Baptism means the burial of everything of the past. Suppose that a person who is fifty years old is saved and about to be baptized. The meaning of baptism for him is not just that the Lord buries his life but, more specifically, that the Lord takes away every one of the fifty years of his former life. Sin has permeated his total constitution. He is sick in every respect. Therefore, everything has to go under the water. Then he has to rise from the grave. He also has to get away from the clothes that he wore while he was in the grave. The act of baptism should not stop short of something as serious as this.
As soon as a man is saved, he should have a fundamental change in his concept of values. Every past concept concerning values no longer counts; they were all wrong. Perfecting a new believer means showing him the errors and mistakes of his past concept of values. A man has to see something new; he has to have a new concept of values. What was precious to him is now refuse. What was profitable to him is now loss. He can no longer have the same temperament and use the same vocabulary, and his clothing and food can no longer be the same. He can no longer hold the same view regarding marriage and sex. He needs new views and new concepts about parenthood and friendship. He should be different in his choices of amusements and careers. Everything is new, and he will need a fresh start.
If we train a new believer lesson by lesson and if he tears down what should be torn down and builds up what needs to be built up, he will come closer and closer to the standard of a normal Christian.
In order to strengthen the meeting for the building up of new believers, we must first train the brothers and sisters and then assign them to take care of the new ones. Hopefully, no new believer would skip this process. Those who are trained to take care of the new believers should note the following:
(1) Do not put all your trust in your speaking. Encourage asking. First Corinthians 14:35 speaks of asking. This means that the early churches gave the saints much freedom to ask questions. A meeting that affords no opportunity for asking is surely an overly formal one. The leaders have to encourage the audience to ask questions and to talk about the things that they do not understand.
(2) In answering questions, do not save your face at the expense of the truth. If you know the answer, say that you know it. If you do not know the answer, say that you do not know it.
(3) Every leading one should ask himself whether he is representing himself or the truth. Everyone should represent the truth. No one should represent his own feelings or temperament. He must uphold the truth rather than his own feelings. No one should express his own opinions. For example, in the matter of head covering, a leading one may not understand everything about this truth. He cannot, therefore, tell others that this is optional. God’s truth is absolute, and we have to speak the same thing. If our trumpets give uncertain sounds, we will fight uncertain battles. Even if a person has some disagreement, he should only express himself through constructive suggestions, not destructive criticisms.
(4) Every leading one should realize from the first day that his place is only that of a channel; he is here to communicate God’s word; he is not the master or the teacher. He should be like a man in a low place communicating to another man in a low place. He should not be like a man in a high place teaching another man in a low place. No one can assume the place of a teacher. Everyone has to take the place of a messenger.