Today was a momentous day, as my oldest daughter Chloe was baptized. We've been moving this direction for a while, and I was thrilled when she decided to take the plunge (no pun intended, though definitely appreciated). Before the baptism I gave a little speel on what it's about, for Chloe's benefit as well as the benefit of those present. As I told Ashley, "What better time to preach the gospel than at a baptism?" Transcript below!
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Before we get to the dunking, I want to share a few words. A baptism isn’t just a rite or ritual; Though it is often approached as an “outward sign of an inward faith,” from the days of the early church to about 1500, it was understood to be much more than that. It was the point in time in which a person went from being God’s Enemy to God’s child, the point in time in which a person was transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Every baptism is a momentous occasion celebrated in heaven with much fanfare, and in that spirit it is only appropriate to say a few words about what this strange act is all about.
The story begins and ends in a garden. God created man in his image, but mankind turned from God. We learn of this in Genesis 3, when the devil tempts Adam and Eve, saying that if they eat the forbidden fruit, they will become like God. Adam and Eve sin by disobeying God, and their sin is an overt attempt to overthrow God and take control of their lives outside God’s will. Ever since then, all of us have turned from God, each to his own way, and we strive to live our lives as we see fit. We make ourselves our own gods, and we stand condemned.
God’s Word tells us that we are all sinners, and we are separated from God because of our sin. We are enemies of God, enslaved to sin and under its power, condemned for the guilt of sin in our lives, and our only destiny is turmoil in this life and deserved torment in the next.
God would be just to leave us as we are and condemn us as we deserve. But that’s not the kind of God He is. Our Creator is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in patient love and faithfulness. We rebelled against God, but God has sought us out and made a way for us to be reconciled, or brought back into harmony, with Him. In Romans Paul tells us that while we were still God’s enemies, Christ died for us, the godly for the ungodly, so that we who put our faith in Christ will be saved from our rebellion and reconciled to God.
God makes a way for us through His Son, the Messiah Jesus Christ. We need not only forgiveness of our sins but also empowerment to “fulfill the just requirement of the law,” as Paul puts it; in layman terms, as God’s imagers - those made in His image - it is our task to love Him and obey Him and to do His will. But we can’t do this because we are, as Paul puts it, enslaved to sin. God then has two issues to deal with in order to bring us back into fellowship with Him: He must forgive us our sins and break the power of sin over us. That is precisely what the cross was all about: when Jesus died, he not only died to forgive us of our sins by shedding His blood in our place, by taking the wrath of God we deserve upon his shoulders, but he also led the evil powers and principalities - those forces of darkness that hold sway over us - in triumphant procession, overwhelming and disarming them and defeating them in his death and resurrection. Paul puts it this way in Colossians 2.13-15:
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
How do we receive the gift of salvation - of rescue and renewal and reconciliation with God- that is available in Jesus? First, we must put our faith in him. Faith isn’t just believing the gospel is true; it is best defined as “trusting submission” to God, or even as “loyalty” to God. The one who has faith in Jesus submits his whole self to him and makes an honest effort to obey him and do as he commands. Some mistakenly equate faith with mere mental belief; in James 3 we are told that “faith without works is dead,” a clever way of saying that if our belief doesn’t flesh itself out in obedience to Jesus, it isn’t “saving faith.” Even demons, James says, have that kind of faith!
He who puts his faith in Jesus will also repent of his sins. This means that he makes a decision of the will to forsake sin and turn to God. It means saying “No” to sin and “Yes” to obedience. A faith that doesn’t produce repentance is no faith at all. Repentance will not be perfect, but for the one who has true faith in Jesus, it will be there nonetheless.
Paul tells us in Romans 10 that we must confess Jesus as Lord. In Paul’s day, that was a dangerous thing to do. Citizens of Rome were to profess loyalty to Caesar, and by professing loyalty to Jesus as King- by “confessing him as Lord” - Christians were making it clear where their true loyalties lie, regardless of the consequences. A true faith, that produces repentance, will also produce confession of Jesus’ lordship.
Finally, we must be baptized into Christ. Baptism is a pledge of loyalty to Christ, but it is more than that. It is also the point in time in which we participate in Christ’s death and resurrection, the point in time in which the work of Christ, in all its power, is made effective in our lives. When we go under the water, we are buried with him. We participate in his death, wherein we are forgiven of our sins and the chains of sin that enslave us are broken. When we come up, we rise with him. We participate in his resurrection, and we are filled with the Holy Spirit, who is both God’s seal that we belong to Him as well as a down payment, or promise, that we will live with Him forever in a recreated cosmos, in the “Garden of God.”
Paul writes about baptism in Romans 6.6-11:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 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. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Chloe, you have put your faith in Jesus, and you have not done so lightly. Over the past couple years you have had all sorts of brilliant questions as you probed what it means to be a Christian. You’ve examined the claims of Christianity and asked hard questions, and I commend you for this. If someone asked me which of my daughters is most like me - and I know this isn’t what you want to hear - I would easily says it’s you. You and I both have examined the claims of Christianity with a critical eye, and God does not scorn us for this - he invites us to do so, because He knows His claims are good. You have made the decision to submit yourself to God, to strive to obey Him, and in a minute you will make the confession that Jesus is Lord, and you will be baptized into Him. You will die to your old self and rise up a new creation. Sins power over you will be broken, you will stand before God 100% redeemed and innocent, and you will no longer be God’s Enemy: You will be His daughter. You will be a part of his worldwide family, with all the privileges that comes with being a part of God’s family.
And the privileges are many! You will no longer be under God’s wrath; you will be under his love and discipline. You will no longer be condemned, for all your sins - past, present, and future - will be forgiven in one fell swoop. You will be freed from the power of sin and filled with the Holy Spirit. Your life will no longer be a “vale of tears” ending in the torment you deserve for your sins: you will have confidence that when you die, you will be in paradise with God and the rest of His family who has preceded you, and when God remakes the universe at the Final Judgment, you will dwell in the recreated cosmos with a recreated physical body for all eternity.
But family membership also has its responsibilities. Just as a child is responsible for living under his father’s rule, so you, as God’s child, will be responsible for living under His rule. Jesus says that we are to obey God, and he even goes so far as to say that those who do not obey Him do not belong to Him. He says that you will know those who belong to God because they strive to obey Him. As a Christian, The Spirit will give you not only the desire to obey Him but also the ability to do so. As a child of God, you are responsible, too, for taking on the character of God’s household: it is God’s purpose to create in you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. He will work these things in your life, creating your heart anew. The Christian life is a struggle; you must war against evil desires and strive to obey God. You will fail daily, but God will be there to pick you up and carry you along, just like a good father. We all have sin in our lives, even after being forgiven and freed from sin’s power, and God will discipline us for our sin, but he does this so that we will grow into the sort of people he wants us to be. As you go under the water and come back up, you are embracing not only the privileges of family membership but also it’s responsibilities.
It is now my honor and privilege to baptize you in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and to welcome you into the family of the Creator God, for now and forevermore.
