Baptism
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18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Proves Jesus' divinity as well as His power.
At this time, Jesus is speaking as the father – the word
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Disciple – student or scholar
Jesus commands to GO and Make students....
Most people read this as a simple command, to share the gospel and baptize people....
I don’t take issue with that, but can we go just a bit deeper this morning?
I believe that Jesus gives the command to Go
To evangelize…share the gospel....tell people about Jesus...
To make disciples....students or followers of Jesus....
And then he tells how to do so...
How? By baptizing them..
The greek word for baptism is “baptizo”
At the time, the Jews would be familiar with this term in regards to the Jewish ceremonies of cleanliness...
The rest of the culture would think of this term in a generic sense...
To them, baptizo is a submersion of something in a liquid (or environment) until completely transformed by that liquid
Let’s combine the two for a minute...
Baptizo is to submerse something in a liquid until becomes like that liquid or to continue to submerse something in a liquid until it becomes clean....
We are going to perform baptism today as a symbol of the work of the Holy spirit in our lives....
Baptism has two meanings:
The cleanliness of sin from our lives by the work of the Holy Spirit
Representing the identification of us becoming like Christ in His death and resurrection - we too are dead to our old bodies and made new…We will die, as Christ died and we will resurrect as Christ did when we believe in Him
So, back to the cultural understand of baptism
I think Jesus is giving us the formula for making disciples..
So how do we make disciples? We continually submerse them in the environment (church – body of Christ) until they are completely transformed into the likeness of the liquid (Christ).
So, we baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
We put them in an environment surrounded by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit until they become like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This is how we make disciples!
But, this has some implication for us!
1. This means that we, as the Church, must also be like the Father, Son, and HS
So, what does the F, S, HS do?
Let’s just look at Jesus since He is God in the flesh..
He taught the scriptures
He prayed
He shared the gospel - the good news that the kingdom has come - to repent and turn towards Jesus!
He healed people - we don’t heal people, but we pray that God will
He set people free - again, we don’t do that, but we pray that God will
Worshiped in the synagogue - He went to church
So, do we do these things as a church?
Now there is a good chance that we will impact people before they ever step foot in a church
Kind of like what Saint Francis of Assisi said:
“Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” - Saint Francis of Assisi
So, the second implication is are we creating an environment of the F, S, HS in our lives?
Do our lives look different from everyone else?
Do people know that we are believers in Christ before we even speak a word?
And when we speak a word, is it confirmed?
I come from a holiness denomination that was huge on heart purity...
As with every theological camps, there are potential extremes..
In the Nazarene church, it is legalism… At times, the church has been legalistic about things, but overall the idea is to be holy…separate from the world...
We should be different!
A few scriptures that point to holiness...
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The woman caught in adultery He says..
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. 12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
I read all of these not to start a debate on the doctrine of christian, but to point out that when we are a new creation in Christ, we should be different.
When the rest of the world looks at us, they should think we are weird!
We shouldn't be living the exact same lifestyle that we did when we were of the world...
We are of a new kingdom now...
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
And
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
So again, not to get legalistic about it, but we should do things differently that we did...
This is how we make disciples by baptizing others in an environment of the F, S, HS!
So, how are we doing?
Are we still dabbling in the things that we did before we came to Christ?
If so, maybe we need to be purified again!
Maybe we need to be baptized again…maybe not with the water, but with the purification of the Holy Spirit...
Let’s wrap up with..
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
So, we Go…we tell people about Jesus!
We make disciples by surrounding others in an environment of the F, So, HS...
And we teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded.....
Which, includes making disciples...
So, really, the call isn’t just to make disciples, but to make disciple-makers!
As we respond this morning? How are we doing?
How is your heart?
Do you have some things that you need to surrender to Him?
The benefit of doing so, is that we get made new!
We get new life!
We get set free!
We get to baptize some people this morning! Do you want a fresh start?
We will happily baptize you this morning!
I don’t necessarily push re-baptism as I believe God’s work was sufficient the first time, but I am also not opposed to it!
If you want to have another public declaration of what God has done in you, let’s do it!