Baptism Sunday

As our baptism candidates start getting ready, I want to talk this morning about the meaning of baptism. Depending on the tradition you come from you might have had one view of baptism stressed. But there are at least five ways the NT talks about the meaning of baptism, and as we baptism these believers in a few moments, we want to understand that we intend everything God intends in their baptism.

It’s easy to dismiss baptism the say way I hear ppl dismiss marriage today. “It’s just a piece of paper”. For sure, if that’s all you think marriage is, then it WILL BE only a piece of paper. But scripture teaches that marriage goes much deeper than a signed document. It is a literal joining of your life with someone else for the rest of life.

Baptism is similar. At one level it’s just water. I’ve not put any magic potions in there. It is possible to go under the water of baptism and come back up utterly unchanged. But when it is joined with faith, baptism illustrates some important things that God has done for you. That’s why I think it’s best to call baptism a sacrament. A sacrament is an outward, visible sign of an inward, invisible reality.

I wear a wedding ring. This isn’t what made me married; it is the sign of my marriage. It signifies what has been performed. Baptism functions in this same way. I don’t think the act of baptism is THE thing that saves you - I think that is a gift of God’s grace through faith. BUT - baptism signifies and seals for us what God has performed on our behalf.

So with that explainer, let me show you quickly some of the images of baptism in the NT.

Pray

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Baptism signifies our obedience and a public declaration of faith.

Matthew 28:19–20 “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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus was baptized - Jesus didn’t sin, but in his humanity he fully identified with our sin.

Commands us to be baptized. This is where “ordinance” language came from vs. sacrament. It was commanded/ordered. But more than just obeying a command, baptism declares that our ultimate allegiance has been given to Jesus.

Baptism demonstrates that our loyalties will no longer be divided between God and the world.

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Baptism signifies forgiveness by having our sins washed away.

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

Acts 22:16 “And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’”

Again, I don’t think the water has magical properties. It’s possible to go into the water a sinner and come out a sinner.

Rather, the washing of baptism shows the internal washing away of sin that has been done for us through the HS.

For those who feel dirty, baptism washes away the stain of guilt and shame.

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Baptism signifies our deliverance from bondage.

1 Corinthians 10:1–2 “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,”

This is a confusing one. In one light it appears that Peter is saying baptism is what saves you. But you have to understand his context. Peter is referencing God’s deliverance of Moses during the flood. After declaring war on the gods of Egypt - through the ten plagues - he brought Israel to the Red Sea. As Pharoah’s army is coming to recapture them, God opens the sea and they walk through. As the waters closed behind the Israelites, it’s like a door is being shut. The point is that their life of bondage was permanently over.

In the same way, as we rise from the waters of baptism, it is a sign that what used to control us has lost it’s power. We are delivered. That doesn’t me we don’t slip up and fall back into things; it does mean they lack the power to dominate us as they once did.

We are truly free in Christ and baptism is the closing of an old chapter of your life.

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Baptism signifies our participation in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Romans 6:3–4 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Baptism is a graphic image of our dying and rising with Christ. Jesus died. In baptism we follow him into his death.

But Jesus rose again. He’s changed. The life that is to come is now present in him. As we come up from the water, it is God’s assurance that if we have died Jesus’ death, we will also experience his resurrection life.

If anyone wonders if baptism really means anything, it contains the promise that a new life is available to us right now. We can begin to walk in the new creation life of Jesus right now as we follow him.

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Finally, we come to the passage in Colossians that deals with baptism. We see that...

Baptism signifies being initiated into God’s covenant community.

Colossians 2:11–12 “In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Paul is leaning into his Jewish roots. In the OT, circumcision - at least for boys - was the outward sign that you were part of God’s covenant community. Only Israel at the time. If you weren’t born a Jew and you wanted to be a part of God’s people you had to be circumcised as an adult. Probably kept membership down.

Paul says that baptism is now the new sign of God’s covenant community. Open to men and women. Baptism is an internal circumcision - the cutting away of our old life of sin. And with that, you are now initiated into God’s new covenant people - the Church - made up of all followers of Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile.

If you ever wondered if you really belong, baptism is the sign of belonging. Both to God and to one another.

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If you’ve never been baptized - let’s talk! You can fill out a connect card and drop it in the offering box at the back of the room and I’ll be in touch. If you aren’t sure if you’ve ever really surrendered your life to Jesus, trusting in his death and resurrection to cleanse you of sin and reconcile you with the Father, why wait? Again, use a Connect Card and let me know you are ready to take that step of faith.

As we witness four new people being initiated into the community of Jesus this morning through baptism, with all that that signifies, it is the perfect time for those who have already been baptized to remember and renew their own baptism vows. They were the vows you made at baptism, whether you knew you were making them or not. The same vows that these new believers made this morning:

To renounce satan, sin, and the world.

To trust in Jesus as your Savior.

To confess him as Lord.

And To serve his church and mission for the rest of your life.

But more important that the vows you made to God are the vows God made to you in your baptism. That you are:

Forgiven.

Loved.

Welcomed.

Purified.

Free.

Restored

All through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

This is the bold confidence we have as we watch these baptisms and remember our own this morning. Thanks be to God!

Invite worship team back up