A Look at Baptism

Romans 6:1-11

April 27, 2003

Romans 6
¹   What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
²   God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
³   Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
⁴   Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
⁵   For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
⁶   Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
⁷   For he that is dead is freed from sin.
⁸   Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
⁹   Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
¹⁰   For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
¹¹   Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A drunk stumbled along a baptismal service on Sunday afternoon
down by the river. He proceeded to walk down into the water and stood
next to the Preacher.

The minister turned and noticed the old drunk and said, "Mister, Are
you ready to find Jesus?"

The drunk looks back and says, "Yes, Preacher. I sure am."
The minister then dunked the fellow under the water and pulled him
right back up. "Have you found Jesus?" the preacher asks.

"No, I didn’t!" says the drunk.
The preacher then dunks him under for quite a bit longer, brings him
up and says, "Now, brother, have you found Jesus?"

"No, I did not Preacher."

The preacher in disgust holds the man under for at least 30 seconds
this time brings him out of the water and says in a harsh tone, "Friend,
are you sure you haven’t found Jesus yet?"

The old drunk wipes his eyes and says to the preacher..."Are you
sure this is where he fell in?"

By this time, I bet that poor old guy was wondering just what he had gotten himself into. Today for the second time this month we are privileged to observe God’s ordinance of Baptism, and it may be that Ron and Wesley are wondering this morning just what they have gotten themselves into.

It is quite common for people to be a little apprehensive when they walk into the waters of baptism. Don’t worry, I’m not going to hold you guys under the water like the fellow in the story, but I would like to speak for a few moments on the topic of baptism.

I think many people in our world today simply do not understand baptism. They don’t understand why we do it, why we do it the way we do, and when we say it’s not necessary for salvation, they wonder why we bother. Let’s see if we can clear up some of these questions this morning.

What is the Mandate?

The scriptures clearly teach Baptism, yet it is still a contentious issue within churches. The New Testament presents baptism as a mandate, or a command.

Matthew 28:18-19 says:

Matthew 28
¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

This is a command from Jesus himself. Notice it doesn’t say there to “Go if you feel like it” or “Go when you can”, it says simply to go. Jesus is our primary authority on living a Christian life, and he has commanded us to baptize those we bring into his kingdom. It is not a requirement for obtaining the grace gift of Christ’s salvation, but it is obviously part of the process for being a believer and follower of the teachings of Christ.

John baptized Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry. If the sinless, perfect, son of God was obedient in baptism, how can we do less?

Matthew 3
¹³   Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
¹⁴   But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
¹⁵   And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
¹⁶   And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
¹⁷   And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Does Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God need to repent? Well before I am accused of heresy, let me say no I do not think Jesus needed to repent.

But I think St. Matthew’s account gives us a clue why Jesus was baptized. In that account we read that John the Baptist at first refused baptizes him, because John felt unworthy. However, Jesus said:

"Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness."

What did Jesus mean? I think Michael Green hit the nail on the head when he said:” By submitting to baptism, Jesus acknowledged God’s claim on him, as on others, for total consecration of life and holiness of character” (The Message of Matthew – Michael Green p. 80).

Clearly, Jesus felt baptism was important. It was also just as clearly a command for us to follow. If we are to be obedient to God, then we must obey his commands.

What is the Method?

The method used to baptize is perhaps one of the most contentious doctrines in Christian churches. There are numerous methods used including sprinkling, pouring, and immersion. Here in the Baptist church we practice believer’s baptism by total immersion because it is, in my estimation, the method used in the New Testament to baptize.

Acts 8:38 describe Peter and Phillip baptizing the eunuch. The scripture says that Peter and the eunuch went down into the water and Phillip baptized him. In the next verse, we are told that they came up out of the water. This clearly describes immersion.

We also find in Matthew 3:16, which we read earlier, that Christ came up out of the water, clearly indicating that he had been fully in a body of water.

Immersion is the only method of baptism that will allow one to match these events chronicled in the life of the emerging church.

What’s The Meaning of All of This

Much like the poor old guy in the introduction, we are still left with the question of what it all means. The reason for baptism is complete and total surrender of your life to Christ. It is a public and outward symbol of what has changed in your life internally.

There are no magic formulas, the water is not anything imported from the Holy Land, and in fact, it came straight from the Daytona Beach water plant. I have no special powers that allow me to baptize you; in fact, any one in this congregation could baptize another under the authority of the church. By that, I mean I could instruct any of you to stand in my stead this morning and perform the ritual of baptism and it would be just as valid as if I performed the ritual myself.

The importance of baptism comes from its symbolism. It symbolizes the washing away of our sinful life, and the covering of Christ’s blood sanctifying us and making us holy. It is part of the public confession, you telling the world that Christ has changed your life.

Baptism is not effective because you got into the pool and had your head held under. Baptism without a prior change in your heart is no more effective on you that it was on that drunk in our introduction.

A few years ago, Paul Harvey wrote in Guidepost Magazine about his
own baptism. He said that even though he had received almost every
reward for his broadcasting powers & ability that he still felt empty inside.
One summer he & his wife were vacationing in a place called Cave
Creek, AZ. Sunday morning came & they decided to go to church. So they
went to this little church, & there were only 12 other people present.
But there was a good spirit about that place, & for some reason he
began thinking about John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life."

He said, "I liked that ‘everlasting life’ part, & I believed in Jesus, but I
had never gone forward in a church service. I remembered one night
praying in my hotel room & asking Jesus to come into my heart, but I felt
that there was still something that was missing."
He said that the preacher got up & announced that his sermon was
going to be about baptism. Paul Harvey said, "I yawned. But as he started
talking about it I found myself interested. He talked about the symbolism
behind it, & how it symbolized the complete surrender of one’s life to
Jesus Christ, & how there was nothing really magic in the water. But there
was this cleansing inside that took place when you yielded yourself to
Jesus."

He went on to say, "Finally, when he came to the end of his sermon he
said, ‘If any of you have not been baptized in this way, I invite you to
come forward & join me here at the pulpit.’"
Paul Harvey said, "To my surprise, I found myself going forward. The
preacher had said there was nothing magic in the water. Yet as I
descended into the depths & rose again I knew something life changing
had happened - a cleansing inside out. No longer did there seem to be two
uncertain contradictory Paul Harveys, just one immensely happy one. I felt
the fulfilling surge of the Holy Spirit in my life.”

Paul Harvey went on, "The change this simple act made in my life is so
immense as to be indescribable. Since totally yielding to Him in baptism,
my heart can’t stop singing. Also, perhaps because baptism is such a
public act & because one’s dignity gets as drenched as one’s body, I
discovered a new unself-consciousness in talking about my beliefs."
He closed with these words, "The other evening when on a speaking
trip I was flying over west Texas & looking at the beautiful sunset. My
heart swelled with joy in my new surrender & I thought, ‘How wonderful,
we have all this & heaven, too.

---Borrowed from Michael Luke “Baptism a Matter of Death and Life”

Today we will baptize two new Christians. Today we will help them to walk in obedience to the commands of the Messiah. Today we rejoice as new life is brought about. Today is a wonderful day.

At this time, I would like to ask our candidates for baptism to make their way to the front of the church to prepare for baptism.