God's Good Gifts: Baptism

Introduction

Though we have been united with God, we can easily be distracted from the spiritual life. Pastor and author Craig Groeschel recalls his struggles with being distracted as he’s trying to pray. In the middle of a prayer, whether praying silently or aloud, his mind would bounce from one thing to the next. Along the lines of of, “Dear God in heaven, I pray that you heal my friend who has cancer. Work in her life now in the name of . . . I really need to go to the hospital to see her again. Oh wait, I haven’t changed the oil in the car. And we’re out of cereal. The kids are gonna kill me. And Amy has a doctor’s appointment today—did we pay that last insurance bill? I can’t believe how much it’s going up this year! Oh, yeah, this week’s sermon—still need to find a strong illustration  . . . Oh, I’m sorry, Lord, what were we talking about?” Do you ever get distracted? The Information Overload Research Group, a nonprofit consortium of business professionals, researchers, and consultants, reports that workers in the United States waste 25% of their time dealing with their huge and growing data streams, costing the economy $997 billion annually.

How easily it is to be distracted. It happens in our faith as well. But Paul tells us in verses 6-7, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” To walk in Christ, rooted in him, and built up in him is to live as one who he has claimed as his own. We’re not on our own to do this. God has given us gifts to nourish us spiritually and to mark us as his own People. These are what we call, sacraments.

Two weeks ago, we talked about the promise of the New Covenant from Hebrews 10. The covenant is an important part of Christianity because God makes his promises through a covenant. God relates to his people from Genesis through Revelation through covenant. God provides a covenant community, which in the Old Testament is the nation of Israel while it is Church in the New Testament. The covenant is also important because as a part of his covenant, God has given us the sacraments. In a similar way, the Old Testament sacraments were circumcision and the Passover. Today, we celebrate baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Our Westminster Confession of Faith helps us to understand what a sacrament is and why God gave these gifts to us. We are taught in chapter 28 that “sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace. They were instituted by God along with that covenant to represent Christ and his benefits, to confirm our position with and in him, to demonstrate a visible difference between those who belong to the church and the rest of the world, and solemnly to engage believers in the service of God in Christ according to his word.” There are two sacraments. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Today, we are specifically looking at baptism. As we learn about what baptism is through Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we learn to walk as those rooted in Christ who have been sealed in baptism.

So specifically what is baptism? Why do we do it? What effect does it have? In chapter 28 of the Westminster, we learn that “baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ. By baptism a person is solemnly admitted into the visible church. Baptism is also a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of the believer’s engrafting into Christ, of rebirth, of remission of sins, and of the believer’s yielding to God through Jesus Christ to walk in newness of life. By Christ’s own direction this sacrament is to be continued in his church until the end of the world.” So how does baptism empower our Christian walk? Paul teaches us two different aspects of baptism in this passage from Colossians.

Paul says in verse 8,

English Standard Version Chapter 2

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ

In Paul’s day, philosophy and charismatic men and women could causes others to drift from the faith. Other people tried to combine Christianity with other beliefs such as paganism or Judaism. Similarly today, we live in an age where false beliefs are rampant. In fact, this past week I was doing some research for today. As I did a Google search about a topic, do you know what the first search result was that came up? A link to the website of a cult. Distractions and false teachings are as prevalent if not more prevalent than ever. But God, has given us his gifts sealing us as his beloved, adopted children. We not only receive the sign and seal of the Covenant in baptism, but we have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Baptism represents Christ claiming us as his own and represents the union that we know have with him. The famous preacher named Charles Spurgeon frames it this way. In the old Roman walls the mortar was as hard as the stones and the whole is like one piece. You must impact it down to atoms before you can get the wall away. So is it with the believer. A believer rests on his Lord until he grows up in him, until he is one with Jesus by a living union, so that you scarce know where the foundation ends and where the upbuilding begins; for the believer becomes all in Christ, even as Christ is all in all to him. And what is that foundation? The foundation of our faith is Christ, and...

The symbol of having been grafted into Christ, having been united with Christ, is baptism.

The sacraments are not magical. In fact, if you profess your faith but are unable to get baptized, it does not change Jesus’ words in John 6:37 that “all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” On the other hand, we likely all know people who have been baptized and then fallen away from the faith. Which goes back to, it’s not magical, but it is powerful. Power derived from the God behind it. The Westminster says, “by the correct use of this sacrament the grace promised in it is not only offered but actually embodied and conferred by the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, let us walk as those rooted in Christ who have been sealed in baptism.

What Christ has Done

Baptism is also a reminder of what Christ did for us. Paul says in verses 11-12, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” In the Old Testament, every male was circumcised when they joined the community of faith. Today, that initiation is done through baptism. The water of baptism symbolizes the washing away of sin, which can only be done because of what Christ has already done for those who believe. It can be easily for us to flip it around. Instead of baptism becoming something that Christ has done, it can be easy for us to take credit for it. But Paul says in verses 13-14, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” When we try to take credit for our own salvation, we undermine the reason we got baptised in the first place. Therefore, let us walk as those rooted in Christ who have been sealed in baptism.

As I reflect on my own baptism, I got baptized for the wrong reasons. Here’s what happened. In the small Presbyterian church that I had been attending, I started to get more and more involved to the point that they wanted this 19 year old college student on Session. But, in order to serve on Session, you have to be a church member. And, in order to be a church member, you need to have the sign and seal of God’s covenant, aka, you had to be baptized. So at the evening service at our church, I was baptized it order to join the church and serve on Session. In the years since then, I’ve wondered if I should have handled it differently. Fortunately, we get some help understanding scripture as articulated by the Westminster, where it says that, “the effectiveness of baptism is not tied to that moment in time in which it is administered.” The effectiveness of a sacrament, of God’s gift, is based on the God of that gift. Not on the person receiving, not on the basis of the pastor administering, or the time in which it was administered. Rather, a trinitarian water baptism is effective for our spiritual nurture and engrafting into Christ.

In this passage, Paul reminds the Colossian believers that when a baby was born in the Old Testament, he was circumcised. This was not something that the baby chose to do, nor was it something that the baby could say was his choice. Rather, the baby was a part of Israel because of God having claimed them as his own. In a similar way today, God tells believers to get baptized when they enter the church and to baptize their children because Christ claims them as his own because of his death on the Cross and his forgiveness of their sins.

Conclusion

So, Paul gives us two vital aspects of baptism. First, baptism is the sign and seal of the new covenant, in order that we can walk in newness of life. Secondly, it is reminder of what Christ has done for his people.

Golf immortal Arnold Palmer recalls a lesson that helps us remember the importance of baptism. Here’s says it like this. “It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, "Congratulations." I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don't forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven't in the 30 years since.” Just like Craig Groeschel in his time of prayer, Arnold Palmer lost his focus. For us, we can easily lose our focus in the Christian life as well. Just as Paul warned the people of his day about philosophy and empty deceit. But God has given us the sacraments as reminders that he claimed us as his own and that we have been sealed and adopted as his children. Therefore, walk as those rooted in Christ who have been sealed in baptism.