Going Under

There is a story found in the book of Acts about a sorcerer named Simon, who had apparently wowed the people with his magic acts, to the extent some thought that he was doing God's work. Acts 8 tells us that the authentic power of God was so compelling that even Simon believed on Jesus. We can read:
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.
13 Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.

We can be careful not to believe counterfeits to the presence of God and not be deceived.  We can also not regard an experience with the Lord as some sort of "good luck charm." We can rejoice in the change that takes place inside a person when he or she accepts Christ, and we are placed on a course of obedience to Him: that is communicated through the act of baptism. We can rejoice in the new birth and embrace the spiritual reality of what has occurred in our hearts. 

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The picture is clear: our old self is dead and our sins have been buried with that old self; we have been raised to new life, and we have the power to express that. Romans 6 tells us:
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

The practice, or sacrament, of water baptism is an outward expression of the inward work of God in a person's life - it can be a powerful tool used in the hand of God to demonstrate what God does when someone is born again. 

On the Sunday before Christmas last year, Long Hollow Baptist Church outside Nashville had scheduled "around a dozen" people to be baptized, according to an article at ChristianHeadlines.com, which reports:

...dozens more – for a total of 99 – followed through with baptism that day, according to Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.

In December, Pastor Robby Gallaty called it a “movement of God that I’ve never experienced.”

On the Sunday after Easter, the church passed 1,000 baptisms since that Sunday in December. On Easter Sunday, over 200 were baptized.  Baptisms are taking place throughout the service and following the service. The pastor "estimates that about 70-75 percent of the baptisms are first-time confessions of faith."  

The article relates that:

The revival began after Gallaty became introspective following the deaths of two close friends, Jarrid Wilson and Darren Patrick. Each committed suicide.

“Both of those men preached at Long Hollow within six months of their passing,” Gallaty told Baptist Press. “They both sat at my dining room table. It made me realize that the last person to say he’s burning out or that ministry is tough is usually the one burning out. The Lord allowed me to take an introspective look at my own life. I was tired. Tired of trying to keep people happy. Tired of trying to keep them from leaving. I went to my porch to pray for the Lord to fix the problems in our church and our country. God showed me that the problem … was me.”

The article adds, "Gallaty began praying more and listening to God more."

The pastor stated to Baptist Press: “I really believe that if all of us, as pastors, begin to press in and seek the Lord in prayer, calling out for God to move in our churches, that’s a prayer He’s going to answer,” adding, “The greatest hindrance to a move of the Holy Spirit is formality and structure. If God wanted to break into our services today, we’d have no time for Him. [At Long Hollow] we still have a plan, but we’re OK if God interrupts the service.”

I want to isolate that phrase from the pastor, who said "we're OK if God interrupts the service."  We have to make sure that we don't misinterpret God's interruptions as inconveniences.  We can become so married to our plans that we don't allow the Holy Spirit to have his way in our lives - and that can be true for a worship service or our lifestyle of worship.

God can use baptism in our own lives because it is an act of obedience to Him.  But, it is also a powerful expression of the inward work of the Holy Spirit. Our sins have been cleansed and we have been raised to new life.  In the work of redemption, we identify with His death and appropriate His new life. The act of baptism testifies to the exhilaration of the new birth, a message that we continue to carry throughout our lives.