Teaching Sermon on Baptism

2 mos. ago, Nicole was baptized.

Last Nov. 19., Nicole’s mom Maggie was baptized.

Oct 1, Evelien, and daughters Kailin and Esmee were baptized

Soon, Joe and Sam will be baptized

AND some families are expecting babies who will be baptized

‌In 22 y as a minister, I can’t remember so many people receiving the sign and seal of baptism in 1 year.

So, what is baptism all about?

Roughly 500 years ago, the Reformers answered that question:

To be washed with Christ’s blood means

that God, by grace, has forgiven our sins

because of Christ’s blood

poured out for us in his sacrifice on the cross.

To be washed with Christ’s Spirit means

that the Holy Spirit has renewed

and sanctified us to be members of Christ,

so that more and more

we become dead to sin and live holy and blameless lives. HC Q&A 70

Baptism is big stuff. It deals with sin, forgiveness, sacrificial blood, and the Holy Spirit. Baptism has roots in the OT.

‌To understand the need for baptism, we need to go back to the dawn of time, when God created the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything in them. When God looked at his creation, he said it was good. There was peace and perfection: Shalom. Everything in the world was in harmony with everything else.

‌The goodness and harmony of creation was disrupted when our first parents rebelled against God. Adam & Eve disobeyed God’s instructions and ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their rebellion disturbed shalom. It knocked creation off kilter. It places all people in the default position of rebellion and opposition to God our Creator and Lord.

But God didn’t walk away from the people he loves. In a promise to Adam & Eve, God warns the tempter

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NIV)

This promise can be traced through the OT.

Later in Genesis, God says to Abraham:

I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3 (NIV)

That’s why our reading from Genesis 17 is so significant.

Circumcision is the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants. It’s a sign and seal of the covenant of grace.

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. Genesis 17:7 (NIV)

My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant. Genesis 17:13b–14 (NIV)

Newcomers among God’s people who were admitted to the community as adults were circumcised as adults.

At what age were boys born among God’s people circumcised?

For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. Genesis 17:12 (NIV)

Did you notice: the whole household receives the sign and seal of the covenant. Everyone in the household was included in God’s covenant of grace. Isn’t God’s generosity amazing?

Fast forward to the NT: the gospels describe how God the Father sent God the Son into creation to fulfill all the OT promises. Jesus was 100% God and 100% human.

Jesus is the first person since Adam & Eve to resist temptation. The gospels describe how Jesus is tempted multiple times, but he never gives in. In fact, at the cross, Jesus fulfills the Lord’s ancient promise to crush the tempter’s head.

Despite all the provocation, despite the unfair trials, undeserved beatings and mocking, despite being nailed to the cross, Jesus does not sin. Instead, he offers himself as a scapegoat, taking human sin and guilt upon himself. He dies in place of humankind.

3 days later Jesus rose from the grave, victorious over sin, over death, and over the evil one. He has done it! He crushed the forces of evil. His resurrection means that people who put their trust in Jesus are raised to life with him; raised to live for him.

In Jesus, all the benefits of his perfect obedience and victory over sin and death are offered to you. God the HS helps us put our trust in Jesus as our only hope for salvation. When you put faith in Jesus, you are saved from sin and death through him. That’s what Paul & Silas said to the jailer and his household:

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household. Acts 16:31 (NIV)

Trusting Jesus, you’re included in all God’s promises and accepted as one of God’s covenant people.

The OT sign and seal of the covenant is circumcision showing that people belong to God’s covenant people. In the NT, baptism is the sign and seal of God’s covenant people. That’s what happened in the Philippian jail:

At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. Acts 16:33 (NIV)

The jailer’s whole household was included in God’s covenant of grace. The whole household was baptized and counted among God’s covenant people.

The water of baptism represents cleansing. When God made a covenant with the Israelites at Mt Sinai, the covenant was sealed in blood.

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” Exodus 24:8 (NIV)

Sprinkling with Jesus’ blood, symbolized by baptism, makes NT people clean. The author of Hebrews refers to the covenant at Mt Sinai when he describes God’s covenant through Jesus:

You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.

You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:22–24 (NIV)

It is true that the Greek word “βαπτίζω” means dunking into water. But God’s promises are not limited by the amount of water used in baptism. Baptism by immersion is powerful. Baptism by sprinkling is equally powerful as a sign and seal of salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The water of baptism represents punishment. In the OT, God used water in Noah’s day to punish sinful people. God used the water of the Red Sea to punish Pharaoh and his army. In the NT, the water of baptism reminds us that Jesus was punished for our sin and disobedience.

God rescued Noah and his household from the flood in an ark. The Lord rescued his covenant people from Pharaoh when the wind blew a safe path through the Red Sea. In the NT, Jesus took our punishment so we could pass through the water of baptism unscathed. Because Jesus took the punishment for our sins, we now live with him forever as God’s dearly loved people.

Our job as baptized people is to live up to our identity in Jesus Christ, empowered by the HS, to live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, giving life in our current context the flavour of life in Jesus’ kingdom.

Our job, guided by God the HS, is to teach our little ones, and remind each other, that we have been set apart as God’s own people – not because we’re better than anyone else, but because God is generous and has adopted up into his covenant of grace.

Our job is to be prepared in season and out of season to give the reason for the hope that we have, confident that the HS will bring others to join Jesus’ family as God’s covenant people.