Sermon Text: Baptism - what it is

Kilhorne October 2006 Preacher: Bill
Baptism – What it is Colossians 2 Our reading this evening was from Colossians chapter 2. It’s on page _____. I hope you will keep that reading open on your lap.
Introduction
We begin tonight the first of two sermons on baptism. Which is, sadly, a very controversial subject for Christians. In fact it is hard to think of a subject that has caused more divisions and disputes and arguments – even among true, Bible believing, praying, born again Christian people. I know for a fact that even among us tonight there are wide disagreements about baptism. And I don’t want to add to that division, by these sermons. But I do want to show that those who hold to baptising infants in accordance with the Reformed, Church of Ireland position, having nothing to be ashamed of.
So there is this confusion about baptism today. Especially for members of the older denominations. We know that baptism is something to do with salvation. But we also know (or should know) that salvation is by faith alone. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, says the Bible, and you will be saved. In fact that sort of saving belief, at conversion, is sometimes called baptism in the Spirit. And that is the baptism which saves. Not the outward washing with water. But the inward baptism that the Holy Spirit gives to the heart. ‘By one Spirit we are all baptised into one body,’ says 1 Corinthians chapter 12. That inward, spiritual baptism happens when we repent and have faith in Christ. So, baptism in the Spirit is not a ceremony that any ordained minister can perform. It is the baptism that only the Lord Jesus can give, to those he calls into his kingdom. And without that baptism we are not in his kingdom.
So there is baptism in water and baptism in the Spirit. It can be a little confusing. In fact water baptism and spirit baptism can be a bit like double vision. They seem to be talking about the same thing. But they are slightly askew. And can give us a headache of confusion. So this sermon tonight will try to remove the confusion.
Water baptism is the outward, public ceremony of the inner, spiritual reality. When someone like Queen Elizabeth the 2nd comes to the throne, there is an outward public ceremony. Her coronation. When did she actually become Queen? Well, it was when her father died. She immediately inherited the throne. That was the reality. But there had to be a outward ceremony to show that reality – the coronation. Water baptism is the outward ceremony that shows the inner reality of being saved. There is a definition of baptism in the old catechism. If you remember learning that. It says that baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.
To me that sounds fairly straight forward. But there are exceptions to the rule. Because of course someone could receive baptism and not be converted. In the New Testament Simon Magus was baptised, but was never saved. We can be sure that Judas Iscariot was also baptised. But likewise was never a true Christian. In the last century, both Hitler and Stalin were baptised. And yet, being among the worst unrepentant murderers ever, are eternally lost. No, you can be baptised and yet not be a Christian.
And the opposite is also true. You can be a Christian and yet not be baptised. Just think of the penitent thief on the cross. In his dying moments he repented, believed and was converted. We can be sure of that. Because no one else in history was told from the lips of Jesus himself: ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.’ Yes the penitent thief is in heaven. But there is no evidence at all that he was ever baptised. So, you don’t have to be baptised to be saved.
That means that the outward, public ceremony does not always tie in with the inner spiritual reality. Maybe that makes you more confused. And we have not even got to why we baptise babies yet! Who obviously can’t believe the gospel themselves! All this confusion has led some people to give up baptism altogether. Like the Quakers and the Salvation Army. Should we think about giving it up like them? Well, no, we shouldn’t. Because Be baptised! is a command from Christ himself. Go into all the world, he said, and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism, like the Lord’s Supper, is a command. One that we cannot ignore without disobeying Jesus himself.
Remember, baptism is an outward and visible sign. And visible, tangible signs are important. We use them every day. A signature at the bottom of a letter. It says, these words have my authority. A birthday gift given to a family member. It says, I love you. A handshake – I’m glad to see you. A meal together – I want to share fellowship with you. A wedding ring. Ask the bride just after a wedding service how she felt when her husband slipped on the ring – as he made his vows. It is a sign of love and commitment and dedication. The ring brings her joy every time she looks at it. The sign of baptism brings even greater joy because it is God’s sign.
What Baptism is a sign of
But if it is an outward and visible sign, what is it a sign of? Well, for one thing it is a sign of washing and cleansing. And this is something that every human being needs. We need to wash spiritually because we are spiritually dirty. Good parents won’t allow their children at the table until they have washed their hands. And God won’t allow us at his table until we have washed spiritually. In other words he won’t accept our fellowship – till our dirt is off.
You see God is deeply offended by: arrogance, selfishness, meanness and impurity. He recoils from all of those. Like we do from dirt. And yet that is what humankind is like, by nature. We are selfish, anti-God and anti-his laws. If you were in a restaurant and you were offered food on a dirty plate. You would be repulsed and offended. You expect and deserve cleanness. God expects and deserves cleanness from us. But he does not get it. Our anti-God-ness is like dirt before him.
The only thing that will wash this impurity away from anyone is Christ’s blood. 1 John 1 verse 7 says, ‘The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.’ In other words, the death of Jesus (his blood) is in our place. We should have died, as a punishment for our impurity. But he died instead of us. And when we put our trust in him, his blood washes our impurity away. When we personally believe that he died for us. Then we are washed and cleaned and sanctified.
Baptism is the sign of the washing. It enables us to visualise it. After the apostle Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, the first person he went to was a Christian called Ananias. Ananias said to him, ‘Get up! Be baptised and wash your sins away!’ Paul had become a Christian. He had had his sins washed away. And he was baptised to visualise that. So baptism is a sign of washing.
There is a second thing that baptism signifies. Because baptism is also a sign of being united to Christ. A Christian is someone who has a living, ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ. You know, you are not a Christian just because you think you made a commitment a long time ago. If you have no daily walk with the Lord today, then you have no grounds for thinking you are saved. A Christian is someone who is closely walking with Christ – someone who is united to Christ.
We are united to him so that, amazingly, what happened to Jesus, God considers to have happened to us. So, Jesus died and spiritually speaking so have we. If you are a Christian, you have died to sin and your old anti-God way of life. And then Jesus rose again. And if you are a Christian you have risen to a new way of life. That is what tonight’s reading is saying. Look down with me at verses 12 to 13. Paul is talking to Christians. Verse 12, ‘you have been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him …’. We’ll leave it there. Baptism is actually a sign of being closely united with Christ. Because when Jesus died, we died with him. And when he was raised, we were raised with him. Baptism is a sign of dying to your old life and beginning a new life.
Just while we are on this issue of baptism as a sign of dying. That does not mean that we have to go down into water to be properly baptised. That sounds to us as though it is a picture of going down into a grave, and then rising again – dying with Christ. But Christ’s burial was not a going down into the ground. His body was laid in a cave and a stone rolled across the entrance. So it is not essential to dip people in water. No the only point here is that baptism is a sign of our unity with Christ. What happened to him God considers to have happened to us.
So then, first baptism is a sign of washing away sin. And second it is a sign of being united to Christ in his death and resurrection. Thirdly, baptism is also a sign of admission into the church. This follows on from that last point. If baptism is a sign that you have been united to Christ, then it is also a sign that you have joined the church. After all, the church is the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13 confirms this. ‘For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body.’
You see, there is often a formal initiation when you join something. At school, every pupil has to be formally entered on the books. In the army, every soldier has to be formally added to the muster-roll of his regiment. In the visible church everyone who joins, goes through the formal initiation.
In the early days of the church, adults that became Christians were immediately baptised. It was the starting point of their Christianity. It identified them as belonging to the church. They had made a profession. And so they were admitted into the church.
Still today, baptism is the sign that you are being admitted into the visible church family. That is why baptismal fonts are sometimes placed at the church door. Because baptism signifies the entry for someone into the church. It is a sign of initiation into the church family.
The sign of the covenant
Those are three meanings then, that baptism has. Washing, unity with Christ, and admission into the church. But there is one more thing that baptism is a sign of. And that is what I want to spend most of the sermon next week talking about. Because it is very important. It’s this: baptism is a sign of the covenant.
Now, a covenant is simply a promise. You have perhaps made a covenant in the past with Kilhorne church. Where you have promised to financially give a certain amount over four years. You have made a covenant – you have made a promise. You have entered into an agreement. You have made a commitment.
God, likewise, has made a covenant with mankind. He has promised salvation to his people. We see this in the Old Testament. God made a covenant with Noah, for example. He promised to save Noah (and his family) through the ark. In which they would escape, on water, from God’s judgment. The sign of that covenant was the rainbow.
Also in the Old Testament God made a covenant with Abraham. He promised Abraham a land and descendents and that he would be blessed by God. It was a promise, God told him, that would be for all the families of the earth. The sign of that covenant was circumcision. That painful mark that would be made on all Israelite boys.
Circumcision in the Old Testament is very closely associated with baptism in the New Testament. We find that in our reading tonight. Look with me please at verse 11. Remember, this is being written to Christians who have been baptised. Verse 11, ‘In him [Christ] you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism.’ We’ll leave it there.
The apostle here is telling the Colossian Christians that they have been circumcised. They have had the sign of the covenant put on them. But they have not been circumcised in that physical and painful way. No, instead they have been baptised. They have had the sign of the covenant applied to them. But since Jesus came that sign is no longer circumcision. It is baptism. For the church of Christ, baptism has replaced circumcision as the sign of God’s covenant.
Of course this has implications for who should be baptised. It was Jewish children who were admitted into God’s family in the Old Testament. They were circumcised as a sign that they belonged to God. Try telling an Old Testament Jew that his children were not part of God’s chosen people. And try telling a Jewish convert. Someone who had believed in Jesus. And had become a Christian. And had entered into God’s new covenant. Try telling him that his children were not part of that covenant as well. He would not understand you at all.
But we will continue along that tack next week when we think of Baptism: who it’s for.
Conclusion Tonight we have simply tried to say what baptism is. Baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual reality. Water baptism is the public ceremony of Spirit baptism. The two do not always tie up. But God has given it to us so that we should assume that it normally does indicate (especially for adults) that someone is saved.
Baptism is a sign of spiritual washing. The real washing is done by Christ’s blood. And water baptism is an outward expression of that washing. It is also a sign of being united to Christ in his death and resurrection. And a sign of admission into the church.