Baptism

This morning, we're having just a special day of celebration for what Jesus has done in the lives of our church. Family ceremonies, regardless of what the celebration is, are significant to life. And the symbolism of those ceremonies are especially important to us, considering just major victories that are conducted in the sports world and the trophy ceremonies in which they conduct to commemorate the celebration of a particular team accomplishing the greatest feat that team could accomplish throughout a football season by winning a championship or baseball season or whatever sport that you enjoy. We have parades oftentimes, especially at Thanksgiving, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, of which we commemorate holidays, and we celebrate the symbolism of what it meant for us when Thanksgiving was first celebrated. Holidays, likewise are used in similar ways. We conduct special ceremonies symbolically representing to us the significance of such a day. Days such as Christmas or Easter, especially in the lives of Christians, are set apart on our calendar to mark for us on this that ceremonial day, a special celebration for what Jesus means to our lives. Ceremonies are important. I can think just in a few days we'll be having and hosting another significant ceremony as a church family. We've got a wedding coming up. If you're interested in going to that wedding, you've got to drive a couple hours to get there. But this is Greg and Richie's. I don't know what you guys are doing in that sound booth back there, but this is Greg and Richie's last day as a single people.

Last Sunday, I should say, as single people. And so they'll be getting married next week. And, do you know, with all those ceremonies and holidays and the symbolisms they represent, the celebrations we bring forth in those things, we don't necessarily have to conduct those ceremonies. We know it's Christmas when December 25th comes around. We don't have to celebrate, but we choose to because of its significance. When it comes to being married, you don't have to have a wedding ceremony. I can just sign a piece of paper. In the eyes of the government, that would be a marriage. But for us as people, it is important. Ceremonies are important, and we put a lot of emphasis upon the ceremonies in which takes place because of the significance in which they represent. Symbolism is huge. We talk about baptism this morning. What we want to point out to us is that even in the area of baptism, symbolism is huge. The question we asked this morning is why should a Christian be baptized? Baptism is an important symbol declaring your union with Jesus. If I were to give a first answer. Baptism represents to us a physical expression of a spiritual union which took place with Jesus at the moment our salvation came forth, or the moment we as Christians were born again. Baptism is a ceremony which symbolizes what Jesus has done in our lives by setting us free from Satan and from sin and from death, and giving us an eternal hope in him.

Webster defines symbolism this way an authoritative summary of your faith. A visible sign of something invisible. And that's precisely what baptism is about. It is a summary and expression of our faith and everything that Jesus is. As we have placed our faith in him and trust in him for eternal destiny and hope through Christ alone. It is an outward expression, a symbol of the inward faith of which we professed in Jesus For us, it becomes a visible sign of something invisible. For us, our baptism celebrates our union with Christ. Paul wrote this in two Corinthians 11, the second half of verse two. He said, I promise to you 2 to 1 husband, that is Christ, so that I may present you as a pure virgin to him. Paul is saying to the Corinthians, out of all the beliefs that you could carry on in this world, one thing that Jesus created you for is a relationship with him and the purity of just walking with him in spirit and in truth to him. I commend you as a church. Baptism is a symbolism which reflects our union with Jesus. And just as us today, to those who may be married, there comes a time in your married lives in which you begin to reflect. Maybe it's at your anniversary of your 50th wedding Anniversary, and you pause for a moment in that time and you look back over a life together.

You remember a series of anniversaries. You remember the birth of your children. Your children going to school in the first day of the graduation of your children. The birth of your grandchildren all reflected back upon one key moment in your life. And that was when you joined with your spouse to become one flesh and enjoy that marriage life together. That ceremony in which you conducted was significant because upon that ceremony, you reflected back all the events of your life together. Same is true with us in baptism. Baptism for the life of a Christian is an opportunity, even for believers here today who have been baptized in Christ to reflect back. There was a moment in your life when you trusted in Jesus and in trusting in Jesus. You came before his church and you were baptized, and you profess your faith to the body of Christ, saying, Jesus is mine and I am his. And for the rest of your spiritual life, you could reflect back upon the moment as you walk with Jesus, and you took that step of faith to be baptized as a symbol of your recognition and trust and faith in him. Baptism and the ceremony of baptism is important to us as believers. Jesus has given it to us to reflect our relationship to him. It says in Matthew chapter three, there is a difference in the Bible between the word baptism in the spirit and baptism in the physical form in water.

The confusing part is that it comes from the same Greek word. It means to immerse. And so the moment you trust in Jesus as your Savior, the Bible says that you are immersed in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God comes and tabernacles or dwells among you. It dwells within you. You are the body of Christ. The Bible says in reflection of what the Spirit of God does on the inside of our lives, giving us a new heart and a new life represented in a relationship with Christ. We then step forth into baptism, professing our faith out loud before other believers, and John, in the moments next to the Jordan River, reflect on the significance of that spiritual baptism that takes place, he says in Matthew three, as for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I. Speaking about Jesus, he says, and I am not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. It's important for us to remark that the act of baptism, the physical act of baptism, isn't what saves us. Much like the ceremonial act of handing a trophy to a championship team isn't what won the game for them. Much like a married couple conducting a marriage ceremony, that's not really what united them in the marriage. It was the signing of the legal document. Though we conduct these ceremonies of symbolism because they are significant, they represent something of importance.

Matthew chapter three. John reflects that yes, indeed, he is baptizing people. But more importantly, the question is have we been baptized in the Holy Spirit? Have we trusted in Christ alone for salvation? Paul said it this way to the Corinthians, for Christ did not send me to baptize you physically, but to preach the gospel, noting the importance of understanding the gospel and salvation in Jesus. Apart from physical baptism, though, baptism is important. The book of acts later reflected. He said, surely no one can refuse the water for those to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit. God is saying this simply, If Jesus has dwelt in you, and if you have trusted in him, let no one stand before you and take the opportunity of professing that before other other people. The Bible gives us a description of what that's like in Galatians chapter three and verse 24. Therefore the law has come. Become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor, for you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We become children of God by placing our faith in Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed that was cut off. Clothe yourself in Christ as the way it goes. It's as if the Bible is saying to us, when you trust in Jesus, God clothes you in the beauty of who Jesus is.

And so when God looks upon you, it's as if he's looking at Jesus himself. You are clothed in Jesus. And as a Christian, denying the opportunity to be baptized in the ceremony, to profess your faith before Jesus is similar to a bride purchasing a gown for her wedding day, but never walking down an aisle. Jesus has clothed you in his beauty. Jesus has clothed you to represent himself. Jesus has brought you into union with him. It says in Galatians, to those who have put their faith in Christ, they are God's children. Baptism symbolizes. Baptism symbolizes your unity with Jesus. Baptism also symbolizes your unity with his church, his bride, in which he gave his life for. Paul said in Colossians one, now rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I will fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the church. Paul is saying to the body of believers, listen, the church is Jesus's bride. And by professing my faith in Jesus and taking a stand and being baptized to follow after the Lord, I'm uniting myself with his bride. My interest is her well-being. And so Paul, at whatever cost, is fighting for the beauty of the church. Baptism symbolizes ceremonially your union with Jesus. It symbolizes your union with his church. Baptism is also symbolic of the life in which we've left behind. There's a lot of symbolism in the water of the baptism, representing the cleansing of the internal spirit working in our lives.

We go into the water representing the old self, the dirty filth of sin and what it's brought upon our lives. And we are immersed into the water, representing the cleansing that comes forth in Jesus. And it says in Romans chapter six and verse three, all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death. Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism. And just as Jesus went to the grave to conquer sin, Satan, and death. And so we who have trusted in him have conquered sin, Satan, and death. And so as we are baptized and reflection of everything that Jesus is, it's a washing away of all that we've left behind the passage of Scripture goes a little bit further if we were to read on. It says so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we are united with Jesus in what he's done with us as we've placed our faith in him. And just as we've died to our old self, and as Jesus has been resurrected to a new life, so we ourselves live in the promise and hope that Jesus will resurrect ourselves as well. Jesus has created all things new for us. The Bible calls us a new creation.

At the moment, we trust in Christ, and baptism symbolizes the life that we've left behind and the life that we've now become a part of. And water is a very significant piece to all of this. I suppose baptism really could have been conducted in any form that God would desire, if we wanted to be literal. Jesus was laid in a tomb We could have walked into a tomb and walked back out of a tomb to symbolize our new life in Christ. But God selected baptism over the representation of what water has meant throughout Scripture. It says in Second Peter chapter three and verse five, they deliberately forgot. Forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command. And he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. It's saying this to us as people. God created the earth, and water was chaotic all over the earth, and from the chaos of this water, God brought land for which animals and mankind would walk upon. It goes on and says, then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with the mighty flood. In the time of Noah, people had turned from God, and God used the flood to cover the earth and destroy all of mankind. That was represented on the earth except for Noah. The water symbolically brought forth new life and a new start for this earth Israel has ceremonially represented in their temple. When they would go to worship God, they would place a basin before the altar and the temple in which they would go in to represent or to drop the blood on the Holy of Holies, on the mercy seat.

And in between that was the basin in which they would cleanse themselves by washing their hands to show the purity through the forgiveness of sin that came through God alone. We, when we are baptized or fully immersed into the water, to represent that what Jesus has done to us is completely cleansed our lives from all sin through him. When a Gentile in the Old Testament times would come to place their faith in the Jewish beliefs, the Jews would have them self baptize themselves to become a part of the Jewish family or community. They would have to go into the water alone and immerse themselves, representing their acceptance of all that Judaism taught Paul. Excuse me not Paul. John himself talked about baptism when he said, baptism needs much Water. He goes, he says that we go down into the water and we come out of the water, illustrating the burial and resurrection of Jesus. Probably more significant than all of those representations of water as the Jordan River. I love the fact that we live next to the Jordan River. It's not the real Jordan River, but it's still cool, right? It's the only other body of water, I believe, that flows northward from a fresh body of water to a salt body of water.

The only other place that exists is in Israel, where the Jordan River is correctly named. The Jordan River was very symbolic to the nation of Israel. God made a promise to those people that he would bring them out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land. And could you imagine the nation of Israel as they heard of all of God's promise? And God rescues them out of slavery in Egypt, and they journey up to the Promised Land and what God gave them, and he tells them, now you've got to cross this river. In the moment that you cross this river you're leaving this old life of sin and slavery behind, and you're entering into a new life of promise and hope through me. I believe that's why John baptized on the Jordan River. The representation of the Jordan River to the nation of Israel meant something ceremonially to them and to us. Today, we can't afford to all journey to Israel to be baptized in the Jordan River. That would be cool. So we've done the next best thing. We're going down to the Jordan, and as we walk into the water, it's a time for those who have been baptized to reflect back on the moment in which they've trusted in Jesus and followed in him in baptism to say to themselves, it was a day that I walked in remembering everything that I was apart from Christ, and I walked out remembering everything that I became because of Christ.

It's a day of hope. It's a day of celebration for us. Baptism is symbolic, a ceremony in which every Christian I believe should partake of. And one of the other reasons we consider not only is baptism declare our union with Jesus. Baptism declares your allegiance to Jesus. It's a symbol of your dedication to him. Do you know if you read the New Testament, you will find no, not a single example of an unbaptized believer. When someone placed their faith in Jesus in the in the New Testament, as soon as they place their faith in Jesus, the next question they begin to ask was, when can I get baptized? When can I go out in front of people and profess my faith to follow after him? In fact, in the last moments before Jesus ascended into heaven when he was on the earth and he gathered his disciples and he gave his final command, he says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. That's followers of me. Make followers of me. And look what Jesus says the first thing he tells them to do. As followers of Jesus, he says, baptize them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. First act of obedience as a believer is baptism. It's the opportunity you take before other Christians to say, yeah, I'm following Jesus. It's obedience to the mode in which God has given us to follow after him. Baptism symbolizes our union with him. Baptism symbolizes our union with him.

But this is the most important. And this is really for those who are being baptized today. More so, it's for everybody. But today is a day of worship, and sometimes we get so caught up in the act of the ceremony, and we're afraid of messing up or doing something goofy that we forget. The most significant thing that takes place today is worship. We're doing this because we love Jesus. We're doing this to represent our life to Jesus. Malachi. This isn't talking about baptism. This is talking about marriage. But what's important that this verse that I want to point out is any ceremony that we conduct as people and worship to God. God is there when we sing to him. The Bible says, when 2 or 3 are gathered, there he is in our midst. Malachi chapter two. An important covenant of just marriage. It says, because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Notice in the first part of the verse, the covenant which is made before the Lord, it says, God is present. Anytime we ever conduct a ceremony of significant symbolism towards God and our faith in him, God is present. And so we celebrate this day. We remember to worship on this day. To you as a believer, today is important for you to reflect back if you've been baptized, to take the opportunity to remember the moment in which you as a believer Joined in your union with Jesus and profess that by going to the altar of ceremony and saying, Jesus, I do.

You professed it before his church, his bride. Reflect back on the moment in which your relationship with God took a step of faith by professing out loud before other believers your love for Christ. And remember those moments in which you've walked with Jesus as you've successfully enjoyed your relationship with him. To those who have never been baptized, here's the encouragement to you today. Well, no, not encouragement. Yes it is. It's encouragement. Get baptized. I don't want to pressure you into doing something you don't want to, but it's important. This ceremony represents something beautiful in which God has done in your life. And so today, if you're listening to this and you're saying to yourself, I've never been baptized. That's okay. We dunk everybody, take the Holy plunge. That's God's desire for you. The Bible says that Jesus has brought us into union. The Bible says that we do this out of worship. In the Bible says that we do this out of obedience. God didn't save you to keep your faith as a secret faith. God saved you that you may profess his love to the ends of the earth. I'm going to ask everyone to go ahead and bow their heads for just a moment. I want to take some time for us as Christians here today, as we get ready to dismiss, just to think about and reflect upon the day you made your decision for Christ to follow after him and to pause and ask the question, are you still? I mean, have you gone to that altar and stood before believers and said, God, I'm giving my life to you, and I'm representing that by Baptism in front of your church.

Are you still following him? To you today who haven't trusted in Jesus, let me just tell you, Jesus has done everything that he can for you, and all he asks is to place your faith in what he's done. He's died for your sins that you may experience hope with him. Very simple. In my life. I just stopped and said, Lord, I know I need a Savior. I know you came to save me. God, save me from my sins and take me to be with you. I'm trusting in you. It's that easy. God has already paid it all. And so he just simply asks that we place our faith in him. And for you who are being baptized today or thinking about baptism, let me just continue to encourage you to look at today as an opportunity of worship. If you're here today and now you're interested in being baptized, come speak with me after the service. But consider what God has done. And as we close the service today, let me end it with a word of prayer and we'll dismiss.