Have mercy on me

By sovereign coincidence, Phil preached yesterday on Mark 10:13-52, the same Sunday that our church practiced both baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This passage is book ended by key statements that describe or demonstrate the kind of faith that God requires of us, and this relates closely to our baptism:

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. . . .

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

I was baptized at age 14. By God’s grace, in the years following he granted me some spiritual growth, and growing understanding of and appreciation for the gospel. From time to time I wished that I had waited longer to be baptized so that I could have appreciated it more. But a few years ago I read something by John Piper (“What Baptism Portrays“) that encouraged me greatly:

If you understand what baptism portrays, you understand what really happened to you when you became a Christian. Many of us came to faith and were baptized at a point when we did not know very much. This is good. It is expected that baptism happens early in the Christian walk when you do not know very much. So it is also expected that you will learn later more and more of what it means.

Don’t think, “Oh, I must go back and get baptized again. I didn’t know it had all this meaning.” No. No. That would mean you would be getting re-baptized with every new course you take in Biblical theology. Rather, rejoice that you expressed your simple faith in obedience to Jesus and now are learning more and more of what it all meant. That is what Paul is doing here: he is hoping that his readers know what their baptism meant, but he goes ahead and teaches them anyway, in case they don’t or have forgotten. Learn from these verses what you once portrayed in the eyes of God, and what actually happened to you in becoming a Christian.

In the gospel, Jesus invites us to approach him immediately, with a childlike and trusting faith — not waiting for a mature or sophisticated faith, and certainly not to get our act together. It is by faith alone that we are saved — never by maturity and never by obedience. God is so good to save us right where we are, in our ignorance and darkened understanding and sin! And he is so good then to turn and help us grow.

Our baptism as new and immature believers portrays the gospel in many ways. It reflects our death to sin in Christ, but it also portrays God’s welcoming and saving and receiving us right where we are, immaturity and sin and all. He has an agenda to change us, for sure, but we no longer need to fear whether we belong to him. The Lord’s Supper, too, is then in part a reminder to us of God’s continued love for us. Even as we grow in our awareness of our own inadequacy and sin, our baptism and the Lord’s Supper each serve as reminders of God’s overwhelmingly greater grace. We can rejoice that God helps us to grow, but we should never come to think that our maturing somehow makes us more worthy for our baptism, the Lord’s Supper, or for the salvation that God freely gives to us.

This week’s sermon passage illustrates this sort of true gospel faith. Jesus commended the simple, humble, trusting faith of a child as a model for our faith. And in Bartimaeus we see a rich example of genuine faith. Genuine faith recognizes that we could never be sufficient to save ourselves, and that we are completely dependent upon Jesus. Because he is our only hope, we boldly cast ourselves at his feet, never once wondering if we are mature enough or obedient enough — of course we aren’t!

Jesus, have mercy on me!