Worship Through Baptism

 So far in our study on the doctrine of worship, we’ve answered the questions of who, why, what, where, and when. Now, we turn to the last question that we can ask about worship: how should we worship? In answering this question, I want to cover some very practical ways in which we worship personally, as a family, and as a church.

This morning, I want to start to answer this question by considering the first act of worship for any new believer: baptism. Our church believes that baptism is the beginning of a Christian’s life within the church. As Baptists, we believe that only baptized believers can be members of our church and participate in the Lord’s Supper. I was baptized when I was eight years old, and while I truly had accepted Christ as my savior, honestly, I also wanted to try that cracker and grape juice that the adults enjoyed every quarter. When I was finally able to participate in the Lord’s Supper, it came as quite a shock to me that the cracker was chalky and tasteless, and the grape juice was tart and dry. My younger brother, Patrick, saw that I got to have what he could not, and so he began to want to be baptized as well. Realizing that he was wanting to be baptized so he could take communion, I spoke up and said, “Don’t do it, Patrick! It’s not worth it! That stuff tastes horrible!”

I’m concerned that many people in our churches have a similar view of baptism, today. It seems strange to say, but even within a denomination named after the act of baptism, the practice has fallen on hard times. Baptisms are down considerably across the Southern Baptist Convention. In many churches, people will participate in the life of the church for years without ever pursuing baptism. Evangelists often opt for a call to “walk the isle” instead of a call to be baptized. But, in Scripture, baptism is our first act of obedience. It is our first act of worship as a new believer. So, today, I want to cover much of the New Testament as we seek to understand three aspects of Baptism: the meaning, the method, and the moment.

To start, let’s consider the meaning of baptism. There are three truths that baptism represents. First, baptism represents a shift in covenant relationship. In Matt. 3, starting in verse 13, Jesus comes down to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist. When John sees him, he tries to prevent Jesus, saying, “I need to be baptized by you.” Jesus responds in verse 15 by saying, “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” We often miss what Jesus is saying in this statement. Remember, John is the forerunner of Jesus. He is sent, as a voice crying in the wilderness, to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah. I want you to understand how strange it was for a Jew to be baptized. Baptism was a practice that was reserved for Gentile converts to the Jewish faith. When a Gentile wanted to convert, they had to go through several steps. The last step was to be baptized as a sign of their entrance into the covenant of Abraham. So, when John calls on the people of Israel to be baptized as an act of repentance, he is saying, in effect, that they are not a part of God’s covenant. Jeremiah had prophesied in Jer. 31:31, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” John was preparing the people for a new covenant that was coming through Jesus Christ. And, when Jesus says that this is necessary to fulfill all righteousness, he means that his baptism marks the beginning of that new covenant. So, your baptism represents a shift in your relationship to God. You were an alien and a stranger to God. You were outside of the covenant, doomed to judgment and hell. But, God, through Jesus Christ has moved you from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. That is all symbolized in the act of baptism.

Second, baptism represents a sign of that covenant. To see that, let’s read Col. 2:11-15. In this passage, Paul says that we who have trusted in Jesus have been “circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.” Remember that circumcision was a sign that God gave to Abraham back in Genesis 17. God commanded Abraham to circumcise every male as a sign of God’s covenant with his descendants. That sign was meant to be an outward, physical marker that reminded the Israelites that they were set apart by God. Paul says that the same thing has happened to us in two ways. First of all, we have had a circumcision of the heart. When you came to Christ, your heart was changed. The old, stony, sinful heart was softened into a heart that beats for God. That inner desire to know, love, and serve God is evidence of God’s Spirit residing in you and working through you. But, corresponding to that inner change of heart is an outward sign: baptism. Baptism, like circumcision, marks us out. I know it’s embarrassing to get up in front of everyone, and be dunked under the water, but that’s kind of the point! In baptism, you are taking on the sign of Christ as you follow him in something that seems to be so foolish and unnecessary. It’s worth noting that this strange act of being baptized, in other countries, can cost you your life. Muslims and Hindus don’t make much of a fuss for the person who says they follow Jesus, until they get baptized. In certain countries, they just might kill you for it because they see it for the sign that it is.

Third, baptism represents our salvation. To see that, turn with me to 1 Pet. 3:18-22. In this passage, Peter brings up God’s judgment of the world through the flood and his deliverance of Noah and his family through the ark. He wants us to remember that God found favor with Noah, and Noah trusted God even though his commands seemed strange at the time. Then, when the flood waters came, Noah and his family, because of their faith in God’s promise, passed through the waters of judgment to a new life. In a similar way, baptism symbolizes our passing through judgment to life. Paul says, in Rom. 6:3-4 that we were buried with Christ in baptism and raised to new life. Baptism symbolizes the fact that we have died to our old life and have been raised to new life in Christ through the power of his Holy Spirit.

So, now that we’ve understood the meaning of baptism, let’s consider the method. I think it is obvious, from what we understand about the meaning of baptism, that it is supposed to be an act of immersion in water. Paul refers to baptism, both in Col. 2 and Rom. 6, as a symbol of our death and resurrection in Christ. It is hard to symbolize that in any other way than immersion in the water. Second, most of the baptisms we find in the New Testament seem to indicate that a lot of water was needed, and that the participants went down into the water and came back out. Finally, because baptism is linked to the Jewish practice of ceremonial washing, it makes sense that the practice would have been one of immersion.

Finally, we need to understand the moment of baptism. When should someone be baptized? As you probably well know, most denominations practice infant baptism, but Baptists reserve the rite for only those who have made a profession of faith. Again, I think the reasons for this are clear if we understand the meaning of baptism. First of all, an infant (or anyone who has not trusted in Christ) is outside of the new covenant of Christ because they have not placed their faith in him. Second, because they haven’t been converted and given a new heart through the Holy Spirit, baptism doesn’t serve as an outward sign of that inward change. Lastly, the symbolism of salvation that is seen in baptism is lost on someone who has not trusted in Christ.

In closing, I want to address the biggest question that people have about baptism: does baptism save you? I want to propose that we, as Baptists, have not done a great job of answering this question. In a reaction against denominations who say that baptism does save, we have run too far in the other direction to avoid any possible connection with that idea. So, let me give the answer as clearly as I can. Salvation is a work of God by which he changes the heart of a sinner so that the sinner trusts in Jesus Christ as his savior and Lord, repents of his sins, and now desires to follow Christ as a disciple. Understand, salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. That salvation is brought about by a change of heart, so that the new believer now wants to do the things that Christ commands. So, if, like the thief on the cross, a person trusts in Christ but then never has the opportunity to be baptized, that person is saved because he or she trusted in Christ. But (and it’s a big “but”), if a person claims to trust in Christ but refuses to be baptized, it is likely the case that he or she has not been changed by God’s Spirit and is not saved.

Friend, if you have been putting off baptism because it’s too embarrassing or you just don’t know what people would think, then you have your answer as to whether you are saved. In Matt. 10:32, Jesus says, “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” If you are unwilling to do the same thing that Christ did and be baptized, then repent! Today can be the day that you commit wholeheartedly to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, our baptism is a sign of our inclusion in Christ. If we have trusted in Christ, then our baptism represents the new covenant that we have through him. We have been marked out by our baptism. So, when you face doubts about your relationship with the Lord, when you doubt whether you are saved, remember your baptism. Remember that God has made a covenant with you, he has given you a sign through your changed heart and your baptism, and he has brought you from death to life just like you were brought out of those baptismal waters.