Baptême 25 mai 2019

We’re here today to celebrate the baptism of our brothers and sisters in Christ, from whom we’ll hear in a moment. But before they get up here I’d like to take a minute to talk about what we’re doing here.

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.”

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.”

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

We’re here today to celebrate the baptism of our brothers and sisters in Christ, from whom we’ll hear in a moment. But before they get up here I’d like to take a minute to talk about what it is we’re doing here.

Baptism isn’t unique to Christianity; it’s been practiced in purification rituals for millenia. Depending on the context, it can mean different things. So when we read about baptism in the Bible, the authors take great pains to distinguish what makes Christian baptism unique.

There are a lot of ways to answer that question, but perhaps the simplest distinction would be this: Christian baptism is distinct from other types of baptism in that it happens in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We see this at the very end of Matthew’s gospel, in . Jesus has died, been raised from the dead, and now he is commissioning his disciples for the task of going out and telling the world about him. We read in :

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.”

So we see something here that’s pretty strange, if we’re not used to hearing it. “Making disciples” is easy to grasp: go tell others about Jesus. “Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded” is easy: teach these new followers of Christ how to live like him.

It’s the baptism part that’s complicated, because you would naturally expect him to say, “Baptize them in my name,” or, “Baptize them in the name of God.” Everyone knows that Christians believe there is only One True God: we are monotheistic.

And yet, Jesus identifies three people—or persons, to use the correct term—in whose name we should be baptized: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So what’s that about? The Bible teaches us that there is indeed only One True God.

But at the same time, the One True God exists eternally in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. (Theologians refer to these three persons as “the Trinity”.)

The Father isn’t the Son; the Son isn’t the Father; the Father and Son aren’t the Spirit; and the Spirit isn’t the Father or Son.

And yet, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God.

People try all the time to find fun illustrations to help describe what this three-in-one dynamic might be like, but no illustration can come close to the complexity of God. God is so high above our understanding that we have no idea how he can be one God in three persons…but the Bible says, loud and clear, that he is.

The best we can do, in the long run, is to affirm that God is so high above our understanding that we have no idea how he can be one God in three persons…but he is.

But that confusion is kind of the point. No illustration can come close to the complexity of God. Rather than saying that God is like water, it would be better to say that God is so high above our understanding that we have no idea how he can be one God in three persons…but he is.

When we come to a baptism, it’s important to understand at least the idea of the Trinity, because as Jesus said, the Trinity is at the heart of baptism: it’s not just in the name of God that Christians are baptized, but in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And the reason he took the time to say that is because each person of the Trinity has a distinct role to play in baptism, and in what happened in these people’s lives to bring them here.

As we say, salvation comes from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

Let’s start in reverse order, with the Holy Spirit.

What does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit takes people who want nothing to do with God, who are blind to the gospel and spiritually dead, and he raises us to new life. The apostle Paul wrote to Titus (in ):

Go make disciples, everywhere;

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Naturally, on our own, we are all like this. Human beings are nothing if not divisive, jealous and self-centered, hungry for power and pleasure—we need look no further than the history of the last hundred years to know that. We were free to do what we wanted, but what we wanted was to have nothing to do with God—to be our own masters. When we talk about “sin” in the church, that’s what we’re talking about: sin is, simply put, rebellion against God.

And we are all guilty of sin, without exception.

So what did God do? V. 4:

4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit...

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit

The word “regeneration” simply means that the Holy Spirit took our spiritually dead hearts, and brought them back to life. It had nothing to do with anything good we did, because we couldn’t do anything good. HE did it, in us. He took us, dead as we were, and raised us to life.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

But he doesn’t raise us to an esoteric, mystical, generically “spiritual” life. He raises us to new life in...

The Son

The Holy Spirit, when he brings us from death to life, does it through the gospel of Jesus Christ: the good news of what Jesus Christ, the Son, the second person of the Trinity, did for us.

So what is that message? What is that good news?

Well, it starts with bad news. Because God is a just God, he is angry against our sin; he is angry against our rebellion. It is offensive to him, because it runs counter to everything he is. God cannot mingle with sin—if he is truly just, sin must be punished.

And because God is a just God, he is angry against our sin; he is angry against our rebellion. It is offensive to him, because the call to be like God is essentially a call to be happy, to do what we are on this planet to do. God cannot mingle with sin—if he is truly just, sin must be punished.

But no good parent takes pleasure in punishing his children. Because God is just, he wants to punish our sin; but because he loves us, he doesn’t want to punish us, his children.

So he did the most amazing thing: he sent the Son, Jesus Christ, to become a man. God became a man. He lived the perfect life we were supposed to live; he took our sin on himself; and he was punished by God in our place, so that we wouldn’t have to be. He suffered a horrible death on the cross, and there he absorbed all the wrath of God against our sin.

On that cross, in punishment for our sin, Jesus died.

And three days later, he was raised from the dead.

And here’s the crazy thing: through the Holy Spirit, he took everything that he had just done, and applied it to his children. That means everything that happened to Jesus, happened to whoever puts their faith in him.

When he died for our sin, we died to that sin.

When he was raised from the dead, we were raised to new life with him.

Paul says in :

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.

So here we see what baptism is meant to symbolize: it is a picture of death and resurrection. Spiritually speaking, we died with him on that cross. The old person I was before, who wanted nothing to do with God, died—not fifteen years ago when I became a Christian, but two thousand years ago, on the cross. I was buried with Jesus in that tomb for three days. And I came out of that tomb with him to live a new life.

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

Teach them to live like me (Jesus commanded those things he did himself).

And since we now life for him, and he lives in us through his Spirit, we are now (as Paul puts it in v. 11) dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The Son did that for us. And he did it to the glory of...

So today we’re concerned with that second part (

The Father

You may know that the Bible isn’t one book, but a collection of sixty-six books, written over a long period of time. Those books are divided into two parts—the New Testament, which tells the story of Jesus Christ and the church, and the Old Testament, which tells the story of what God did with the people of Israel, leading up to Jesus.

And the Old Testament—even if it’s long and sometimes confusing—is really important.

In the Old Testament, the first part of the Bible, God the Father promised to take this earth which was broken by our sin, and repair what was broken. He promised establish for himself a holy kingdom on earth, and to dwell amongst a holy people. He promised Abraham that ()

…in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

So he made a covenant with Abraham’s descendants, the people of Israel, and gave them his law, telling them that if they were faithful to keep his law, he would dwell with them as their God.

The problem was, they could never do it. They failed to keep the law at every turn.

This was no surprise to God. One of the main points of the law was to show the people that his holiness was infinitely above their ability. The people needed someone better, to keep the law for them; and God promised to send someone to do just that.

And as we’ve already seen, that’s exactly what Jesus did. He came, and kept the law perfectly for his people, as their human representative. Many of his people rejected him, because they didn’t believe he was the Messiah God had promised to send. But many of them believed in him, and out of this initial group of disciples, Jesus established the church.

So you see: God the Father promises to establish for himself a holy kingdom, and to dwell amongst a holy people; God the Son obtains holiness for his people through his life, death and resurrection; and after ascending into heaven, he sends God the Holy Spirit to dwell amongst his people, making them into the image of Christ, and empowering them to spread the good news of his grace.

Through his work in his people, the triune God is fulfilling his promise to Abraham that through his descendants—that is, all those who share his faith ()—all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

And that is why Jesus commands us to baptize in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In those names, we have the reason for baptism encapsulated.

Baptism and the Church

So what happens when we baptize?

Baptism does not save us; it doesn’t make us more spiritual; it doesn’t give us any kind of “special access” to God. Neither is it only for Christians who know their Bibles really well, or who have been Christians for a very long time. On the contrary: baptism exists, in part, to help us learn what we haven’t yet fully grasped.

God has always given his people communal acts which were meant to help them remember the story of his grace. In the church, those are the Lord’s Supper and baptism: “the means by which the people of God rehearse the story of God communally” (J. T. English).

So how does it work?

The believer goes into the water, and the elder asks them a series of questions. After the believer professes faith in Christ, the elder immerses them under the water (death and burial), and then lifts them back out again (resurrection).

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?

That’s what will happen for these people. But that’s not all that’s happening—a key component of baptism is the rest of you.

Do you believe that he died on the cross for your sins and was raised on the third day?

We are very purposeful in our desire to baptize people with the church present. And the reason is because God did not accomplish his work merely to save individuals, but to save a people. We do not baptize people into a lifestyle, or a manner of thinking, but into a people.

Do you trust in Christ alone for forgiveness and the hope of eternal life?

Baptism has always been seen as the public affirmation on the part of the church that the baptized Christian is now a full member of the family of God, and will receive with all Christians the full benefits that God promises to his people.

So by being baptized in the presence of the church, the Christian publicly proclaims, “The Spirit has raised me to new life in the Son, and now I, along with the rest of you, belong to his people to the glory of the Father.”

By God’s grace, with the help of his Spirit, do you intend to be his disciple, obey his Word, and live out his love along with his family of believers?

After hearing a positive response to these questions, the elder will say, “Upon your confession of faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Romains 6.1-11 :

1 Que dirons-nous donc? Allons-nous persister dans le péché afin que la grâce se multiplie? 2 Certainement pas! Nous qui sommes morts pour le péché, comment pourrions-nous encore vivre dans le péché?

Baptized in the name of:

3 Ignorez-vous que nous tous qui avons été baptisés en Jésus-Christ, c’est en sa mort que nous avons été baptisés? 4 Par le baptême en sa mort nous avons donc été ensevelis avec lui afin que, comme Christ est ressuscité par la gloire du Père, de même nous aussi nous menions une vie nouvelle.

the FatherThé SonThe Holy Spirit

Un exercice de souvenir collectif

Salvation comes FROM the Father, THROUGH the Son, BY the Holy Spirit.

Galates 3.23-29 :

To describe everything, you could reverse the order:

23Avant que la foi vienne, nous étions prisonniers sous la garde de la loi en vue de la foi qui devait être révélée. 24Ainsi la loi a été le guide chargé de nous conduire à Christ afin que nous soyons déclarés justes sur la base de la foi. 25Depuis que la foi est venue, nous ne sommes plus soumis à ce guide.

26Vous êtes tous fils de Dieu par la foi en Jésus-Christ; 27en effet, vous tous qui avez été baptisés en Christ, vous vous êtes revêtus de Christ. 28Il n’y a plus ni Juif ni non-Juif, il n’y a plus ni esclave ni libre, il n’y a plus ni homme ni femme, car vous êtes tous un en Jésus-Christ. 29Si vous appartenez à Christ, vous êtes donc la descendance d’Abraham [et] vous êtes héritiers conformément à la promesse.

Société Biblique de Genève ed., 2007. La Bible Segond 21, Romanel-sur-Lausanne.

THE SPIRIT: illuminâtes, regenerates, raises to new life. But it is not a generic, esoteric, vaguely “spiritual” life. He raises us to life in...

And by witnessing this profession of faith and baptism, the church proclaims, “We affirm and celebrate God’s work in you; we publicly validate your belonging to God’s family; and we commit to loving you and caring for you as a brother or sister in Christ.”

THE SON: gospel message, image of death and resurrection , to the glory of...

You see, this is not merely a ritual: it is an act of collective memory.

THE FATHER: promised to establish for himself a holy kingdom, and to dwell amongst a holy people (Israel, law, inability, Christ).

There will be days when you, the baptized, will forget what God has done in your life (it happens to all of us). And on those days, the church commits to be there, to say, “Have you forgotten what God has done for you? Because we remember. We were there; we went through it with you. Don’t be afraid, and don’t give up, because you’re not alone.”

And so we baptize together. We crowd around the baptistry to get a better view. We anticipate this moment with joy. We listen to their stories (because their stories are our stories). We sing and celebrate the grace God has shown our brothers and sisters.

Baptism is a twofold act on the part of the individual Christian and the church.

And we recognize that all of this is from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit.

The Christian says:

Il y aura des jours où vous allez oublier ce que Dieu a fait dans votre vie. Et lors de ces jours, l’église doit être là pour dire : “As-tu oublié ce que Dieu a fait pour toi ? Parce que nous, nous nous en souvenons. Nous étions là, et nous avons traversé cela avec toi. Prends courage : tu n’es pas seul.”

The Spirit regenerated me to new life in the Son, and now I belong to his people to the glory of the Father.

Alors nous nous réunissons, nous expliquons le sens du baptême pour les non croyants qui sont présents (il y en a toujours), nous écoutons les témoignages des baptisés, et nous célébrons par le chant.

The church says: We affirm and celebrate God’s work in you, and publicly validate your belonging to God’s family.