Baptism: Lou Mauro & Trey Griffin -- 9/14/08

Sunday, September 14, 2008

* This service designed for more participation, as Lou Mauro and Trey Griffin are being baptized this morning. I have invited the folks to share encouragement with them, as the Lord leads. [Quite a number did share; what a blessing]

ENCOURAGING OUR NEW BELIEVERS

Baptism pictures beautifully the truth that a person has been identified with Christ. The Sprit of God has effectively made you a part of the life of Jesus Christ. You share His eternal life. Praise God. How blessed you are, Lou and Trey. How blessed is every true child of God.

But the blessings don’t stop there. Not only do you now share the life of Jesus, but you have been made a part of His body and a member of His family. Trey and Lou, you have inherited thousands of brothers and sisters who are located all around this world. Most of them you will never meet in this world, but you will be privileged to spend all eternity with them, worshipping the Lamb together.

The news that you are part of a huge family may be thrilling, but it’s a little hard to get hold of. It is the local church that allows believers to live out in practical ways what it means to be a part of the family of God. When Jesus said, “I will build my church,” there is no doubt that He was talking about His church composed of all believers around the world throughout the centuries. But when Paul wrote letters to Christians, he wrote to specific local churches. Though it is more than obvious that this local church has its faults and weaknesses, you are blessed to become a vital part of a local church. Now you have brothers and sisters you can reach out and touch, family members with whom you can fellowship day in and day out.

I sense I need to emphasize this truth this morning because it is so foreign to the world in which we live. As I speak to Lou and Trey, understand that I am speaking to the rest of us as well. I think I know you two men well enough to say that for most of your life, you have been very independent. After all, you are men, and men make their own decisions. I am not saying that you have never prayed about decisions, but you have pretty well lived independently of other people. You may have family and friends that you love and respect, but it hasn’t changed the fact that your business is your business. You don’t interfere in the business of others, and you don’t expect them to interfere in yours. That is the message the world has pounded into you, and your flesh has said “Amen” to that message. Lou and Trey aren’t the only ones who have been there. Some of you who profess to know Christ still live there.

Good news. You are part of a family that loves and cares for you. You have brothers and sisters who will listen to you and will pray with you. When you are hurting, you have family that will hurt with you. What a blessing to have those who will genuinely rejoice with you, as the Lord works in your life.

Let’s read a couple of passages that speak of this rich blessing. I Cor. 12:12-27…
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14. For the body is not one member, but many. 15. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16. And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18. But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 19. And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20. But now are they many members, yet but one body. 21. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23. And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 25. That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 27. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Isn’t that beautiful! Notice that there is no competition in the body. The hand doesn’t try to outdo the foot. Each performs the function for which it was designed. As the members of our physical bodies work together for the good of the whole body, so the members of the body of Christ work together for the good of the whole body and for the glory of God.
Now let’s read Eph. 5:18-21…
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

The command is that we be filled with the Spirit. This is not a one-time experience, but something that is continuing. “Be being filled with the Spirit.” To be filled with the Spirit is to be led by the Spirit. A drunk person does not direct his own life, because the influence of the alcohol takes over. So the person who is filled with the Spirit does not direct His own life. He rejoices that the Spirit is leading him. Now notice the things that are associated very closely with being filled with the Spirit. There are four of them…
1. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
2. Making melody in your heart to the Lord
3. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
4. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God

Those last two really get down into the details of the way we live. Who can possibly give thanks for all things? No one, except the one who is filled with the Spirit. The same is true of submitting to one another. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. What a blessing to be in submission to one another. We don’t have to go it alone. We can live side by side with others who share our longing to glorify the Lord. Brothers and sisters, this isn’t a “have to;” this is a blessing.

Please allow me to give you a concrete example. I was sharing this with Lou the other day. A couple of years ago we were preparing to take a week’s vacation. Our son Mark and his wife Kera were graduating from college in Oklahoma. We were planning to spend a couple of days with them and go to the graduation, then spend a couple of days with Tracy and Lindsay in Dallas, and then spend a couple of days with my mom and family down in Brownwood. A week or so before we were planning to leave, Mark told us that after the graduation they were planning to go to Branson with Kera’s parents. “Dad, why don’t you and mom go with us?” It was a nice thought, but there was just no way we would have time to do that, with all the other things we needed to do. Rhonda and I would talk about it, but we both realized it just wasn’t a possibility. On the other hand, Rhonda hated to disappoint Mark. Finally, one morning we called Mark and told him we just couldn’t do it. Mark said it was fine, but he tends to keep things inside. We sensed that he was pretty disappointed.

That same afternoon I was scheduled to get together with one of my brothers. During the time we spent together, he asked me what was going on in my life. I told him about the situation I just described to you. He thought for a minute and then he began to ask me some questions. Basically, in less than five minutes, he was able to show me that this was an opportunity that I shouldn’t miss, that this was very important to Mark. He assured me that if time was a problem, no one around here would miss me. He would talk to Norman and some of the guys and make sure it was okay for us to take a couple of extra days. If it hadn’t been for a faithful brother who loved me and could see things more clearly than I, we would have missed that opportunity. It wasn’t that we cared anything about going to Branson, but we do care about Mark and Kera.

Do you see that submission to one another is not a “have to.” It isn’t a matter of us bossing each other around. Rather, it is an opportunity to practice the twice-repeated principle of Proverbs: “There is safety in a multitude of counselors” (Prov. 11:14; 24:6). Through the years, I have seen Christians do foolish things that could have been prevented, if they had been submitted to their brothers and sisters in Christ, if they had just talked to some members of the body and been willing to consider their wise counsel. Trey and Lou, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we have resources that the rest of the world doesn’t have.

May God give us grace to care for one another, to love one another, to pray for one another, to hurt with one another, to rejoice with one another, to submit to one another in the fear of God. In this kind of family atmosphere there are blessings beyond our understanding.


Brief Explanation of Baptism based on Romans 6:1-6

... Indentified with Christ in His death and resurrection
... When you are put in the water, it is a picture of Jesus’ death and burial. When you are raised, it is a picture of Jesus’ resurrection.
... When you are placed in the water, it shows that you died with Jesus. When you are raised, it shows that you have been raised with Jesus to live a new life (=His life, for He lives within you).

Trey has commented, “I don’t know why I still sin.” Here is the good news. Though you still commit sins, something fundamentally changed when you became a part of Jesus Christ. We see this in verse 6. Our old man was crucified with Christ. The end result? That we should not be slaves of sin. Sin is no longer our master, as see down in verse 14, “Sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace.” Law gave us no power against sin, but grace does!