By Derl G. Keefer
The Rugged Demands of Baptism
Luke 3:15-17; 21-22
He is a student at my denomination's seminary and
I got acquainted with him at his wedding to one of my co-workers. The
last two years he has lived in the United States and enjoyed the
freedoms we have come to take for granted. Prior to his arrival in
America, he lived in a country where religious intolerance is
practiced. I had heard that this young man walked to the seminary daily
by a different route to avoid being spotted by someone from his
former country for fear of being murdered. I thought he was a bit
paranoid.
A close missionary friend from his homeland shared
that in his country Christians are despised. If converts go through
the ritual of baptism, they are marked persons. I discovered that
after my new friend was converted and baptized, he became associated
with a Christian group of 13 others to form a church. The people in
his community felt obligated to rid themselves of those 14 Christians.
As they met together they were raided by their outraged neighbors 12
of them died and only 2 escaped. One of those survivors was my new
acquaintance.
John made some rugged demands of people who came
to participate in his call for baptism. I believe that the call to
baptism, though an outward sign of inward work of grace, is still
demanding upon people.
John's rugged demand called for a decision.
John said if you wanted to change your life you
had to make the decision to step out of the crowd and follow him into
the water. It was more than following him into the Jordan River. It
was a decision to turn from the old life style and begin to live a
new life. That is called repentance! It is genuine and motivates one
to change.
Rumeal Robinson played for Michigan in the 1980s.
Early in the 1989 season Michigan played Wisconsin. Robinson was
fouled in the last seconds of the game. Michigan trailed by one point
and he was at the foul line to shoot two shots. Both of his shots
missed the mark, allowing Wisconsin to upset favored Michigan.
Rumeal felt terrible about costing his teammates
the game. His sorrow led him to make a change. After each practice
for the remainder of the season he lobbed 100 extra foul shots at the
basket. His change prepared him for the end of the season when in
overtime in the national championship game with three seconds left he
shot two foul shots making them both and lifted Michigan to national
championship status.
Rumeal's repentance had been genuine, and sorrow
motivated him to work so that he would never make that mistake again.
Paul stated that, "Godly sorrow leads to repentance." (II Cor. 7:10).
(Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching)
John's rugged demand called for turning from disobedience to obedience.