One Baptism: Neh 11 & Eph. 4:1-6

Prayer—

you are still in the business of making all things new.

Introduction

If you have your Bible please open up with me to Nehemiah 11.

It’s so great to see so many of you here this morning.

This is our 3rd Baptism service as a young church, and these celebrations have quickly become my favorite Sunday’s at our church.

What we will all get to witness and experience in just a few moments, is really what it’s all about.

People gaining clarity to the goodness and greatness of God,

That he is always ready to forgive, merciful, gracious, and abounding in steadfast love.

But from my perspective there seems to be an incomplete understanding of Baptism, so before we celebrate these 8 individuals chooding to take the plunge today, I’d like to take a moment to use Nehemiah 11 to round out our understanding of Baptism.

You see most know that Baptism is a individuals decision to public professly, what they have already internally resolved…

But in a time when self-centeredness and extreme individualism seems to dominate our culture, we must not forget that although an individual decision, baptism symbolizes an initiation into something bigger than just themselves.

So if you will, take a look with me at Nehemiah 11

So Nehemiah 11:1–2 “Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in the other towns. And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.”

One Purpose

The walls had been successfully rebuilt, and the people had taken ownership of their relationship with God by recommitting to the covenant, but one final thing was left unfinished.

Remember, rebuilding the Walls of Jerusalem was bigger than just construction. It was about having an inhabited city that serves as a witness and reflection of the image of God.

And without people populating the city, Jerusalem, even with walls, could never fulfill its ultimate aim of reflecting God.

It needed people. It needed individuals.

So 10% were chosen to repopulate the city, to fulfill their ultimate purpose.

Nehmiah 11 lists by name every single one of those individuals that left their old, yet comofrtable lives in the villages to begin a new life in the city.

Individuals willing to sacrifice their individual wills, in obedience to the Will of God.

Thousands of individuals who would work individual jobs, and perform individual roles, but by doing so, allowing the will of God to be accomplished.

As we’ve slowly worked through Ezra and Nehemiah we have come across a lot of lists of names.

And as much as you’ve enjoyed Coleman and I reading those, I’m going to spare you today…

But haven’t you wondered… why are these here?

Why would God, the author of all Scripture, see these list of names as important and profitable for us 2500 years later… to us who can’t even pronounce them correctly!?

And ya’ll the answer to that question is actually quiet simple.

its to remind us that these were real people, who gave up real comfort, to join the real purpose of God.

To remind us that when it comes to God’s Work, Each and Every believer is important. .

In a way, what we see here in Neh 11 is similar to what I hope we can experience today.

Today there are 8 individuals

Sean Sargeant,

Kate, Layla, and Makeena Becker

Kyle Kaufman & Claire Rooke

Madelyn Moore

and Anthony Andrews

Individuals who have made a decision to leave Their old, yet comfortable lives, to live with Christ.

Individuals willing to sacrifice their individual wills, in obedience to the Will of God.

And as we celebrate these 8 in just a moment, I want us to be like that 90% of Neh 11. supporting and commending them every step of the way.

Standing and cheering and clapping,

But also behind them in the coming days, weeks and months and years as they may slip and stumble in their new found purpose of living for Jesus.

But let me take just a moment to remind us all what Baptism is, and why it’s important.

Baptism

Baptism is a Public Profession in Christ, and a symbol of the believer’s union with Christ in His death and resurrection.

Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Romans 6:3 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

This is of first importance. This symbol, is a symbol of an individual’s newfound Union IN CHRIST.

By going under the water they are saying, “I have died with Him.

By coming up out of the water they are saying, “I am raised with Him.”

By stepping out of this tub, they are saying, “I am alive IN HIM.”

They are IN CHRIST.

This is why the T-Shirts we give these individuals says, “I”M IN” They are symbolizing, that they are being baptized in Christ.

And now that they are “IN CHRIST” they are consequently stating they are “OUT” regarding their former ways of life.

Romans 6:4 “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

By being IN CHRIST, they are declaring that they are now new creations. The old has passed away, the new has come.

Before they were identified by their sin, and living under the allegiance of self.

Now, they are declaring to you that they are now dead to that old way, and are alive to the new, living under the allegiance to God.

Church, this is the power of Jesus Christ.

He can take sinful, selfish, and destructive desires, thoughts, and behaviors of your life and KILL THEM, by nailing them to the cross, canceling your wrongs and giving you forgiveness in the process.

He can then replace those old desires with new ones.

I’ve shared this before, but one day my little brother who is 7 years younger than me asked me

“Who do you say Christ is!?

I thought he was referencing Matthew 16:13 when Jesus asked his closest disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

So I responded with Matthew 16:14 “And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.””

But he responded, by saying… I think He’s Optimus Prime.

Upon further questioning he said, “I’ve learned that jesus is the Ultimate Transformer.”

FOr years I lived in lust, but he has given me purity.

I was angry, he has given me peace.

I was selfish, he has given me a desire to serve.

I was lost, but now found. Blind but now see. Dead, but now alive.

He is the Ultimate Transformer.

And when you find yourself “IN CHRIST” everything changes.

Now, it’s not that you become a goody twoshoes over night!

No, your behaviors and affections for sin may not flip like a light switch.

But your desires will. You’re all of a sudden going to want to live as He lived. And when you don’t you’re going to all of a sudden find yourself greived!

And with that “new heart” that new way of living will progressively come.

This is what Baptism symbolizes, these 8 are saying, “I”M IN CHRIST NOW< and OUT with the OLD.

Now normally in our discussions of baptism, this is usually where we end.

We know and believe that 8 individuals are going to symbolically profess they are IN CHRIST, but church… it’s so much bigger than that.

Because according to Scripture it also symbolizes that they are also IN THE CHURCH.

IN THE CHURCH

Baptism, for centuries, has been the preferred rite of passage for entrance into the invisible, global, and local body of Jesus Christ.

By Rite of Passage, I mean a celebrated event that marks entrance into a particular community.

In 2007 I worked for the University of GA football team, and every Freshmen, on the first day of Fall Camp had to have their hair cut, by one of the senior players… and wear it for a few days.

Man, somebody cut me like a friar tuck, or llike a baby born with hair but loses it only on top.

It was humiliating, but it was also a symbol signifying that I was a part of something greater than myself.

For the Christian Church, that is Baptism.

1 Corinthians 12:12–13“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”

These 8 are now choosing to UNIFY in US. And this is a spiritual unity that surpasses anything else in this world.

We become members one of another, just as closesly as the members of one human body function.

We all share a common allegiance to Jesus that binds us together

And this is one of the beautiful things about the church…

You don’t lose your individuality when you come to Christ, and all of a something get absorbed into His church.

INstead, you bring your individuality into the wholeness of the church, so that we can collectively experience the fullness of Jesus.

So this is Baptism.

8 individuals boldly declaring “I’m In” and an entire church commending them every step of the way.

So to Sean, Kate, Layla, Makenna, Kyle, Claire, Maddie, and Anthony. We love you, and we are behind you, and we are proud of you.