This past weekend I had the special privilege of baptizing one of our students named Charlie. Over the past few years, I have watched Charlie grow and wrestle with the truth. I have seen his close friends reaching out to and challenging him. Most of all, I have seen Christ begin a great work in Charlie's life (see the video of Charlie's testimony that will be posted below shortly). So, I was very proud of him when he decided to follow the Lord in being baptized, and I was honored to be apart of the experience. However, given the varying views surrounding baptism today, I want to stop and ask a question: have the baptismal waters of our churches today become diluted?

In Matthew 16, just before Jesus ascends to sit at the right hand of God, He instructs His followers to go out into all the world and preach the good news to all of creation. In verse 16, He explains exactly what that good news is- He says "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." It seems odd to me that Jesus would give two conditions for those who will be saved (believing and being baptized), and yet only one condition for those who will be condemned (not believing). This verse hits at the heart of baptism's role in our lives. On the surface, it might seem here that we must be baptized in order to be saved. However, if that were true, then the inverse must also be true. In other words, if being baptized yields salvation, then a lack of baptism must yield condemnation... yet it does not. Christ clearly says that the only thing that brings condemnation upon us is not believing (in His gospel truth). So, we must wonder: why is baptism mentioned in the first half, and not in the second half of Matt 16:16?

What Jesus is doing is demonstrating that true belief (or faith) CANNOT be separated from true obedience. Jesus has commanded all believers to be baptized (Acts 10:48). This baptism is not meant for salvation (as demonstrated above in Matt 16:16); it is meant to primarily serve two functions. 1) Internally- it unifies the believer with the Lord and the church by means of a common experience; 2) is serves as a great testimony and sign of obedience to the world. So, if we don't need to be baptized to be saved, why did the Lord command us to and why did He mention it in the same breath as our faith which saves us (Matt 16:16)? It is because often times, our lives do not reflect what we claim to believe.

The second chapter of James gets right at the heart of this issue. Some people misread this chapter as saying that James is claiming you need faith and deeds to be saved (look closely at James 2:14, and you will see he knows faith alone is what saves). What James is saying, and what Jesus seems to be saying in Matt 16, is that true faith will always be accompanied by obedience. By "obedience", i do not mean they way a child begrudgingly follows a parent's instructions- what I mean is someone who closely and faithfully follows the leading of another. It is not out of obligation; instead, it is because they truely believe the other person is leading them in the right direction. You see- true belief must coexist with obedient following.

However, many of us profess a believe in Christ, and even get baptized to testify to that belief, then turn around and lead lives that betray what we claim to believe. We have already established that we will follow what we truly believe- so if your baptism is saying you believe one thing and your actions on friday night say you believe something different, how are we to know which one is true? Do you even know which one is true? If I truly believe in and want to follow Christ, then why would I continually obey the deceitful instructions of the forked sinful tongue? By doing this, we are effectively diluting our baptism- we are watering it down until all of the sweet flavors of Christ fade away.

If I were to mix a pitcher of lemonade, but I didn't quite get it all the way incorporated, it would taste just fine at first. The bitterness the lemons would be replaces by the sweetness of the sugar, and all would seem fine and well. However, if I let the pitcher sit for a while, eventually the sugar and flavoring will settle to the bottom. If I take a sip now, I do not taste lemonade, only sour lemons- the drink has become something other than what I intended it to be. In fact, as the sugar collects at the bottom I would only taste the sweetness that is there at the END of the pitcher, after suffering through many cups of sourness. To me, this clearly demonstrates how many people live their life. They throw a few cupfulls of Christ into their pitcher to combat the sourness of their sin, and it is very sweet at first. However, then everything settles, and their lives become diluted and the sourness returns. It is only then at the end of their life (when they see all the sugar that has been sitting on the bottom not being unused) that they realize the grave mistake they have made. They realize that they have wasted the sweetness, and could have enjoyed it all along- they have lived a diluted life.

What we must do, is continually stir the lemonade, to ensure all the components are thoroughly incorporated into every sip. Likewise, with our lives, we must ensure that our faith is thoroughly incorporated into every aspect- including our actions and obedience. Our baptisms do not serve as a one time act of obedience. They are meant to represent the first step in a lifetime of following Christ. We run the risk of diluting our baptism, diluting our testimony, diluting our faith- diluting our whole existence- if we do not incorporate the sweetness of Christ into every drop of our lives. So, you must ask yourself today: does your faith show in all of your actions? Are you refreshing lemonade, or just sour lemons? Can someone look at the testimony of your life and clearly see that you follow Christ? If not- then how can you claim to be a follower of Christ? Are you living a life that is diluted?