"BAPTISM-A CRUCIAL NEXT STEP"

Acts 2:38 “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

What makes baptism so crucial?

1.) It is symbolic in nature.

Acts 1:5 “for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.””

Romans 6:3–4 “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.”

1 Corinthians 12:13 “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”

Baptism from the original Greek means “to immerse”. When you think of it, the action of dunking someone in water seems pretty silly. Anyone can put another person in the water. But what gives baptism meaning for the believer is what it represents. Jesus tells the apostles in Acts that they will be baptized with the Holy Spirit-the Holy Spirit will come upon them. Baptism does not “solidify” the Holy Spirit filling the life of a believer. But it does represent Him having come upon Him and empowering. The believer now walks in the power of the Holy Spirit.Paul then says to the Roman church that believers are buried with Christ and raised to a new life, which is the more well-known symbolism of baptism.Finally, Paul says that everyone who is a believer and has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them are all a part of the Body of Christ. To be baptized then is not just to show a believer being buried/raised with Christ, but also identifying with His Body.

While baptism is not necessarily proof of salvation, it does symbolize that someone has crucified their sins and has new life in Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells within them, and they identify with the Body of Christ worldwide. Baptism is the first public testimony of a believer who has given their lives to Christ. Therefore, our obligation as pastors is to exhort our congregations to testify of God’s saving of their would, and that they are now walking in obedience for Him (which will come up later).

2.) It is immediate upon salvation.

Acts 2:41 “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.”

Acts 9:18 “And immediately something like fish scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;”

Acts 16:31–33 “They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of God to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.”

Following Peter’s sermon on Pentecost, those who received Christ and believed the gospel were baptized. The verses on your notes are a few of the many times in the book of Acts where people trust Christ for salvation and immediately follow that profession with baptism, again, identifying with the death and resurrection of Christ. We will get to the commandments of baptism next, but these verses already set a scriptural precedent for baptism upon salvation.

There are people who choose not to be baptized, because they are “waiting”, which is fine in the sense of a pastor challenging them to be sure they know what salvation/baptism are and that they have truly believed. But what I’m talking about is waiting to be baptized to the point of refusing to do it. But what we see in Scripture is that baptism happened right after a true conversion. Jesus Himself, though He obviously did not need salvation, was baptized AND THEN began His ministry.

I have been experiencing over the past few months with children who want to be baptized, yet their parents set all these other “rules” that pretty much hinders their child actually being baptized. Again, there is a discernment on evaluating someone’s understanding of this, but this constant resistance shows a misunderstanding by people to what baptism is. If they did understand it, they would see that baptism in the Bible happens immediately upon salvation.

Scripture must always be the basis by which we live our lives and lead our church. We must point our members constantly to scripture to remind them of the importance of baptism to be something immediate instead of something they think or pray about. God is seeking to work in the lives of our members, and baptism, as with Jesus, sets the stage for the ministry of further following Him.

3.) It is obedient to the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:19–20 “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Acts 2:41 “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.”

This is where the baptism being crucial really gets real. Jesus’ last commandment given on earth was to make disciples and to teach those disciples. But after making a disciple and interestingly teaching that disciple, part of this commandment is to baptize that disciple. This is where baptism steps out of being an issue of precedent to an issue of obedience.

In Acts 2 the response of the early church leaders was to baptize the new converts, adhering to Jesus’ words.

*Church leaders are expected to baptize new disciples.

There is an expectation Jesus has of us as church leaders to baptize new disciples. In order for us to truly follow the Great Commission, baptism of new believers happens in between their salvation and their discipleship journey. But also in Acts 2 is an implied expectation that new disciples are to be baptized.

*New disciples are expected to be baptized.

Everything comes together with this. Jesus expects new believers to do their part in the Great Commission by being baptized. This is identifying with His death/resurrection and Body; it needs to happen upon salvation. The biggest reason baptism is so crucial is that it is a matter of obedience.

We need to challenge our members to be obedient to what Jesus expects them to do. Upon salvation, the need to be baptized before they can be taught. We have an obligation as leaders to practice baptism. They have an obligation as believers to be baptized. This is not just testifying to Jesus being Savior but also to Him being Lord. The baptized believer is saying “Jesus saved me. Now He is in charge of me.” Thus begins the greatest journey ever!