Coffee With The Lord

I love water baptism services!  At the church we are a part of we call them “Plunge Parties” (i.e. taking “the plunge” to follow Jesus … “all in” for Him!).

According to Romans 6:1-11, water baptism is more than simply a ceremony!  It represents a reality – it is a “baptism into Christ Jesus” – a full and complete identification with His death, burial and resurrection.  In a real way it is a faith-identification with Him – IN SOME REAL WAY HIS DEATH BECAME OUR DEATH TO SIN, HIS BURIAL BECAME OUR BURIAL, AND, PRAISE THE LORD, HIS RESURRECTION BECOMES OUR RESURRECTION!  Here is how Romans 6:4 puts it… “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life!”

Years ago, when I baptized a friend of mine, Bill Cypher, in the Crow Wing River in Minnesota, this was his testimony… “The pastor told us today this was really a burial service!  Today I can see my past – the sin I have committed – just going down that river far, far away.  In a moment the pastor is going to put me down into the water of this river and the ‘old Bill’ you knew is going to be buried!  Then he’s going to bring me up out of the water, and by the grace of God, you’re going to see a ‘new Bill’”!  I remember it like it was yesterday… What a testimony!  What an accurate description of what water baptism represents – and what it truly ought to be!

This morning during my time of  “coffee with the Lord” I read Galatians 2:20 and thought to myself, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get people to memorize this verse and get them to quote it and affirm it in a loud and clear voice when they came out of the waters of baptism… “I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST!  IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE, BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME!  AND THE LIFE I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME!”

My wife, Sharon, and I have our devotions at the same time early in the morning.  This morning I heard Sharon’s voice from the bedroom where she was reading her Bible… “Did you notice who received the heavenly message regarding the birth of Jesus – have you thought about that?”  She said.  And we both had been impressed by it… it is incredible actually!

I realize a devotional from this passage is usually reserved for reading during the Christmas season, but It was our reading today from the Gospel of Luke.  I’d like to have you think about it perhaps in a new way today… we both did, and it was really uplifting…

Who would you expect to be the audience – the recipient – of a message so grand and glorious?  Here it is… (visualize this scene – imagine it happening!)

“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them… And the angel said to them, ‘fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that that will be for all the people!  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord’… And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is well pleased!’” (From Luke 2:8-14 ESV)

Dignitaries?  World leaders?  Royalty?  People of influence and power?

No!!!  Bedouin shepherds!!  Now you may never have seen a Bedouin shepherd… I have!  They are a common lot – very common!  They may not have bathed in a while – long greasy hair, clothes that have been on their body for a week or two, slept out in the Judean hillside, a tooth or two missing, not much money in their pocket.  Educated?  Perhaps… but maybe not.  Influence?  Not so much.

THAT is who the Living God sent an angelic messenger and a heavenly choral multitude to announce the birth of the Messiah – “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” – God’s Son!!

This morning as I reflected on that, another passage of Scripture came to mind…

“For consider YOUR calling: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, SO THAT NO HUMAN BEING MIGHT BOAST IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.  And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, ‘LET THE ONE WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.’” (1 Corinthians 1:26–31 ESV)

The challenge Christ followers face in our neighborhoods, our communities, our nation and the world on this Pentecost Sunday… Lord empower and lead us!!!