Baptism and The Lord's Supper are two symbolic acts we as Southern Baptists take part in. Here is what we believe about them.
Baptism is an act of a believer being immersed in water in the name fo the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We do it to show our faith in Jesus, that he was born, crucified, buried, and is risen. It shows that as believers, we are dead to sin, have buried our old life, and we are resurrected (made new in Jesus). Baptism does NOT save. It is only a symbolic act of our faith in Jesus.
When we partake in the Lord's Supper, we are remembering the death of Jesus and his second coming. Again, it is an act of obedience.
At our church, we also have a baby dedication once a year. Again, this does not save anyone. The baby dedication is an act symbolizing that the parents are promising to raise their child for God. This sort of reminds me of Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the temple for the first time. I found Moore's story about this quiet interesting. It is sort of like we are saying, "Here God. Take my child. We want him to live for and serve you."
As Christians, we must take part in the activities commanded by our Lord. I appreciate the fact that our pastor has made a committment to us in order to make sure we truly understand not just what we believe, but why we believe it. This made me appreciate today's study much more because we know the why behind Mary and Joseph's acts of obedience.
I pray that as we grow in the Lord and become closer to him, we would act out of obedience and not out of tradition.
Baptism is an act of a believer being immersed in water in the name fo the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We do it to show our faith in Jesus, that he was born, crucified, buried, and is risen. It shows that as believers, we are dead to sin, have buried our old life, and we are resurrected (made new in Jesus). Baptism does NOT save. It is only a symbolic act of our faith in Jesus.
When we partake in the Lord's Supper, we are remembering the death of Jesus and his second coming. Again, it is an act of obedience.
At our church, we also have a baby dedication once a year. Again, this does not save anyone. The baby dedication is an act symbolizing that the parents are promising to raise their child for God. This sort of reminds me of Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the temple for the first time. I found Moore's story about this quiet interesting. It is sort of like we are saying, "Here God. Take my child. We want him to live for and serve you."
As Christians, we must take part in the activities commanded by our Lord. I appreciate the fact that our pastor has made a committment to us in order to make sure we truly understand not just what we believe, but why we believe it. This made me appreciate today's study much more because we know the why behind Mary and Joseph's acts of obedience.
I pray that as we grow in the Lord and become closer to him, we would act out of obedience and not out of tradition.
I'm catching up today! I remember when it was time for Josiah's baby dedication. I walked in that Sunday morning and......I had forgotten about the service. That was one of times when I felt like such a terrible mother. To forget my own son's baby dedication service! A friend tried to talk me into participating anyway and I wouldn't because he wasn't "dressed right" and because the grandparents weren't there and I didn't want them to miss that. Looking back on it I wished I would have just gone on and participated.....God wouldn't care what he was wearing...but I just so hated for the grandparents not to be there. As I relate that to spiritual things I wonder how many opportunities I have missed because everything wasn't just right. I'm a perfectionist and that's a bad thing sometimes. So my prayer for myself is that I wouldn't miss opportunities that come my way to share Christ. I've let so many pass by out of not feeling like I could say or do the right thing and because things weren't just right.....I'm glad we have a God that forgives and sees our hearts and knows how sorry we are when we fail Him.
ReplyDelete