Baptism

“Living in Light of Your Baptism”

October 3, 2021

Intro

Today is a day of immense celebration, as we have FIVE wonderful people who I have the privilege of baptizing after my message. I thought it would be appropriate to take a break from our Matthew series and speak about the significance of water baptism. I want to share with you why I believe that we should take this ordinance more seriously than Christians often do.

Romans 6:1 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.

5 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. 6 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. 7 For one who has died has been set free[b] from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Now, if you don’t believe in the doctrine of original sin (that we are all born with this propensity towards sin), then you have likely not had children, and you probably can’t remember your own childhood tendencies to misbehave.

I knew—even as a child—that I needed a Savior (I was that bad of a kid).

Last week, I had the distinct privilege of connecting with my childhood pastor—Dr. Dan Francis—via Zoom. Thankfully, he doesn’t hold my childhood misbehavior against me.

You know that Proverbs 28:1 says that “the wicked flee when no one pursues.” This was certainly the case for me as a kid. We had a strong Sunday School program at my church, and I was in class faithfully. But, I was constantly cracking jokes and goofing off during class, driving my poor teachers crazy.

After Sunday School, I would sit in worship service with my parents. And every week, while the offering was being received—and an offering song was being played-- Pastor Dan would get on a chorded phone that was on the platform, and he would have a conversation and then get up to preach. For years, I was convinced that he was on the phone with my Sunday School teachers, and I was sure they were telling him how I had misbehaved in their classes. I would squirm in my seat, praying I wouldn’t get in trouble.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized that my pastor was using the phone to call into the radio station that was airing our service, and he would do a live greeting to listening audience.

My point is this:even as a young child, I knew that I needed God’s forgiveness. And, in 1985 I made a decision to follow Jesus and I was immersed in water (I think we have a picture),and I have been following the Lord—though imperfectly— ever since. It was amazing, to be to be able to reconnect with the pastor who baptized me.

This ordinance (or sacrament), called baptism, was a watershed moment in my life. It was a public, line in the sand, and here I am all these years later, following God— because He has kept me and sustained me by His grace, and I belong to Him.

For those being baptized today—and for all of those who have followed the Lord in baptism—I want to compel you to live in light of that event.

We are in Romans chapter six, and if you go back to the last two chapters, you will find that Paul is arguing that our right standing with God—our justification—comes by grace through faith, not by our works. Chapter 5:1 says “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Every one of us, apart from Jesus, are separated from God. You and I are made right with Him—only by grace, through faith, in Christ (by trusting in His death and resurrection and turning to Him as Lord).

When we preach this “salvation by grace alone” message, we are sure to be challenged by some: there are those who say, “preacher, if you preach that grace stuff, people will use it as a license to sin.” There are certainly people who try to abuse the grace of God in this way.

Well, the apostle Paul anticipates this argument, and so he addresses it in Romans 6:1: ” Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” That logic would go something like this: like, the more we sin, the more grace we need… so should we just keep on sinning so we utilize more grace? And he quickly responds, “BY NO MEANS.” He goes on to ask, how can we who died to sin still live in it?

Then Paul does something that might seem bazaar: to drive home his point, he appeals to baptism.

- Some scholars say that Paul is not referring to water baptism at all here… that this is just completely metaphorical.

- Yet, while there are certainly metaphorical overtones—I believe—along with many theologians—that he is absolutely referring to water baptism. This is the most natural reading of these verses in their historical context.

The Apostle Paul is doing something profound in this part of Romans, namely, He is framing our Christian story, within the context of Israel’s story in the OT.

This reframing of an OT narrative should familiar to us, as we have seen how Matthews—in chapters 2-4—retells the narrative of the Exodus through the life of Jesus. That is precisely what Matthew employs in Romans.

Let me just walk you through the Exodus story:

God—desiring to make a people for Himself—made a covenant with Abraham promising Him land, and a large family, through whom all the peoples of the earth would know God and be blessed.

- Abraham’s family, known as the Israelites, then became enslaved in Egypt for some 400 years. It seemed that their story was over and that the promise would not be fulfilled.

- However, God rescued Israel out of Egypt, by bringing them through the waters of the waters of the Red Sea.

- They then got to Mt. Sania, where they were given the Law.

- They then began their journey towards their promised inheritance.

In Romans, NT Wright shows how you can chase the same narrative in Romans 4-7.

- In Romans 4, Paul goes back to the story of Abraham.

- In chapter 5, he takes a step back and retells the whole Adam Christ story.

- Now, in Romans 6, Paul says that we (Christians) were slaves to sin, but God has brought us through the waters of baptism on our way to freedom.

- In Romans 7, we arrive at Mt. Sanai, where Paul deals with the Law and its relation to Christians.

- And in chapter eight, Paul talks about our journey onward towards our inheritance—namely, God’s New Creation. This is what the promises to Abraham were all about.

- This is a Christian version of the Exodus story. It is profound.

Baptism—as it were—represents our Red Sea Moment

o

This Shows Us Why Baptism is So Significant

1. Baptism Signifies Our New Identity

We have become part of the family of God. Jesus, as the Messiah, is the representative of His people. This means, what is true of Him, is true of us.

A. This Means #1 That We Have Died with Christ

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.

5 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.

6 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. 7 For one who has died has been set free[b] from sin

- That old identity is dead… its been crucified.

- When the Israelites left Egypt, they were no longer slaves. They were redeemed. That old Identity was dead.

- We, as Christians, are dead to our old identity that was bound by sin.

B. Being in Christ Also Reminds Us that We Have Been Raised to NEWNESS of Life.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

Remember, what is true of Christ, is now true of us. He was raised from the dead and given a glorified body. That will one day be true of us as well.

However, there are also present-day implications to living a resurrected life as well.

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Right now—because we have God’s Spirit—we have a taste of what is to come fully in the future. We are already part of God’s new humanity in Jesus. Paul says we should consider ourselves—or reckon ourselves—dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.

We shouldn’t live as slaves to sin anymore! We have been raised to new life with Jesus.

- For the first several days that Connor came back from boot camp last year, he was acting as if he were still there. He got out of bed on a regimented schedule, he worked out, and he was even a little jumpy… just waiting to get smoked by a drill sergeant.

- We had to tell him: “Connor, you are not at basic anymore… you can relax.”

Baptism Signifies that we are united to Jesus. We have been brought out of Egypt and through the waters as the redeemed people of God.

- We may not feel any different when we come up out of the water… but we should reckon ourselves different.

- The day after you get married, you may not “feel” married… but you should certainly reckon yourself married! You should certainly behave like a married person. That wedding ring serves as a reminder of your covenant.

- So, in order to answer the original question about whether or not a Christian should stay in sin so that grace should abound, Paul appeals to baptism. And the idea is that we may not feel particularly Christian at certain moments, but we should then look back to our baptism and be reminded that we have a new identity. And We should act in accordance with that identity.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Baptism, then, is that line in the sand.

It is a defining moment in a person’s life.

- We are saved (made right with God) by believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ—in his sacrificial death and resurrection. Saving faith goes beyond mere intellectual belief. Saving faith involves repentance (turning from our sin and old way of life) and submitting to the Lordship of Jesus. God does not want his followers to have merely an internal, subjective experience, but He desires for our faith to have a definitive, sacred experience… Our relationship with Jesus begins with trust in Him, but then that trust is expressed and sealed in this sacred ordinance of water baptism.

Closingaa

My cousin Ali and her husband Andrew wanted to start a family, but they were unable to conceive. It was then that they decided to become foster parents. The first foster care children to be placed with them were 3-month old twin boys, with all odds against them. At the time, they were in NICU, as they were born at only 24 weeks gestation. Add to this, the fact that they had been exposed to drugs while in the womb, their biological mom had received no prenatal care, and their birth was very difficult and traumatic. This was going to be no easy journey, but one that Alli and Andrew were willing to take. They quickly fell in love with the children and they wanted more than anything to be able to adopt them.

I will tell you the rest of the story in Alli’s own words. She writes:

“To make a long story short, God intervened, and their biological mom surrendered her rights to (the twins) 8 months after they were placed with us. Then, 9 months after that, their biological dad also surrendered his rights to them. It was a long process to finalize their adoption after that, but we adopted them exactly two years later from the day they were placed with us.

When the judge pronounced them as ours at their adoption hearing, he said “Now that they are adopted, It’s as if as they were born to you”.

We gave them new names- Shiloh Jonathan and Shepherd Jackson - because they are reminders to us of who God is and because we wanted them to have complete identity with us. Shiloh means peace which God gave to us throughout the adoption process and now as he has given us the desire of our hearts to be parents. Shepherd reminds us that Jesus is our shepherd and how he watched over us and the boys through some difficult days. Their middle names mean God has been gracious, and that is a truth has been abundantly evident to us.

(I think we have a picture of Shiloh and Shepherd). They are doing so well, and they are loving their adopted home!

______________________________________________________________________________

One of the ways that the Bible frames our salvation, is through the narrative of adoption.

Romans 8: 15 says, 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…

To put faith in Jesus, is like adoption. It is to enter a new family—namely, the family of God.

If Shiloh and Shepherd ever doubt their identity… they can be pointed back to that adoption hearing, where they were declared to have a new family… that day will serve as a reminder forever, how much they are loved and cared for.

Baptism, for us, serves as that vivid reminder that we have been adopted into the family of God. We’ve been brought ought of slavery, through the waters, and we are now God’s redeemed people, making our way to our inheritance, namely, God’s new creation.

If you have not made that decision to follow Jesus and be part of this new family, I invite you to trust in Him today.

If you have trusted him, but have NOT followed Him in baptism, why not do that immediately!

In recent weeks, we have seen what it looks like to live life as part of God’s Kingdom. When we come to Jesus we are part of a new humanity and there are new expectations in the way that we conduct ourselves towards God and others.

Those of you who are being baptized today, and for those of us who have been baptized, may we be compelled to live in accordance with this new identity.