list, a packing list, or what about this… How many of you love a good “To Do” list?
How many of you, if you did something that wasn’t on your To Do list, you’ll actually write it down and add it to your list just so you can have the pleasure of checking it off your list!?
A lot of us love a good checklist and we love to check things off the list. It’s how we know we’re good to go, that we’ve gotten everything done and haven’t forgotten anything important.
Check lists are helpful, and some of us love to check the box whenever we get something done.
But what happens when we have a check-the-box kind of faith?
Read my Bible today? Check!
Prayed today? Check!
Went to church on Sunday? Check!
Pretty soon, if we’re not careful, we’ll reduce our faith to boxes we think we have to check to be good with God.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a big believer in spiritual practices, in daily rhythms of prayer, scripture reading, and more. I think there is wisdom in creating a rule of life, a way of living that centers your day on Jesus every day.
But there’s a difference between practicing the way of Jesus and having a check the box kind of faith.
A Check the Box Kind of Faith
You can hear it in the way we talk about certain things, especially when it comes to baptism.
We say things like, “I want my kids to get baptized so they can go to heaven.”
Preachers used to preach sermons, “If you died tonight would you go Heaven?” And then they would give an altar call trying to get as many responses as possible.
One of the most common questions I get asked is, “Do you have to be baptized to go to heaven?”
On the one hand, I truly believe all of this comes from a very good place. We read about the importance of baptism in Scripture and we want to be obedient to God and His word and we really do want to go to Heaven when we die. And we want our family and our friends to go to Heaven, too.
But what happens when we REDUCE our FAITH to boxes we have to check so we can go to Heaven one day? Is this what Jesus had in mind for us as His friends and followers? Or is there something more that maybe we’ve missed out on because we’ve been so caught up in making sure we checked all the boxes?
What would happen if we were to check out of a check the box kind of faith?
One of the Best Spiritual Box Checkers
Today, what I want to suggest is that God is inviting you to grow beyond a check the box kind of faith into a different WAY of Life. And I want to show you what I mean by that.
Maybe one of the best spiritual box checkers that ever lived was a man by the name of Nicodemus. You can find his story in John’s gospel.
Nicodemus was a leading Pharisee, a renowned Rabbi in Jerusalem, and an important person by every measure. As a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council in ancient Israel during the days of Jesus, Nicodemus knew the word of God, the Law of God, and he knew all the boxes someone needed to check to please God.
He knew the Ten Commandments backwards and forwards. But he knew all the law. In fact, the Pharisees had read the law and determined there were 613 commandments you needed to keep if you wanted to please God.
There were 248 “positive” commandments… things you have to do, boxes you were supposed to check. And then there were 365 “negative” commandments… things you shouldn’t do!
The Pharisees emphasized strict observance of these 613 commands and even expanded them, coming up with additional rules one had to keep that essentially put a hedge up around these 613 commands so that you wouldn’t even come close to breaking one of God’s commands. And sometimes, we give them a hard time for this because of their legalism, because of how hard they made it for people to please God. But they took the word of God seriously and they understood the seriousness of sin.
Being Honest About Jesus
John 3.1-6
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
Now this is an interesting start to the story. Generally speaking, the Pharisees weren’t fans of Jesus. Yet, Nicodemus comes to Jesus and calls him, “Rabbi.” Rabbi means “Teacher.” That was a title reserved for those who had spent years studying at the feet of a recognized teacher of the LAW.
The first move Nicodemus makes is simply being honest about Jesus. About what he has seen and heard. He has heard Jesus teach. He’s seen the miraculous signs. He can’t explain it any other way. Jesus has to somehow be from God. God is somehow with Jesus in a unique way. And Nicodemus wants to speak to Jesus.
But Jesus doesn’t check any of the boxes that Nicodemus would expect Him to check.
He’s from the no name town of Nazareth.
His dad was a carpenter.
He’s got a motley crew of guys he’s called to be his disciples made up of the most unlikely people.
But He’s saying things no one has ever heard before, or at least in a way no one has heard before, and He’s doing things that no one has ever done before.
Somehow, in some way, Nicodemus knows that God is with Jesus. Nicodemus calls Jesus, Rabbi, recognizing the wisdom and authority with which Jesus taught.
And Jesus knows, Nicodemus is not your typical Pharisee. He loves the word of God, absolutely. He loves to teach God’s law and he works hard to keep God’s law. Yes! But somehow, even though Nicodemus knows the word of God he has missed the heart of God.
Did you know you can know the Word of God, you can read it cover to cover, and… you can completely miss the heart of God!?
So Jesus… and I can just imagine this moment, Jesus looking at Nicodemus with compassion in His eyes… Jesus wants to help Nicodemus come to know God in a whole new way.
Seeing the Kingdom
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
Don’t miss this… Jesus wants Nicodemus to see the Kingdom of God. Jesus wants Nicodemus to experience the Kingdom of God.
And notice, Jesus isn’t talking about seeing it ONE DAY. Or experiencing it ONE DAY. Jesus is talking about something that he wants for Nicodemus NOW. And He says the way to see the Kingdom, to experience the Kingdom has something to do with being BORN AGAIN.
Now, you really can’t fault Nicodemus for not understanding what Jesus is talking about. He doesn’t have a category for this. This idea doesn’t make sense or line up with anything he’s ever heard before.
Born Again?
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Again, we sometimes give Nicodemus a hard time for saying this. But he knew the impossibility of literally being born again. He just didn’t know what Jesus was talking about.
For a Jewish man, he could be “born again” at least four times in his lifetime.
He was born again when he turned thirteen at his Bar Mitzvah.
He was born again when he married and became the head of his household, typically around 20 years old.
If he became ordained as a Rabbi, that was yet another way to be born again.
And then, if he became a Rosh Yeshiva, the head of a rabbinic academy or seminary responsible for the training and ordination of future rabbis, that was another way he would be born again. (Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. Yeshua: The Life of Messiah from a Messianic Perspective, The Abridged Version. Ariel Ministries, 2017. p. 116-117).
So Nicodemus, in his mind, had already been born again in all the ways that he could be born again as far as he knew. And now he’s an old man.
Yet what he wants more than anything is the very thing Jesus is offering. He wants to see, to experience, the Kingdom of God. And according to Jesus the only way to do that is to be BORN AGAIN. Nicodemus wants more.
What Does it Mean to be Born Again?
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
What does it mean to be born again? It has something to do with being born of water and Spirit. Jesus says only the Holy Spirit can give birth to Spiritual life!
Right here, Jesus wasn’t inviting Nicodemus to check another box! No!
He was inviting him into a new life. Into Spiritual Life.
Jesus was inviting Nicodemus to grow beyond a check-the-box kind of faith. Jesus’ invitation was revolutionary for him. As it is for us.
His whole life, Nicodemus, a renowned Pharisee, had lived a check the box kind of life. He had a check the box kind of faith. He had a check list of 613 commands. Do this, check! Don’t do that, check! Check all the right boxes and teach others to do the same and you’re good to go with God.
Growing Up with a Check the Box Kind of Faith
I don’t know about you, but that sounds a lot like the kind of church and the kind of faith I grew up with.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to the church and the faith I grew up with, but my understanding from a young age was that I, somehow, had to check all the right boxes to be right with God. To please God. And it took me a long time to learn that the life Jesus was inviting me into, the life Jesus is inviting you into, isn’t a check-the-box kind of life.
It’s a Spirit-filled, spiritual life. It’s an abundant life. It’s a different way of life that leads to life.
And it’s just as much about the life God has for us TODAY as it is about the life God has for us ONE DAY after we have had our final day here on this earth.
It’s an invitation to see and experience the Kingdom of God every day. It’s an invitation not just to baptism, but to live the baptized life.
If you want to check out of a check-the-box kind of mentality when it comes to your baptism, it begins with realizing that…
Your baptism is relational, not mechanical.
What I mean is that baptism isn’t so much about you doing something with the right words in all the right ways so that you can go to heaven when you die. It’s not a ticket to heaven. It’s not do this, get that. Check this box, get eternal life. It’s not mechanical, it’s relational. It’s not transactional, it’s transformational.
Baptism really isn’t about what you’re doing at all. It’s all about what God is doing in that moment washing away your sins, giving you His Holy Spirit, writing His name on your heart and life, claiming you as His own, making you a citizen of Heaven, and giving you eyes to see the Kingdom of God all around you!
And deep down, you know this. You know you can’t get baptized on Sunday and then go live however you want on Monday. Your baptism has to change you, or has to be changing you, transforming you, making you new.
You know that your baptism isn’t a formula you have to complete to go to heaven one day when you die. No! It’s not a ticket to Heaven. It’s all about what God is doing to restore your relationship with Him, the Living God. It’s all about Him opening your eyes to see and experience the Kingdom of God here and now and forever!
Your confession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life changes everything about you.
So what does it mean to live the baptized life?
The baptized life is… the resurrected life.
It means…
You’re a disciple, a student, a daily follower of Jesus.
You are a son, a daughter, of the Most High God.
You will never again walk alone.
The Spirit of the Living God is living inside of you, abiding with you.
You will not be perfect, but you will be changed.
You are now living life in a different direction. With a different destination!
There is nothing you could ever do to make God love you less.
You belong to a people who have been saved by walking across the water and who follow the lead of His Spirit.
You have the vision of Eternity to sustain you on the journey before you.
You are a citizen of heaven.
You are an alien and a stranger in this world.
Checking Out
What if we checked out of a check the box kind of faith?
What if we decided that our baptism was about more than one moment, that it was an invitation into a different kind of life, the baptized life?
What if we were to baptize our lives? All of our lives, the whole of our lives, our work, school, families, hobbies, everything about us, baptize all of us and all we have into all of Jesus and all He is?
What if… what if like Nicodemus, Jesus is inviting us to stop checking the boxes, the lists of dos and don’ts, and instead, to just follow Him. Live for Him. Live from Him.
What if we were to pray with Him, “Father, your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!”
This is the baptized life. This is the invitation of Jesus.
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