It is easy to read a wealth of Scripture for the purpose of "[putting] to death the deeds of the flesh". It is easy to install this or that program and hope it works out for the best. It is easy to think victorious thoughts and have great affection directed toward the idea of self-control and defeat of deep-seated passions that hurt ourselves and others. It is easy to attend seminars and talks and gatherings and events; to read books, articles, clippings, blogs, emails, and pamphlets. It's easy to ask for prayer if we keep the request vague enough.

Then it becomes easy to specify the prayers request and come clean about the state of our heart. To confess of the wrongs done and to weep over the offenses. To go into counseling as a sign of really wanting help. To make it almost commonplace for those around to know that you are fighting and struggling with sin. To throw oneself prostrate before God and thank Him for His mercy. To fast from things and to watch for the areas that so entice us to sin.

But after the above things are completed and before hands are thrown into the air in expectation of the approval of our efforts, there is still all that has to be done after everything else seems to fail: fight.

I don't mean repeat the other steps. I don't mean shout louder, prayer harder, think better, run faster, or beat our mental chest to pump us up for victory over ourselves finally.

No, I mean to slowly, painfully, painstakingly, methodically, consciously, purposefully, intentionally, expectantly, and in complete understanding of exactly how deep the darkness runs to fight tooth and nail against what it is that seeks us out. To understand that my old self is not simply wanting me to experience pleasure but to destroy me. What reason have I to think otherwise?

I am a rebel in my old self. And since I am "baptized into [Christ's] death" and "sin no longer has mastery" and "if anyone sins we have an advocate" and "the death Christ died to sin He died once and for all" and need to "consider myself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" and by the Spirit I am a "new creation" and that God has "not given us a spirit of timidity", then whatever is new has the upper hand on that which is old. Already. It already does. It does not wait for the day when sin is conquered; that day has come. This being the case, then all of the energy that had and has been directed toward destruction coming from my old self needs to be redeemed for Christ.

The Spirit of God dwells in me and by that power am I able to rebel against rebellion. Dependance on the Spirit is not inactive, passive hope that things turn out--the Spirit is not wasted power. It is the very defeat of sin breaking down the plotting tables and destructive plans of what could be serious damage. It is to make clear the lies I tell myself and the lies I buy into and the acceptance I've always given my sin and to turn them in on themselves.

It is to not give myself an inch. Given an inch, I will take miles of justifying my sin. Given a second's thought to that second look, I will play back hours of sinful thought. Given one excuse for why I did this or that, and I will craft an apologetics for me to defend the gift of God from bringing me true peace and happiness and joy: those that last and find their fulfillment in the God who created the universe and took time to make me more and more into the image of His Son; but who did not wait for me to stumble my way through, but freely declared me guiltless and is graciously and mercifully watching me grow.

Do not give me an inch or I will take it. Do not defend me as one amongst many. Do not allow me to stroke my ego or accept your reassurance that I am much better than I think I am--you will do more harm than you can imagine. Remind me not one shred of some mythical goodness that simply resides in me; rather, remind me of Grace. Grace that wells up into newness of life in me that turns my head upward so as to properly direct my steps here on earth. Without it I would turn on you in an instant. In my alleged inner-goodness I would use you as fast as possible for my own gain. If you think anything of me at all, then praise the One who gave me life. Praise Him who shows you love through me based on His love for you that conquered a heart that would sooner steal from you than show you the love of the Maker of your heart.

I want to know Christ.

Reading Matthew chapter 7 I noticed something very interesting and somewhat odd. In 7.5-6 Jesus says, "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

The reference to throwing pearls before swine is usually interpreted as having to do with evangelism but I don't see that from the context. Indeed, it would be a strange shift from judging brothers to evangelizing. It seems to me most natural to read this as referring to trying to help others see their sin with the result that they refuse to listen. What is holy is the loving correction offered to help a brother or sister in Christ to see their error. At some point offering what is holy (separate, set-apart, distinct) to dogs who will not appreciate it but just chew it up and spit it out becomes a pointless task.

What I find incredible about this is how God seems to not hold Himself to this standard. I mean this in the most positive way, of course; that God pursues His children relentlessly through conviction upon conviction upon conviction. Every day I don't get. Every day I want to do what I want if it clashes with what God wants. Every day I fail so consistently it's amazing how consistently inconsistent I can be! And yet God never stops throwing His holiness to me. Not only in loving rebuke from brothers and sisters in Christ; not only through His Word; not only through examples of others, but also through God Himself in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit even 'camps out' inside of me, enduring every image, thought, and action that comes out of me and His response is to continue to work on me. Slowly, lovingly, gently.

I have a feeling that we are not supposed to continue to throw pearls before swine because we don't know their hearts and at some point we lose focus. Maybe it's no mistake that this discussion comes on the heels of the discussion about worry and precedes the discussion about prayer. We can't control events in our own lives, much less what other people do. At some point we are simply wasting God's time that He has allotted us to try to manipulate someone else. But when God pursues He doesn't manipulate and He doesn't fail. "He who began a good work in you will carry it out until the day of completion". We won't carry it out ourselves and we can't carry it out for anyone else. So we are instructed to make the best use of words and time and leave the results up to the God of carrying out and completing.

All four Gospels speak of the baptism of Jesus (John's Gospel doesn't explicitly reference the physical act itself, but contains narrative that the other three record concurrently with the baptism, thus John's Gospel still speaks to it, though emphasizing a different event within the event).

Some are confused by this baptism. 'After all,' they say 'isn't baptism the washing away of sins?' I'm not entirely clear where this idea comes from because I haven't done that research so I won't address it here. But I will say that this idea is incorrect. There is certainly enough there that feels like it makes sense to say that, but if one understands what the act of baptism is signifying in terms of being buried and rising from that burial, then it becomes clearer why Jesus was baptized.

While it is true that Jesus' baptism inaugurates His public ministry, this is not all it is. The act of baptism itself signifies death and resurrection. It was a type of cleansing ritual that the Jews practiced and is not at all limited to New Testament times or the church. While it is a 'cleansing' ritual (possibly where the idea of washing away sins comes from) the cleansing is not the same. Being baptized into Christ means being baptized into His death and resurrection (Romans 6.1-14). We are dying to ourselves and being raised to a new life just as Christ died to all of the 'selves' (us) and was raised to new life with the Father. 

One possible explanation is that Jesus was dying to Himself in the sense that He, from this point forward, would make no use of His divine authority to have the cup removed from Him. He would not call on angels to rescue Him, He would not perform mighty acts to free Himself from being arrested, tried, beaten, and then killed. He would not utilize any divine excuse or allow anything to sway Him from His purpose. I heard this preached once and I think there is a lot there; however, Gethsemane trips me up because Jesus does ask the Father "If it is possible, remove this cup from Me". While that wouldn't qualify as Jesus doing it Himself, it still is a use of divine connection for the purpose of not continuing on the mission, though He seems to know that this won't happen "Not My will but Yours be done". I think the issue is even more complicated by the fact that Jesus' baptism was intended to signify something publicly that theoretically would be understandable by those also participating. Were He pointing to this kind of dying to self, any clues that this is the case are absent and it would take a very forward-thinking audience to grasp this, particularly because this is the first time they have seen Jesus, or at least made a connection between Him and God; they wouldn't know He had divine powers or authority. It may be that they realized this later, but if Jesus is making the connection between prophetic fulfillment and His public ministry and atoning death, then I think another explanation fits better.

It is often said of His baptism that Jesus never sinned and thus did not need to be cleansed so it can't mean that He was dying to sin, but rather for sins (plural). It is true that He never sinned and so did not need to be cleansed, but He certainly did die to sin, just not an old sinful self that He once was. The New Testament makes a distinction that we too often ignore: sin and sins. Sin (singular) is the nature itself; that which we are born into and are operating out of. Sins (plural) are the particular expressions flowing from that sin nature.

Jesus did not merely die for all of our acts of sin, though this is true; He died to our old selves that He stood in place for. By taking on sin, He became that sin and for it to have no power any longer it had to be put to death. He did not simply take a punishment in our place in the same way that a sibling might take a spanking though my breaking the cookie jar still belongs to me. Jesus became my sin and took on that wrath personally so that there could never be an accusation against me. He never sinned, but nonetheless died to sin once He took it on.

His baptism signifies this. His explanation to John "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" is a statement of what Jesus came to do being as good as done. In other words, it is a promise that He is going to the cross and will not be impeded because He will fulfill what the Father has promised by sending the Messiah. Certainly every aspect up until now demonstrates this, but not publicly. The first public act of Jesus was to promise that He was going to die to sin on our behalf and be raised to life showing that death, sin, and satan no longer have the power over us.

John's questioning of Jesus is what clues us in, when he says: "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" John is wondering what Jesus could be showing by demonstrating a dying to sin. John understands that Jesus is sinless; he has just finished making a statement about Jesus executing judgment. In effect, John is saying: 'How can You be wanting to do this if You have no sin to die to? I'm the one who needs to repent, not You.' Jesus answers in a way characteristic of Him when asked a question He doesn't think the one asking should know already--gently. He tells Him to "Permit it at this time"; that is, 'Let me do this now, even though it seems the timing is off'; "for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness"; that is, 'By me doing this I am showing that I will do what I came to do, and by you doing this, you are fulfilling what you came to do'. The time contrast here is fantastic. This baptism, according to Jesus, shows that the fulfillment of both missions is in this moment (John's is literally so and Jesus' is no less fulfilled as "My word will not return to Me void" [Isaiah 55.11] but only in terms of chronology). Not long after this John is imprisoned and killed. Further down the road, Jesus is arrested and killed. But the baptism marks both as completed right now.

When we are baptized into His death, we are identifying our death to that sin. Jesus died to our sin so that we might live. Our sin-nature has been put to death in that it no longer has power over us; we don't have to sin. And if we do, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 1.1). And we also will not suffer the wrath on the day of judgment. Sin's power is gone, its contribution to satan's works and effects is gone, and its inevitable death-effecting is gone. We die to that old self that does nothing but sin. Now we have freedom to walk in new life because sin was killed on the cross when Jesus became sin and died, but what was raised was that which could not die: I AM. Sin is done and new life has come. Coming up out of the water means that we are raised with Christ to walk in the power of God, constantly presenting ourselves not to our old enslavement that is dead now, but to the living God Who indwells us through His Spirit to show us the way in which we should walk.

By His baptism He promised this and we know He fulfilled the promise of that baptism. And baptism continues today, proving the account true. The breaking of bread and drinking of wine in communion also proves that account true. These two things were the center around which Christians met for the first 1,500+ years of the church's existence across every boundary and ever border and every preference and every tongue. Left or right, young or old, male or female, Jew or Greek. Both originated with Jesus and both signify what He said they signify, even to this day. Both point to His death, burial, and resurrection. The first two are hardly in question, but by virtue of that very fact coming out of not coincidence, but three years of publicly saying it would be so, and the hundreds of years before that saying it would be so give us little room to categorically deny the third fact.