FOUNTAIN OF LIFE

FOUNTAIN OF LIFE

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death. Proverbs 14:27

A preacher was in his office one afternoon when the phone rang. He picked it up and said, "Hello." A man’s voice on the other end asked, "Preacher, do you baptize at your church?" The preacher suspected either a prank call or a phone salesman. But he said politely, "Yes, in fact we do baptize." "Okay, well," the man continued, "do you have a problem with pond scum in your baptistery?" "Oh no," the preacher said, "we will baptize anybody."

He was a good preacher. I don’t necessarily mean by the way he handled the phone call. I mean by the theology of his answer. "We will baptize anybody."

This story appears in a popular e-mail. Even though it is meant to be a joke, it prompts the question, "Who may be baptized?"

People often have a sense that they have to be a certain kind of person to be baptized. They have to have a certain level of Bible knowledge, go to church so many years, and be "good" before they are worthy. Those individuals think they have to have the Bible, church, God, and everything else figured out. If they have all these ducks in a row, then they are ready.

I am glad to say that anybody who thinks that is wrong. Anybody who thinks they need to have all these things figured out is putting too much pressure on themselves. Preachers and teachers of the Bible don’t have all these things completely figured out! We are still studying and learning.
Baptism is for anybody at any point in his or her life who realize their need for God. They are ready when they realize the way they have been living is not the right way to live. When they believe Jesus Christ as the only one who has the complex answers to life and confess him as Lord of their life, they are ready to be baptized as an act of obedience to God’s rule over their lives.

Baptism really is for anybody and everybody. Even, as the caller asked the preacher, pond scum? I don’t like designating anybody by that kind of denigrating term. But I do need to tell you that anybody, no matter how badly they have lived their lives, can come to Christ for new life. That new life includes baptism. Romans 6:1–4 says that anyone who has been baptized has left their old life behind and is now living a new life.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, Paul writes that the sexually immoral, the idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, greedy, drunkards, slanderers, and cheaters would not inherit the kingdom of God. They would not see God, and they would not be with Jesus. However, Paul says that this does not have to be the final statement for their lives! They can leave those lifestyles, seek God, and be baptized, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus. Yes, baptism is for anybody. It is for anybody who realizes they are sinners, they are lost, and they need Jesus Christ.

I feel badly for people who get trapped in lifestyles that diminish their self-worth and leave them feeling used and broken. Drugs can do that. Crime. Sexual misbehavior. Disruptions in the family. Lying. These sins diminish us, makes us question our value, and can even make us despair of life. But I have a message for anyone who feels this way: those feelings do not have to be the final statement of your life. God promises you a new life in Jesus, and you can have it today, with God’s fountain of life.

Warren Baldwin

An Encouraging Word

AN ENCOURAGING WORD

"An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up." Proverbs 12:25

Anxiety is a form of fear, fear of failure, fear of not having done well enough, fear of not being good enough.

Christians often experience anxiety over their salvation. "Have I done what God has commanded? Am I living in his grace? Has he forgiven all of my sins, even ones I have forgotten and haven’t named to him? Am I saved? If I died today, would I lose my soul, or would I be in heaven?"

You can get a sense of the anxiety Christians experience by asking them if they are saved. Ask them if they would go to heaven if they died today. Usually the answer is something like, "I hope so." In that lack of certainty anxiety is born. Fear.

Not all of our fears are as deep and theologically oriented as questions of salvation. Many of our anxious thoughts are about things like the ball game, our first date, making enough money to pay the bills. These are all important issues, but certainly not of the caliber of fears about heaven or hell.

Whether our fear is about something relatively trite, like if we’ll score a basket in the game, or extremely significant, like if we are going to heaven, our fears are very real to us and very important.

Solomon understood that. He understood that "An anxious heart weighs a man down ..." An anxious heart robs us of energy during the day and it keeps us up at night. It disrupts our focus and disturbs our peace. An anxious heart is not pleasant.

Time and experience teaches us that if we look at our worries in context and think far enough ahead, we can work ourselves out of our anxiety. Most of what we worry about won’t come to pass.

But there is another source of comfort to us when we are anxious: the presence of an encouraging person. "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up."

Some people are blessed with insight into another’s heart and concerns. They seem able to read the signs of someone’s distress, and they have the heart to relieve them of that discomfort. They speak words that lift the spirits and enliven the heart. These people are encouragers. So important is their work that the Holy Spirit has actually gifted them with the ability to encourage others (Romans 12:8).

Why don’t we see more people with this gift? Why don’t we exercise it more ourselves? Maybe our own hearts won’t allow us. Charles Swindoll writes, "There are those who seem to be waiting for the first opportunity to confront. Suspicious by nature and negative in style, they are determined to find any flaw, failure, or subtle weakness in your life, and to point it out. There may be twenty things they could affirm; instead they have one main goal, to make sure you never forget your weaknesses. Grace killers are big on the shoulds and oughts in their advice. Instead of praising, they pounce!" (Grace Awakening, Dallas: Word, 1990, p.62).

There are those who look for the fault and the failure. But thank God for the gracious man or woman who, having received grace from God for their own shortcomings, are willing to dispense with some of that grace to their anxious friends and neighbors. They have found an important key to a peaceful heart: Grace received and grace shared helps to dispel the fear from an anxious heart.

Warren Baldwin
From "Roaring Lions, Cracking Rocks and other Gems from Proverbs."

Baptism Part 3

Baptism Part 3

BAPTISM AND TRANSFORMATION

A 40 year old friend who lived in open rebellion for years started going to church. He was an alcoholic in the early stages of recovery but his family life was suffering due to his neglect and abuse. He was in a last-ditch attempt to keep his family together. He hoped church would help.

After attending services and studying my friend decided to get baptized. I did a lesson on Jesus’ baptism and temptation, showing how soon after Jesus was baptized the devil assaulted him but Jesus still emerged victoriously. My friend heard the part about the devil assaulting Jesus but not the part about Jesus’ victory. He told me, "If the devil is going to attack me more AFTER I am baptized like he did Jesus, I don’t know if I want to get baptized. The devil has attacked me enough already. I can’t handle any more."

The devil has an established reputation for attacking God’s people. Satan asked God, "Does Job fear God for nothing?" (Job 1:9) and then mounted his attack against the righteous man. If Satan attacked Jesus and Job, we can expect that he will assault us when we follow Jesus.

In Acts 8 the Ethiopian Eunuch is reading Isaiah the prophet and Philip comes to study with him. After some discussion the Eunuch asks, "Look, here is water, why shouldn’t I be baptized?" Philip submerges the Eunuch and he comes up clean and whole. The story ends with the Eunuch going on his way rejoicing ( Acts 8:39).

But does the story does not end here. The Eunuch was happy at that moment because he was washed clean of sin. He felt the euphoria we do at our baptisms. But the story couldn’t have ended here because he goes back home. He would go back to his job. Frustrations would overwhelm him. He would get angry. Unbelievers would mock him. Greed, lust and selfishness would make their presence known. The devil would attack. The Eunuch would discover that even though he was cleansed from sin, sin was not done with him. Sin would find him. There would be a struggle. Sin would not easily give up its hold on the rejoicing Eunuch.

We know that struggle, don’t we? Paul addresses that struggle in Romans 6:1-4. "Shall we continue in sin?" Why would someone even ask that? Because of a misunderstanding of grace.

"Where sin increased, grace increased all the more" (Romans 5:20). Some people think Paul is saying that the more sin there is the more grace there is to cover that sin. So the more we sin, the more grace there is. Since grace is good, let’s go ahead and sin more so we’ll have more of the presence of God! Sounds like a great idea!

Think about cleaning up a mess on your kitchen counter. Tomato sauce, melted chocolate and ice tea have stained the white counter top. You spray a cleaner and wipe. After a little while the counter top is clean again. Imagine when you are finished someone coming in to the kitchen and saying, "Hey, I can’t believe the difference since you have cleaned! That cleaner works! The bigger the mess the more cleaner you need and the greater the cleaning job looks. Let’s spread some more sauce, chocolate and tea around, and even get some on the stove and floor, so you can really clean up. If a little cleaner is good, a lot of cleaner has to be very good." That is what some people are saying about grace in Romans five and six.

But Paul says, "No way! We have died to sin; so how can we live in it any longer!" (6:2) Dying to sin means it no longer dominates us. Sin is no longer an important factor in our lives. We now identify with Christ and live for him so we don’t dream of or live for sinful encounters. Living for fun and pleasure is something we left. We now live for Christ.

Randal is an example of someone who died to sin. Randal was a rock-n-roll musician. His band played in bars. Feeling empty, he started looking at spiritual things and was eventually baptized. Soon after he quit the rock-n-roll band and music. Why? Because he didn’t like music anymore? No. He knew that for him music was a tie in to a lifestyle he died to: the rock music, the bars, the crowd. Today Randal preaches.

How did Randal die to the sin in his life? How do we die to the sin in our lives? Romans 6:3-4 answers that. "Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
In baptism we share in Christ’s death and in his resurrection. Our old man dies in baptism; we rise to live a new life. That new life will be complete at the final resurrection.

Galatians 6:6-7 makes very clear the relationship we have to sin now that we have been baptized:
- Our old self was crucified.
- The body of sin was done away.
- We are no longer slaves to sin.
- We have died, so we are free from sin.

You may be thinking, "Hey, I still struggle with sin so how can I be free from it?" Even though we are Christians sin isn’t finished with us yet. It wants to find a chink in the spiritual armor and exploit it. Sin wants to win.

But Jesus isn’t finished with us, either. "If we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him" (6:8). "Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ" (6:11). There are two opposing wills vying for our attention: sin and Christ. We are dead to sin and alive to Christ.

Notice how Paul brings this to a close in verses 12 to 14:
- "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."
- "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God ... and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness."
- For sin will not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."

These three verses say that the lust for pleasure no longer rules us. We now have a reason and the strength to say, "No." Whether it is gambling, lying, partying, viewing pornography, cheating, gossiping, harboring anger, nursing resentment, being jealous or envious, all of these sinful attitudes and behaviors are now repulsive to us. There is no way we can engage in any of these attitudes or behaviors and feel good about them. Guilt overwhelms us. Even as we lie or cheat we know it is wrong. Our conscience condemns us.

These three verses also combine to say that we offer our bodies to righteousness. Randal could no longer take his body into a bar where there was entertainment that could endanger his soul or others’. His conscience condemned him so he quit and instead took his body and mind to prayer, Bible study and worship. He dedicated himself to his wife and family. He gave all of his love and energy to serve people in a healthy way. Randal is alive to Christ. He has been and is being transformed from a man of the world to a man of God.

How does this happen? How can we work to keep sin at bay and live faithfully for Christ? One, realize the power of God that is at work in your life and body. You are saved and sustained by grace. Secondly, remember that you live a new life. Jesus died so you no longer have to be a slave to sin. Finally, remember that sin is disgusting and hateful. It will condemn us eternally. We want to be rid of it. So don’t desire in your heart to go back to it.

Our needs are met in Christ. A great part of our victory is found in trusting that truth.

Warren Baldwin

Good That Overcomes

GOOD THAT OVERCOMES
Rom. 12:17-21

Romans 12 presents one challenge after another. Don’t conform to the world but be transformed ... encourage ... be sincere ... be devoted to one another ... bless those who persecute you .. Rejoice with those who rejoice ... live in harmony with one another. Paul doesn’t end with these. Romans 12 continues with more challenges. Do not repay anyone evil for evil .. Live at peace with everyone ... overcome evil with good ... do not take revenge. The Bible seems to burden us with some impossible demands. These admonitions seem impossible because they are so unnatural.

Do you think it is natural to overlook an offense and not seek revenge? Ask Connie Deweese. Connie dated a guy for about 8 months. He turned out to be what she called a "psycho." So, she told him to get lost. But the man, Alex, didn’t want to get lost. Turns out he was stuck on Connie. And, he got stuck in another way, too.

Alex went to see Connie. Two problems: he was drunk and it was 3:30 in the morning. Connie wouldn’t let Alex into the house. Not to be denied, Alex climbed the roof and started to climb down the chimney. Until he got stuck. When rescue crews arrived they had to cut a hole in the wall and into the chimney to let Alex out. Connie got angry, either at the damage to her house or that her ex was being freed. She yelled, "Leave him in the chimney and let him die." Her interference with the rescue workers earned her a citation.

Alex went to a local hospital to be treated. After he was released, he returned to Connie’s house. Connie was still pretty upset. So, she hit Alex with a garbage can and threw bottles at him. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20877737/

People do funny things, don’t they? Almost crazy. Maybe it is not a matter of being crazy. It’s the world. It’s sin. Sin is like a virus that infects all of us. We do things that are destructive to ourselves and people we care about. Sin alienates us from God, so we are alone and feel insignificant. We do crazy things in our sinful state, things that seem natural at the time. Why would Alex crawl down a chimney at 3:00 in the morning? In his drunken, worldly state, it seem perfectly normal at the time.

God wants to challenge what we consider normal and natural. That is what Romans 12 is about. It is a text that challenges how we approach life.

What does the text call them to do?

1) Romans 12 challenges Christians to live transformed lives. (V.12) They give their bodies as living sacrifices. In other words, Christians are to do the hard thing.


2) Specifically, Romans 12 challenges Christians to conquer evil in the world and in the church. How do we do that?! We conquer evil by an overpowering display of good. (V.17-21)

Why does the text call for this behavior?

How can God expect us to respond to overwhelming evil with overpowering good? Because the church often finds itself infected with viruses from the world.

It is easy for us in the church to think of ourselves. That is natural because we are humans. When our thumb gets hit with a hammer, we hurt. When our hearts get hit with a hammer, we hurt.
When we hurt we lash out. Have you ever seen anyone throw a hammer down after they hit themselves with it? In the same way, have you ever seen anyone lash out at another person with biting words? You may have wondered, "Where did that come from?!" They have been hurt, and they are throwing the emotional hammer and lashing out.

It is natural to lash out. But the Bible says, "Do what is unnatural. The Spirit of God guides you now, not a spirit of self-preservation or defense. You don’t have to hurt others as you have been hurt." Instead of lashing out ...
V.17 - Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
V.18 - Live at peace with everyone.
V.19 - Do not take revenge.
V.20 - If your enemy is hungry or thirsty, feed him and give him something to drink.
These responses are not natural.

But we are an unnatural people now. We do not conform to the world anymore (12:2a). We are transformed in our minds. That means our hearts and minds have moved from the realm of this world to the realm of heaven. Sounds funny to say it, but it is true, we are not "natural" or "normal" anymore.

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink." (V.20) What is normal about that? What normal person feeds and cares for an enemy? Is it even possible for us to do the unnatural and care for an enemy? "Normally" I would say, "no," but God has ways of showing us some amazing examples of how love can conquer. Years ago in the German countryside a group of hungry U.S. soldiers stumbled upon a house. "Food," they thought to themselves. They knocked on the door with their rifles drawn and ready. A young German woman came to the door, her young son clutching her skirt. She was horrified to see enemy soldiers at her door. Through broken communication she learned they were hungry. She invited them in and instructed them to put the rifles in a corner. As she prepared food she heard another knock at the door. She opened it to find a group of young German soldiers standing on her porch. They, too, were hungry. Thinking fast and speaking freely in German she told them, "You, too, may come in and eat, but leave your guns outside." When the unarmed German soldiers entered the house they came face to face with the unarmed American soldiers. Cold silence ensued, until the German woman began setting plates of hot food on the table. One soldier sat, then another, then another. And on this day, this very unusual, unnatural day, enemies in the most brutal war in history shared a pleasant meal. Kindness and goodwill, even if but for a moment, conquered the hate and killing of the natural world.

God’s goodness finds ways of piercing the most hate filled moments in the most unnatural ways. And he uses us to do it. We are the agents of God’s goodness in the world ... and in the church.

Think of the situation in the Roman church Paul is writing to. Jews and Gentiles are in church together, and Paul expects them to function as friends. Do you realize how abnormal that is? That can only happen in Christ. Could it happen today? Should we expect it to? Should we have faith that God can still do the impossible? Could a Jewish Christian and a Palestinian Christian take the Lord’s Supper in unity? Could an Iranian Christian and an American Christian sing songs of praise together?

How can we overcome such differences? By the power of transformed lives. We offer our bodies as "living sacrifices." (12:1) We can do it, because this is God’s "Good, pleasing and perfect will." (12:2)

How might we function in the church if we completely trust God’s power to transform our memories, hurts and spirit? "Do not repay evil with evil" is not a dream. It is a reality in the kingdom. Do not take revenge" is not a dream. It is a reality in the kingdom. We are that kingdom. The rule of God is in our hearts.

God reigns in our hearts. He purges the viruses that infect us from the world. It is in our hearts that God destroys hate and grows love. It is in our hearts that he banishes anger and welcomes grace. He blasts our pride and nurtures humility. God exiles resentment and invites forgiveness to take its place.

The goodness of God conquers the evil of the world one heart at a time. That’s your heart. My heart. Our hearts. So it can happen. "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Warren Baldwin