Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." He calls us his friends, and he demonstrates his great love for us by laying down his life to save us.This afternoon I'll be baptizing two of my newest friends at Valley. I'm pretty sure it will be the first time I've baptized someone on Good Friday. Then, later tonight, I'll be worshiping with a whole crowd of friends at Valley's Good Friday Service.
Have you ever considered how well baptism and Good Friday go together? The connection is profound and it's worth thinking about. It's actually pretty surprising that more people don't get baptized on Good Friday!
Here are a couple of scriptures to get you thinking...
Romans 6:1-4
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Colossians 3:2-3
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Matthew 16:24
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
I'll be exploring this theme more during the teaching time in tonight's service at Valley. The two texts I'll be teaching from are 1 Peter 3:18-22 and Micah 7:18-19. If you live in the Twin Cities, it would be so good to have you join us.
I was just thinking about this...and then your post popped up on my reader! Thanks for the verse references. I am going to pray and meditate on them all day (and beyond). See you soon!
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