Baptism - reduced sermon notes
What does Baptism mean?
In baptism you are:
1. Sign of cleansing
Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.' (NIV)
2. Telling the world that you now belong to Jesus.
It is a way of telling those around you “I am not ashamed to let everyone know that I have given my life to Jesus”. That is why it is done in public, and if you are getting baptised we encourage you to invite your family and friends along to see it.
Have you ever heard of the phrase “Nailing your colours to the mast”? Apparently it comes from the days when a lot of fighting between countries took place using ships. Ships would have the flag of its country flying from its mast and in battle everyone could look at the flag flying on the ship’s mast to know instantly whose side the ship was fighting for. The thing was, the flag could be raised or lowered up and down the mast and if his side was losing the battle, a captain might be very tempted to lower his flag so that he wouldn’t be identified as the enemy and get wasted.
But if a captain decided that he was so committed to his country that he would fight even to the death then he would order his country’s flag to be nailed on top of the mast so that it couldn’t be winched down even if the battle turned against him. He had nailed his colours to the mast. He had declared whose side he was on regardless of the cost to him.
Baptism is like that. It is a way of saying, “This is whose side I am on. I have thought through what it might cost me, and I am committing myself to Jesus anyway”.
3. Identifying yourself with Jesus
For some strange reason, red socks came to be the symbol for Team New Zealand. Suddenly a couple of months ago, everyone who had a patriotic bone in their body started decorating their feet in red. By wearing red socks we identified with a bunch of blokes sailing on a yacht in the Waitemata harbour, and in a funny way, them wearing red socks was the way in which they identified with us. By them wearing red socks it showed that they were one of us and we were part of them. They were our representatives.
It’s the same with baptism.
1. Jesus identified himself with us: not by wearing red socks, but by being baptised. He didn’t need any spiritual cleansing because he never sinned, but he allowed himself to be baptised so that he could identify himself with us who do. He was saying “I am one of you. I am here for your sake”.
John 3:13-16 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness."
2. We identify ourselves with him:
In the America’s Cup, all the red socks supporters in a funny way shared in the victory of the guys out on the water. When they put Dean Barker on the helm for the last crucial race the whole country held its breath in concern; when they finally won, it was as though we won.
That’s what baptism is for Christians. It’s a way in which we share with Jesus, not in a yacht race, but in something more important. The death and resurrection of Christ.
Romans 6 ‘don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
We identify with what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross and through his coming back to life again:
This is what baptism is a symbol of:
1. when you get into the water it’s like death. We are saying that just as Jesus died for our sin on the cross, we have died to sin in our lives.
2. when you go under the water it’s like burial. A dead person must be buried. Our baptism becomes kind of a funeral and the water a grave. You are saying: this old way of life I used to live before I met Jesus, I’m killing it.
3. when you come out of the water, it’s like resurrection. Just as Jesus came back to a new kind of life by God’s power, we come out of the water to a new way of life which God’s spirit helps us to live.
Illustration of flower
Who Is Baptism For?
1. For those who believe in Jesus and who have given their lives to him …
Mark 16:15-16: He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved.
Baptism is for all Christians, not just for some. It is for everyone who believes in Jesus.
Matt 28:18 Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
There is nothing magical about baptism. It doesn’t save your soul.
People don’t get married so that they can love their husband or wife. They get married because they love them. People don’t get baptised so that they can begin to love and follow Jesus. They get baptised because they love and are following him.
2. … no matter how young in the faith they are.
See, some people think baptism is for those Christians who have got it all together (who don’t exist, by the way), but the Bible says “No way. Baptism is for those have made Jesus Lord of their life but know they haven’t got it all together.” They are saying, “Lord I need you to clean me. I can’t do it myself”.
Why do we do it?
1. Jesus told us to.
Matt 28:18 ‘Go and make disciples of all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you’
2) Jesus did it
Mark 1:9 Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan.
3) The first Christians did it
Acts 2:37-38 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ …