Baptism. Is it really that important? Does it really matter to my faith

Transcription

1 Study 5 by Brandon Park Why Is Baptism Such a Big Deal? Baptism. Is it really that important? Does it really matter to my faith and my walk in Christ? Is a person saved through baptism? You may have plenty of questions surrounding this topic, so we ll look to the Bible to get some answers. Asked to explain baptism, a little boy answered, It s when the preacher holds you under water, and you think about Jesus! We can take heart in knowing that there is much more to the ordinance of baptism than that! Baptism really is a big deal. In fact, the Bible talks about the subject of baptism 74 times! Jesus had an earthly ministry of three and a half years, and He commenced His ministry by being baptized, and He concluded his ministry by commanding his followers to Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit... (Matthew 28:19-20). Since baptism composed the bookends of the ministry of God s Son, that should tell us that it s a very big deal! What Jesus emphasizes, we should never de-emphasize, and we should never minimize what God has maximized! Sometimes people have a tendency to think of baptism as something they have to do. Yet this is not something we have to do but rather something that we get to do. Once you truly understand its significance, you ll realize that it is a tremendous privilege! Here s the key takeaway I want you to download into your heart: Baptism by immersion is the Biblical way a believer professes his faith in the crucified, risen Christ. Why is the method of baptism so important? There is only one kind of baptism taught in the Bible, and that is baptism by immersion. Since Jesus Christ is the example we pattern all of our life after, we should examine how Jesus was baptized. Mark 1:9-10 says, At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. So if Jesus came up out of the water, where was He? He was in the water. Jesus travelled over 60 miles in order to be baptized by John the Baptist at the Jordan River. John 3:23 tells us John the Baptist was baptizing at the Jordan because there was much water there. Baptism

2 Baptism is both a picture and a symbol of what Jesus has done for you and your new identity in Him. by immersion is not always the easiest and most convenient thing to do. But if sprinkling and pouring were sufficient methods for Jesus to have been baptized, he could have saved Himself the hassle of making the 60-mile trip. The word baptize comes from the spoken language back in Jesus day known as Koine Greek. If you had lived back then, you would have heard the everyday Greek word baptizo, which is where we get our word baptize. Baptizo simply means to immerse, to dunk, or to dip under. It was a word used to describe ships that had sunk into the sea. When a woman wanted to take a cloth and change the colour of that cloth, she would immerse the cloth in dye, or baptizo the cloth. One ancient Jewish historian even described a man who was murdered by baptism! That s easy to understand. You would just put him under the water and not allow him to come back up! As you can see, up until the time of Christ, this was a common word that had no religious meaning whatsoever until John the Baptist came along. So it s very clear from the Bible that immersion is the idea surrounding this topic of baptism. What does baptism symbolize? The reason Jesus was baptized has a lot to do with why we ought to be baptized identification. In the early church, baptism was the way to ID those who were truly believers. When Jesus was baptized, He was identifying Himself with us being our model. When we are baptized, we are identifying ourselves with Him. Both the method and the meaning of baptism are interwoven. If you change the method, you distort the meaning. The meaning of baptism is that it is an outward sign of an inward reality. It pictures what Jesus Christ has done for you. Just as Jesus died and was buried for the payment of your sins, when a believer goes under the water, it is a picture that he or she is dying to self and their former way of living. Just as Jesus was resurrected from the grave, when a baptized believer comes up out of the water, it is a picture of our new life with Christ and the fact that we will enjoy an eternal life with Him. Romans 6:4 says, 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. So baptism is both a picture and a symbol of what Jesus has done for you and your new identity in Him. Suppose you had never met me, and you came up to my wife and said, Carrie, do you have a picture of your husband? And suppose she were to hold up a photograph of Brad Pitt. I can understand how she might get us confused because we look so strikingly similar. But you would see that photograph and you would say, Carrie, that s not your husband - that s Brad Pitt! And suppose her response was, Well, any picture will do. A true picture of anything always represents the reality of whatever you are trying to portray. You can t picture a burial by sprinkling a few drops of water on a person s head. Baptism is a picture of Jesus death, burial,

3 and resurrection and our identity with Him. The baptistery is in reality a liquid tomb. Romans 6:5 says, We are buried in the likeness of his death. I like to look at a baptism as a funeral service of a person s former life of sin and a celebration service of their new life in Christ. On April 10, 1994, Brandon Park had his funeral service. The only mourner there was the devil - he hated to see me go. I had been his good buddy. But the old Brandon Park was gone, and that was pictured by my going down into the water. It is important to have your baptism after your salvation. To be baptized before you were saved would be like having your funeral service before you die. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation... old things have passed away... (2 Corinthians 5:17). Baptism is the way a believer identifies himself as a follower of Jesus Christ. In your own words, describe what your baptism is a picture or symbol of. Who should be baptized? There are two things that always go together in the Bible: belief and then baptism. You never find one without the other, and you never find them in any other order. Every time you find an instance where someone decides to become a lifelong follower of Christ, you see them baptized. For example, in Acts 18:8, we see, Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized. If you have become a true follower of Christ and you want everyone to know that you are identifying yourself with Him, the way you do that is to be baptized by immersion. As mentioned in the previous study, in some countries it is a crime to be baptized into the Christian faith. They are not concerned with a person merely attending a church or claiming to be a follower of Christ, but once they are baptized, it is a sign to them that you are serious about your belief, which results in that individual s life being in jeopardy. If you are a follower of Christ, and you re not ashamed of the God who has saved you, and you want everybody to know that you re a believer in Jesus, the way that you show that is through baptism by immersion. The way that you profess your faith in Christ is not just praying a prayer or walking down an aisle of a church. In the New Testament, the way a person professed their faith in Christ was by being baptized, and it is no

4 Baptism is not necessary for salvation, but it is necessary for obedience. different today. We have many in our church who have come from a religious background where they have been baptized as infants. They later come to the realization that they need to be baptized by immersion now that they have made a decision to become a lifelong follower of Christ, but they don t want to offend their families. One woman expressed to her parents that when she was baptized as an infant, she acknowledged that her parents wanted her to be raised in the teachings of Christ and His Church. But now, as an adult, she is acting on that teaching for herself and making the personal decision to accept and follow Christ as her Lord and Saviour. When should a person be baptized? In the Bible, baptism was always done immediately after one believes the gospel and receives Jesus Christ. For example, there was a Philippian jailer who was saved under amazing circumstances. In Acts 16, after Paul and Silas were freed from their prison bonds, the Philippian jailer took Paul into his home and asked, What must I do to be saved? And then the Bible says that... immediately he was baptized. You find that pattern throughout the Bible. They were saved and then immediately baptized. Why was it so quick? Because baptism is the way a believer identifies himself as a follower of Jesus Christ, and they were eager for others to know their decision. This is so critical for us to understand: There is no record of an unbaptized believer in the New Testament. There is nothing in Scripture comparable to the excuses that people give today for not being baptized. Well, I gave my heart and life to Christ as a child, but I ve never been baptized. Or I accepted Christ 10 years ago, but I have never followed through on believer s baptism. There is no record of anything remotely similar to that in the Bible. Without exception, every believer in the Bible was immediately baptized. When a police officer is sworn in, he immediately puts on the badge. When a man joins the army, he immediately puts on the uniform. When a couple gets married, they immediately put on their wedding bands. Could you imagine how my wife would have felt on the day of our wedding if I had said to her, Honey, I love you... I just said I do... but let s talk maybe in another 20 years about putting on that wedding ring. I don t think that would have gone over very well. I wear that ring with pride because I want the world to know that she belongs to me and I belong to her! So the Bible says that once a man receives Jesus, understands the message of the gospel, and becomes a follower of Christ, they should immediately be baptized. Are we fully saved after being baptized? I cannot be more emphatic when I state the plain fact that baptism does not save you. You can be baptized so many times that you know every

5 crack in the bottom of the baptistery and still not be saved. Technically speaking, you become a Christian by grace through faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. There are two extreme viewpoints that people have when it comes to this issue, and both are incorrect. There is one group that says baptism is necessary for a person to go to heaven; therefore, it is a big deal. Yet there is another group that says baptism is not necessary to go to heaven; therefore, it is not a big deal. In this case, the truth lies in the middle because both groups are half right. Baptism is not necessary to go to heaven, but it is a very big deal. As I share the gospel with people, I always ask them about their relationship with Jesus Christ, and many of them tell me, Oh I was baptized as a kid. They somehow get the idea that all you have to do is be baptized, and then you re right with God. Getting baptized does not make you a follower of Jesus Christ. I m wearing a wedding ring right now. If I were to take my wedding band off of my finger and give it to a single man, would that make him married to my wife? Of course not. In a similar way, my taking the wedding band off does not make me unmarried. I am still married to my spouse regardless. So I can t make another man married by putting my wedding band on him, and I cannot make myself unmarried by taking the wedding band off. The wedding ring simply shows that I am married. And that s precisely what baptism portrays. Never mistake the symbol for the meaning just as you never mistake the ring for marriage. Baptism is not necessary for salvation, but it is necessary for obedience. It is obedience that brings the blessing of God into your life. The Christian who is obedient to the Lord will be a Christian full of joy and full of fruitfulness in his life. I ve heard some individuals ask, How come I can t understand the Bible? Why don t I sense the Lord at work in my life? Why don t I sense God s direction in important decisions I am facing? Yet when I counsel and do a little prodding, we discover that there is some area of disobedience in that person s life. God says, Why should I give you more light when I have already given you clear light in this matter that you have ignored? The way to understand the part of Scripture that you don t understand is to obey the part of Scripture that you do understand. And when you begin to obey what you do understand, you will be amazed at how much more light will break into your life. The waters of baptism, whether a spoonful or a tank full, cannot take away sin. But whenever possible, and as soon as possible, you should be baptized. There was a little kid who heard the gospel in children s church one Sunday and afterwards, told his mother, Mom, I asked Jesus to come into my heart... what do I do next? She said, After the worship service, just go up to the pastor and tell him that you have made the decision to follow Christ and you would like to be baptized. Well, he misunderstood what his mother said, so after the service, he walked up

6 to his pastor and said, I ve decided to follow Jesus, and I want to be advertised! Although that may be incorrect terminology, it s great theology! Because that s exactly what baptism truly is a symbol that you are advertising your faith in Jesus and your commitment to be a lifelong follower of the One who gave His life for you. How would you describe baptism to an unchurched friend who has never witnessed a baptism before? Based on what you ve studied today, have you been baptized the way Jesus was since your conversion as a follower of Christ?