Baptism and Identity Romans 6:3-4 April 7-8, 2018 Introduction In the 15 th century the man who became known as Ivan the Great rose to power in Russia, consolidated the many Russian fiefdoms under his rule, defeated the Mongol hordes, and greatly expanded the borders of the Russian empire. After his first wife died, Ivan saw an opportunity for a political marriage and pursued the princess of the Byzantine empire in Greece. As the marriage was finalized, Ivan traveled with his personal guard of 500 soldiers to Greece. When Ivan arrived, and wedding preparations were being made, a major issue arose: this was to be a Greek Orthodox wedding, but Ivan had never been baptized Greek Orthodox. For his part Ivan, didn t mind getting baptized, so they immediately made plans for his baptism. Wanting to follow their leader in every way, all 500 of his soldiers also decided to get baptized. Thus, a few days before the wedding, Ivan and his men set off to be baptized. Imagine this if you will: the rolling hills of Greece leading down to the crystal blue waters of the Mediterranean; on the sandy white beach stands 500 soldiers in full battle regalia: swords, armor, and all the markings of their rank, with 501 orthodox priests in full priestly vestments waiting for them in the slowly lapping waves, and thousands of Greek onlookers standing by taking in this grand spectacle. We just had the privilege of celebrating the resurrection of our Lord this past Sunday. That served as the capstone in our sermon series called Root to Fruit where we studied the work of the Holy Spirit to produce godly qualities in us as we learn to walk by His power more and more. Now, as we look forward to the upcoming series on the Armor of God we want to have a reminder of our identity as Children of God and the significance of baptism in the life of the disciple of Jesus. This year, we re going to be having a baptism weekend the last Sunday in August 26 and are letting you know now so you can mark your calendars and plan on attending to witness the baptisms or, even better, getting baptized yourself. In order to prime the pump for that, today we re going to briefly study 3 aspects of our identity in Christ as made clear in baptism. If you would turn with me in your bibles, we re going to be studying Romans 6:3-4. As you turn there, I m going to pray. Three Aspects of Our Identity in Baptism Romans 6:3-4 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. Page 1 of 5
Now, we ve got to recognize at the outset a couple of critical truths: o 1) in this passage Paul is speaking about spiritual union with Christ and is using water baptism imagery to convey this truth; therefore o 2) we must remember that there is no salvific power in the act of water baptism, we re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ water baptism has no power to save us but o 3) Paul assumes that every believer in Rome to whom he s writing has been baptized by water ( all of us who have been baptized ) and therefore addresses the significance of the meaning of their baptism as an outward display of their union with Christ. Why does Paul assume this, well because Jesus commanded it: Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Let me just pause right here and ask you, have you been baptized as a follower of Jesus Christ? Have you put your faith in Jesus and experienced the joy of being baptized as a very clear and public expression of submission to Jesus? o If you haven t, please hear me: not only are you missing out on the amazing spiritual experience of baptism I mean truly, baptism isn t something we have to do, baptism is a privilege that we are given when we re adopted into the family of God but we ve got to recognize that if you say you re a follower of Jesus and have chosen not to be baptized then you re being disobedient and are walking in sin and God is displeased with your decision not to be baptized. What sin are you committing? Well, that depends on your reasons for not getting baptized but two of the most common are pride and fear. We need to recognize the seriousness of this. o God is pleased in our obediently being baptized. When Jesus was baptized, God spoke out and said Matthew 3:17 This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Again, there s no saving power in water baptism but baptism is certainly more than a symbolic display. There s something mysterious that takes place as we boldly profess our trust in and submission to Jesus in the very public means of baptism. o In one sense, it s like exchanging a wedding ring. When you enter into the covenant of marriage, the covenant is made and sealed when the husband and wife exchange their vows; at that moment of exchanging vows the covenant is compete. But must couples in our culture choose to exchange rings as a very public display of the Page 2 of 5
covenant they ve made with each other. Some even have those rings tattooed on their fingers to express the permanency of their commitment. o And that s what baptism is like for the follower of Jesus Christ: it s an outward display of the covenant commitment you ve made by the grace of God to be a follower of Jesus for the rest of eternity. Baptism is a privilege we get to take part in and there are at least 3 critical aspects of our identity as followers of Jesus that we need to see in baptism. o 1) Baptism boldly testifies to our union with Christ Look at the passage baptism signifies our unity with Christ, we are baptized into Christ Himself. If I were you I d circle the word into throughout this passage Baptism reminds us and professes to the world that our identity is rooted in Jesus and that we re seeking to be like Him, seeking to trust Him in all things, seeking to follow Him wherever He leads, seeking to submit to Him as His disciple in every way. Our identity is in Christ. Nothing else in this world defines who we are; not our job, our family, our hobbies, not our life choices, our sexual orientation, or our leisure activities, not our nationality, or our politics none of these things define us when submit to Jesus and if any of these things do define us, then you can be sure that the Spirit of God is going to help you to see that so you can let those things go and walk in the freedom of Christ. o 2) And that leads us to the second aspect of our identity that baptism reveals that we re dead to our old way of life. This is why Paul says that we re not only baptized into Christ, but we re also baptized into His death. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Jesus died and took the punishment for all of the sin in the world. When we repent of our sin and submit to Jesus by faith, all our sins, all of our poor decisions and mistakes, all of our mess-ups everything is covered by His death. In baptism we re proclaiming that we re dead to our old way of life, we ve repented of that turned our back to it by the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God and now those things no longer have power over us as we walk more and more with Jesus. We re now Page 3 of 5
defined by Jesus Christ alone. He s our master, He s our savior, He s our life, He s our identity. This is why the ideal form of baptism is by full immersion in water. You re lowered below the water as a symbol of the death to your old way of life. o 3) But the imagery doesn t stop there, Paul continues on to show us that baptism reminds us that we re not only 1) united with Christ, 2) dead to our old selves, but finally, that we re 3) cleansed and free to walk in the newness of life that we have in Jesus. 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Jesus brings life from death. This is what we just celebrated this past Sunday and it s what Paul concludes with in this passage. As we come up out of the baptism waters, and the water streams down our bodies, we rise out of the water cleansed and free just as we are when we submit to Jesus by faith. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, we now have the ability to walk in the newness of life that God promises to us as His children. The identity of the child of God is one of life and baptism not only proclaims the new life we have in Jesus but also our pursuit of walking in that newness of life with the Holy Spirit leading us every step of the way. Making the decision to be baptized is an act of obedience, but it s also a joyful privilege that we get to participate in as children of God and followers of Jesus. If you haven t experienced this joyful and mysterious gift from the Lord all I can ask is why not? What s holding you back? Or what are you holding back from the Lord that s keeping you from stepping into the powerful waters of baptism? Conclusion And this brings is back to Ivan the Great and his 500 soldiers standing on the shores of the Mediterranean waiting to be baptized. As the soldiers stood there with Ivan and the priests waited in the waters, everything came to a standstill when one of the priests pointed out that the church didn t allow professional soldiers to become member one had to give up all intentional pursuits of violence to be baptized. After a hasty discussion between Ivan and the chief priest, a solution was found and every single soldier stepped into the crystal blue waters to be baptized. However, just before each was lowered under the waves they unsheathed their swords and held them aloft out of the water. Every single part of the soldier was immersed below the waves except for Page 4 of 5
his sword and his fighting hand as they were unwilling to fully identify with Christ and reserved just this small part for themselves. And sadly, this is the same thing many of us do today we hold back parts of ourselves and fail to fully walk in our identities as children of God. Even more, some of us have chosen not to be baptized at all...either spiritually by not submitting to Jesus, or symbolically by refusing to be baptized in water. Let me encourage you today to no longer be satisfied with leaving anything out of the water. Submit everything to Jesus and joyfully walk in that identity. And if you ve not yet been baptized, don t delay any longer. Put aside your reasons they re poor reasons at best swallow your pride, conquer your fear by the power of the Spirit and experience the joy of proclaiming your covenant with Jesus. o As disciples of Jesus our identity is in Him, we ve died to our old way of life and we ve received the power to walk in the newness of life in Christ. As an obedient follower of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, let s all walk in the beauty of our baptism into Him. Amen. Amen. Page 5 of 5