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Water baptism symbolizes the believer’s total trust in and total reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as a commitment to live obediently to Him. It also expresses unity with all the saints (Ephesians 2:19), that is, with every person in every nation on earth who is a member of the Body of Christ (Galatians 3:27–28). Water baptism conveys this and more, but it is not what saves us. Instead, we are saved by grace through faith, apart from works (Ephesians 2:8–9). We are baptized because our Lord commanded it: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
We live in a culture that is looking more and more like the Babylon of Daniel’s day and that’ why we’ve been unpacking his story. We said in the first week of this series that the foundation of Daniel’s strength and courage in Babylon was firm belief in the sovereignty of God. Regardless of what was going on in his world, he still believed that God was in control and would ultimately use it for his glory and his purposes in the world.
If you don’t believe that, you’ll never stand strong for your faith in Babylon; and if you don’t believe that, you’re probably not going to grasp what I’m going to say today.
We want to equip you with some of the elements that fueled Daniel’s faith in Babylon, but those things will never grow in you if they are not planted in the soil of belief that God is in control of whose in control.
We also want to challenge some accepted ways of thinking in church today that threaten our ability to survive and thrive. We need to move away from the coddling of milk and cookies and have a heart to heart conversation about what it’s going to take to live for God in a world that is increasingly antagonistic to our faith.
