Value #4- BAPTISM
Week 3: Calling & Empowerment
Word:
“John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit . . . you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” Acts 1:5, 8
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
Reflection:
When Jesus was baptized it not only confirmed his identity, but also marked the commitment to his calling and the empowerment for his mission. To be reminded of who he was as the beloved Son of God also reminded him of what his life was to be about. Because he knew who he was from an early age, he also knew he “must be about his Father’s business”, and years later as he emerged from his baptism God filled him with Spiritual power, sent him out, and in turn he committed himself absolutely to that mission.
Our baptism marks our not only our identity as beloved children of God, but also our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ to live as a witness to God’s saving grace. It is a mission to lead others into an understanding of their own identity and a commitment to claim it for themselves. The wonderful thing about knowing who we are as children of God is not just the affirmation that we are loved and valuable, but also the realization that our life has a purpose bigger than our own personal happiness. As a baptized child of God I am a part of God’s great work of the salvation of the world. Baptism serves as the believers “ordination” into the “priesthood of all believers” and it sends us into the world to bear witness to the love of God for us.
However, to be sent out into the world with a calling but no power would doom us to failure. After Jesus baptism, he was immediately met by temptation to make his life about himself and his own desires for success and power. That is why God provided an empowering of the Holy Spirit in concert with his baptism and why we receive that same gift as baptized children of God. The old saying is “God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called” and while he calls us in baptism, he qualifies us with the power of the Holy Spirit that accompanies our calling.
It is a marvelous gift in baptism to be given an identity as beloved children of God, and to be offered the wonderful cleansing of forgiveness. But, with those wonderful baptismal gifts comes the responsibility to live out our calling as Spirit filled witnesses who pass on what we have graciously received.
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