Baptism: Conversion Made Visible (Matthew 28:18-20)

Introduction

Baptism is a universal practice for Christians. All Christians do it. All Christians have a method and purpose for it. And all Christians seem to know that baptism is an important part of their Christian experience and identification.

If I were to ask you about your baptism, it’s likely (if you’ve been baptized) that you could give at least a little detail about it… when… where… why…

I was baptized a little over 20 years ago as a public witness of my faith in Christ, and some of the members of what is now Gracepointe Church in Denton, TX, were the ones who gave their affirmation and witness to it.

Cass (my wife) was baptized about 30 years ago as a public witness of her faith, and the members of Cedar Heights Baptist Church in Cedar Hill, TX, welcomed her into membership by affirming her faith in the same way.

Even in our individualized and self-defining culture today, the people who claim to be “Christians” without having experienced baptism are so few that there is no statistical data to tell us how many they are (at least, I couldn’t find any).

And yet, not all Christians practice baptism the same way, and some define baptism quite differently than others. We do not have to fight over these differences, but we do have to agree on some basic points in order to church together… since each church must practice baptism this way, and not that way.

After all, baptism is one of the two ordinances that Christ gave His people which define and constitute a local church… In other words, without baptism (and the Lord’s Supper), there is no church.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the twin signs of the New Covenant, which the Lord Jesus Christ instituted or ordained or commissioned His disciples to practice or observe.

Thus, it’s of greatest importance that we (Christians) receive baptism (and the Lord’s Supper) as Christ gave them… and that we practice or observe these signs as Christ commanded.

Baptism is our focus for today.

…If you missed my sermon on the Lord’s Supper at the beginning of January, you can find it on the church website (audio, video, and manuscript).

…Of course, I’m always glad to talk more about these things with you anytime. If you’ve got questions or comments, then let’s get together.

In short, today, I’m hoping to lead us to think biblically about baptism… to help some of us delight in the fact that we’ve been baptized… to help some of us assess our own experience in light of the biblical teaching… and to encourage all of us to participate in baptism (as the Lord would give us the opportunity) with a thicker sense of what it means that we are participating in it.

Friends, some of us may need to obey Christ’s command to be baptized.

Some of us may be thinking we want to be baptized, but maybe you actually should not be baptized right now.

Some of us may think we’ve been baptized, when we actually have not.

Still others of us will be helped by considering what it means that we have been baptized… It should be a balm of encouragement for weak and despondent Christians, it should be a jolt of motivation for lazy and wayward Christians, and it should be a mark of clarification and direction for Christians who feel unsure.

Friends, I’m arguing today (not on the screen) that true or biblical baptism is the New Covenant oath-sign (1) whereby individual believers become partakers in Christ’s visible kingdom, (2) whereby existing Christians affirm new Christians, and (3) whereby Christians initially unite with one another.

Or, to put it in simpler terms (let’s put this on the screen)… I’m arguing that baptism means (1) this person is now a Christian, (2) these Christians affirm this one, and (3) this Christian is united with these… and, therefore, (4) believers with credible faith in Christ ought to be baptized into fellowship with a local church.

Of course, I will try to make application of all of this along the way… But first, let’s read our main passage for today – Matthew 28:18-20.

Scripture Reading

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

18 And Jesus came and said to them,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Main Idea:

Baptism means (1) this person is now a Christian, (2) these Christians affirm this one, and (3) this Christian is united with these; therefore, (4) believers with credible faith in Christ ought to be baptized into fellowship with a local church.

Sermon

1. This Person is Now a Christian

The first biblical command to “baptize” New Covenant believers is here at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. Baptism or washing as an act of repentance was not new to the people of God in the Bible (John the Baptist is an obvious example). But this is where the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ commissioned New Covenant baptism “in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” for those who hear the gospel of Christ… and believe and follow Him.

If we want to know why the first Christians practiced baptism the way they did, then we must begin here with the command Christ gave them to do it. And if you read or talk with a knowledgeable Presbyterian or Anglican or Methodist or Baptist or Bible Church guy, they all will tell you that this Great Commission is fundamental to what Christians believe about baptism and how they practice it.

Good Christians will sometimes disagree about who should be baptized or when, but there is no disagreement about this passage playing a central role in defining what baptism is and who should participate in it… It forms the mandate and informs the method of Christian activity in the world… until Christ returns.

In every generation, those who are disciples of the Lord Jesus are to give themselves to the task of helping others to become and to live as Christ’s disciples. Jesus commissioned His people to multiply (like God told Adam and Noah to do long ago), but not merely by conceiving and raising children, and certainly not by the point of the sword. Rather Christians are to preach the gospel and call sinners to repent and believe… and they are to disciple one another in love and obedience.

Friends, we want to see more sinners become saints, more non-Christians become Christians… and the way we do this is by teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade unbelievers.

Of course, only God can change a heart. And we cannot create genuine faith in anyone. But we want to be faithful witnesses, and we want to be clear that our desire is for those outside of Christ and His people to come in!

Friend, if you are not right now believing, trusting, and following Christ, then I want you to know that you are OUT… not to disparage you or belittle you… but so that you will understand your need (and invitation) to come IN.

And those sinners who do turn away from sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are to be baptized in the name of the Triune God (Father, Son, and Spirit). Those baptized are brought into fellowship with other believers… and they are to be taught to think and act as followers of Christ.

This transition – from unbeliever to believer, or non-Christian to Christian, or rebel against Christ to disciple of Christ –is called conversion.

There’s more to conversion than being baptized, but baptism is an essential feature of it. In fact, the Bible presents what seem to be five components or features of conversion as the NT unfolds… and these often occur together – (1) repentance, (2) faith or belief, (3) confession or profession of faith in Christ, (4) receiving the Holy Spirit, and (5) baptism.

If we parse these out logically and in real-time experience, we can divide them into two categories: invisible and visible.

The three invisible components of conversion are what we sometimes call “justification” or “being saved.” When a sinner hears the good news – that Jesus Christ has died in the place of sinners, that He has suffered God’s curse so that sinners could enjoy God’s blessing, and that Christ has conquered death, giving all who believe in Him real and lasting hope that they too can be victorious over this final and ultimate enemy – when a sinner hears this good news and believes or trusts in Christ as Savior, then such a one is “saved” or “justified” before God.

No baptism or church membership or religious sacrament of any kind is necessary. One is “saved” by simple faith or trust in Christ. And saving faith always comes along with repentance or turning away from sin. And, of course, both of these – repentance and faith – are gifts of God, wrought or brought about by the power of the Holy Spirit who makes sinners alive.

Friends, if you are turning away from your sin and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ today, then you can rest assured that (1) you didn’t conjure that up within yourself, and (2) you are headed for eternal glory.

But how can we be assured by more than our own subjective feelings?

Well, this is where public confession and baptism come in!

It is theologically true that one who simply repents and believes is “saved” and “justified” before God, but these invisible features of conversion become visible when one “goes public” with their faith… through baptism.

Baptism (in the Bible) is THE visible display of conversion.

In baptism, the one being baptized pledges himself or herself to Christ, and Christ pledges Himself as well.

The new Christian says, “I am not my own, but I am Christ’s!” And Christ Himself says, “This one is Mine!” This is why we can sing of being “washed” in the “blood” of Christ, as we’ve done so joyfully this morning. His “blood” is a reference to His death, where Christ redeemed or purchased sinners by taking their penalty upon Himself. Thus, to be “washed” in Christ’s “blood” is symbolically depicted in baptism, and the new believer is marked as Christ’s.

Friends, have you made that public confession? Have you nailed your colors to the mast? Have you proclaimed to all who care to know that you are no longer your own, but you are a believer… a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ?

And have you heard Christ’s word of benediction over you? Has the King of kings and Great High Priest of the New Covenant spoken His name over you?

In baptism the believer is marked as one converted from the “domain of darkness and transferred… to the kingdom of [God’s] beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). Baptism is a promise to “obey all that [Christ] commands” (Matt. 28:20). And baptism is an appeal to God for a “clear conscience” (1 Pet. 3:21).

But how does the new disciple know that his or her plea for acceptance has been answered in the affirmative? Who actually makes the heavenly declaration, “This person is indeed a Christian”? The answer (I argue) is the church.

2. These Christians Affirm This One

I’ve argued (just now) that baptism is THE way new disciples become public or visible Christians. In this second point, I am arguing that baptism is also the way existing disciples affirm new ones.

An existing Christian (usually an assembly of them) is a necessary and responsible participant in this Christ-instituted act… No one can baptize himself.

Friends, in our dwindling Evangelical culture (let’s say among those who think Christianity is good and baptism is respected), the other participants in baptism often get overlooked or dismissed from the practice altogether. Baptism is something one can do today in a friend’s backyard, at youth camp… you can even be “baptized” by strangers at some kind of evangelistic event.

…The one person that matters is the baptizee, and the one thing that matters is that he or she wants to get baptized.

It pains me to say it, but I have participated in these sorts of “baptisms” myself. When I was a professional evangelist, I “baptized” tens (maybe hundreds) of folks at the end of events where a long line of strangers would make their way to a baptistry… without hardly any teaching on the meaning of baptism or much inquiry at all into their understanding of what was happening.

Now, it is likely that at least some of those folks were genuine believers, and it is true that I sincerely meant to do what I believed was right… but sincerity is no excuse for my arrogant presumption… and I look back now with a lot of regret that I didn’t have a better understanding of what baptism means and how Christ intends it to function as the door to membership in a local church.

There is a context for baptism that’s implied in Matthew 28, and every example of NT baptism that follows (in the book of Acts) proceeds with this same framework – existing Christians are not passive observers in baptism… they are active… they are responsible participants… they are Christ’s authorized agents.

Existing Christians (in the Bible) make judgments about who IS and who IS NOT a Christian… and existing Christians are speaking for Jesus in the authorized administration of baptism.

I don’t have time (this morning) to unpack the context that leads up to Matthew 28. …If you want to know more about that, then ask me sometime, and I will walk you through it.

I’ll just say here that Matthew 28:18-20 is full of pregnant meaning from Matthew 16 and 18, and this context makes it clear (at least to me) that Jesus was commissioning His disciples to affirm the “what” of Christian belief and the “who” of Christian believers.

And, of course, this is exactly the way we see the earliest disciples practice baptism as they began to preach the gospel and bring new converts into churches (or form new churches).

From the hub of Matthew 28:18-20, several baptism passages (in the book of Acts) jut out as spokes of the doctrinal wheel.

For example, in Acts 2 (look especially at v36 and following), Peter was the first disciple to bear public witness to Jesus Christ by preaching the gospel on the day of Pentecost. When some in the crowd responded by asking, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37), Peter said, “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38). And “those who received [Peter’s] word [or gospel preaching] were baptized” (Acts 2:41). And these “were added” to the existing church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:41).

Note the sequence: (1) Peter preached the gospel, (2) he called for unbelievers to repent and believe, and (3) he urged those who believed to be baptized. And those invisible realities (regeneration, repentance, and belief) became visible in the act of baptism… whereby (4) Peter and the other existing disciples affirmed those new converts as Christ’s people right along with them.

The next examples of baptism are in Acts 8 (first, Philip with the Samarians, and then Philip with the Ethiopian official). In each case, Philip and other Christians affirm new converts (those who hear the gospel and believe) by or through baptism. It is obedience for new converts to be baptized, and it is the responsibility of existing Christians to affirm them as new converts.

For the sake of time, let’s look at only one more example, in Acts 10 (the episode with the Gentile, Cornelius, and his close friends and relatives). There we see the same sequence we saw with Peter and the new Jewish believers in Acts 2.

Peter preached the gospel to a group of Gentiles (a big deal in the Bible’s storyline). And while he was preaching, God regenerated them or caused them to be born again, evidenced by their “speaking in tongues” (Acts 10:46). And then Peter asked an interesting question, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (Acts 10:46).

Why would he ask that?! What reason would Christians have for withholding baptism from some folks who were professing faith in Christ?!

Isn’t it because Peter and his fellow-believers were still not sure that the promise of salvation was for Gentiles? “Maybe these guys were professing belief in Christ, but we need to decide if we are going affirm that they are with us.”

The most obvious way to hear/read this question is that Peter and his believing companions were acting on their perceived responsibility to judge who is IN and who is OUT of the kingdom of Christ… by either granting or withholding baptism. This was their divinely-authorized responsibility… as Christ’s disciples.

And many of you know what happened – Peter and those with him baptized Cornelius and his whole crew… publicly affirming those new believers as partakers in the visible kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Friends, baptism is certainly MY public profession of faith, but it is also OUR public affirmation that (so far as we can tell) MY faith is credible or real.

Brothers and sisters, if you’ve been baptized, do you realize that a group of Christians have publicly affirmed you as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? When you doubt, does this comfort you? When you are tempted, does this restrain you?

And if you are someone who is wanting to be baptized, have you considered the weight of responsibility you’re asking others to bear on your behalf? If a congregation of Christians agrees to baptize you, then they are speaking on behalf of heaven – “This one is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now, we would be cruel and schismatic if we acted like an inquisition every time someone asked to be baptized among us. Our responsibility as a church to look for credibility before we baptize should not make us nitpickers.

But it seems to me that we might also err on the side of being negligent or superficial in our practice of baptism. Some churches – boasting that they aren’t nitpickers – are rubber stamps, where baptism doesn’t mean anything at all.

Brothers and sisters, we do not want to take our responsibility lightly.

What a privilege and a charge it is for us to speak a word of welcome in the name of Christ to those who are turning away from their sin and beginning to trust and follow Jesus!

I hope and pray that we will be able to baptize again very soon.

3. This Christian is United with These

In our day and culture, people are much more likely to think of their Christian conversion as personal or private, than they are to think of it as communal… in any way dependent upon others.

People often say, “I got saved” or “I became a Christian” or “I got baptized.”

Rarely do we hear someone say, “Sandra helped me see my need for a Savior” or “Ryan led me to trust and follow Christ” or “The members of First Baptist Church of Diana baptized me into Christian fellowship.”

Let’s think on that for a moment. Both emphases are true!

There is a personal necessity to repent and believe; and having done so, one can personally (in some sense) think of himself/herself as “saved” or “Christian.”

But an overemphasis on the personal necessities (of repentance and faith) does violence to the communal (and biblical!) necessities of conversion.

And an overemphasis on the personal features of conversion usually comes along with a faulty understanding of the relationship between Christ’s universal Church and His local churches, Christ’s eternal kingdom and His present kingdom, Christ’s invisible Church (that will be made visible on the last day) and Christ’s visible expressions of that invisible Church in the form of local churches.

It is true that one is included among Christ’s universal and eternal Church (or kingdom) through simple repentance and faith, but one can hardly claim citizenship in Christ’s universal Church if he or she has no connection to a real church of Christ’s actual people in the world.

Local churches are gathered assemblies or congregations and marked off by Christian baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

By definition, these NT or New Covenant signs (baptism and the Supper) can only be practiced in communion with other Christians… Not just “Christians” as a category of people, but actual Christians… with names and faces, with mutual love and care, and with real relationships with one another.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus’s Great Commission in Matthew 28 was not given to “Christians” as a category of people, but Jesus was speaking to Peter, Andrew, and James… Bartholamew, Philip, and Thomas… and several others.

When we invite sinners to believe the gospel of Christ, to turn away from their sin, to trust the Lord Jesus, and to be baptized as their first act of Christian obedience in a lifelong commitment to follow Christ… we are inviting them to believe and repent and trust and follow Jesus alongside US!

Allow me to put it bluntly – it is meaningless and presumptuous to think you are “in the family of God” if you cannot point to any local church and say, “These are my brothers and sisters… These are my pastors…”

Who gave you the personal authority to say who is in or who is out of Christ’s kingdom?

Who authorized you with an office of private judgment on these matters?

Friends, we should think of baptism… not like a state marshal’s badge that conveys legal authority to anyone who carries it… but more like a passport that affirms citizenship in Christ’s kingdom… AND also needs to be stamped regularly by a gathered assembly of Christians who know and love you.

The analogy isn’t perfect, but I hope it helps.

Now, brothers and sisters, I know that for most of us in the room, I’m preaching to the choir… but I hope you will think and talk this way with your friends and family when they claim the personal authority to say that they are “Christians” even though they have no meaningful connection with a local church.

It is far better to confront their foolish thinking now and call them to repentance today… than for them to make it all the way to the gates of the celestial city just to be turned away because of their arrogant presumption.

There is an interesting character in the story of The Pilgrim’s Progress. He appears briefly during the later third of the story, and Christian realizes that this man (named Ignorance) is confident that he will get into the Celestial City, but the man cannot explain why… He just knows!

Then at the very end of the story (literally, the last character we are to consider as the book comes to an end), Christian watches in sadness and fear as Ignorance is blocked from the Celestial City and “two Shining Ones” drag Ignorance off toward a door that leads to hell “even from the gates of heaven.”

And John Bunyan (the 17th-century Baptist pastor who wrote the story of The Pilgrim’s Progress) tells us that the reason Ignorance didn’t get in was that he had no “certificate” which each Christian received “at the beginning.”

Now, I’m NOT saying that being a member of a church gets you some kind of paper that God will check on the last day to see whether or not you get to enter into glory.

But I am saying that the Bible… and the earliest Christians… and every generation of Christians… until about 5 minutes ago… did not know of any such animal as an unbaptized “Christian” or a non-church-member “Christian.” In fact, Bunyan’s artistic description of baptism and church membership as a kind of “certificate” that’ll be checked at the gates of the Celestial City… well this made perfect sense to our Christian forebears.

Friends, when we are baptized, we are joined with a body, a family, an assembly of Christians, and we are signing up for a life of discipleship that will include mutual privileges and duties… in order to help each other make it all the way home.

Conclusion

Friends, I’ve argued that Baptism means (1) this person is now a Christian, (2) these Christians affirm this one, and (3) this Christian is united with these.

If what I’ve argued today is right, then believers with credible faith in Christ ought to be baptized into fellowship with a church.

Baptism is NOT for non-Christians, it’s not for babies (who cannot know or believe in Christ), and baptism is not for anyone who just wants to be baptized.

But baptism IS for those who are turning from their sin, those who are trusting in Jesus, those who’re trying to follow Christ as He’s commanded… alongside other Christians, as part of a local church or body.

Historically, Baptists have often used the term “credible” or “credibility” to describe it… those with a credible profession of faith ought to be baptized.

If you have heard and understood the gospel, if you are presently turning from sin and trusting Jesus, and if you intend to follow Christ as His disciple… along with other disciples… then you ought to be baptized into membership with a local church.

It is for the church to help you evaluate whether all of that is recognizable and true about you, but on your end, the path is clear – probably sooner than later, you should be baptized.

Now, brothers and sisters, it’s on us (the members of FBC Diana) to take responsibility for baptizing those who have a credible profession of faith.

We don’t truly know anyone’s heart, and we can be wrong sometimes, but so far as it depends on us, we want to affirm those folks whose profession of faith is believable or credible or plausible… In other words, their life matches up with their lips… as far as we can tell.

Of course, this requires a bit of time, and we should ask questions like:

“Is she resting in the person and work of Christ?”

“Does he seem to love Jesus, and does he love other Christians?”

“Is she displaying any Christian love, joy, or peace?”

“Is he pursuing goodness, self-control, and Christian maturity?”

“Does she generally resist and fight sin in her life?”

“Does he generally show evidence of submission to Christ as Lord?”

Baptism IS a profession of one’s faith, and IT’S ALSO an affirmation that this one’s faith is credible… an affirmation of a gathered church who bears witness… who speaks with the authority of Christ… and who welcomes the new believer into the visible family or kingdom or church of Christ.

Brothers and sisters, if churches practice baptism this way, and if you think of your own Christianity as more communal than private, then consider some of the benefits there are for churches and for individuals.

For weak and doubting church members, you may benefit by remembering that a whole congregation of believers has affirmed you as belonging to Christ when they baptized you. Of course, your baptism doesn’t save you, but your baptism can serve as a strong promise of assurance that you are indeed saved!

…And Christ will not lose any of His people.

For lazy and wishy-washy church members, you may benefit by remembering that you’ve made a public commitment to trust and obey the Lord Jesus Christ. This was not an impulse buy at the check-out counter in the grocery store – this was a public oath you swore to leave your old life behind (as though you were dead) and to embrace the new life of Christian love and discipline.

…Remember your vow, and do your duty.

For those who are not committed church members, you may benefit today by being confronted with your predicament. If you’re just attending church, but not a member… if you’re claiming to be a Christian, but you’ve not been baptized… if you thought you’d been baptized, but the way I’ve described it today is not what you experienced… then let’s get together and talk about how to line you up with what Christ has commanded for His people in the world.

Brothers and sisters, I hope and pray that God will grant us fruit from our evangelistic efforts – that some of the folks we are calling to repent and believe will do it.

I hope and pray that God will grant spiritual life (regeneration), repentance, and faith to our children and teens – that they will love and trust the Savior we sing about, the Savior we talk about, and the Savior we follow in our own lives.

And I look forward to the opportunities we will have (Lord willing) to baptize new believers into fellowship and membership with us.

And I’m glad baptism means something among us… because we mean to enjoy it and practice it and celebrate it as Christ has given it to us – as a sign of the New Covenant, a profession of faith, an affirmation of credible faith, and a warm welcome into fellowship and membership.