Key verses: "Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. (vvv. 4-5)
Refelction: There's a line in Spider Man (probably taken from somewhere else, but that's where I remember it from) where the uncle tells Peter, "With great power come great responsibility". I've always felt like this was fairly obvious: if you're the boss of a company, then you're responsible for your employees and the business. If you're a leader of an group or organization, then you're responsible for the members and the vision. And in most cases, this doesn't prevent us from wanting more power. Who wouldn't want Spidey sense and the ability to leap buildings and shoot spider webs out of your wrist?
But I do think one area where we are TERRIFIED of having "more power" is in the spiritual sense. Paul distinguishes two different types of baptism in these passages (and are originally discussed in the Gospels): baptism by water (John the Baptist's baptism) and baptism by the spirit. I think we're all ok with the baptism by water part. We confess/repent, get dunked and are cleansed of our sins. Clean, simple. But the baptism by the spirit is a little more complicated. It's almost like receiving spiritual superpowers. It says in the passage that once the disciples received the Holy Spirit, "they spoke in tongues and prophesied." That's where things get a little scary. They became "Super Christians". And for reasons that are obvious and not so obvious, we are afraid to become Super Christians. It's "weird" speaking in tongues, praying all night (like, literally ALL night) and basically sacrificing one's life for God.
And I think that's why most Christians are "water" Christians. We're happy with the "being saved" and "forgiveness of sins" part. But...what do you mean I have to give back and sacrifice? I don't wanna! And honestly, I, personally, have no answer. I am afraid to give my whole life to God. I am afraid to be asked to sacrifice more than *I* want to. I am afraid of the "responsibility", so I am afraid of the "power". I'm kind of hanging *around* God because I really like Him, but I'm afraid to get too close because I really like my life, too. I don't know how or when I will reconcile those things, but I guess I'll keep hanging around until I'm ready to swing around buildings and have Spidey sense...
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