David Bahn – Reflections

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Acts 2:37-47

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸ And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

⁴² And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵ And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Our youngest son was born under some pretty stressful circumstances. Eight weeks premature after several weeks of distressing amniotic fluid leak. Although given an 8 on the Apgar scale (out of 10), the 3#, 12 1/2 oz. baby boy was taken to the NICU, and hooked to multiple tubes and wires. So tiny and vulnerable. When we learned that the doctor wanted to send him to the children’s hospital some 40 miles away, he seemed even smaller and more vulnerable. He would ride on a “mobile intensive care unit,” said the doctor. I knew it was a truck. So I asked, “Can I baptize him first?” We had actually had a styrofoam cup of water at the ready during his birth, so I knew I could. “Absolutely!” he replied. So Diane and I went to the NICU and I baptized Stephen, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” It was just the two of us – the most emotional baptism I’ve ever performed.

But as soon as he was baptized I knew there were promises connected to him that before had not been. This being one of them:  “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”  (Acts 2:38-39) Some make much of the “Repent” part of that message. I lean on “the promise is for you and for your children…” part. And this is not a lone promise.

“Baptism also now saves you,” the same Peter writes years later (1 Peter 3:21).

Paul writes that God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)

Paul also speaks of Christ cleansing us, “by the washing of water with the word.” (Ephesians 5:26)

Galatians 3:27 says that, “all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

There is great comfort and an urgent calling attached to being baptized. It’s clear that God’s gifts of life, love, and salvation are mediated in a miraculous way through baptism. We receive those gifts through faith – a work of the Holy Spirit who is also given us in baptism. Behind all those promises, furthermore, is a calling to live it out. Live as though you are redeemed. Baptism isn’t something that happened years or ever days or moments ago. Baptism is the entry point into the reign and rule of Jesus. We most fully express that truth in daily lives of faithfulness, obedience, repentance and faith. What a precious gift that is indeed!

On a personal note, today is the 48th anniversary of our wedding day. Diane and I were married on June 21, 1975 at the Lutheran Chapel of Hope next to the campus of SEMO University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I thank God for her daily!