Believers Who Have Been Baptized
Galatians 3:23-29Adults and Teens
The book of Galatians has been referred to ass the Magna Carta of spiritual liberty, the battle cry of the Reformation, and the Christian’s declaration of Independence. The reason for each of these is due to the message that God awards salvation by grace alone through faith alone. Marin Luther’s
commentary on Galatians is considered the foundation of the Reformation. In that work, Luther said, “The epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am, as it were, in wedlock. Galatians is my Katherine (the name of his wife.” But why did he hold this book so closely and what does this have to do with baptism? One
word...freedom.
Before Christ came, there was the Law. The Law that was the covenants, commands, rituals, ceremonies that were to be kept. This Law, Paul says, was to point reveal and convict men of sin as well as served to point to a future redemption. As one commentator notes, “Every human being either
continuously lives as a captive slave chained under the judgment of God’s unchanging, universal law that demands payment by eternal death and hell, or he lives by faith as utterly free from judgment as a
redeemed child of God under sovereign and eternal grace. The Law serves as a Tutor. The meaning in its origin was a slave who led boys to and from school as well as taught them manners and explanation. In fact, in order to be awarded a teaching license in the United States, prospective teachers must pass a test called ‘pedagogy’ in order to show excellence in both method and practice of teaching. Today, it is great celebration when students can free themselves from their teachers (tutors) in a ceremony we call
graduation. Likewise, Paul says the Law is our tutor that served to lead us to Christ that we may be justified by faith. Once a person was led by the Law and to Christ, there is no longer need for the
ceremonies and rituals that disciplined. Once Christ came, the imperfect ceremonies and rituals were no longer needed because the Perfect had come.
So how are those who are in Christ identified? Through baptism. But this is not the baptism that we normally think. This baptism is not the baptism in which believers are lowered into the water and brought back up as a public testimony before other believers in the local congregation. This word for baptism means a long time immersion similar to the pickling process when a vegetable is placed in a vinegar solution for an extended period of time. When we baptize in keeping with the command of Jesus to baptize, we submerse and bring out immediately. You will not witness a pastor hold anyone under the water for a prolonged period of time. So what is Paul talking about here? How does this apply to the body of believers?
In Judges 6, Gideon was facing the Midianites and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.
Gideon was covered, baptized, with the Holy Spirit as a divine coat of armor. Likewise, true believers are covered, clothed, baptized giving us power and assurance of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are to bring honor by the way we live. We should live as ‘blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,. . . as lights in the world.” As Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”
Family of God
Galatians 3:23-29Families with Kids
Show either your library card or a picture of one online.
This is a membership card to the Public Library. Do you have a library card? If you don't already have one, you should get one. One of the great things about a library card is that it is available to
everyone. It doesn't matter if you are young or old. It doesn't matter if you are a boy or a girl. It doesn't matter if your skin is red, brown, yellow, black, or white. It doesn't matter where you were born or who your parents are. Everyone is welcome.
Another great thing about the library is that once you become a member, you are entitled to all the benefits and services that the library provides. You can check out books and videos -- even music on a CD. You can go to the library and read magazines and newspapers. You can even use the computer.
Oh, by the way, do you know how much it costs to join the library? Nothing! Membership is free! You know, that is a pretty good picture of what it is like to be a member of the family of God.
Read Galatians 3:23-29
The Bible tells us that when we trust in Jesus and are united with him in baptism, we all become the children of God. It doesn't matter if you are a boy or a girl. It doesn't matter what color your skin is. When we become a part of the family of God, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
The Bible also tells us that when you belong to the family through Christ Jesus, you are entitled to all the benefits of being a child of God. All of the promises that God has made in His Word belong to you! Isn't that great?
Oh, by the way, do you know how much it costs to become a part of the family of God? Nothing! It is a gift of God!
Dear Father, we are thankful that we can become your children through faith in Jesus Christ. We are thankful that it doesn't matter whether we are girl or boy -- black or white. We are thankful that in Christ we all become one. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
How to Pray for the Tunisian Arab
• Pray for many from today’s people group to tell of God’ wondrous deeds to their families. • Pray that Tunisian Christians would be impassioned to reach their own people, sharing a clear,
succinct, and reproducible gospel presentation.
• Pray for the Arabs to become aware of their spiritual bankruptcy before God.
• Pray that Jesus would use dreams and visions to open their eyes and to show them that he is the only way to God.
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About the Tunisian Arab
In the first few centuries after Christ, a strong church was established in present-day Tunisia despite intense persecution from the Romans. Disunity, factions, and a failure to translate the Bible into the local languages weakened the church. When Arab invaders arrived in the 7th century an empty shell of a church was all that existed. Islam spread rapidly and the Christian roots of the people were forgotten. Few Tunisians are aware of their Christian heritage. They equate Christianity with Westerners and Western culture and do not view it as an option for themselves. They have been conditioned from birth to believe teachings that oppose the Bible and their cultural surroundings prevent them from considering anything different.
