Who Are the Church Members? – Pt. 2

Main Passage

Matthew 28:18-20 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.”

Opening Prayer

Recap

Last Sunday, we answered these questions...

Who do we baptize?

We only baptize those who profess faith in Christ.

What is baptism suppose to signify?

Baptism is a public profession that you are Born Again.

Spiritual/Heart circumcision has taken place.

Baptism is putting on display that you are a follower of Christ.

And it is the Church’s endorsement of that profession.

What is the church membership suppose to reflect?

The Local Church’s membership is to reflect, as best it can, the real/true Bride of Christ.

Which is why, we are commanded to practice Regenerate Membership.

We looked at the New Covenant which Christ proclaimed to be the Mediator of at the Last Supper.

Jews & Gentiles are participants in this New Covenant.

And, the New Covenant is done by God on His people.

Signs of the People of the New Covenant:

Every person in the NC knows God & loves God.

How? Given, by God, a heart to love God (regeneration).

This also keeps us from turning from God (falling out of covenant).

All their sins are forgiven, forever, by God.

God the Spirit is given to each member of the NC (seals).

All of these truths are why why we only baptize believers.

Because only believers are in the New Covenant...

And, the new covenant people are those who make up the true universal church (explain universal church again)

And the local churches are to reflect the universal church as best as they can...

By only endorsing professions of faith that line up with Scripture...

And, by removing the endorsement if that changes.

Let me say, that when we partake in the Lord’s Supper...

We are, as a church, remembering and celebrating the NC covenant that Christ has made us partakers in.

If the NC does not include the Church...

Then why would or should we celebrate it!

Now, because the explicit truth of the NC is that all who are in it are regenerate, forgiven believers who are kept in the NC by God...

We should only baptize believers.

This is what separates us from other evangelical denominations...

Those who baptize babies.

Babies don’t know what is going on.

Babies do not have the intellectual capacity to:

Understand the gospel.

Repent of their sins.

Or put their faith in Christ.

So, babies cannot demonstrate a biblical understanding of the gospel and repentance...

And, therefore, the Church should not allow them to be considered in the New Covenant...

By giving them a public sign that is supposed to symbolize a spiritual reality that occurs within.

So, based on this understanding of the New Covenant...

And who are actual members of the New Covenant...

I want us to look at the practice of baptism in the NT.

Baptisms in the NT

This morning I want us to look at the examples of NT baptism…

How was it practiced?

Matthew 28:18-20…read

We see four things and we see these four things in an order:

As you go/As you are going

Make disciples (through the gospel some will believe)

Those who believe should be baptized

Affirmed by the church and brought into the church through membership

Taught all that Jesus commands through the ongoing teaching ministry of the church led by the pastor(s)

[FRUIT] Observing all that Christ commands through obedient living.

So, in the GC we see that those who are to be baptized are those who believe in JC for salvation.

And, so I want us to look at the examples of the gospel being preached…

Converts from the preaching then being baptized….

And, I want us to see the NT example of the practice of baptism.

Acts 2:38-41 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

v.39 is used by some to equate the OTC with the NTC and so we should baptize children.

But, the reality is that this is a promise that salvation in JC is for all generations and all nations…

As many as the Lord JC calls to himself for salvation.

v.41 verifies this truth for us by telling us the “who” of those being baptized.

We move to Acts 8 and we see there was this magician who had a following…

The people were mesmerized by his illusions.

But, Philip preached the gospel to them and we read in…

Acts 8:12 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.

Again, we are told that those who were baptized were those who believed the message.

And, Luke makes sure to note that it was adults…

But, something very significant and different than the OTC was that women were being baptized.

The OTC sign was for men only.

So, we see a significant change in who receives the sign between the OTC and NTC.

Another Scriptural truth that shows the discontinuity between the OC & the NC.

We read in…

Acts 16:13-15 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15 And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

First, the one greek word translated “to pay attention”…

Is more than just “to listen to”…

It actually means to listen and heed the message/cling to the message…

Or to believe the message she heard.

So, God opened Lydia’s heart to believe the gospel…

And, because of her belief in the gospel she was allowed to be baptized.

Now, there is a phrase that is used by those who baptize infants…

In v.15 And after she was baptized, and her household as well,

And, this is used to say, “See the whole family is to be given baptism…even the infants.”

But, to say that is to:

Disregard the instructions of the GC to make disciples and then baptize.

Disregard all that we see elsewhere that the only ones being baptized were those who believed the message.

To assume that these households had infants in them.

Reality=households were adults, servants, etc.

Much different than more modern homes.

18 and out.

Disregard the theological differences announced by God between the OTC of Israel and the NTC of the Church of the Lord JC.

To do away with the actual sign of the NTC, which is Circumcision of the Heart (regeneration) that express itself in repentance & faith and is to be publicly expressed by public baptism.

The NC sign is not baptism.

It is Circumcision of the Heart that when professed and fruit seen is to be affirmed by the Church through public baptism.

So, and this is an important aspect to interpretation,…

Just because the verse says that the household believed...

Does not mean that we get to infer that infants were among the household…

Nor does the fact that a household believed and was baptized mean that infants or children incapable of repenting and believing the gospel were baptized…

Or that they should be baptized.

Baptism, which is, biblically, the church affirming the individual’s repentance and faith in JC…

Should not be done in the hopes that they will do so at a future date…(which is the paedo view)

Baptism is supposed to be given to those who show fruits of being born again.

And, baptism is supposed to be in obedience to the Lord.

An infant is not being obedient to JC in their baptism…

They’re being forced to be baptized.

The whole crux of the NTC purchased by Jesus that the Church is to be made of those who show fruit of having the NTC sign…

Which is circumcision of the heart.

This is the biblical picture of the New Covenant and those brought into the NTC…

And anything else does a disservice to that sign and covenant.

Church members are to show signs of being born again.

And, fruits of being born again are at a minimum:

Repentance of sin Faith in JC alone for salvation A desire to obey all that Christ commands.

Now, I believe the next passage clarifies, even more, the baptism of entire households…

Acts 18:5-8 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 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.

We see someone believing the gospel, Crispus…

And his entire household believed.

So, everyone in the household had the intellectual capacity of understanding their own sinfulness…

That salvation is in JC, alone…

And they believed and were baptized.

That’s what household baptism is according to the Bible.

They were households that included the ages that have the intellectual capacity to understand the gospel…

And, willingly, respond to the gospel in faith.

And, this happens to line up perfectly with the GC…

And, it lines up perfectly with the NTC promise.

And, these are the foundational reasons that we, as Baptists…

Only baptize believers.

And, I believe we stand on solid biblical evidence.

Remember

The new covenant is not a mere possibility; it is a new creation.

It is something not merely that God proposes, but something that he accomplishes.

It is the creation of a people for God who will not forsake him.

They will be his people and he will be their God forever.

The certainty of it lies not in them, but in God's covenant commitment: he says that he will forgive their sins and remember their iniquity no more.

And he says that he will write his laws this time not just on tablets of stone, but on tablets of the heart.

The new covenant, secured and sealed by the blood of Jesus, creates the people of God and controls the people of God.

So, let’s be faithful to the GC…

As we live our life let us evangelize…

And, those who repent and believe…

Let us teach them the obedience of baptism…

And, let us teach them the importance of joining a church…

And, let us teach them the importance of discipleship...

And, let us understand that the teaching that the church is to carry on is to continue until the Lord comes again.

Closing Prayer