About six months ago, I participated in one of the most incredible experiences anyone can be involved in; I got to baptize someone. He was a sixth grader from Journey Students who had been part of the middle school guys group I was leading for over a year. At the start of his time with the group, he would bounce off the walls, cause distractions, and crack inside jokes with his friends. However, after about his third or fourth month of being part of the group, I started to notice a change in him. He began to pay more attention, answer questions, and would even help me quiet the group if they got too loud. Eventually, he came up to me one Wednesday evening to explain that he had finally decided to start taking his faith seriously and that he wanted to be baptized. I was shocked and ecstatic at the same time! I couldn't believe how much I had seen him grow in just a few short months I had known him. That following Sunday, as I lowered him down into the water and lifted him back up, he threw his hands up in victory as everyone watching cheered. As I helped him out of the water, he turned to me and asked in classic middle schooler fashion, "so, does this count as my shower for this week?"
You may have witnessed a similar celebration on a Sunday morning and wondered what was happening. Or you may wonder why baptism matters or when it's supposed to happen. Today, we will address each of those questions and help you discover whether baptism is the next step God has for you to take.
Question 1: What is Baptism?
First, let's talk about what baptism is. Baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith decision. So what does that mean? That means baptism is a way of showing that you've decided to follow Jesus, but it's not what saves you. There is nothing special about the location or the water you're baptized in. No secret code language is used by the pastor who is baptizing people. The decision to believe in and follow Jesus is what saves you. Baptism is simply a way of showing others around you how God has changed your life. How do we know this? Several passages in scripture address the purpose of baptism, one of the clearest being 1 Peter 3:18-21. Peter explains in this passage that baptism is a symbolic representation of God delivering us, not an action meant to cleanse us from our sins. Instead, he points to the resurrection of Jesus as the saving measure, and baptism is the form in which we show we have accepted His gift of salvation.
Question 2: Why does baptism matter?
So you may ask yourself, "If baptism doesn't save me, then why is it important?" Have you ever heard the phrase, actions are louder than words? This applies so well to baptism! By being baptized, you are showing people all around you that you have dedicated your life to Jesus, that you have left your old way of living behind, and that you have committed to depending on Him for everything and in every part of your life. But wait- it gets better! Baptism illustrates an incredible moment of life change that will impact your life forever. As you go down into the water and come back up, you remind the people around you that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in you!
Question 3: When should someone get baptized?
There are a lot of different opinions about when someone should be baptized, but here's the bottom line: whenever someone decides to follow Jesus, baptism is their next step. There's no minimum required wait time or expiration date for baptism. This doesn't mean you should get baptized every weekend, but when you feel the Holy Spirit's pull to get baptized, you should take the step.
Why you get baptized is the primary concern, not when. When circumstances allow, it's incredible to witness someone get baptized only moments after they come to salvation. But that doesn't mean it's the only time it can happen. Some of the most powerful stories of baptism I have heard have been when people responded to the urging of the Holy Spirit long after they had come to faith. Let me give you an example.
My wife, Amy, was saved at a young age, and while she understood what it meant to be saved, she didn't fully understand the purpose of baptism. However, because of the persistence of many people around her who did understand the purpose of baptism, she decided to get baptized. As she grew, Amy lived for Jesus daily, even spending her summers in college counseling at a small Christian summer camp. We met in 2018, and a few years after we got married in 2020, we moved to Florida. When we started attending Journey Church, I remember her saying that she felt that God had something for her to do but that she didn't know what it was. She prayed daily for God to reveal what He was calling her to do and that whatever it was, she would have the strength to do it.
Before long, God answered her prayer by placing the desire to get baptized on her heart. Not as a step she hadn't completed but a step of obedience now that she genuinely understood what baptism symbolized. She struggled with this idea for nearly a year until one night when we were driving back home late at night from a wedding in Georgia. As we traveled, Amy fell asleep, and I decided to listen to a sermon to pass the time. The sermon was about baptism, and Amy woke up towards the end of the recording.
She listened to the final 10 minutes of the sermon, where the pastor shared how he was saved at a young age but felt the calling to get baptized when he was much older. Amy began to realize that it was no mistake that she woke up to hear this. Her waking up was the continuation of the Lord answering her prayer for the last year and placing the desire in her heart to get baptized. Amy was understandably nervous to get baptized, but she knew this was the step the Lord was calling her to do. The following day, Sunday, Amy was baptized at the Deltona campus.
So why did I share this with you? Because even though Amy was baptized over 18 years after she was saved, God still received the glory. Even though He waited to place this calling on her life, He did so purposefully. To grow her faith in Him and to encourage the rest of the church body by allowing them to witness how He was moving in her life.
What's my next step?
Are you making yourself available to God's prompting like Amy did? While reading this blog, did something in you long to experience what Amy experienced? If you've never been baptized before, take some time today to ask God for the courage to take that next step. Or, if you have already been baptized, take some time to ask the Lord to lay someone on your heart who needs to be encouraged to get baptized.