I haven’t been to too many funerals, but I’ve been to enough to know that no matter how terrible a life the deceased person has lived, nonetheless, when it is time for the eulogy, only nice things are said about even the most nasty of people. What they always leave out during the eulogy at the funerals that I have attended, are the skeletons in the closet. (excuse the pun)
They never seem to tell us about the problem that the deceased had had in their lifetime with this thing called sin. I have never heard a friend or family member stand up at a funeral and declare that no matter how hard the deceased had tried, they just never seemed to be able to be the kind of person they really wanted to be because of the problem of sin. They always leave out the bit about, how, that during the deceased lifetime, they knew that they constantly struggled with evil thoughts and bad attitudes. They never seem to mention how that they were unable to control their temper or come to terms with the bitterness that everyone knew they had nurtured towards anyone that had ever let them down.
And they never mention that even when the deceased had done good deeds for other people, they never really did it out of a pure motive, but rather because they loved to be recognised for what they did and took great pride in their own ability and in their own achievements. At funerals it seems that regardless of the kind of life one has lived, the dead are praised, their lives are lauded as glorious and righteous. Sometimes they may make brief mention of the bodily sickness or disease that may have struck them down, but I have never heard mention made about that terrible cancer called sin, which is the real cause of every mans demise.
But last night as I was meditating on just what Water Baptism is all about, I began to wonder what the eulogy would sound like if just before a person entered the waters of Baptism, we held a funeral service for the body. Not the physical body, but that body of sin that is forever working against us and forever resisting the passionate call of God.
That old nature that ruled us before Jesus came into our lives.
Because this is really what water Baptism is all about.
Water Baptism is about a funeral, a disposing of the body.!!
It’s about burying once and for all that fallen nature, that “old man” with all of its wrong desires and lusts. It’s about doing away with that old carnal nature that constantly trips us up and causes us to do that which we do not want to do.
It’s about burying that body of corruption, that body of flesh that keeps us tied to the world and all of its attractions. That body of sin that keeps us from loving our enemies. That body of sin that refuses to let others go first and instead always demands its own way.
Water Baptism is about disposing of that body of sin that always takes confidence in self. That body of sin that is riddled with pride and self righteousness. That body of sin that keeps an account of every wrong done to itself but never seems to keep tally of the wrongs it does to others.
Water Baptism is about putting an end to that body of sin that is controlled by habits and by addictions. It’s about burying once and for all that body of sin that is utterly lost and broken and without hope, and yet in its arrogance and rebellion attempts to pull others down that same road that offers no hope and no future.
But Water Baptism is not only about death and funerals, it’s also about resurrection.
And in scripture Water Baptism is likened not just to any kind of resurrection, but to the very resurrection of Christ Himself. Baptism is not likened to the kind of resurrection that Lazarus experienced, a man who died and came back to life in the same state as he was before, only to have to die once more all over again. But Water Baptism in scripture is likened to the very resurrection of Christ Himself, a man who came back to life totally transformed into a glorified body and never had to face death again.
And that is the spiritual picture of what takes place through the act of Water Baptism. It’s about a resurrection, and resurrection is about a fresh start and a new beginning. It’s about a metamorphosis of the spirit and the soul.
Once the spirit was dead in trespasses and sins, but now it is quickened and made alive in Christ. Baptism is about rising again into a newness of life, a radical transformation that exchanges the old for something new. It’s about coming up out of the water with a new bias, a bias toward righteousness, a bias towards peace, and a bias that is helplessly bent towards the Holy Ghost.
Baptism is about the resurrection of our character and a bringing forth of the fruit of the Spirit. It’s about a resurrection of purpose, a change in direction, a change in lifestyle and a change in culture. It’s leaving the old behind to embrace the new. It’s about taking a hold of our inheritance in Christ and experiencing what it is to be truly free indeed. It’s about a restoration, a restoration of the soul and the renewing of the mind.
It’s about experiencing the life changing power of Gods DNA which has been impregnated into our very spirit by the supernatural power of God.
And finally.....Water Baptism is about a resurrection from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. It’s about the manifestation of the sons of God, it’s about a return to Eden, and it’s about Paradise found.
Water Baptism is about burying the person you once knew, but know no more, to become the person God always intended you to be forevermore.
