Concluding "Of Water & the Spirit"

I hope that our month-long congregational study on New Testament baptism has been as much a blessing to you as it has to me.  If you learned just one tenth as much as I did, then it was a tremendous success!  As I said, and I hope you found it to be true, no matter how much we thought we knew about the subject, there is always more to glean from the Scriptures. Churches of Christ have long emphasized the importance and necessity of baptism, but I think it may be even more important than we have ever thought.  I hope you have been convinced as well.

 

I appreciate Brad filling in for me last weekend and for the excellent lesson he brought.  If there is one thing that we sometimes neglect about baptism, it is how it was meant to draw all Christians together in unity.  As we unite with Christ in baptism, he adds us to his church and that is something we all share in common.  How sad that this unifying act of baptism has been used through the centuries to divide.  It just goes to show you how people can really mess up a good thing.

 

We will be wrapping up the study this Sunday from the pulpit with one final lesson, "the promise of baptism" where we will be looking at another often overlooked aspect of baptism and that is the promise of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:38).  What is the Spirit's role in baptism?  To get ready for the lesson I suggest you go back to Acts 2 and re-read Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost and then look at the crowd's reaction.  Make special note of what Peter told them to do in response to hearing the good news.  Then go back and re-read Luke 3:21-22 and ask yourself, "Why was Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, the sinless Son of God, baptized?  Did he 'have to'?"

  On Sunday evening, we will be having a panel discussion to conclude the series, "Down in the River."  No, we won't be going to the river, but I do hope and pray that we may need to put our baptistry to good use!  A panel of Sunday school teachers, Elders and maybe a deacon or two will be addressing any "loose end" questions which may have come up in our discussion.  I'll be serving as moderator.  It will not be a debate, but rather an open discussion on the meaning and importance for us today.  Come prepared with any questions you may still have!  You can drop me a line anytime this week with questions that you would like to see us address.

the covenant of baptism

This past Sunday I latched on a metaphor I got from F. LaGard Smith's book, Baptism: the believer's wedding ceremony and tried to explore how baptism functions as that event which forever unites the penitent believer to Jesus.  He of course drew the analogy from the numerous texts in the New Testament which liken our relationship with Christ to that of a marriage.  We are "united to Christ" in baptism (cf. Rom 6) and we are called the "bride of Christ." 

Its an analogy that works really well, I think, for a number of reasons.  One, it emphasizes the covenental aspect of baptism.  It is the "pledge of a good conscience towards God"... a promise to be faithful to him because of what he has done for us.  Two, it emphasizes that baptism is about relationship over ritual.  While some have viewed baptism simply as a command to be obeyed that God put out there just to see if we would do it.  It is more about being united to God.  Its not some hoop to jump through, a rung to be climbed or a box to be checked.  Its about entering into a joyous union with your best friend!  Third, it reveals baptism as an expression of love... not duty.  The question shouldn't be, "Do I HAVE to be baptized in order to be saved?"  It ought to be, "You mean I GET TO be baptized?"  The Ethiopian eunuch didn't respond to the gospel by asking, "Do I HAVE to?" but rather he saw water and said, "What is keeping me from it?"  Finally, thinking about baptism in these terms emphasizes that it is just the beginning of our Christian walk... not the goal.  Too often we forget that the newly baptized aren't yet "full grown" and they will need help along the way... help from older brothers and sisters in the faith.  Let's not leave them as infants to care for themselves!

Ocassionally I get a response from people to my lessons.  One response that I heard was from a lady who shared that her marriage wasn't a good one at all and so the analogy didn't really work for her.  I think that is so sad, but I think that it does emphasize the importance of being faithful to our baptisms.  Just as unfaithfulness in marriage can destroy those relationships, unfaithfulness to our baptism covenant with God can destroy our relationship with him.  Of course, he is never unfaithful... but sometimes we are.  In so many ways we fail to live up to that promise to always love him, always cherish, and always obey.  That may be the most powerful lesson from this metaphor that I can think of... and something that didn't even occur to me until I heard this response.  Isn't that the very problem that Paul was addressing in Romans 6?  The Roman Christians were continuing in their sin EVEN after their baptism and Paul scolds them by telling them that to continue in sin is contrary to the meaning of their baptism.  Thoughts?  In what ways can we demonstrate faithfulness to the covenant of baptism?

cookies & coke for communion.... and flag-burning?

Okay, I am sure that the word has already gotten out... they're talking about cookies and coca cola for communion over at Washington Street.  AND the preacher's a flag-burner!  Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I just know how rumors get out.  Well, this one actually has some truth to it...

One of the things I hear about baptism from some of our religious friends is that baptism is "just a symbol"... that it is an "outward sign of an inward grace."  I agree with them up to a point.  The outward act of baptism is meaningless unless it includes a genuine penitent heart.  What God cares about is the surrender of our hearts to him, not just our bodies to the water.  And yet... I don't think that negates the importance and even the necessity of that visual, symbolic act of baptism.  The truth is that symbols mean something.  Take for example our nation's flag, as I did this morning.  It isn't particularly creative in design.  the material is like hundreds of other fabrics and it isn't that expensive to purchase one.  it is "just a symbol."  So, what would cause men and women to give their lives to protect it?  What would prompt Francis Scott Key to write his ode to it which would become our national anthem?  What would happen if I lit it on fire before our church this morning?  I got out a match and acted like I might just to get a reaction.  One gentleman told me afterwards that he would have thrown ME in the baptistry if I had done it... and I wouldn't be coming up!  Yikes! 

What about the Lord's Supper?  We know, don't we, that the bread and the fruit of the vine (i.e. Welch's) are "just symbols".  They aren't ACTUALLY the body and blood of Jesus.  They only symbolically represent the body and blood.  So, what if I substituted cookies and coke next week?  Maybe the point is overstated, but I think you get it... I hope everyone did at church this morning.  Symbols mean something!  We wouldn't desecrate the symbol of the flag and we wouldn't substitute the symbols of the Lord's Supper.

Why, then, do some want to do that with baptism?  Replacing the mode of baptism with sprinkling or pouring for convenience sake misses the whole point.  The visual symbol of the water burial is important.  It publicly proclaims the gospel (the death, burial & resurrection of Jesus) AND it publicly proclaims our own death to sin, desire to leave it behind and resurrection to new life.  A powerful symbol, indeed.

one way to do it!

We're talking about baptism this month... here's ONE way to do it!

the "work" of baptism

 

I believe that a lot of churches have not recognized the importance of baptism to our Christian walk because they have viewed it as a “work.”  The Bible is clear that we are saved by grace, thru faith and NOT by works (cf. Eph 2:8-9).  I think I understand where they are coming from.  If baptism is a “work” it cannot effect our salvation.  Yet I challenged us Sunday to rethink that definition of baptism.  The Bible never defines it as a work nor does it present it as something that WE do at all.  Baptism is something that is done TO us.  If it is a “work” it is a “work of God.”  He is the worker, we are the passive recipients.  He does the baptizing and the forgiving.  We do the receiving of that forgiveness in baptism.  So, baptism is not to be seen as a “work” but rather as a submissive response to the incredible good news that God has acted to save us through Jesus Christ.  And it is through that submissive response to the gospel that God WORKS to save us from our sins. 

Colossians 2:11-13

11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.  13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins… NIV

 

Notice again what is said in vs. 13 of Col. 2.  We were dead.  God made us alive.  We didn’t bring ourselves to life.  God did.  We didn’t do a thing other than to receive the mark of baptism which, like circumcision was the identifying mark of a child of God in the Old Testament, is the mark which identifies us a children of God today.  And God did it!  He baptized us!

 

So, can I affirm that I am saved by grace through faith and not by works?  Absolutely.  Can I also affirm that baptism is an important AND necessary part of that salvation process?  Absolutely.  Next week we’re going to take a look at the symbolism behind baptism and why that is so very important.  Baptism isn’t just some requirement that God has asked us to do just to see if we will do it.  The act itself is so full of meaning for us!  Join in on the discussion this week…

your story

So, I'm beginning a series this Sunday on baptism.  It sounds like a very traditional thing to do for an old church of Christ boy like myself... but I've got to tell you... I'm pretty excited about it!  Baptism is one of those subjects that churches of Christ have been well-known for hammering from our pulpits pretty regularly.  I realize we may have had a few extreme folks out there who may have left erroneous impressions of what baptism is, but I think by and large this reputation has been a good thing for us.  Baptism is important.  I've always been convinced of that... but I'm becoming more and more convinced that it is even more important than we may have ever thought!  This is ironic to me since I have been criticized by not mentioning it in my preaching enough.  I hope to remedy this by taking an entire month and encouraging all of us to study together and explore the full meaning of baptism as it is presented in the New Testament.

As I begin this series... by exploring the "mystery" of baptism... I am interested in hearing YOUR stories.  When were you baptized into Christ?  What prompted your decision?  Was it a gospel meeting or revival?  Was it a particular preacher or sermon?  Where were you baptized... in a creek or river or church building?  Does anything stand out to you about your baptism?

I was talking with Sis. Margaret Jennings the other day at her 100th birthday party celebration.  She told me that one of her fondest memories was being baptized in our old church building here at Washington Street in 1931.  Wow!  She remembered it like it was yesterday!  What's your story?