Baptism is a step of obedience in many ways. It’s symbolic of the commitment of believer’s to live their lives for Christ. It’s symbolic of the purification from our sins by the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross. It’s symbolic of our personal identification with Christ and other believers. It’s symbolic of a believer’s immersion into the Body of Christ and the work of Christ. When a believer chooses to be obedient to the Commands of Christ, it always results in pleasing God. Hebrews teaches us that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Baptism pleases God in that it’s the profession of our faith in an outward action. James affirms the reality that actions, based on appropriate faith, please God. James 2:24 says, “You can now see that we please God by what we do and not only by what we believe.”
In the Gospels we read that after Jesus’ baptism the skies opened and a “voice came from heaven, saying, ‘you are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’” (Mark 1:9). The believer tests everything in life, “trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph. 5:10). A man who lives to please people by making their approval of more importance than God’s stands condemned. Gal. 1:10 says, “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” This is also the case for those who are determined to please only themselves (see Romans 15:1-3). When Paul closes his first letter to the Thessalonians, he writes, “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.
The Word of Life Study Bible adds this comment, “Success is pleasing, and we often obtain success by pleasing others—our bosses, customers, shareholders, and so forth. But who do you most seek to please? Yourself? Other people? Or God? There is no inevitable conflict. Sometimes you can, with integrity, please all of these. But sometimes there is a dilemma because it’s not always possible to please everybody. Preferences and standards may contradict each other. So when you have to make the tough decision about whom to please and therefore whom to displease, perhaps a better question is, how much does pleasing God really matter to you?”
The step of obedience in Baptism is well pleasing to God.
Chuck
“I pray that God will make you ready to obey him and that you will always be eager to do right. May Jesus help you do what pleases God.” Hebrews 13:21