Baptism Service

Background

I try to share our church’s vision and mission statements on Sundays subtly as opportunities arise, but today we’re going to focus on them, specifically on the sacrament of baptism.

A community of believers sharing the freedom of Christ with their neighbors.

Followers of Christ have freedom because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. But what does it mean to be free?

We have freedom from the bondage of sin. Jesus set us free from that enslavement.

John 8:31–36 NASB95

31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

So if we are followers of Christ, we have freedom, and we share that freedom with our neighbors. Who are our neighbors?

Luke 10:25–29 NASB95

25 And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” 29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Now, these are the “Greatest Commandments,” to love God and love others. But then Jesus tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Luke 10:36–37 NASB95

36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

So our neighbors are anyone whom we come into contact with. This, of course, includes fellow believers.

Galatians 5:13–14 NASB95

13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So we are set free from sin, and we are to love others by serving and sharing this freedom we have with our neighbors. This is in line with the mission of our church.

Making disciples who love God and love others.

Working out the Great Commission by living out the Greatest Commandments.

So we’ve seen the Greatest Commandments, but what is the Great Commission? It’s where we get our mission from.

Matthew 28:18–20 NASB95

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

First we see that Jesus gave this command from a position of authority. What does He tell us to do?

Go - we must do, we must act, we must move and not keep to ourselves.

Make disciples - a disciple is a student, a learner, a follower. Jesus was speaking to His disciples, and He was telling them to make more. This applies to us, too.

Baptizing - this is a part of making disciples. We’ll talk more about this shortly.

Teaching - part of being a disciple of Christ is learning what Jesus taught. What did He teach?

The Greatest Commandments.

The Gospel.

Luke 4:16–21 NASB95

16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

And how did Jesus accomplish all this? By fulfilling the mission that His Father gave Him.

Mark 8:31 NASB95

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Jesus was the Messiah, the Suffering Servant. What does this mean?

Isaiah 53:3–12 NASB95

3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

Christ was our example, and taught us what real love looked like. We are to go out and tell this story to others.

Romans 10:8–15 NASB95

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

What does baptism have to do with the gospel?

Peter shared the gospel with his fellow Jews.

Acts 2:37–39 NASB95

37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

Paul shared the gospel with his jailor after an earthquake.

Acts 16:30–33 NASB95

30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

Why is baptism so important?

1 Peter 3:18 NASB95

18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

1 Peter 3:21 NASB95

21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Baptism represents Christ’s death and resurrection, and it is by this that we are made alive in Him by the giving of the Spirit.

Romans 6:3–7 NASB95

3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

This now comes back to our freedom. In Christ’s death, our sin is paid for, and flesh dies with Him on the cross. In Christ’s resurrection, we are made alive in Him and freed from the bondage of sin.

Baptism is a testimony of our faith in Christ. It is a fulfillment and a proclamation of our becoming a disciple of Christ. It is a rejection of our sinful self and a pledge of allegiance to God as our Lord and Savior.

If you believe the good news of the gospel, and you become a disciple of Christ, you should be baptized.

APPLICATION

Making disciples who love God and love others.

A community of believers sharing the freedom of Christ with their neighbors.

Next week, we’ll begin our studies in 2 Peter.