I recently got this note from one of the teens in our youth group...
"hey chris, i just wanted to tell you that coming to
pc is the best thing that has ever happened to my life, and becoming a christian is awesome..."
There is this sense that I have always gotten, that somehow Christianity is about what you did to get where you got. In other words, once you become a Christian, through baptism, then there you were. You had it, nothing else to do...
Over the few years, I have had my world rocked! It's been rocked by a passion that has been our Church "battle cry."
It's this one:
Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
I have been turning that baby around in my head for a very long time. Up and down I have gone, just over and over. I guess the reason it's gotten me going is because of what it says...
You know, "go and (1) make disciples" and (2)" baptizing them."
Now this issue in my mind, is not my own personal theological debate about the specificity of the text. My issue is one of ordering.
1 - The order in which Jesus shares this thought:
1 - make disciples
2 - Baptizing them
If what Jesus is saying is what he really meant, then I have to think two things:
(The disclaimer is: this might rock your world a little bit ;-))
1 - Discipleship is the process that starts well before we are "baptized" or to take it one step further, "become Christians" this is hard to believe, I know. Not to mention that discipleship is an art of becoming and ultimately the journey never ends, I know most folks (I'd like to think...) would agree with that statement.
And...
2 - You actually can know Jesus before you are ever "baptized." Or even baptism in itself holds more for our own personal benefit than it did for Jesus, a ceremonial cleansing if you will. (OK, for some folks who read my blog, this is a big deal because, in my tradition, that is not a widely held sentiment.)
Keep in mind, I am not trying to stir a debate on whether or not baptism is an essential part of becoming a disciple, I'll let the text speak for itself. I guess I, like so many others, continue on a journey of what it is Jesus is trying to accomplish through words and statements like this one.
As I finish out this text, Jesus shares that each disciple might learn the commands, that He has already taught his followers.
Commands like:
Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind and strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Commands that I feel are made less important because of the rituals and traditions we sometimes cling to. As a matter of fact I would venture to say that many would even view these as secondary teachings of Jesus, (although maybe not intentionally) less important than certain scriptural examples or acts more specific to the time and culture.
As I read the note I was sent by one of our teens, that sentence struck me, and it resonated in my mind because, to me these are the elementary teachings of Jesus. These are the basics.
Yet they are so full of challenge and truly are "deep" to me. The note that was sent to me, while part of it may have been grammatically incorrect, I think it hits the point right on, "becoming a christian is awesome!"
I am "becoming" what God wants me to be. I am not there yet, but I pray that "becoming" more like Jesus is what happens for me. I also pray that God will continue to help the guy who shared this with me, to continue to "become" the "christian" that God wants him to be. Sometimes I am afraid that in our becoming we have already become what we want and maybe have become less interested in what God wants us to become...
Malia said...
I am in complete agreement with you. So much focus has been put on getting dunked and getting dunked the "right" way that all the other stuff gets shoved aside. Is baptism important, yes! Is it the only thing that distinquishes us as Christians, no! And it absolutely shouldn't be the "end" of our journey, but the beginning.
Donna G said...
Way to jump out there Chris. I am with you 100%!
