See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-63)
I recently watched a video by Pastors Bryan Wolfmueller and Andrew Packer in which they were discussing that the spot where Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River was the same spot where Joshua had previously led the Israelites across the river into the promised land of Canaan. They pointed out all the symbolism (typology) that correlated the passage into the promised land with Jesus’ baptism, with our own baptism and even with crossing from this life into eternal life with our Lord and Savior. The way they tied everything together was quite beautiful and, at least as best I can remember, was a correlation of all these events that I had not previously heard (some I’d heard, but not all).
For most of us, who were baptized as infants, our baptism was the drowning of our sinful flesh (old Adam), our crossing over from simply being sinners, enemies of God, and spiritually dead citizens of this evil world into forgiven sinners (new man), God’s adopted children and spiritually alive citizens of Heaven. Our sinful flesh was drowned in the waters of baptism and a new creature, a child of God, emerged. Earth was no longer our home; Heaven was our new home. Our baptism was the time when God signed the dotted line (in the Book of Life) on our adoption papers and officially declared us as members of His family. As a sign of our adoption, we were given the Holy Spirit, who indwells us.
Unfortunately, our sinful nature survived the drowning at our baptism and we, although new creatures and children of God, continue to sin, continue to disobey God, continue to need to repent and continue to receive His forgiveness. Martin Luther talked about our need for daily repentance, for daily remembering our baptism, for daily drowning our old Adam.
As children of God, our desires should be to please Him, to obey His commandments, to not only love Him but also to love our neighbors. This desire to please God is constantly at battle with our flesh that desires to follow our own sinful desires. The Latin phrase "simul justus et peccator", simultaneously both saint and sinner, describes this ongoing (and, in this lifetime, never-ending) struggle between doing God’s will and pursuing our own desires.
Any sin we commit not only breaks whatever commandment we disobey but is also a sin against the First Commandment. As John Calvin put it, "The human heart is a perpetual idol factory." When we sin, we create an idol, something that, at least temporarily, takes the place in our heart that rightfully belongs to God. While we, in this lifetime, will never be able to completely resist temptation and sin, we need to regularly repent (not just say we’re sorry, but genuinely desire to turn away from the temptation and towards God).
When Jesus became man and suffered and died on the cross, He took on the punishment that was rightfully ours for the sins that we, not Him, have committed. He saved us from an eternity of suffering, an eternity of receiving the just punishment for each and every one of our transgressions. This completely undeserved act of love has opened the kingdom of Heaven to all who believe. Instead of an eternity of despair, we, as His adopted children, will receive an eternity of heavenly bliss. This difference between salvation and damnation, between eternal life and eternal separation from God, between eternal joy and eternal agony, makes whether we believe and trust in God (the narrow path that leads to Heaven) or whether we follow our own path (the wide path that leads to Hell) the only thing that really matters in this lifetime.
Just as Jesus loves us, we are to love our neighbors. Just as Jesus desires that all should repent and come to a knowledge of Him as their Lord and Savior, we should share that desire. None of us likes to think of our enemies, yet alone our best friends and loved ones, suffering for eternity. Yet, all of us know people that don’t believe, that are on the wide path that leads to eternal damnation. Therefore, we are all called to the Great Commission, to share what we believe with those around us, to teach all nations (which includes our family, friends, and neighbors) about Jesus and His salvation.