Who Baptizes?

INTRODUCTION

I am going to begin today’s sermon with an obscure movie reference. Some of you may remember it.

In the 1993 film The Fugitive, there is a scene where the US Marshals show up and take over the search for the missing suspect—Harrison Ford.

When Tommy Lee Jones shows up as a US Marshal, he ends up in a showdown with the local sheriff in front of the press.

The sheriff doesn’t want to hand the investigation over to the federal government.

When Tommy Lee starts telling the sheriff to start shutting down interstates, the local sheriff says, “On what authority?

And then Tommy Lee Jones tells him it is on the authority of the governor and the US government.

And I love how he does it too. Like it is so painful for him to explain the authority of a US marshal to this man.

“On the authority of the governor of Illinois and the federal government of the United States.”

Now, what does that have to do with baptism?

Not a lot.

However—have you ever witnessed a baptism and wondered, “On what authority?”

Have you ever watched one and thought, “Why does the church do this and what gives it any weight?”

As we wrap up our little two-week mini-series on believer’s baptism, and we prepare to actually baptize today—we are going to spend some time thinking about baptism as it relates to that question—ON WHAT AUTHORITY?

CONTEXT

In order to do that, we are going to turn to Matthew 28.

This is the commission that Jesus gives to His disciples just before His ascension.

You might call it his final instructions.

It has become known as the Great Commission and it is one the most quoted and beloved passages in all of Scripture.

And the reason it is so quoted and beloved it because it is the mission that Jesus gave to His church.

It is the mission statement of our own church:

who are we?

We are the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus, walking in the good works which He has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10).

what is our mission?

To make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Triune God and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded (Matthew 28:19-20).

These are the marching orders for the church.

Let’s read them in full...

TEXT—This is the Word of the Lord

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We’ll have three points from the text this morning:

1. The local church has the authority to baptize.

2. The local church is affirming when they baptize.

3. The local church is illustrating as they baptize.

AUTHORITY TO BAPTIZE

We begin with that first point:

1. The local church has the authority to baptize.

OPBC ILLUSTRATION

Going back to our original question this morning that was so annoying to Tommy Lee Jones—On what authority...

Have you ever stopped and thought about that?

I’ll tell you when I first thought about it.

I was the Youth Ministry Intern at the first church I worked at during college.

We went to summer camp and a girl in our Student Ministry was converted. Her name was Sarah.

We were all so excited.

The next day we went to a water park in Kentucky and with her mother’s permission, we baptized her in the Wave Pool.

When we got home, I told the two pastors of our church and one of them pulled me aside and explained that while they were overjoyed for Sarah, there was a problem with what I did.

I left the pastors out of it.

And I left the body of Christ out of it!

He was incredibly gracious and let the excitement for the student outweigh my misstep.

But that was really the first time that I remember considering the question—On what authority...

CHRIST HAS SUPREME AUTHORITY

Well, let’s look at our passage this morning...

Jesus tells them that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.

As the 2nd Person of the Trinity, there has never been a time in which Christ lacked supreme authority.

He is the image of the invisible God. Preeminent over all creation.

Listen to what Paul says in Colossians 1:16

Colossians 1:16 ESV

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

There is no authority that exists, which did not derive its authority from Christ

But in the Incarnation, His authority was veiled.

However, on Easter morning, He was “declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4)

And as the resurrected Messiah speaks to the Apostles in Matthew 28, He is not veiling His authority. He is tell them plainly.

JESUS COMMISSIONS THE CHURCH

And as the Possessor of this authority, Jesus gives the commission in verses 19-20.

Make disciples

Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit

Teach them to observe/obey the commands of Christ

And He is with the Apostles as they do this work.

And notice what He says about being with them in verse 20--

“Behold, I am with you always…to the end of the age.”

This is important.

Sometimes people wonder, Did Jesus give the Great Commission to the Apostles or to the whole church?

The answer to the question is easily decided by the phrase, “To the end of the age.”

Initially, Jesus did give the Apostles the Great Commission.

This makes sense.

Paul calls them the foundation of the church in Ephesians 2:20.

Ephesians 2:19–20 ESV

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

As the foundation, they received the initial Commission.

However, they all died before the work was finished. They all died before the end of the age.

And yet, Jesus promised to be with those who are fulfilling the mission, to the end of the age.

What this means is that Christ intended the mission to go beyond the men who stood with Him in Matthew 28.

He intended for it to go beyond them, as the foundation of the church, and for the Great Commission to the be the mission for the entire household of God.

And the church is on this mission until Christ returns.

So until the end of the age, the church is to be:

Making disciples of all nations.

Baptizing them in the name of the Triune God

Teaching them to obey all Jesus has taught us in His Word

And the church has the authority to do these things because Jesus, who has all authority, gave it to them.

First to the apostles as the foundation, but ultimately to the whole household.

So on whose authority do baptisms take place?

They take place on the authority of Jesus—authority which is being exercised by the local church because they have been commissioned to do so.

The church baptizes, because the church has kingdom authority.

ILLUSTRATION AND APPLICATION

Imagine if you are at work and your friend Todd gave you a mission to travel to a local McDonald’s and get him a combo meal. 10 Nuggets with fries and a coke.

Todd is your friend.

You probably want to get it right and not disappoint Todd, but you know its not the end of the world if you get the order wrong.

Now imagine you walk into a room and Donald Trump and Elon Musk are there and they say they need to have a serious planning session and they send you to McDonald’s to get them their order while they work.

You would have a different level of focus as you go to complete the task. Why? Because the President jump has a different level of authority than Todd.

The President’s authority would intensify the importance of the mission.

It is no different in the church’s mission to baptize.

We baptize on the authority of Christ and that authority intensifies the importance of the mission.

This must be done.

If Jesus, the One who owns the galaxies, says we are to make disciples and baptize, then we give everything to this.

This is what our homes are about.

This is what our church is about.

This is what we are about.

We want to make disciples, see them baptized into the local church, and see them obey everything that Jesus has commanded.

And we are compelled by the fact that not only has an order come to us from our Master.

We are compelled by the fact that the authority to accomplish the order has come to us as well.

So on what authority does the church baptize? On the authority of Christ.

But what do they do with that authority?

This gets us to our second point this morning...

AFFIRMING WITH BAPTISM

2. The local church is affirming when they baptize.

MATTHEW 16

To understand this, let’s go to Matthew 16, where we also see this idea of Kingdom authority.

In that passage, After Jesus asks His disciples who people say that He is, Peter says this:

Matthew 16:16 ESV

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And listen to what Jesus says:

Matthew 16:17–19 ESV

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Peter’s confession is ultimately the confession of the New Testament Apostolic church that we see in Acts.

Jesus will build the church on foundation of the Apostles and their Gospel confession.

The gates of Hell will not prevail against the church as she storms them.

And as the church storms the gates, they have Kingdom authority, just like in Matthew 28.

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

Notice, Peter, and by extension, the apostles and the church, is given the keys of the kingdom.

Well, what do keys do?

Keys open and close doors.

If the church has Kingdom keys, the church can permit entry. The church can prevent entry.

The church can bind or loose. They can open or shut.

These keys belong to Jesus.

They are His to give.

The authority of binding and loosing belongs to Jesus.

But the keys and the authority of binding and loosing that comes with them, are being given to Peter and the Apostles and the church and here is Bobby Jamieson explaining what this means:

The keys of the kingdom are for binding on earth what’s bound in heaven, and loosing on earth what is loosed in heaven. This means that the apostles and gathered churches both have the authority to make public a declaration or verdict on Jesus’ behalf.

Bobby Jamieson

How wild is that?

Really stop and think about what Jamieson is saying about Matthew 16.

Jesus has Kingdom authority because He is the King of the Kingdom.

Jesus appointed Peter and the Apostles to build the church by laying the foundation.

As His Kingdom representatives, the church has the Kingdom authority to bind on earth what is bound in heaven and loose on the earth what is loosed in heaven—acting on behalf of the King.

Going back to our illustration with the President and Elon Musk.

Imagine you get back with the McDonald’s and Elon is so impressed that he decides to make you the #2 over all of his empire.

He says, “YOU will be MY representative. And I am giving you authority. You can sign checks on my behalf. You can hire and fire on my behalf. You can speak on my behalf.”

This would be both an invitation into a very privileged life on one hand, and an invitation to a life of a heavy responsibility on the other hand.

How much more so are the keys of the kingdom privileged and heavy, then?

We have an immense weight upon us.

THE WHAT AND WHO OF THE GOSPEL

So again—what do we really do with this authority?

Well, I believe Jonathan Leeman is correct when he says that we guard what WHAT and the WHO of the Gospel.

Part of our authoritative responsibility is to protect the WHAT of the Gospel.

We make sure that the Gospel being preached in the church is the Gospel handed down to the Kingdom representatives by the King.

We preach Christ crucified and resurrected.

We preach salvation in Christ by grace through faith.

We do not tamper. We do not add to it.

We draw a line in the sand when others tamper and when others add to it.

But much more relevant to our conversation today is this idea of guarding the WHO of the Gospel.

Meaning, the Christ has given the church the authority to decide who is a part of the body of Christ and who is not a part of the body of Christ.

Let me show you by giving two examples:

First of all, let’s say a woman named Jane came to church because a friend invited her.

She went to a Bible study for four months and at the end of it, she tells her friend she is a Christian.

She meets with a pastor and it seems her conversion is legitimate.

She is brought before the church in believer’s baptism.

A baptism being performed by the pastors, whom the congregation trusts to guard the baptismal waters.

In the baptism, Jane is saying she is a new creation.

In the baptism, the church is saying, “Sister, we agree.”

Then she is voted into church membership.

She comes via a congregational vote, based on her profession of faith in baptism.

In the vote, the church is saying, “We believe she is a Christian. She is now a Kingdom representative, with Kingdom authority. She joins our ranks as an ambassador for Christ.”

Do you see how the church is loosing on earth what is loosed in heaven?

On the authority given by Christ, they are permitting entrance into the church through baptism and a congregational vote.

By permitting Jane into the church, they are affirming her profession of faith and saying, “This woman is a part of the Kingdom of heaven. We are showing that on earth through baptism and church membership.”

Secondly, let’s say there is a woman named Jill who is a member of the church and she is caught in some gross sin and she just refuses to repent.

Jesus gives instructions on how to deal with this in Matthew 18:15-17

Matthew 18:15–17 ESV

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

So someone goes to Jane one-on-one and says, “Sister—repent.”

She will not.

Now a couple of friends and a deacon go to her and say, “Sister, you must turn from these sins and return to Christ.”

She refuses.

Then the sin is told to the church. The entire church warns Jill with a letter, “Sister—we are fearing for your very soul.”

Jill still will not change.

At this point, the church would Excommunicate her.

They would tell her:

You are no longer a member

We will no longer deal with you as a Christian but as an unbeliever (until you repent)

We will no longer allow you to come to the Lord’s Supper table

Jill has acted in such a way that she seems to be living like she is not a Christian.

It is not that she is losing her salvation.

It is that she is proving she never had it to begin with by how she is living.

She is not a part of the Kingdom.

Therefore, the church takes the action of voting her out in order to bind on earth, what is bound in heaven.

They preventing her from acting like a Kingdom representative, because she is living as if she is not a part of the Kingdom.

Notice that right after giving these instructions in Matthew 18, He returns to the binding language:

Matthew 18:18–20 ESV

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

So what you can see is that in the case of baptism and church discipline, the church is acting on Christ’s authority.

In the baptism, they are permitting someone into the church—loosing what is loosed in heaven.

In the discipline, they are preventing someone from being in the church—binding what is bound in heaven.

And this is why we can say that when the church is baptizing, the church is affirming.

They are affirming a person’s profession of faith.

They are affirming a person being united to Christ.

They are affirming a person’s sins being washed away.

They are affirming a person’s intent to walk in the newness of life.

And they are affirming that this person is now a Kingdom ambassador. A Kingdom representative.

APPLICATION

This means that as Christians and church members, we have to take baptism seriously.

I think sometimes it can be viewed as a rite of passage.

People will say things like, “We just think it is time for our child to be baptized.”

And my response is always, “But what do they think?”

Because it is not a rite of passage into the community of the church.

Is your child a Christian?

Do they understand the Gospel?

Do you see a change in their behavior?

Are they ready to love the church?

Because baptism is this Kingdom affirmation that is coming from people who bear a great Kingdom responsibility because of the Kingdom authority that has been given, we have to ask these questions.

At other times, I think baptism can be viewed something detached from the church.

It is something to be done multiple times at different tourist attractions or it is something that people can go through apart from the church.

However, that should not be the viewpoint.

This is what my kind pastors were trying to correct in me as a young intern in 2007.

Baptism should be connected to the local church because Jesus gave the church the authority to baptize.

He gave the authority to baptize to the Apostles—who are the foundation of the household of God.

Not the foundation of parachurch ministries.

Not the foundation of any other institution.

They are the foundation of the church.

And so it is the church who baptizes.

And when people are baptized, they are baptized into the church, which is affirming their faith.

1 Corinthians 12:13 ESV

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.

Baptism doesn’t save you. Salvation is not by any work, lest we should all be running around boasting in our baptism instead of boasting in Christ!

However, baptism is a way in which we tell the world we are saved.

And baptism is major way the church affirms that they see a work of grace in us.

Therefore, we should take it seriously.

Just as seriously as the Lord’s Supper.

With our kids.

With ourselves.

With others who are being baptized.

The authoritative affirmation of the church in baptism is not to be taken lightly.

ILLUSTRATING WITH BAPTISM

So the local church has the authority to baptize.

The local church is affirming when they baptize.

Now to our final point this morning...

3. The local church is illustrating as they baptize.

In baptism, the church is drawing a picture.

We talked about this a little bit last week when we were in Romans 6.

Remember the passage there:

Romans 6:3–4 ESV

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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.

We saw how baptism illustrates a believer’s union with Christ.

We saw how the water of baptism illustrates a washing away of sin.

And we saw how baptism illustrates the newness of life a believer walks in.

But since we already covered that ground last week, I want to focus on how baptism joins hands with the Lord’s Supper to give us a picture of who is truly in the household of God.

THE FRONT DOOR OF THE CHURCH

Let’s start with this: Baptism is the front door of the church.

When we baptize, we are saying someone is a disciple.

We are called to go and make disciples of all nations and when we baptize them, we are saying they are one of these disciples.

We are saying they are a believer.

They are a Kingdom representative.

And we are saying they have entered the church.

They have repented of their sins and trusted in Christ.

They have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son.

They are one with Christ in His death and resurrection.

Their sins are washed away and they are walking in new life.

And now, not only are they one with Christ—they are one with His church.

In being baptized into Christ, they are being baptized into Christ’s body—the church.

So in this way, baptism acts as the front door of the church.

It is how we know who has entered into the body of Christ by the grace of Christ.

THE BACK DOOR OF THE CHURCH

On the other hand, we have the other ordinance: The Lord’s Supper.

If baptism is the front door of the church, The Lord’s Supper is the back door of the church.

The Lord’s Supper table is the place where we come to remember Christ’s death and to commune with Him by faith.

It is a visible expression of the church’s fellowship with Christ and with one another, just as baptism is a visible expression.

When someone keeps coming to this Table and confessing their sins and confessing Christ’s body and blood as their only hope for salvation, they are demonstrating that they belong to Christ’s body.

They live on Him. They are sustained by Him. They are a baptized member of the church.

So this is why I say it is the back door of the church.

Baptism is the front door—it is how people come in.

The Lord’s Supper seals off the backdoor and it how we know who remains.

If someone stops coming to the Lord’s Supper table, they are showing that they do not live on Christ. They do not commune with Him.

And they are not a part of His body.

This is one of the reasons why churches should not have loads of names on their church roll that do not take communion in their local church.

The people coming to the Table, by and large, should be the people on the roll.

THE PICTURE CREATED

When you put these two things together, a picture is created:

Baptism shows us who has come into the church.

The Lord’s Supper shows us who remains.

Together, the ordinances of the church show us the WHO of the church.

They show us the WHO of the Gospel, just as much as they show us the WHAT.

They illustrate God’s people, saved and sustained by God’s grace.

The church needs to make sure they are painting this picture with serious joy.

On one hand, if God has authorized the church to use the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper to SEE the WHAT and the WHO of the Gospel, the church should practice them with gravity.

We should guard the baptismal waters and make sure that those who come through it are truly disciples of Christ.

We should fence off the communion table and call on people to live holy lives as they live on the body and the blood of the Lord.

And yet, on the other hand, we are talking about joyful things here.

We are talking about salvation and forgiveness and new life!

So as we come to baptize, we should baptize with joy.

It doesn’t hurt to cheer and clap—we know they are in heaven!

And the next time we take the Lord’s Supper, approach the table with joy in your heart.

The joy of a disciple who knows He is One with Christ and His Body.

CONCLUSION

We are going to close today’s service by doing some singing and then we are going to literally practice what we have preached. We are going to baptize.

Pay attention to everything as we do it.

Pay attention to the disciple going down into the water and back up.

Think about how this says he is one with Christ.

Pay attention to the splashing water.

Think about sins being washed away by the blood of Jesus.

Pay attention to the disciple leaving the water.

Think about how they are raised to walk in the newness of life.

Pay attention to the moment and how all of this is commissioned by Christ the King and His heavenly authority.

But most of all, pay attention to your own heart.

Are you one with Christ?

Have you believed in Him?

Have you asked His forgiveness?

Have you been holding back on obedience to baptism because of some fear?

Is it time for you to talk to a pastor about finally being baptized?

The Spirit may be speaking to you today.

Pay close attention.