Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION:

This morning we’re taking a break from our journey in the book of Revelation and we’re starting a new series entitled .

Sometimes we get so busy going to church and serving in church that it can be easy to forget what the local church even IS.

Why did Jesus create the local church and what does a healthy local church look like?

Consider this definition from the BFM2K.

“A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.”

That’s a long and wordy definition of the church but it’s a good one.

This morning, we’re going to look specifically at one of the two ordinances mentioned in that definition and it’s the ordinance of Baptism.

Today is a special day because we have several individuals who have chosen to be baptized.

In addition to these baptisms we are also going to invite any of you to also consider being baptized in obedience to the command of Jesus.

We’re going to try and take away as many of those excuses as we can so you can be obedient to the command of Jesus.

What Is Baptism

So what is baptism anyway?

Have you ever attempted a definition?

It’s actually an important thing to know about.

I was reading this week about Saint Patrick and his baptism of King Angus - the High King of Munster in Ireland.

The king had consented to be baptized by during the ceremony Patrick accidentally pierced through the foot of the king with his crozier (sharp decorative rod carried by bishops).

The kings foot was bleeding profusely through the baptism but he just thought it was part of the ceremony so he went along with it.

Is that really what baptism is?

We should probably know!

You don’t want somebody stabbing your foot if you can help it.

A Definition

There’s a lot of them out there.

Here’s my take.

Baptism is the bodily immersion of a believer into water to affirm and portray their union with Christ and commitment to His Lordship.

Each of those words are important.

First baptism involves the physical body being immersed in literal water.

I want to try and show you other approaches to baptism don’t really fit the biblical definition of what is is.

Second, baptism is only given to believing men and women.

It’s for believers and NOT for babies because babies do not yet have the mental faculties for exercising repentance and faith in the Gospel.

Thirdly, baptism is a symbolic act in that it affirms and portrays a person’s union with Christ.

There is a spiritual baptism done by Christ when we repent of sin and believe in him.

But water baptism comes AFTER that salvation experience as a symbolic expression.

Finally, baptism is a public confession of one’s faith in Jesus as their savior and their Lord.

It is an act of public obedience to the command of Christ, their Lord.

This morning I want to answer four different questions about baptism: the who, when, how and why.

Paul’s Baptism

There are so many different passages that we could go to in order to study baptism but this morning I want to turn to the book of Acts to examine the baptism of Saul.

To give you a bit of context Saul was someone who acted as a chief persecutor of Christians in the first century.

He hated them.

Saw them as a heretical sect of Judaism and wanted to wipe the movement off the map.

Then, one day, as he traveling to do just that he encounters Jesus Christ - risen from the dead - on the road to Damascus.

What do you think you would do if you met Jesus on a walk and he confronted you on your sin and need for a savior?

Well that’s what happened with Saul.

So Paul spends the next three days at a house in Damascus, praying to God and seeing a vision about a man named Ananias who will come and help him regain his sight.

In God’s providence, that’s exactly what happens.

We pick our text up in Acts 9:13.

The Lord has just called Ananias to go to Paul and share Christ with him so he could be saved and baptized.

Ananias, as you might imagine, had a few concerns.

Acts 9:13–18 (CSB)

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

14 And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.

16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

17 Ananias went and entered the house.

He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

18 At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight.

Then he got up and was baptized.

A Priority For Believers

One of the things that stands out to me about Paul’s baptism is that is was the very FIRST thing he does upon receiving salvation.

Remember, Paul had not been eating or drinking for THREE DAYS at this point.

I don’t know if you’ve ever gone even one day without water but it’s not easy.

He was wrestling with God, struggling with blindness, dealing with his guilt and shame for persecuting the church.

Then, the moment the scales fall from his eyes - the first FIRST thing he says is, “I need to be baptized.”

Not, give me a drink of water.

Not I’m really hungry thank you Lord for this food.

It was baptism.

Baptism is the FIRST PRIORITY for believers.

It’s a really BIG deal.

It’s important.

I know there may be some of you here who maybe don’t see it as that big of a deal but I want to try and show you that it is.

It’s true baptism doesn’t SAVE you but it is one of TWO ordinances that Christ gave to his church and it is something specifically commanded by Christ for every person who believes.

What I’d like us to do this morning is show from this text WHY it’s a big deal and why YOU should be baptized.

But before we get to the WHY I first want to answer three other questions from this text.

Those are the WHO of Baptism, the WHEN of baptism, the HOW of baptism and finally the WHY.

BAPTISM: WHO & WHEN

Let’s start with the question of WHO and WHEN.

They are really wrapped up together because the answer to the first powerfully shapes the answer to the second.

Whether here in Acts 9 or any other example in the New Testament, Baptism should only be performed AFTER a person repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are others of you who were maybe baptized as a child because of your parents decision or the faith tradition you grew up in.

You didn’t really have much of a say in that baptism and your parents were doing what they believed was the RIGHT thing to do.

In that case, your baptism came BEFORE your conversion.

I want to try and show you that’s not the biblical model.

My Presbyterian and reformed friends who practice infant baptism do so because they’re connecting with an Old Testament practice of circumcision that was given to EVERY Jew as a sign of the covenant.

Baptism is a sign of the NEW covenant so the thinking is it also can be applied to babies just as circumcision was.

For Those Who Believe

Here’s my problem with that based on the Bible.

Granting that baptism is the sign of the new covenant, why would you separate the sign from the reality?

In the New Testament, the sign of the covenant is for those who believe.

It’s a sign that points to FAITH.

Why would you point individuals to a union with Christ through faith that isn’t yet present in the life of that individual?

At best it’s confusing.

Baptism is a symbol of someone’s union with Christ by grace through faith.

Babies are not yet old enough to exercise that kind of faith therefore they should not participate the symbolic act.

I could take you to example after example in the book of Acts and you’ll see the same pattern:

Peter’s Sermon “repent and be baptized.”

(Acts 2:38)

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:35-36, 38-39)

Lydia’s Conversion and Baptism (Acts 16:14-15)

The Philippian Jailor (Acts 16:30-34)