We Believe: The Church Lives their Faith P1 - Baptism and the Lord's Supper

The Church: Faith and Family  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  36:54
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A Lived Faith

Matthew 7:24 ESV
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
With that goal in mind, we crafted a statement on church practice, also known as, what the church is supposed to do. And today I’m going to cover the first two lines of that statement. The first is this:
Church Practice
We believe Jesus has instructed his church and equipped them to help people know God, honor Him, and proclaim His name.
God could have zapped us up to heaven as soon as we believed in him. But we were left here on earth for a reason. He doesn’t abandon us during this time, but gives us instruction. So what are we to do?
Over the next few weeks, we will cover different instructions given to the church specifically. But for today, we’ll focus on just a few.
But before we jump in, let me ask you a question:

How is Your Faith Seen?

Faith is belief in something unseen. How do you talk about spiritual things to someone who has no knowledge of the spiritual realm?
If you just walked up to someone and started rambling about angels and demons, they might think you’re crazy.
But there are several practical ways to make your faith seen. And they’ve been given to us by Jesus.
But here’s the main idea for today: One of the ways your faith is seen is through the practice of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. (repeat)
And here’s our church statement, on things that we do:
As the church we remember and participate in the death and resurrection of Christ through baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
As many of you know, I’ve been building relationships through my work in hopes that some of them, if not all, may come to know Jesus as their Lord and savior. This past week, I set aside time on my day off to spend with one of these coworkers. And we got to chatting. It turns out that she has been to a protestant church several times. I asked her what she thought, and being the perceptive person that she is, she made a comment about how the church participated in the Lord’s Supper: She said it was like a big lecture. People weren’t actively participating, but were only there as hearers. She wasn’t seeing a lived and active faith in the act of communion. Instead, people were coming, hearing a lecture, and then leaving as if it didn’t have any significance on them or on their lives.
For me this was convicting. I had to ask myself the question, how many times have I sat in a pew before a pastor and been lectured to on the Lord’s Supper, and didn’t take time to review my role in it? Or how many times did I actively participate in the Lord’s Supper, but forget about everything I just did as soon I stepped foot out of the doors? It was like what Paul wrote: that I looked in a mirror, saw my reflection, and immediately forgot what I looked like. So I asked myself more- Was there more I should be doing during communion that could better display what was happening? Does something need to change? And with all of these thoughts circling in my head, and knowing the topic which we were covering this upcoming Sunday, I was moved to some more rudimentary questions: Questions such as why do we even do what we do? Why do we practice the Lord’s Supper? Why do we practice baptism? What is the end goal of it? Why would Jesus even institute it?
Well, the Lord has led me through his scripture this week, and I believe I have arrived at a a satisfactory answer: an answer that goes above and beyond “Well, Jesus commanded it”.
But let me ask you: Why did Jesus institute baptism and the Lord’s Supper?
Well, if you’re unable to formulate a response, that’s okay. I’m here to help us walk through it together. I’m going to assume that you already know what baptism and the Lord’s Supper are. If you don’t, let’s chat after the service, and I’d love to walk through them with you. But for now we’re just going to assume that you know them and you’re familiar with them. So rather than asking what they are, I’m going to ask you “why do we do them”? let’s ask some other rudimentary questions. I’m not going to ask you what they are. But rather, why do we do them?

Why do we practice baptism?

I’ve paired each of these with a do not, and a do. Sometimes knowing what something isn’t helps determine what it is.
Why do we practice baptism?
We do not baptize . (1 Pet. 3:21)
We do baptize because . (Rom. 6:3-4)
Why do we practice baptism?
We do not baptize to be saved. (1 Pet. 3:21)
We do baptize because . (Rom. 6:3-4)
There are people in time and history who believe and have believed that baptism saves a person. That’s why they’ll baptize their infant, or their toddler, or even bodies after they have died. And this is one of the scriptures that they’ll appeal to:
1 Peter 3:21 ESV
Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
So the physical act of baptism itself isn’t salvific. But what is? The process of being made new through Jesus Christ. That’s what the picture of baptism is looking forward to. Being saved out of death and carried forth to a new life. In fact, God uses the picture of baptism for his people throughout scripture. Do you know Noah and the flood? They served as a picture, a type, of baptism: Noah and his family were saved out of the waters of death and carried to new life by God. Do you remember how Israel crossed the dead sea and the waters parted on either side? This moment serves as another type of baptism: The people of Israel called out of their former slavery and led through the waters of death, their hope secured on dry land, and being led to new life by God who has provided for them and made a way for them. For us here and now, baptism is still the same initiation rite that God has for his people: we pass through the waters of death and are cleansed from our sin, and raised to walk in the newness of life before God. It’s a physical act that represents the spiritual reality of God saving a person. So, my friends, we do not baptize to be saved. Instead we baptize because we are saved.
Why do we practice baptism?
We do not baptize to be saved. (1 Pet. 3:21)
We do baptize because we are saved. (Rom. 6:3-4)
It was the practice of the early church to baptize new believers as they saw the Spirit at work in their lives. This is what Peter does at Capernaum to Cornelius and to his household. He recognizes the Spirit is present, and that it’s a salvation that has already occurred. Baptism does not precede salvation, but is a physical act that cooperates with it as an outward expression of the transformed inward reality. Paul sheds some more light on the issue when he writes to the Roman church:
Romans 6:3–4 ESV
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.
So why do we practice baptism? We practice baptism because it is a proclamation of the inward reality which God creates in a person’s life, drawing them out of darkness and into new life.
So that’s baptism.
Secondly, the Lord’s Supper:

Why do we take the Lord’s Supper?

Again, I have a negative and a positive:
Why do we take the Lord’s Supper?
The Lord’s Supper is not taken . (Heb. 10:10)
The Lord’s Supper is taken because . (Matt. 26:28; Eph. 1:7)
Why do we take the Lord’s Supper?
The Lord’s Supper is not taken to be made righteous. (Heb. 10:10)
The Lord’s Supper is taken because . (Matt. 26:28; Eph. 1:7)
There are some in the world who believe that when you eat of the Lord’s Supper, you are actually eating the body and blood of Christ. And if you don’t come to communion often, then you aren’t getting your purified piece of Christ and therefore you are less righteous. It’s what many people have been misled to believe about the institution of the Lord’s Supper, when Jesus said “this is my body, which is for you” and “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”. They interpreted his words too woodenly when he was being figurative. And because of that, they believe that when you eat communion, when you dine at the Lord’s table, you are made righteous.
But there’s a verse, actually, a few verses, that speak directly to that. They say that Christ’s payment was once and it was final.
Hebrews 10:10 ESV
And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Jesus does not need to be consumed multiple times, he does not need to offer himself as the ultimate sacrifice multiple times, he does not need to continue to purify you … he has already offered himself as the sacrifice once and for all. It would be scandalous to assume that Jesus did not make the once and for all final payment for sins, and that we need different parts of him to keep purifying us day to day. No, Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient to cover all of your sin. God has made you righteous by giving you his own righteous life in Christ and by taking your own sin and shame upon himself. You are now set free. So the Lord’s Supper is not taken to be made righteous. But it is taken because we have been made righteous.
Why do we take the Lord’s Supper?
The Lord’s Supper is not taken to be made righteous. (Heb. 10:10)
The Lord’s Supper is taken because we have been made righteous. (Matt. 26:28; Eph. 1:7)
Matthew 26:28 ESV
for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we obtain the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 1:7 ESV
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
The sacrifice of Jesus forgave us of our sins and brings us into right relationship with God. God takes his enemies and brings them into his own home. He takes vagabonds from off the streets and has brought them to dine at his table in his home. We take the Lord’s Supper because we have been invited to the table, not the other way around.
So let’s refresh: why do we baptize people? Because we have been saved.
Why do we take the Lord’s Supper? Because we have been made righteous and were invited to sit with the Lord at his table.
So let’s ask a third and final question:

Why did Jesus Implement Baptism and the Lord’s Supper?

There is no direct answer in scripture. You won’t find a passage that says “Jesus implemented Baptism and the Lord’s Supper because ...” But here are a few answers I would propose based on my observation and reflection upon Christ’s commands and the rest of scripture:
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are lived, tangible actions of faith that unite us to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, strengthening our belief in him and bearing testimony to his miraculous salvation.
These are both actions that are tangible, relatable, participatory.
They are both acts of faith in response to God’s grace that is given.
I wrote some more of what these actions do:
Reminder (Exod. 12:7-13)
Perseverance (1 Cor. 10:1-6)
Participation (1 Cor. 10:16)
Unification (1 Cor. 10:17)
Encouragement (Col. 2:11-13)
Hope (Heb. 9:12)
Conviction (Heb. 9:14; 1 Cor. 11:28)
Witness (1 Cor. 11:26)
1 Corinthians 11:26 ESV
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
When you eat, you are making a proclamation.
Jesus has left the church with this charge, this instruction, to institute this meal as often as we meet together. Why?
We believe Jesus has instructed his church and equipped them to help people know God, honor Him, and proclaim His name.
As the church we remember and participate in the death and resurrection of Christ through baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
At the end of the day, it helps people know God, honor him, and proclaim his name. Your participation in baptism and the Lord’s Supper is an act that God uses to bring you closer to himself, but also something that God uses to proclaim to others. When you remember the Lord’s work for your life, you are again brought back to faith. Faith in him, that you are trusting in him for your salvation. That you are trusting in him for the forgiveness of your sins. That you believe he has cleansed you through the blood of Jesus Christ, and has brought you out of the waters of death to breathe the air of new spiritual life. And you are proclaiming the new covenant that you have because of the blood of Jesus, that there is forgiveness of sins. When we eat of the bread and drink of the cup, or when we enter the waters during baptism and are raised, it’s not a mere remembrance, but an act of faith whereby we are declaring “I believe in the power of Jesus Christ and in the forgiveness of sins”.
What is the warning given to us in scripture by Paul when it comes to the Lord’s Supper? That we don’t defile the work of Christ. The church in Corinth mistook the sanctity of the Lord’s Supper, and by eating before others had arrived and using their social class to make some believers wait on them because they were servants, they had completely forgotten what the Lord’s Supper was supposed to symbolize: the forgiveness of sins and the new life to which they are to live. And so, Paul establishes this command that is still applicable to believers today:
1 Corinthians 11:28 ESV
Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
Putting to death the old self and putting on Christ. This is remembering what Christ has done for you in the forgiveness of sins. This is you rehearsing in your mind what Jesus has done for you, his body broken for you. His blood poured out for you. And I’m going to encourage you during this time, as the ushers pass out the Lord’s Supper, to reflect and remember the covenant love which Christ gave to you. And I would encourage you to confess your sins before him so as to not cling on to sin and say by your actions that Christ’s sacrifice means nothing. Lay your sins at his feet, ask for forgiveness, and claim the new life in his blood, which God has freely given to you through Jesus Christ the righteous.
1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
And we do. We proclaim that Jesus is the one who is sufficient for our sins. Let us go out from this church and continue to proclaim the same message to all people in all places.
We are dismissed.
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