After Baptism

Last Monday, we talked about what happens "After Baptism."  We focused on the fact that studying is an important part of our life after baptism, so that we can learn more about how we can continue to please God with our lives.  Taking the Lord's Supper was another act of worship, that we saw the early church did every Sunday.  The early believers spent time in fellowship and prayer and we should do the same, in order to encourage and built one another and to communicated with God, our Father.


The notes of our study are below.

November 21, 2011

After Baptism

Opening question: Think about a situation when you have completed a project (a paper, an exam).  What are the feelings you remember?  What about what comes next?

Often in life, the end of one stage is simply the beginning of another.  We complete an exam, we rest for a bit and then we need to move on to preparing for another exam.  We graduate and then we need to look for a job.  We find a job, but then we start thinking of a better or a different job, and so on.

What does the Bible teaches about what someone is to do after baptism?

The Baptism is the beginning of your life as a Christian.

Baptism may be the end of the process of someone learning about God, what to do to be saved from sin and to get into the right relationship with God.  But baptism is also the beginning of your life as a Christian.  It is not enough just to be baptized and then never have anything to do with God.  Christians are told in more than one passage in the Bible to fellowship with other Christians, to encourage one-another and to help one another.

In Acts 2:42-47, we read: 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

1.         Studying after becoming a Christian

After people were baptized into Christ, they continued to learn.  They studied with the apostles and we should continue to study the Bible and learn more about God and about what we need to continue to do in our lives.  At the moment when someone becomes a Christian, they do not know everything that there is in the Bible (unless they have studied it for a very long time, but even then, there is always new things to learn from the Bible).  Therefore, it is important to continue to study diligently the Word of God.

In 2 Timothy 3:16, we read: 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.  So, we can use the Word of God to learn from it, to learn from mistakes of the characters of the Bible, to learn from the events, to learn how we can correct our own mistakes and how to make our life as pure and as holy as we can.

If we compare our life to cleaning a room or a field from rocks or dirt, we would start with the largest pieces, because those are the most visible ones.  Then, we would move to the smaller and smaller pieces, making sure that we cleaned it as much as we can.  The same is true about our life.

2.         Taking the Lord’s Supper

The Christians also broke bread.  The breaking of the bread means to partake of the Lord’s Supper.  Jesus himself instituted this act in memory of His sacrifice for us.  Let us read from Matthew 26:26-29 about the purpose of the Lord’s Supper:

26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

The bread is the symbol of Jesus’ body and the cup is the symbol of Jesus’ blood.

How often should a Christian partake of the Lord’s Supper?

In the Bible, we see an example of the time when the believers gathered together to take the Lord’s Supper.  In Acts 20:7, we read:  7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.  The first day of the week meant Sunday and the reason why the believers gathered on this day was so that they could partake of the Lord’s Supper.

While the Bible does not say explicitly that we should take the Lord’s Supper each and every first day of the week, meaning each and every Sunday, we can infer from the language that this should be done every Sunday.  If you are told that on the first day of the week, you will get paid, are you to expect this pay every week?  What if you were told it would happen on the first day of the month?  Are you going to expect it every first day of the month?

3.         Fellowship with other Christians

The early believers prayed and were together.  We should not stop praying, because prayer is our communication with God.  The power of prayer is great.  In James 5:16, we read that: The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

And in Hebrews 10:24-25, we read that: 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

We should not give us meeting on Sundays to worship God, as well as meet with other brothers and sisters as often as we can, so that we can encourage one another and strengthen one another.

Conclusions

Baptism is the beginning of your life as a Christian.  As we grown in our faith and maturity in God, we should study the Bible, so that we can learn more and more about how we can be closer to God and how we can do His will in our lives.  We should partake continuously the Lord’s Supper, so that we can remember Jesus’ sacrifice and what it means to us.  We should continue to pray and meet with fellow believers, so that we can encourage and strengthen one another.