RSS

Tag Archives: Baptize

Emails to God – Matthew’s Wrap-Up (Matthew 28:16-20)

25 May

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Dear God, this ending seems so abrupt, especially considering some of the details we get in the other Gospels. Was Matthew just trying to get this story wrapped up? Also, it is interesting that in verse 17 it says that “some doubted.” What did they doubt? What did they see while they were there? For such a long book that gives us such great details (including all of the genealogy stuff at the beginning) it seems that this ending just doesn’t make sense.

Of course, the big thing that all evangelicals quote from this is verse 19. It’s an important thing for all of us to remember that we are to be about making disciples of Jesus. For all that Matthew lacks in his wrap up, he and Mark are the only ones who talk about the disciples being charged with preaching the Gospel. In fact, it is interesting to go and look at each Gospel to see how they end. Each one is certainly unique.

Father, help me to be a person who is about, above all else, making disciples. I feel like I fail often in that way. In fact, now that I think about it, I had an opportunity yesterday with a friend that I missed. He is suffering a bit, and we had lunch together. Hmm. Somehow, I didn’t even think to bring you up. How awful is that? Please forgive me and make me more sensitive to the still, small voice that you are speaking to me at any given time.

 
1 Comment

Posted by on May 25, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Emails to God – Growing Godly Kids (Genesis 3:13-17)

08 Nov

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Dear God, I am fascinated by the phrase, “…it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” I still don’t understand where baptism came from. Why did it all of a sudden become something that was necessary for Jesus to do to “fulfill all righteousness”?

One of the hardest things about spiritually parenting our kids during this time of trying to figure out our own church lives is that it is becoming harder to give them a sense of a spiritual anchor. Right now, my wife and I are the best spiritual anchors they have, and we are losing our influence over them with every day that they age. So when they were younger we didn’t have them baptized because we went to an evangelical church that didn’t do infant baptism (and we agree with that). Now, we have visited churches that don’t emphasize conversion or adult baptism because they expect that the children were baptized as infants. So what will happen with our kids? Will they “fulfill all righteousness”? Is there room for what has happened to them in your plan and grace?

Father, I believe there is all kinds of room for this in your grace. At the same time, I do pray for my children. I pray that you will guide them in a path that is in complete submission to you. Raise up people in their lives who will speak to them with your voice and love. Strongly support them as they grow. Protect them from themselves and from Satan’s plans for them. Show my wife and me our roles in their lives. Parent them through us. Love them through us. Protect them from our sins and our flaws. Protect over our home. Let your Holy Spirit reign there.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 8, 2011 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Emails to God – Baptism Invented? (Matthew 3:1-12)

07 Nov

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’”

4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Dear God, where did the whole baptism thing come from? This is the first time it appears in the Bible, to my knowledge. Did John just make it up out of his own eccentricities? Was it something that you wanted the Israelites to do all along? What is interesting is denominations have taken this issue through the years and used it as a way to divide us as Christians. But there is very little here that describes the practice from a theological perspective. Why do we do it? Why did it become so important? But it is something that even Jesus had to submit to for whatever reason, so it must be important.

Having grown up Baptist, I think I am definitely influenced by that tradition in how I see baptism. I see it mostly as an outward symbol of humility and submission to you. Other denominations see it as a cleansing of original sin from the soul, and that is why they do it with infants. I’m not sure where John got it, or what, if anything, he expected us to do with it after he was gone, but it became part of what Phillip did with the Ethiopian, and it became part of Jesus’ great commission.

Father, I need to know more about this. I want to understand it better and not ignore something that is obviously important to you. Help me to know if there is something here for me to pay attention to. Help me to also not be like the Pharisees and Sadducees. I do not want to be like a brood of vipers, but I want to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Help me to repent and be the best man I can be for your glory’s sake.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 7, 2011 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , ,