Title Galatians 03:27 Meaning of Baptism
Content Title: The Meaning of Baptism
Text: Galatians 3:27
“He that has been baptized into Christ among you has put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
1. People who are concerned about what to wear
“Therefore, do not be anxious and say, “What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?” (Matthew 6:31-32a)
People are worried. “How can I look pretty and cool?” Some decent people even hire a costume coordinator next to them. You want to decorate yourself and hear good things from people. "Why are you dressed today?" Rather than saying "Oh! You look a little different today!" I want you to hear this. As there is a saying that clothes are wings, a person may look different depending on what he is wearing. That's why people pay a lot of attention to clothes.
As with clothing, people pay a lot of attention to how they decorate themselves.
There are those who wish to wear their own clothes for good works. "You're great!" When people see him and pass by him, he feels as if he has become a splendid being with just a single word.
"Yeah, you wear this dress well, people always give it a generous rating..."
Perhaps you will feel proud. He himself will feel that he has chosen the clothes well.
There are those who choose to wear clothing that reveals a form of piety in their religious life. The words are serious and solemn, and they make themselves suffer in everything they do, making them look like people with something. In fact, many people may come to such people and take an interest in the clothes worn by the religious ones. "How can that be true?"
Their quirky clothing deserves to be considered a novelty for those who only wear plain clothes. They are like those who pierced their pants or tried to expose themselves daringly.
Others try to take power. As if trying to wear clothes that only the head can wear....People want their brilliant career to be written in the light and shade they present. It is not limited to just political and secular groups. Even in the religious world, this power struggle is getting more and more intense. It is a fight with gangsters or money or valuables over who is the head. It's a piece of clothing, but it's an ugly way to wear it to each other.
Others try to wear clothes of talent. They want to develop their own fields and wear their own clothes. For the marathon, Lee Bong-jo wore the best clothes. "Ah, Bong-jo Lee is wearing that outfit, and it's a little better than that of Young-jo Hwang!"
Many people are working hard to create their own clothes that will be memorable among people. As the Bible says today, we are really thinking about what to wear.
2.People who wear dirty things
“But we are all as unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6)
When Adam first made clothes and wore them, they began to wear them to cover their shame. Now, in this era, the purpose of clothes is not to cover the shame, but to prove how to be a wonderful human being.
But the Bible concludes that everything we adorn us is like a dirty rag, whether it begins to cover our shame or to prove how elegant, sophisticated, and dignified we are.
Today's era of high exposure can be said to be a reflection of the spiritual state in which shameful things are not considered to be shameful. It can be said to be a reflection of the spiritually dull age. But in any case, showing off and showing off their bodies, even at the slightest edge, is also an attribute of today's false culture, which boldly glorifies the face of sin.
Let's be honest with what we put on. What are we wearing?
3. People clothed with Christ
I am giving this lengthy description of clothing to explain baptism. “What is baptism?” is asked the question. “Why are you baptized?” I am also asked the question.
Adam, who was ashamed and covered himself with leaves, wore the leather garment that God had made. It not only covered their shame, but also became a garment that allowed them to live in this world proudly. The Bible describes baptism as putting on clothes.
The pattern of baptism is that Adam threw down leaves and put on the skin garments God had given him.
“He that has been baptized into Christ among you has put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
Why don't we have to worry about what to wear? It is because there are clothes of Christ prepared by God. It is useless to try to decorate me with something to make me look glamorous.
4. New clothes that can only be worn after taking off old clothes
If you have old and worn out clothes, and someone gives you clean clothes as a gift, how would you wear them? Because you like old clothes, would you cut out new clothes, cut them into pieces, and attach them to the torn ones? Then the one who gave you the new clothes would be very upset. Not only that, but everyone who wears those clothes will be embarrassed.
Baptism is like this. It is completely putting off the old man and putting on the new man.
Adam had to take off his clothes made of leaves to put on his clothes. The beggar Bartimaeus had to throw away the rags he had worn to come to the Lord.
Taking off old clothes to put on new ones is the meaning of baptism.
“Since the night is deep and the day is near, let us therefore put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. As in the daytime, walk modestly, do not revel or get drunk, do not defile your bedroom, do not dissipate, do not quarrel or envy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not devote yourself to the lusts of the flesh Romans 13:12-14)
Look closely at the clothes I wore once upon a time. Can you put on the filthy rags soaked with debauchery and put on the holy garments of Christ? Can you wear the splendid garments that God considers most beautiful in the world and still have a dirty rag inside?
To put on new underwear, you have to take off your old underwear. Baptism is like that. It is to get rid of the ugliness of the past that we have to throw away in order to live with Christ.
The Red Sea is often referred to as a model of baptism. After crossing the Red Sea, Israel could not return to Egypt. If you have clothed yourself with Christ, you must not wear dirty things again, and a life wearing both cannot be called a baptized life.
“If ye have heard his word and been taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, then, concerning your former conduct, according to the deceitful lusts, you put off your old self, which is corrupt, and you follow God by being renewed in the spirit of your heart. Put on the new man, created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
This is one of Jesus' parables. Among those invited to the king's banquet, those who did not wear wedding robes were expelled (Matthew 22:11-14). The same is true of those who are not clothed with Christ. God the King calls us and wants to share good things, but if we have not put on that robe, that is, Christ, He will drive us out.
Are you clothed with Christ? What's still in there? If there is something that we have not put off, let us pray to the Lord. Whether the Lord has given it to me, whether I have been like this from the beginning, or if the Lord has given it to me, it is acceptable to wear it, but to say that we live as we are is is rather making us look ugly.