The Ordinances

Good morning…How is everyone doing this morning....I hope you are all doing well. Listen, right now is the time we get to send our kids back to their amazing teachers so that they can learn about the Bible in a way that makes sense to them. Listen, we really do have the best teachers in Ogle County that are investing in your kids to serve them well and help you give them the best chance at knowing who God is for themselves. We also want to say hello to those of you joining us online from wherever you are today. I know many of you are sick, preparing for surgery in a couple of days or on vacation we are so humbled that you have chosen to be a part of our extended spiritual family today. We hope and pray that you will be blessed as you hear how the Scriptures talk about various topics and that you will grow closer to Christ as a response to joining us here today

Now, we have been in a series over the last couple of months where we are looking at the church doctrine of LRBC. We are looking at that because we actually believe it is important to know what you believe and why. There is also another step of that desire though to be honest. You see, if you know what you believe, then when you face a particularly sticky situation you will already know what to do with that situation…You will already be able to trust that God is in control or that God is just in the midst, or maybe that God is getting your attention because of something you have been, or have not been doing. I called this series I Believe because it is really about what we believe. That is what doctrine really is…it is a fancy way of describing what you believe and what will guide your decisions. Actually I gave us a definition so that we can all be on the same page when we think about doctrine. Here it is...Doctrine is a set of guiding principles (stop and allow church to finish) that helps us navigate the twists and turns of life. I love that so much…What we believe can actually help guide us through the hardships of life…that is so helpful. Now, let me ask you this morning…how many of you had some twists and turns o maybe some hardships that you dealt with this week…Don’t answer, don’t raise your hands, just internally think about what happened this week and think about how what you believe about God actually helped you navigate those circumstances…I love that God built that in for us, and then we are even told that we need to be ready with an answer whenever we are asked about the hope that we have in Christ. Remember our key passage for this series,

1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Always be prepared…but did you notice what came before being prepared? Honoring Christ the Lord as holy…In other words…having good Theology. Yeah, you see before you ever have those twists and turns, before you ever suffer, you need to have good theology so that you can answer those questions that are gonna come at you…You have to

So we have been in this series over the last few weeks where we have been looking at the beliefs and practices of LRBC. Now, you will notice that I introduced our series this morning as looking at beliefs and practices, right…Well that was on purpose. Through most of this series we looked at the core beliefs that shape the way we think and act. However, last week we really started to look at the practices that come from those core beliefs. Last week we discussed what we, as a church, believe should be reflected in Christian conduct. Do you remember that…We discussed what it looks like to be a Christian and we took some time to really talk about the heart of a Christian more than we did the actions of a Christian. Do you remember why we did that? We did that because man looks at the outward appearance, or the actions, but God looks at the heart. We read that in 1 Samuel 16 as the Prophet Samuel was preparing to anoint David as King of Israel. So we spent some time looking at our heart focus as we live our lives because our actions come from our heart…that is what Jesus taught throughout his ministry on Earth.

Since we have looked at what we believe about the individual actions and behaviors of believers, maybe this morning we should take a moment to look at the actions and behaviors as a church. Well…specifically we should start to look at some specific actions that we believe every church should participate in. This morning we are going to look at

The Doctrine of the Ordinances

Now, remember that early on I told you that you were gonna learn about some theology terms over the course of this series. Well, we have already looked at a few here and there, and today we get to learn a whole new theological term. The term we get to learn today is “Ordinances”. So, what does ordinance mean? Well, if you think about a city ordinance it is typically some sort of rule that someone has made in order to control the actions of citizens. Actually the definition according to Oxford is, a piece of legislation enacted by a municipal authority. There is another definition though, that definition is, an authoritative order; a decree.So when we are thinking theologically…what is an ordinance? Well, Im gonna give you a simple definition of ordinance this morning. This is not something from a textbook, its a bit more real life definition. An Ordinance is a visual aide to help us understand and remember Jesus’ sacrifice. Ok so that gives us a framework for how we can look at an ordinance, but where do we go from here? How do we determine what an ordinance is, and if there are any ordinances that we should be participating in? Well…Im glad you asked that question…You see, Three factors determine ordinances: they were instituted by Christ, the apostles taught them, and the early church practiced them..

So as a church…what do we believe fits into these three catagories?

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water into the name of the triune God. We recognize that baptism is an outward expression and testimony of personal regeneration. Furthermore, we affirm that personal salvation is the result of faith plus nothing (Ephesians 2:8,9). Nonetheless, because the New Testament is clear that baptism always followed regeneration for Christ’s earthly followers; we affirm this ordinance/command especially since it always appeared in the New Testament as a joyful act of testimony/witness of a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:36-39; Mark 1:9,10; Romans 6:3,4; Matthew 26:26-30; I Corinthians 11:23-32)

There we go…as a church we believe that there are two ordinances that Jesus himself prescribed for us to participate in together. That is what we are going to talk about today. We are going to talk about what these ordinances are, and why we should participate in these together as a family. We are also going to briefly talk about what these ordinances are not…So, with that, lets take a look at

The Ordinance of Communion (Lord’s Supper)

Ok, so what is this? We know that we partake in this particular ordinance every month, sometimes more often maybe for some special circumstances, but what is this really? Well…we read in Scripture that Jesus was having a meal with his disciples. He was teaching them and it was the last passover mean that Jesus would partake in prior to his death, burial, and resurrection. Now, Passover was a celebration meal that God told the Israelites to celebrate to remember the deliverance from slavery in Israel. The Passover actually has a pretty dark history, it is when the Angel of Death literally passed over the houses of Israelites and instead took the first born of every house in Egypt, and that was all due to their rejection of God’s commandment and God’s grace.

So, Jesus is sitting with the disciples and they are celebrating this meal together and Jesus tells them there there is a time coming when he will no longer be with them. He is telling them that he will be leaving them and that that one of them will betray him, and another will deny that he knows Jesus…Its a pretty heavy conversation that Jesus is having with these men…but then this happens.

Luke 22:14–22 (ESV)

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”

So that is pretty intense as Jesus is talking about suffering and dying and his blood being split for them. I mean this is pretty big stuff…but then Jesus followed that up by willingly sacrificing himself for the sin of the word…that means that you and I have an opportunity to have a relationship with the Father because of the Son’s sacrifice, and I want to encourage you to get that straight before you walk out of these doors today, or before you turn on this stream! Let me also be clear…the ordinance of the Communion was instituted between Jesus and his followers…If you have not made the decision to follow Jesus and surrendered your life to him…then for you communion is not an ordinance that you should be partaking in. Now, I know as a church we do not police that, and maybe we should at some point, however at this point we leave that between you and the Lord. If you are a Christian, then please partake in communion, if you are not a Christian, then please wait until that day that you have made that decision for yourself. Make sense…Remember this is a sacred ordinance that Jesus gave us as a connection between believers and himself...

That said…fast forward to today and we have to decide how we partake in this ordinance individually and corporately. Well, you will frequently hear me talk as we are partaking is Communion about looking around yourself, or looking to the Lord, or some other specific focus as you are taking these elements. Well that comes from when Paul wrote a letter to the church in Corinth. In 1 Cor 11 we read about 6 places to look that we should have as we partake in communion. We’ve talked about these before, but Im going to just tell them to you again so you have them on your note sheet this morning. Look inward: Do you have any sinful relationships that need to be addressed? Look back: remember what Jesus did and what was accomplished on the cross. Look up: Celebrate your union with Christ. Look around: Celebrate your union with other beleivers. Look outwardly: Proclaim the Gospel to unbelievers around you. Look ahead: Anticipate Christ return. So these are the 6 places to look while you are continuing to focus on the Lord and his sacrifice.

Ok, so I can’t talk about Communion without talking about a couple of false teachings within some circles. Some will teach what is called, Transubstantiation. This is the belief that elements that we take actually transform into the body and blood of Christ in a literal way. This is a false teaching of the Catholic church as well as some others from time to time. No where in Scripture is that teaching found. Others will teach what is called, Consubstantiation. This is the belief that the elements are somehow mystically joined with the body and blood of Christ. This is another false teaching that came from Martin Luther and is primarily found in the Lutheran church. What we believe is referred to as a Spiritual Presence. In other words, the Holy Spirit is with us and brings us into the Spiritual presence of Jesus.

If you ever have any questions about any of that, please reach out and let’s have a deeper conversation about this very important aspect of church life here at LRBC. There is another ordinance that we need to talk about real quick. That is

The Ordinance of Christian Baptism

Yeah, the act of baptism is actually an ordinance of the church, and we believe it is a very important part of your individual life as well as the life of the church family. Let me tell you a little about baptism, and then we will talk about a couple of differing views than what we believe as a church. Now baptism is an incredibly important topic that I want to be very clear on, however, I will not have the time this morning to get into everything, so let me tell you right now that if you are interested in learning more about baptism, or you are thinking about baptism yourself, then please connect with me and let’s talk about it.

That said, let me tell you about baptism for a Christian. You see, Baptism is from the Greek word baptizo, which literally means immersion. So, this is a term that is used for many other uses, but for the Christian we see baptism in light with what Jesus did. Let me show you what Jesus did in

Matthew 3:13–15 (ESV)

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

Ok, so here Jesus said that to fulfill all righteousness he needed to be baptized. Now, there are a few things that we know about baptism. Baptism was practiced before the founding of the church. The Jews of ancient times would baptize people who converted to Judaism to signify the converts’ “cleansed” nature, it was a cleaning. John the Baptist used baptism to prepare the way of the Lord, requiring everyone, not just Gentiles, to be baptized because everyone needs repentance. However, John’s baptism, signifying repentance, is not the same as Christian baptism that we celebrate today. Christian baptism goes deeper.

Christian baptism is how a person makes a public profession of faith . In the waters of baptism, a person says, wordlessly, “I confess faith in Christ; Jesus has cleansed my soul from sin, and I now have a new life ready to be sanctified.” This baptism is an illustration of a Spiritual reality We read about that in Rom. 6 and Col 2. As the sinner, you and me, confesses the Lord Jesus, he dies to sin signified by being immersed into the water. That person is then buried with Christ signified by staying in the water. Lastly the new believer is then raised to a brand new life, signified by being lifted out of the water. Being placed in the water signifies the death to sin and being lifted out represents the cleansed and holy life that follows true salvation.

Brought to its very basic function, Christian baptism is an outward testimony to all about an inward change in a believers life. This is an act of obedience that occurs after salvation, by choice. Now we read in Scripture that a new believer should be baptized as soon as possible. In Acts 8 Philip tells about an eunuch that was so excited about his new life in Christ, he was baptized in the first body of water he saw...Baptism illustrates a believer’s connection with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Anytime the Gospel is preached and someone’s heart is drawn to faith…their next step is baptism.

Does that always happen? No…As a matter of fact, let me quickly tell you my story of being baptized. (place picture on screen). This is my dad baptizing me in Puerto Rico when I was around 20 or 21 years old. You see, most of my life I attended church. I grew up in a pastors house. I attended a Christian school, I knew the Gospel. However, I never submitted to the Gospel on my own. Do you know how I know that? The Lord told me that. You see, when I was 5 years old I prayed a prayer with mom in a bookstore. I immediately ran to the phone to call daddy and let him know about what I had done. Then the next Sunday, or maybe a few weeks later, I don’t remember…The pastor filled the baptistry and I went down and was baptized in front of the whole church. That should be the end of the story. However, as my life progressed I kept praying that special prayer to ask Jesus into my heart, just in case I messed it up. I would even repeat that prayer at every single revival that I attended…and I attended a bunch…Well, I told you guys a few weeks about about how God beat me up at church one Sunday when I was 19 years old. However, I had already been baptized, so I just moved on with my life…Skip ahead a few years and I am in Bible college now and I am simply sitting and reflecting on what God had done in my life. It was then that I realized that when I was 19 years old…That was first time I actually surrendered my life to the Lordship of Jesus. That means that when i was baptized at 5 years old…I wasn’t a believer, which means that I needed to be baptized as a believer publically acknowledging my faith in the Lord and my surrender to him with my life.

Now, quickly, let me answer three common questions about baptism.

Is baptism necessary for salvation? No…to say it is, is to say that Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection was not enough.

What about infant or young child baptism? Well, any baptism of a young child prior to that young child’s surrender to the Lordship of Christ is a wonderful baby/child dedication for the parents, but it is not Christian baptism.

What if i was sprinkled? Does this follow the model that Jesus gave us? No, if this is you, then reach out and let’s talk about what baptism means…Biblically.

You see, Christian baptism, as we believe here at LRBC is an act of willful surrender of a believer. It is not simply a bath, it is a symbol of your faith. If you are here today, or joining us online, and you have not yet been baptized as a believer, then you need to take that step of faithfulness…let me say that again…if you have not been baptized as a believer, then you need to take that step of faithfulness to the Lord. Listen, I know that can be hard…especially if you have been a Christian for a while…I get it, I was a youth pastor when I realized I needed to follow the Lord in baptism…Don’t let today pass by without making that decision to follow the Lord in baptism and start fresh your brand new life in the Lord. Baptism is an important step of obedience that every Christian should take…after they make that decision to trust the Lord.

These are the ordinances as we believe here at LRBC. I hope that has been encouraging to you, adn I want to ask you to do something right now. I want you to reflect on your own experience and your own relationship with the Lord. Maybe you take a moment to think about your baptism and the events that led up to that. Maybe you are thinking about your first communion and what it meant for you to take those elements and remember what the Lord has done for you…Whatever has come to your mind, I want you to reflect on the reality that Jesus actually lived a very real life. Jesus lived a sinless life, and Jesus paid the price to free you from your debt of sin, and if you have never followed him in obedient surrender, then please please please reach out to me today and lets get together and talk about Jesus. For now...

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