Baptism: What, How, Who and Why
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· 9 viewsSermon during a service including a baptism
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25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Ezekiel 36:
Prayer
Introduction
Since we just finished up our series on Jonah, and since we celebrated a baptism this morning, I thought it might be helpful teach on baptism. After all, we are Baptists, so it only makes sense that we would discuss the topic at least once in a while. There is a sense in which I am preaching to the choir this morning – preaching about baptism to Baptists, so this is not going to be an in-depth argument for a Baptist view of baptism although there will be some of that. The reality is that for nearly 500 years, Baptists have been having this discussion with non-Baptists, so I doubt one short sermon is going to be able to plumb the depths of those discussions. So again, this is not a polemical sermon against paedobaptists, but a positive (though brief) message of what Baptists believe about baptism.
Scripture
We will be looking at a number of passages this morning as we consider a theology of baptism, but perhaps one of the most central passages on baptism is which we will be our sermon passage this morning. If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word and in recognition that these are among the most important Words we can possibly hear today. says,
1 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.
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 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. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
Thank you, you may be seated.
Sermon
I think the first thing we should do is define what we mean by baptism. There should be a basic definition of Baptism in your bulletin which we will use as something of an outline for the rest of the sermon itself. So, what is baptism?
Baptism is a church ordinance wherein a believer is publicly immersed in water signifying their union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.
I don’t think that this definition is all that can be said about baptism, certainly longer, more precise definitions could be made, but I believe that this is the minimum that can be said. This definition covers the big points, at least from the perspective of someone who holds to believer’s baptism.
How does one go about baptizing? What does baptism look like? It requires the immersion of a person (a believer) in water. Why immersion, why not just sprinkling or pouring or something like that? There are three main reasons. First of all, words have meanings. Greek words have meaning and the Greek word for baptism literally means to submerge or immerse.
Secondly, in New Testament baptisms, we see submersion taking place. Look at Jesus’ baptism in
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
We see similar language in when Philip baptizes the Ethiopian Eunuch. They see that there is much water. They go down into it and rise up out of it.
It is hard to rise up out of water, if a person has not been submerged into the water.
The third reason that we immerse people is because it better represents what has happened. Baptism is the Gospel in a picture. A person dies with Christ, is buried, and is raised to walk in newness of life. Immersion paints that picture more vividly than sprinkling or pouring or other forms.
We have “what” and “how” covered, so now let’s look at who. Who may or should be baptized, and who baptizes? The short answer to that question is believers. Those who have been saved. Who have repented of their sin and are trusting in Christ should be baptized. We see that over and over again as the model in the New Testament. For example, look at which says,
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
“So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”
Or look at which says,
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Or again at which says,
8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
Even our passage this morning in assumes that those who had been baptized were believers. Paul’s argument is basically, that you’ve been baptized into Christ, so why would you continue sinning. If everyone – believers and unbelievers and children alike – had been baptized, the thrust of Paul’s argument is largely blunted. Paul has no category for those who have been baptized but are not believers.
One last passage and we will stop beating this dead horse and move to another. The Great Commission in says,
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.”
“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.”
What we see in that passage is that the “them” who are to be baptized and taught is not all nations, but is disciples made from all nations. That is to say, disciples – students, followers of Christ, believers – are to be baptized.
There is a second question within the concept of “Who”. Can just anyone baptize someone else? The short answer is no. Baptism is a church ordinance that involves not just the person being baptized, but also the covenant community that they are being baptized into. This is actually a really important point and concept that other important church doctrines are connected to, and unfortunately we don’t have the time to dive too deeply into it. So, let me be as succinct as possible.
is clear that the church is the people of the New Covenant. Baptism is the initial covenantal sign. Much like circumcision was in the Old Covenant, in the New Covenant, Baptism marks or separates the people of God from the rest of the world. But, the New Covenant is a different covenant than the Old. The church is not meant to be a mixed multitude. In Israel, there were those who were born Israelites, but who were not actually of true Israel – who were not circumcised of heart. In the New Covenant, that is not the case. If you are united to Christ (in His death, burial and resurrection), then you are part of the New Covenant and therefore part of the covenant community – the church.
This is why Baptists have historically practiced church discipline. If a person shows themselves to not actually be a believer through unrepentant sin, then they are separated from the covenant community – with the hope that they will realize their sin and return. That is why we expect people to be baptized before they become members. Only those who have been united with Christ – who are believers – should be members. People proclaim their union with Christ through Baptism – More on that later. It is the church that Christ gave the Keys of the Kingdom to. The church has great power in affirming or rejecting a person’s profession of faith by inspecting their fruit. Faith which is not connected intimately to a local church is a dubious faith – at best.
I want to unpack a concept really quickly, then we will move on to “why”. While faith and repentance is a personal act by definition, salvation is not only a private and personal act. Remember all those verses earlier where people believed and then were baptized? Baptism is an outward sign of an inward work. The biblical response to the Gospel is first, repentance and faith, and then baptism. This is really an important point. In Scripture, the way we profess our faith, - the way we tell people that we are Christians – is through baptism. Biblically, it is not repeating a prayer, or walking down an aisle, or giving a testimony or any other thing that is our profession of faith. Baptism is our profession of faith. Those other things might or might not go along with baptism, but they aren’t biblically required or Scripturally meaningful. Baptism is.
In baptism, we proclaim - we profess - that we are united with Christ and as such, we are united to Christ’s people – the church. Baptism serves as our profession of faith and as our entrance into the set apart, sanctified, New Covenant community.
Okay, so finally we come to “Why”. Why be baptized? What is the point of baptism since salvation is an internal thing? Something that happens in our hearts. I’ve been pointing to the answer throughout this sermon. We have circled the answer with some of the other things we have discussed, but now we will collapse in on it. Why be baptized? Besides the fact that we are commanded to and that it is through baptism that we enter the New Covenant community. Those reasons are wrapped up in this one – we are baptized because it signifies, or represents, professes our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.
Baptism is a visual representation of what God has done through the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the life of a believer. Look again to our main passage in . “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” The union of a believer with Christ is most intimate. We have died with Christ. We were buried with Christ. We will be raised up bodily with Christ. But even in the here and now, we live as a resurrected people. Our union with Christ is the basis of our righteous lives. We live holy lives because we have been spiritually raised from the dead.
Baptism proclaims the Gospel in a nutshell. God is holy and sin against Him requires death. So Christ bore the sin of His people and died for His people. Was buried, and three days later God raised Him from the dead because Christ was a perfect sacrifice. God accepted Christ’s atoning work.
When we are united to Christ, all that is His is ours. We died to sin in Christ. We were buried in Christ. We are resurrected spiritually and eventually physically in Christ. When we stand before God in judgment for our sins, we will stand before Him clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Don’t miss that. When we stand before God and have to give an account, what will that account be? Will we say, I was a good person? That won’t hold up. Will we say, I went to church all the time? That won’t hold up. My parents were missionaries? Not gonna cut it. I was a pastor/missionary/Sunday school teacher/deacon. Filthy rags.
The only account we can give that is worthwhile is that we are in Christ. Penalty of death? That was dealt with when I died in Christ. Resurrection? Here I stand whole – because I was resurrected in Christ. Perfect obedience to the law of God? Don’t have that on my own, but I do in Christ because I am united to Him. So we, because of our union with Christ become partakers of His reward. We receive His inheritance. And baptism shouts that from the rooftops. I’m with Jesus. I’m His. That is my profession of faith. That is my entrance into the covenant community. His people are my people. And we are one. A church united in Christ to share God’s grace and show God’s glory.
Conclusion
Maybe you are here this morning, and you realize that you are not united with Christ. You are not a believer and cannot claim any of His works. Maybe you’ve been playing church, but you know that there is no intimate union with Christ. You might have been holding on to some type of false hope, a false profession, a false baptism. Baptism does not and can not save you. Believers are baptized, but the baptism isn’t magical. It’s important and something a believer should do in obedience to proclaim what Christ has done, but it doesn’t save. Nothing we do can save us. Only throwing ourselves at the mercy of Christ can save. Call out to Him in repentance and faith. There is no hope other than in union to Christ.
Maybe you are here this morning and you are a believer. You are trusting Christ, you’ve been baptized. You are good to go. I hope that you were encouraged by the visual proclamation of the Gospel this morning in baptism. I pray that you leave here with a better or renewed understanding of baptism. But more importantly, I hope that you leave this morning built up and encouraged because of what Christ has done in and for you. I hope that it spurs you on to walk in newness of life.
Finally, maybe you are here this morning and you are a believer. You are united to Christ and you are rock solid on that. But, maybe you realize you haven’t been biblically baptized. That can happen in any number of ways. Maybe you were raised in a different tradition that viewed baptism differently – like Christian. Or maybe you made a profession of faith as a child and were baptized, but it was a false profession and you were actually born again and saved at a later time. Listen, baptism is for believers, the baptism is only valid if you were proclaiming the truth about your union with Christ. If your salvation came after you were baptized, you weren’t baptized. You just took a bath at church. At any rate, if you are a believer who has not been baptized, let’s take care of that. Follow Christ in obedience. Proclaim what He has done.
We are about to move into a time of worship through response. We believe that any time we hear the Word of God proclaimed – or even see it proclaimed in baptism – we are to respond in worship. That worship may look like singing praise to Christ for what He has done for you. It may look like repenting of sin. It may look like seeking baptism. Whatever it is, I pray you worship well. I will be on the front row worshipping with you. If you need anything at all. Someone to talk to or pray with. If you have questions about what it means to be united with Christ. If you want to join this covenant community – this church, or if you would like to be baptized. Or if there is something else, come up during this time of response and talk to me. I’d be delighted to pray with you and talk to you.
Let’s pray.