JUST FOR FULL DISCLOSURE: My friend Hunter Davis came up with my title for today on Sunday’s Pathway Home Webcast. After he said it, I quickly wrote out a few notes. And, several times over the last few weeks, I’ve heard him say “converted people convert people.” I love that. Thanks, Hunter, for giving me the ideas for this post.
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Israel sang on the far side of the Red Sea. Miriam took a tambourine in her hand, and the women followed her dancing, Exodus 15:20-21. Pharaoh’s army was gone, and generations of slavery lay behind them at the bottom of the sea.
Three days later they were thirsty and angry.
Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days in the wilderness without finding water, Exodus 15:22.
When they finally found water at Marah, it was too bitter to drink, and the people grumbled against Moses, Exodus 15:23-24.
Paul calls that crossing a baptism. Our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 1 Corinthians 10:1-2. A few verses later he says these things were written down for us, 1 Corinthians 10:11.
New Christians need to know this going in. The hardest stretch of your faith may come in the weeks and months after you come up out of the water.
Even Jesus Went There
It happened to the Lord himself. He came up out of the Jordan, the heavens opened, and the Father spoke: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased, Matthew 3:17. Mark tells us what came next. Immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness, Mark 1:12. He was there forty days with the wild animals, tempted by Satan, Mark 1:13.
So when a new Christian hits a dry, hard season, it does not mean something has gone wrong. He is walking the same road his Lord walked.
Picture a young man baptized on a Sunday night. The whole church crowds around him with hugs and handshakes, and he drives home lighter than he’s felt in years. By Wednesday his phone is lighting up with Friday-night plans from his old crowd. By the next Sunday he’s wondering whether anything really changed. He still lost his temper at work, and the old temptations showed up right on schedule.
The wilderness will come and you need to be ready for it.
You Don’t Walk It Alone
Israel crossed the sea as a nation. They camped together, gathered manna together, and followed the same cloud. God did not send anyone into that desert by himself.
The writer of Hebrews reaches back to that wilderness generation when he writes to the church. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception, Hebrews 3:13. He says daily, which is a good deal more than a handshake in the foyer once a week.
The church at Pentecost understood this. Three thousand people were baptized in one day, and Luke’s next sentence tells us how they held on. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer, Acts 2:42. They ate together in one another’s homes, Acts 2:46.
For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up, Ecclesiastes 4:10. A new Christian with nobody beside him is a lamb out in the open.
If you’ve been a Christian for years, this part is for you. Learn the new convert’s name. Sit with him on Sunday. Text her on Tuesday, and have her family over for supper. God may use you to pick up somebody who’s ready to quit.
Some Friends Will Leave
Some old friendships cool off fast after baptism. Peter saw it coming. They are surprised that you don’t join them in the same flood of wild living — and they slander you, 1 Peter 4:4.
That hurts, and Jesus knew it would. Listen to what he promised.
There is no one who has left house, brothers or sisters, mother or father, children, or fields because of me and the gospel, who will not receive a hundred times more, now at this time — houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions — and eternal life in the age to come, Mark 10:29-30.
He said a hundred times more, and he said it would come in this life. You may lose a few friends at the start, but the family you gain is far bigger. Walk into a gospel meeting three states away, and you’ll find brothers and sisters you’ve never met who will feed you and pray for you like you grew up together.
Converted People Convert People
The day Andrew met Jesus, he went looking for his brother. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah,” John 1:41. Andrew had known the Lord about a day and had no training at all. He told Simon what he had found and brought him to Jesus, John 1:42.
That’s still how it works. Converted people convert people. Your story is fresh, and the coworker who watched you change is probably already curious.
For This Week
Where are you today? Fresh out of the water and already thirsty? Or have you been a Christian long enough to forget how lonely those first months can be? Who in your congregation was baptized this year, and do you know their name? Who could you sit with this Sunday?
Israel did not cross that wilderness alone, and God never meant for you to cross yours alone either.
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