With our Baptisms and Brunch celebration in just a few days, I’ve had the pleasure of many conversations with people in our church about why they haven’t gotten baptized yet. Often people respond to the question by saying that know they want to follow Jesus, but they just aren’t sure that they are “ready” for baptism.
The model we see in Scripture is so amazing because it’s just not about arriving anywhere but at the feet of Jesus. (If you aren’t sure about Jesus yet, keep coming to church, learn about Him, and decide if you want to follow Him…no pressure to be baptized at all!) However, if you’ve gotten past that point of confessing your sins and submitting to Jesus, you are “ready” to be baptized.
Mark 1:4-6 is a great example as John is travelling around telling people about Jesus:
4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
This is an awesome picture of a group of people hearing about a Savior, choosing to confess their sin and follow Him, and obeying His first request to be baptized. They didn’t take time to get their sins in order, study the Bible from cover to cover, or even consult their families of this life-changing decision. They just did it! I think it’s the perfect model because it so clearly says, “Following Me is not about arriving at some line of ‘good enough’. You won’t get there on your own, that’s why you need a Savior.”
Baptism is about people admitting their dependence on Jesus, not jumping through religious hoops or attaining perfection. It’s about submission. Baptism in the Bible is always about sinners accepting their plight and relinquishing control of that sin to God. You can do it!
If you’d like to be baptized on Sunday, you can sign up HERE. We look forward to celebrating with you!
