Lordship of Jesus, an imperative to all believers.
(Water Baptism expresses Jesus’ Lordship over your life).
Lordship of Jesus, an imperative to all believers.
1. Jesus is more than a Savior
The word ‘Jesus’ literally means ‘Savior’. That implies that God sent Him to save us from the consequences of sin. However, I have serious doubt whether Jesus could save anybody unless that person surrenders oneself completely to the Lordship of Jesus.
Let us look at Rom.10:9-10. Paul tells us that if you, “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that Jesus rose again from the dead, you shall be saved. You believe with your heart for the sake of righteousness, but confession with your mouth is made for your salvation. Rom.10:9-10.
Believing that Jesus rose again from the dead implies at three things; 1, acknowledging that Jesus died, 2, that He died for our sins and 3, that He overcame death. This last point very important because unless Jesus was also God, His death would not remit our sins.
As soon as a sinner believes that Jesus paid the penalty of his/her sins through His death on the cross, that person is justified (He is now free from condemnation to Hell. Rom.8:1.)
Confession that Jesus is my Lord is necessary for my salvation. When I confess Jesus as my Lord, I am not only accepting Him as Jehovah (Lord) but I am also accepting Him voluntarily as my ‘master’. Unless I make Jesus my master, my life will not change; will not get sanctified. That transformation of life is the proof that God’s life is flowing into the believer.
Deut.15:12-17 talks about an indebted kinsman who offers himself as a perpetual slave to a benevolent master in the year of his freedom. The slave could have walked away from the master because he is legally free. But it will be detrimental to the liberated slave to go away because he will walk into the hand of another master who would not be benevolent.
Jesus has delivered me from the bondage of the terrible task-master (Satan).
I am free now but I will be ungrateful to Jesus if I run away from Him and do my own thing. But as Saul of Tarsus surrendered his life to Jesus, you and I need to surrender ourselves to Jesus. That is how we die to the sinful man (our self) and rise again to the new man (Jesus Christ),
Look how Saul became Apostle Paul after his surrender!Acts.9:1 & 13:9. He became a new creation as he explains in 2 Cor. 5:17.
This is what Paul explains in Gal.2:20; “I am crucified with Christ Jesus, yet I live, not me but Christ lives in me”. We know that nobody crucified Paul physically at any time. Here Paul is talking about a spiritual experience after his confrontation with Jesus Christ at Damascus.Acts.9:1-19.
2. Surrender explained in Baptism
Paul explains this in general terms in Rom.6:3-5 thus: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in the newness of life”. (Christian life is a life led with knowledge. Question asked is “Do you not know for what purpose you got baptized!
Apostle Paul not only refers to ’baptism’ here but he also defines it.
a, Accordingly baptism is a burial-under-water-service.
b, One undergoes baptism with full understanding of its meaning.
A person who is dead with Christ consciously is the one who is buried or baptized.
That means only a believer is commanded to be baptized. Mk.16:16/ Acts.8:36-38.
c, This burial is done with the specific intension to get him/her join Jesus
and thus receive a new life with which he can rise again and live for God.
d, One should say that through baptism a believer identifies himself with
Jesus Christ in the latter’s death, burial and resurrection.
3. Is water-baptism absolutely necessary for salvation?
Salvation is initiated by God. He calls whom He foreknew. Whom He calls He justifies. Rom.8:29. This calling is actually sanctification or separation for salvation. Those who are justified need to declare their allegiance to Jesus Christ. That is why Apostle Paul asks us to confess with mouth Jesus as Lord.
However Apostle James teaches us that faith without work is dead. Jam.2:5.
He is here talking about ‘work of faith‘, not good works. He uses the example of Abraham’s justification through his work on the Altar where he laid his son Isaac in proving his faith in God. What he says is that if your faith in Jesus lacks work of faith then it is no faith at all. This is where ‘water baptism’ comes in. And in that sense water baptism saves us. 1 Pet.3:18-21. What Peter says here in verse 21 is that ‘as an appeal to God for good conscience with Him, water baptism saves us’
Thus as a work of faith ‘water baptism’ saves us. Without the involvement of personal faith, water baptism is just another washing of the body. That means the Catholic & Orthodox doctrine of baptismal regeneration is not based on the word of God. It is simply human tradition.
4. Should infants in a believer’s family be baptized to get them into the Kingdom?
We do not have any example for infant-baptism in the N.T. Even where the baptism of three families mentioned in Book of Acts, we have no proof for infant baptism. Illustration:
a, Jailor’s family. Acts.16:31-32. Here Paul gave baptism to only those who received the message of his preaching. No infant would be capable to do that.
b. Lydia’s family.Acts.16:15 & 40. Verse 40 here would give us a clue as to the status of the members of Lydia’s family. There were no infants there.
c. Family of Crispus.Acts.18:8-9. This passage very clearly states that baptism was given to them because they believed the word preached to them. Baptism was never given to families en bloc because N. Testament is not a family covenant unlike O.T. It is an individual Covenant.
5. Should water-baptism be given to those who have already received Holy Spirit?
Yes! If they were not already given faith baptism. Read Acts. 10:44-48 and decide for yourself
News, December 2008
Mission Outreach:
News 2009
End of December 2008 a crusade was conducted at Kallissery. And new work was inaugurated there on the last Sunday of December.
Pr. Sebastian is placed there in charge of this new work.
Pr. George was able to baptize a new convert in February and he and his wife joined this new work.
March 6th to 8th witnessed Pr. George ministering at the suburbs of Mumbai. A pioneering work at Devipara under Evg. Kurah, brought in
six new converts for baptism. In an open-air meeting in a slum-colony also saw 12 people opening their hearts for the Lord. Pr. Johnson has been supervising these outreach efforts.
ICM intends to provide a basic facility at Devipara for the continuation of this work. Need your prayers and financial support for ICM to enter upon this task!
Sathe Nagar church in the Mankhurd slum also needs financial support to place a roof above their torn-down worship center.