Separating Spectators from Participants

In some ways, baptism separates the spectators from the participants in the Gospel story.  Those who are baptized have chosen to become active participants in the Gospel as they say yes to the invitation to know and follow Jesus Christ.  They have said yes to baptism as a step of obedience to Christ.  In some ways, baptism reveals the separation between those who stand on the sidelines only knowing about God and those who have chosen to step across the line by entering into a relationship with Him personally.

Baptism is a sacred vow of the believer to follow Christ.  There are some distinct similarities to a marriage relationship.  According to Romans 6:3, we “become part of Christ when we are baptized.”  We are choosing to align our lives with that of Jesus Christ.  We are uniting with Him and committing ourselves to love and obey Him all the days of our lives.

In baptism, we are participating symbolically in the death of our old sinful self, a burial, and a resurrection to new life as it is found only in Jesus Christ.  That’s why we encourage immersion as the preferred method of baptism.  In immersion all three symbols are present: death, burial and resurrection.  If you have never been baptized, and you profess Christ as your Savior, I hope you will give the matter serious and prayerful consideration.

Baptism is not something to be taken lightly.  You don’t have to know the Bible from cover to cover in order to be baptized.  You don’t have to understand everything.  You don’t have to have all of the answers.  You don’t have to be perfect.  The two primary qualities needed for baptism are faith and obedience.

We see one example after another of people coming to faith and following it up with an immediate response of obedience in the book of the Acts (Acts 2:36, 41, 8:35, 36, 38, and 16:29-33).  We need to remember that baptism has no power, in and of itself, to save anyone.  Scripture is abundantly clear that salvation is found in Christ alone.  Baptism is an important declaration of faith as you publicly identify with the One who saves you.

Baptism is a step of obedience in what we hope will be a lifetime of obedience.  Apart from the cross of Jesus Christ, baptism has no significance.  But if baptism is important enough for Jesus to model and command, don’t you think it is important enough for us to obey?

When you love someone you want the world to know.

When you choose to make a commitment to marry someone you love, it is typically not long until you want to go public with that decision.  Over thirty years ago, I decided to marry the girl of my dreams.  Once we were engaged, we both wanted to tell all of our friends.  I am sure we would have been glad to Text, Tweet or Post our commitment, but there was no such thing back then.

When you enter into a relationship that you are excited about, you want the world to know.  Christian Baptism is a public declaration of faith in Jesus Christ.  It’s one thing to say, in the privacy of your own heart, that you’re a sinner in need of a savior.  It’s quite another to walk out of the shadows and stand up publicly to declare that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.

When it comes to baptism, people sometimes tend to lean toward one of two extremes.  Either they see baptism as an act of ultimate importance or they perceive it as of little or no importance at all.  One person says, “I am saved because I was baptized.”  The other says, “I am saved, so I don’t need to be baptized.”  The challenge is to come to a Biblical understanding about baptism, which actually lands between these two extremes.

There is no saving merit in water baptism.  Salvation is found only in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  But once a person admits their sin and turns to Christ for salvation, baptism is a step of obedience that is taken to proclaim to the world that he or she is a follower of Christ.  Some speculate that this step is so important that, with the exception of the thief on the cross, every single convert in the New Testament was baptized.

The only New Testament convert that we know was not baptized was the thief on the cross.  It is interesting that the first person to respond to the crucified Christ was a person who had no creed to recite, no pledge to make, and no doctrine to agree with.  He was just a common criminal who caught a glimpse of who Jesus is and he believed.  As far as we know, this guy never went to church, never gave an offering, and was never baptized.  He just said one prayer.  But that prayer was enough.  He reminds us of the simplicity of the Gospel.  More next time…

Questions and Answers on Christian Baptism

WHAT IS CHRISTIAN BAPTISM?

 1) Baptism is an act of obedience which encourages us in a life of obedience.

 Baptism really is an act of obedience and by following this we are encouraged to a life of obedience.  There must come a time in our life where we totally submit to the Lordship of Jesus.  We begin by obeying him on one small issue, then we continue obeying him on other issues.

2) Baptism symbolizes the new birth through cleansing from sin.

Acts 22:16 – And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.

Acts 2:38 – Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized  every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Repent and be baptized…  There is a break in the thought between repent, and be baptized that is not retained in modern translations.  The number changes from plural to singular, and the person from second to third.

The meaning is let every one of you who has repented be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.  The name stands for the person.  Be baptized for the forgiveness of sins does not mean to be baptized in order to be forgiven, but because of the forgiveness you received when you repented.

We’re not talking about baptismal regeneration, meaning that a person is saved because they are baptized.  Instead baptism is symbolic of the washing away of your sin.

3) Baptism symbolizes the death burial and resurrection of Jesus.

Romans 6:3-5 – Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4] We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  [5] If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

There are other methods of baptism, but scriptural baptism is a picture of immersion which is symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord.

4) Christian baptism is an act which initiates the Christian into fellowship.

1 Corinthians 12:12 13 (The Message) – You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts-limbs, organs, cells-but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. [13] By means of his one Spirit, we all said goodbye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body,

refreshed and sustained at one fountain-His Spirit-where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves-labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free-are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

There is a unifying factor that is involved with Christian baptism.  The early Christians were baptized, united together in their membership.  And then the church multiplied.  There is a definite relationship there.  They were baptized into the church.  They were united together in membership.  And then the church began to multiply.

 5)  Baptism is a public testimony.

This is your opportunity to give a testimony to the entire church body concerning Jesus Christ and what He means to you.  The testimony is a beautiful part of the baptism.

In the Bible we see that Baptism was used for evangelism.  John the Baptist used the Jordan River as his pulpit as he declared the righteousness of God.  He knew there were unsaved people there and so he used this as an opportunity to talk to them about repentance, following Christ and living the life of holiness.  Be sure to invite your “pre-Christian” family members and friends to your Baptism.

WHAT CHRISTIAN BAPTISM IS NOT

 1)  It is not a guarantee of heaven. There is no faith and repentance in the area of water baptism.  There is no salvation in water baptism.

Ephesians 2:8    For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –

You can’t get baptized to be saved.  There is no saving virtue or saving merit in water baptism.  If you go into the water a dry sinner, the only thing you will do is come up a wet sinner.

 2)  Christian Baptism is not infant baptism.

There is no scriptural grounds for baptizing babies.  We encourage parents to dedicate children.  Our Manual makes provision for infant baptism, but unless there is some kind of historical background within the family to make them want to baptize their children instead of dedicate them, we encourage dedication.  Baptizing children simply signifies that those children are covered by God’s prevenient grace.

There is one major concern regarding infant baptism. Our major concern with infant baptism is that people who have been baptized as infants often mistake their baptism for assurance of eternal life.  Salvation is in Jesus Christ alone.  We don’t want to baptize babies and have them grow up and think that just because we sprinkled some water on them that that is the assurance of their salvation and they are going to go to heaven.  That’s a false assurance!

We dedicate babies, and that is scriptural.  Jesus himself was brought to the temple and presented to the priest.  When we dedicate a baby it has absolutely nothing to do with that child’s salvation.  Actually, it is more parental dedication than it is baby dedication anyway.

There is not one verse of scripture that teaches infant baptism as a biblical principle at all.  Christian baptism is baptism after our conversion.

WHY IS BAPTISM NECESSARY?

Our church doctrine states that Christian baptism, is commanded by our Lord, is a sacrament signifying acceptance of the benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ, is to be administered to believers serving as a declaration of their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

So what does God’s Word have to say about the sacrament of baptism?

Matthew 28:19-20 – Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Jesus tells us that the mission of the church is to go, make disciples, baptize and teach.

If Jesus taught it, most would agree, it’s important!

The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 tells us that we are to “Go”.  That speaks of the evangelistic arm of the church.  Soul winning.  The desire to touch people outside of the church for the cause of Christ.   We are to “Make Disciples”.

We take those who have come to the Lord and help them to become reproducing disciples themselves.  Then we are called to “Baptize” and to “Teach”.

So the mission of the church, according to Jesus,  is really very simple.  Go, Make Disciples, Baptize and Teach.  But what are we to teach?

We’re to teach everything that Christ commanded.

Jesus told the disciples to teach them to “obey everything that I have commanded you.”  That one word causes us to need to stop and consider seriously the issue of water baptism and our stand on it. When the Word says to “teach them to obey everything He has commanded”, that would certainly include the matter of baptism because Jesus Himself taught about baptism through His teachings and through His example.

Our church should be fulfilling that Great Commission.  We should have an evangelistic church, making disciples, teaching God’s Word, and we should have a church that baptizes new believers.

WHO IS A CANDIDATE FOR BAPTISM?

 1) Those who confess their sins to Him.

As we believe that Christ forgave us, and we determine that we want a new life,  we repent and turn our back on sin.

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

 2)  Those who repent.

Acts 2:38 – Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Repent means literally to turn around.  We turn our back on the sins of the past.  There must be

repentance from sin before we can have a Christian baptism.

We have a limited understanding sometimes of what it really means to repent.  The word literally means to change your mind or change your attitude.  Change your manner of life from what it is now

to what God would have it to be.   Specifically, you are to change your mind with reference to Jesus.  Anything less than making Him Lord of your life falls short of repentance.

Repentance is more than reformation.  A person may quit cursing, drinking, beating his wife, stealing, etc and still  fall short of repentance.  Repentance is the willingness and the decision, with God’s help, to turn away from all sin.  You may be convicted and sorry for sin, but until you repent there is no conversion.

Repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ are like Siamese twins.  You can’t believe in Christ, in a saving sense, until you turn from sin.

A soldier described his conversion experience like this:  I was marching in the army of Satan. I heard a new commander, the Lord Jesus say, “Right, about face!”  I turned my back on the old commander.  When the new commander said, “Forward, march”, I marched.  Turning your back on the old commander is repentance.  Marching with the new commander is faith.

 3)  Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You accept him into your life not only as the Savior of the world but as your personal Lord and Savior.

If you have done all three of these things, then you are a candidate for Christian baptism.

If you are a Christian, but you have not been obedient in the area of baptism, we would strongly encourage you to make that decision today.

There is a joy that awaits you from being obedient to God in the area of Christian baptism!