As they're doing that, you can turn with me to the book of Romans. The book of Romans. Romans chapter 6 specifically. That's in the New Testament. So if you're looking for it, it's right after the Gospels and the book of Acts. Romans chapter 6. We're going to look— I told you a few weeks ago we're going to be doing a mini-series, a 2-part mini-series on the sacraments. So baptism and the Lord's Supper. So this morning we're starting that mini-series and we're looking at baptism. What is Christian baptism?
Now, to give you a little background, I think evangelicals and Christians generally today at times can be sacramentally challenged. It's going to be the term I use, sacramentally challenged. Now, historically, that hasn't always been the case, but I think more and more today it's oftentimes an apt description. Now, what do I mean when I say sacramentally challenged? I'm not trying to insult anyone. I'm not trying to throw stones up here. But I'm recognizing a growing trend. When someone's sacramentally challenged, it's not necessarily that they don't practice baptism and the Lord's Supper. Those are historically the two sacraments practiced since the Reformation, the two sacraments instituted in the Scriptures. But it's more about a lack of care, a lack of knowledge about what they're for or why they matter or why they should be practiced. So maybe you're sacramentally challenged because you're just going through the motions. You really don't know why we do these things, why they're significant.
We don't want to be a sacramentally challenged church. We don't want to be relegated to the sacramental short bus, if you will. We want to excel in this area, which means we want to think carefully and biblically about baptism and the Lord's Supper. On our elder retreat, as we discussed this as elders, we realized if we want that to be the case, we need to teach specifically on both of these topics. Not just teach when we have a baptism or give brief teachings when we share the Lord's Supper together, but to devote time on a Sunday morning in the preaching of the word to the topics. So that's the motivation behind this sacramental miniseries, to ensure that as a church we know what we're doing, we know why we're doing it when we come to the table or when someone goes into the water before the congregation.
Now, this morning we're looking at baptism, and interestingly, there isn't a single text in the New Testament that lays out a full biblical theology of baptism. That's not necessarily unique. That's usually the case in Scripture. Good theology usually doesn't hinge on a single proof text, but the weight and burden of Scripture's full testimony about the topic. So what we'll do this morning is we're going to hone in on one text that refers to baptism and is central to a proper biblical understanding of baptism. And then we're going to fill in that teaching with supplemental texts that build on the case that's made here in Romans 6.
So, turn with me now to Romans 6. I'm going to read the whole context. We're going to look specifically at verses 3-5. I'm going to read the whole context so we get a lay of the land. Hear God's holy and authoritative Word. "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? This is our text for today. 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. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. So you all also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. The word of the Lord. May He write its truth upon our hearts.
What I want to do this morning is look at baptism's purpose. Baptism's purpose. The thing we see as we consider that is that baptism displays the Gospel and baptism initiates the believer. Baptism displays the Gospel and it initiates the believer. Baptism displays the gospel. We see this at the beginning of our passage in verse 3. "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him in 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." It gives us an idea of what baptism is all about. Now, we've been talking about sacraments and baptism and the Lord's Supper as being those two sacraments. Well, what is a sacrament? Maybe we should start there. How does this sacrament of baptism display the Gospel? Let's define our terms. Well, Calvin, John Calvin the Reformer, defined a sacrament like this. He said a sacrament is an outward sign It's a visible symbol. It's an outward sign by which the Lord seals on our consciences the promises of his goodwill toward us in order to sustain the weakness of our faith. And we in turn attest to our piety towards him in the presence of the Lord and of his angels and before men.
6 · Unpacks the sacramental definition: sacraments sustain faith by confirming gospel promises and declare the authenticity of the believer's faith
That's a helpful definition. A sacrament is an outward sign In the midst of that sign, the Lord testifies to His promises. As we observe the sign of baptism, the Lord is testifying to the realities of the gospel in what's being practiced. To put it another way, baptism and the Lord's Supper sacraments have two primary purposes. First, they sustain our faith. They confirm to the church the truthfulness of the gospel and its promises. And second, they declare that whoever receives them is an authentic believer, is a worshiper of the living God. So they testify to our consciences, they minister assurance to us, and they also testify to everyone gathered the person being baptized or all the people participating in the Lord's Supper are authentic believers in the living God. Baptism is the first of those two. Its purpose is to portray the Gospel. To use powerful imagery. It's designed to act out the drama. The saving work of Jesus Christ on our behalf in redemption. That's what baptism is doing. That's how it's functioning. Paul describes it just this way. Paul gives us a definition of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15. He says, "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." This is the Gospel. Christ stood in your place. He died a death for you. And then He was raised to life on the third day. Baptism visibly portrays that. The act of going under the water and coming again out of the water is meant to draw our attention to Jesus' body laid in the tomb and then raised rising again from it. In baptism, we proclaim what Christ has done for us, and we proclaim our trust in that event.
7 · Grounds baptism's gospel-portrayal in Romans 6:3 and introduces Reformed language: sacraments are signs and seals of grace — symbolic reminders and visible signposts of Christ's saving work
So baptism portrays the gospel. It's why Paul in Romans 6:3 says, you've been baptized into Christ Jesus. All of you who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. There's an inherent connection. Now, Reformed theologians— we consider ourselves an evangelical Reformed church— Reformed theologians talk about the sacraments being signs and seals. Signs and seals of the grace of God. It's a way of saying that these things are given to the church so we'd have symbolic reminders of Christ's saving work. They're visible signposts of God's grace, and we practice them as God's people to be reminded of what he's done for us.
8 · Traces the historical corruption of baptism under Augustine's influence: the church began to teach that baptism saves rather than signifies
It wasn't until really the prominence of the church father Augustine in the 4th and 5th century that the idea became prominent that the sacraments were more than signs and seals. That these sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper actually operated in a saving way. It was under Augustine that this became the prominent mode of thinking, an unbiblical way of thinking about it. In other words, with Augustine's influence, the church began to believe that baptism was necessary for salvation. Does that make sense? Baptism, getting baptized was actually something that helped to save you. If you weren't baptized, you weren't saved. You were missing out on saving grace. You see how it's more than a sign and a seal? So while infant baptism had grown in practice, its popularity went to new levels. Understandably. Mom and dad have a baby, they want to make sure the baby is going to heaven, Under this kind of theology, what do you do? Well, you baptize the baby. You get the baby saved through baptism. And so infant baptism became the exclusive practice of how people were baptized because of a misunderstanding of what baptism was meant to do. Augustine was incorrect. That's not what Scripture teaches. Baptism is not a saving device. It's a symbolic device, symbolic of the saving work that's already occurred.
9 · Surveys the book of Acts to establish the consistent pattern: faith and repentance always precede baptism
In the book of Acts, we see all sorts of conversion stories, right? There's all these incredible stories that are recounted for us of people who are coming to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an incredible, incredible historical perspective of the growth of the early church. With these conversion stories, we see faith and repentance constantly being mentioned as well as being accompanied by baptism. But in Acts, baptism never ever precedes faith and repentance. In the book of Acts, every time it describes baptism, faith and repentance precede that act.
10 · Examines Cornelius's conversion in Acts 10 as a test case: the Holy Spirit falls, conversion is evident, and only then does Peter command baptism
We see this especially in Cornelius' conversion. In Acts chapter 10, we hear the story of Cornelius. He's a Gentile, right? So he's a non-Jew. It's the first time anyone who wasn't Jewish believed in Jesus and was saved. It's that whole wild story about Peter having the dream. There's all these unclean things coming down from heaven and Peter's sort of freaking out. And he sees this whole vision and he gets instructed, you have to go. They're going to come and get you. You got to go to him and you got to proclaim the gospel. This scandalous moment of Peter realizing the gospel isn't just for Israel, it's for all peoples everywhere. So Peter goes to Cornelius and he's preaching the gospel to them, and Acts 10 describes the Holy Spirit falling upon the room and everyone present. Cornelius and all of his household get saved. And in response to their conversion, Peter says in Acts 10:47, 'Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?' And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's really helpful. Peter sees they've received the Holy Spirit. In other words, Peter sees Cornelius, a Gentile, is now a Christian. Christ didn't just come for Jews, He came for everyone. And in seeing that Cornelius was already saved, he says, "He's saved. Let's get him baptized." It's not the other way around. It's not, "Let's baptize him so then he can get the Holy Spirit." Significant moment. Baptism doesn't save a person.
11 · Balances the negation of baptismal regeneration with the positive assertion: baptism is not empty ritual but a means of sanctifying grace
But at the same time, baptism is not an empty ritual. As a sign and seal, it's a means of grace, a means of sanctifying grace to the individual being baptized as well as to the entire church that witnesses it. Calvin again argued that in receiving the sacraments we were receiving Christ himself because Christ is the substance behind the symbol. So in the practice and act of baptism, Christ is present with his people to testify to new life and to communicate sustaining grace. If you've ever been to a baptism, you sense that, haven't you? The way the Spirit is present, the Spirit of Christ testifying that here is new life that the Spirit has created, and as the person professes to their faith in Christ and professes to their new life in Christ, the Spirit is there in the midst of the body testifying and stirring up faith. As the church affirms that profession of faith, the baptized person receives the added assurance of the body agreeing to their conversion, agreeing to the authenticity of their faith. Christ is there behind the symbol actively working in the midst of His people.
12 · Shifts from baptism as gospel-display to baptism as union-display
In Romans 6, Paul doesn't just instruct that baptism displays the Gospel work though. It also displays our union with Christ. Not just what Christ has done, but what's been done to us because of what Christ has done. That's all that language of being buried with Christ and raised with Christ. That really significant preposition. Verse 3 says we've been baptized not just in Christ, we've been baptized into Christ.
13 · Supports union-language with Galatians 3:27 and unpacks the implications: in baptism, the believer demonstrates that God sees them as having died with Christ and been raised with Christ
Or as Galatians 3:27 explains, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." You see what Calvin's talking about there? Christ being present behind the symbol. In baptism, we're demonstrating our spiritual union with Christ which we've received by faith. We're demonstrating our vital connection to Christ. So it means there's a way in which God sees us all as having died with Christ in His death. In the context of Romans 6, you've died to sin's dominion and sin's power. You don't have to live in sin anymore. And just as you've been raised with Christ, You also in your baptism show us you've been raised to newness of life in Christ. You're united with Him in a death like His and in a resurrection like His.
14 · Cites Calvin's commentary on Romans 6:3-5 at length, drawing out the organic metaphor of grafting: the believer is a twig drawing life from the root (Christ)
Go again to Calvin. By these words— commenting on verses 3-5 of Romans 6— by these words, he not only exhorts us to follow Christ as if he had said, We are admonished through baptism to die to our desires by the example of Christ's death and to be aroused to righteousness by the example of His resurrection. In other words, stop sinning and live a holy life. But he also takes hold of something far higher, namely, that through baptism Christ makes us sharers in His death, that we may be grafted in it. And just as the twig draws substance and nourishment from the root in which it was grafted, So those who receive baptism with right faith truly feel the effective working of Christ's death in the mortification of their flesh, together with the working of His resurrection in the vivification of their spirit. That's a sweet way of thinking of it. You're like a twig sewn into the branch, grafted in by faith, receiving life in union with Christ.
15 · Synthesizes the sacramental theology developed thus far: baptism carries a sacramental union — a real, effectual, active promise
That's what it means for baptism to be a sign and a seal. It's not just a symbol. It carries a sacramental union, a spiritual relationship between the sign and the thing signified. It means that when baptism or the Lord's Supper are rightly administered, there's a real effectual active promise attached to them. Baptism doesn't remove guilt. Baptism doesn't save the person being baptized. But in imaging forth the reality of cleansing, the reality of rebirth, it's of spiritual benefit to the baptized. They feel and sense as they go under the water and come out what is true for them spiritually. And the Spirit of Christ testifies to them and to all gathered.
16 · Explicit structural pivot from the first major section (baptism displays the gospel) to the second major section (baptism initiates the believer)
So baptism displays the Gospel. Baptism also initiates the believer.
17 · Introduces the second purpose of baptism: initiation into the body
Baptism initiates the believer. In the letter to Romans, Paul is writing to a church and he makes an assumption. It's a common assumption. In v. 3, he assumes that all the members of this church that he's never been to before, all the members of this church he assumes have been baptized. The way he writes chapter 6, the way he starts it out, there's this obvious assumption: you've all been baptized. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ— do you hear the assumption? Don't you know that all of us who have been baptized— he's not talking about don't you know that the section on the left in the church who's been baptized— sorry, guys on the right who haven't been baptized, I'll talk to you later. No, he's assuming, don't you know that all of us who are members of the church who've been baptized? We exhibit how sacramentally challenged we are today when we gaze out across the Christian landscape and we see how cavalier some people are regarding baptism. Strangely, Sadly, there are many churches today where there are numerous unbaptized believers, people who have been authentically converted, they love Jesus, there is real faith in their hearts, but they've never practiced the sacrament of baptism before the body of Christ. They're members of these bodies, actively engaged, but they see no reason to obey Jesus' command at the Great Commission. Go therefore, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
18 · Names two modern anomalies that would scandalize Paul: churchless Christians and unbaptized Christians
There are two common practices in today's Christianity that would have been unfathomable realities for Paul. He wouldn't have categories for them. The first are churchless Christians. And the second are unbaptized Christians. Paul would be dumbfounded to hear that there are Christians who never go to church and likewise dumbfounded to find out there are Christians who've never been baptized? What on earth? It's unfathomable because they lead one to the other. How could one who's been united to Christ not also walk in fellowship with the body of Christ? All over Paul's letters, he talks about fellowship and community and engaging with the body because it's the natural implication of those who have been converted and are united to the risen Christ. If you're united to the risen Christ, You live in fellowship and community with the body of Christ. It's an astounding concept that there would be unchurched Christians. What is tragically normal to us in our day, this low-grade commitment, these sub-biblical notions of church would have been scandalous to Paul. And since a churchless Christian is unthinkable, an unbaptized Christian would be as well. Because you see, in the early church, no one was considered a member of the body of Christ if they weren't first baptized into being a part of the community of Christ.
19 · Cites Ephesians 4:5 to clinch the argument: one Lord, one faith, one baptism
Maybe you've heard it said before that Paul has no concept of a churchless Christian. If Paul has no concept of a churchless Christian, he certainly has no concept of an unbaptized Christian. You can't be a part of the church if you're not first baptized. Ephesians 4:5, Paul says, "There is one Lord, there is one faith, there is one baptism." Are you a Christian? Do you believe in that one Lord? Have you expressed that one faith? Then Paul would say, surely you've experienced that one baptism.
20 · Cites 1 Corinthians 12:13 to show baptism as the unifying initiatory rite that erases ethnic, economic, and social distinctions
1 Corinthians 12:13, "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free— and all were made to drink of one Spirit." That's a hugely significant passage. The assumption there is one Spirit and it doesn't matter what your background is. It doesn't matter if you're wealthy. It doesn't matter if you're a son and daughter of the American Revolution. It doesn't matter if you're from Timbuktu. It doesn't matter if you're impoverished. Black, white, Jew, Greek, slave, free— doesn't matter. You can be a partaker in Jesus Christ. There's one Spirit who draws life. One Spirit, Paul says, and we're all made to drink of one Spirit. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. How can we imagine the unity of the body of Christ without also imagining the unity of the body as practiced in all of the body embracing baptism?
21 · Introduces an analogy from the Ivy League secret societies like Skull and Bones to set up baptism as a rite of initiation — except with a crucial contrast to follow
I don't know if you're familiar with the Ivy Leagues. They do things differently in the Ivy Leagues. In addition to kind of having their nose up in the air at the rest of us, thinking they're a little bit better, a little more superior. Even once you get into the Ivy Leagues, you might not quite be as exclusive as you thought you were. At some of these schools, especially schools like Yale, there's secret societies. So you might be smart enough to get in, but you might not be cool enough to really get in. So you've got societies like the Skull and Bones, probably the most famous one. You've maybe heard of it. These secret societies, the ultra-exclusive, the best of the best. These very WASPy organizations, cloak and dagger. They've been made famous in movies partially because these secret societies, right, have all these secret rituals where they initiate individuals into their society. We imagine People walking around with cloaks over their heads and carrying candles and going down stone spiral staircases into the catacombs. Who knows what they do down there? We're not in the Skull and Bones. They won't tell us.
22 · Completes the analogy: baptism is a rite of initiation, but unlike secret societies, it is public, costly, and irrevocable
Baptism functions something like this. It's a rite of initiation, except it's inherently Not private. It's not secretive. It's not done stories below in ancient catacombs. It's done up out in the open for the church and world to see. It's a public profession before the world and the church of where an individual's allegiances lie. For the early church, baptism was a bold declaration. When somebody got baptized, the new believer was unquestionably identifying themselves with Christ and with Christ's people. It's a powerful action because in that day and age, to be a Christian meant something. It carried real significance. To belong to Christ, to claim Christ, carried a cost. To be counted amongst God's people might mean persecution. To be known as one of those baptized Christians It might mean death. It might mean you're ostracized by your family and friends. A woman in being cut off might become destitute. Those widows talked about in Acts, it's assumed that not all of them are necessarily just widows. Some of them are probably women who have come to faith in Christ and are now just left to their own. They need the church to provide for them because embracing Christ and being baptized publicly, they've been cut off from all of their systems of support in society. The one definitive act, the final declaration of this identification was being baptized, not going into the bottom of the church in the secret room where no one could see. But making public profession of faith in Christ. You could gather with Christians. You could go to their services. You could attend their Bible studies. All of that might be tolerated. It's a pluralistic society in ancient Rome. It's okay to kind of dabble with other sort of spiritual ideas. But once you were baptized, there was no going back. It was a public statement, a public proclamation. I belong I belong totally to Christ and I belong totally to His people, whether you despise them or not. So baptism wasn't entered into lightly. It wasn't a cheap practice or a casual decision. And there were no unbaptized Christians. Once baptized into the fellowship of His suffering, There were also no churchless Christians.
23 · Provides contemporary examples (Iraq under ISIS, Tunisia) where baptism still functions as it did in the early church — a costly, public identification that marks believers for persecution and proves authenticity to the church
It's something Christians in Iraq experienced firsthand. We talked about it last week. ISIS knows who the Christians are. I have a missionary friend who's in Tunisia, North Africa, about as hard a context as you can imagine. For the Gospel. He shares stories of the few people who convert and the beatings they receive from their family. Having to steal young women away and get them into homes where they can be protected because once that young woman converts and once she's baptized publicly, the family decides to try and beat the Christianity out of her. And if that fails, disown her. And if that fails, probably try to execute her. In those contexts, the church isn't sure who they can trust until you've been baptized.
24 · Diagnoses Western baptismal confusion: either ambivalence about baptism or an obsession with rebaptism as a recommitment ceremony
I wonder if it isn't a uniquely Western notion to be so ambivalent about baptism, so non-committal about being counted publicly among God's people, or on the flip side, so confused and obsessed with being rebaptized. I've met people who've been baptized as believers 2, 3, 4, numerous times. Being baptized is sort of reduced to a recommitment ceremony. Maybe they went to a lot of summer camps growing up. I don't know. And there was a lot of those moments at the end of the week where you went forward, and now they just have to continue reliving that through baptism. That's not to denigrate summer camps. I loved my summer camp. But you get the image, and there's people who treat baptism that way.
25 · Direct shepherding moment addressing those who may have been rebaptized multiple times — clarifies that the pastor is not condemning them but teaching them what baptism properly signifies
Now, if you've been rebaptized, I'm not trying to put you in the crosshairs here. I'm trying to inform you about what baptism is about.
26 · Diagnoses the root of rebaptism confusion: misunderstanding the relationship between baptism and the Lord's Supper
I think part of what motivates people to get rebaptized is because they don't understand the way baptism and the Lord's Supper work together. The Lord's Supper is meant to function the way your rebaptizing is trying to function. You gather with the people and you celebrate the imagery of Christ's death and His resurrection. Paul has no notion in Romans 6 here of people constantly being baptized. In the same way Christ died once and was raised once from the grave, you all were baptized once.
27 · Illustrates baptismal confusion with the story of a woman who waited 15 years to be baptized in the Jordan River
Confusion about baptism abounds. I talked with a woman who was so happy to celebrate with me that she had been baptized in the Jordan River. I was baptized in the— you know, the Jordan? You know, where Jesus— you know, that's sort of the implication there. There's really sort of this clear, like, I was baptized here. You were baptized here. She went on to explain that she had been a Christian for years, but so wanted to be baptized in the Jordan River that she refused to get baptized in her church until she could save up the money after like a decade and a half to take a trip to Israel so she could get baptized in the Jordan River. I didn't push back. I mean, she was clearly invested and found this significant. But it's actually a crude form of baptism she's describing. She told me about this long line of people just waiting to go into the waters of the Jordan and get baptized. Who's baptizing them? I don't know who it was. How does the person baptizing this long line of people know that these people are actually saved? Are these authentic believers? Spiritual nomads looking for the newest spiritual high. 6 months ago they were hanging out with Tibetan monks, and now they're getting baptized in the Jordan River, and soon who knows what they'll be doing. There's no effort to elucidate the authenticity of their faith. Perhaps most significantly, there's no real congregation present to witness it. It's a crowd of tourists. It's a mixed rabble of believers and spiritual thrill seekers. No one can stand up and say, "Yes, we've seen, we've observed, we know this is real." But as a mark of initiation into the people of God, being in the waters of the Jordan isn't nearly as important as being in water in the midst of God's people.
28 · Returns to the theological center of baptism as public profession: the individual proclaims faith, and the gathered church that knows them witnesses to the authenticity of that faith
That's what this public profession is meant to accomplish. The individual proclaims their allegiance to Christ. They profess faith. And the gathered church that knows the individual hears, gives witness, gives support to the observable genuineness of the conversion.
29 · Illustrates the priority of baptism with an analogy about Christian tattoos: wanting a tattoo to symbolize belonging to Christ, yet neglecting the life that testifies to Christ, misses the point
I had a professor in seminary. He was an Old Testament prof. He described how he— because he was the Old Testament guy, right? So people who were good Christians but really wanted to get a tattoo would come to him sometimes and get his discernment because he's the Old Testament prof. Like, well, what do you think about me being able to get a tattoo? And he's like, you know, I could walk them through like This is okay because of, you know, just the way the law changes, Old Testament, New Testament, that, that, that, that, right? I could have walked them through that. And sometimes I did as I discerned what their motives were. But he said, what struck me as strange was the people who wanted to get that Christian tattoo because this was the way this tattoo was going to symbolize that they belong to Christ. Again, side note, I'm not denigrating Christian tattoos. But he found it so strange. You want to get a tattoo to show the world you love Jesus. Shouldn't the way you live your life sufficiently testify to your loyalties? Now you can certainly do both, but don't get the tattoo thinking it absolves you from the other.
30 · Closes the analogy with the main point: baptism is the first and most significant bold action a believer can take to declare allegiance to Christ
In connection with our text this morning, our subject, baptism is the first bold action anyone can take to declare their allegiance to the risen Christ. It's more significant than a tattoo.
31 · Direct application to unbaptized believers: get baptized
Now, easy application. If you're a believer and you've never been baptized as a believer, you've never been able to stand up in front of the congregation and profess your faith, you've never been put under the water and come up again as a visible display of the gospel, don't be sacramentally challenged. Get baptized. September 14th, we're gonna have a baptism class. It's gonna walk through more of the details of what this looks like. And then on September 28th, we're gonna practice the sacrament of baptism together as a church.
32 · Closes the sermon by reiterating the sacramental reality: Christ is present in baptism to minister, testify, and press His promises into the hearts of the baptized and the witnessing church
It's a powerful thing. Christ is there, present in the midst of his people. He wants to minister and testify He wants to press in the truth and realities of His promise to the individual being baptized. And He wants His people to be gathered, affirming and celebrating and rejoicing in the new life that they see exhibited and proclaim the new allegiances being declared in their midst. So September 14th, 9:00 AM, if you're a believer and you've never been baptized, Come to the class, and then September 28th, mark your calendars. We're gonna celebrate the sacrament of baptism together.
33 · Closing prayer asking God to increase the congregation's understanding of baptism, sanctify their commitment to it, and enable them to live boldly as those who have died to sin and been raised with Christ
Would you bow your heads? Father, you give good gifts to your people. There's nothing that you do, Lord, that is ever haphazard or careless or not strategic and wise. And so when you command us to be baptized, you call us to practice this sacrament, we know that it's for our good. So Father, I pray that you would increase our understanding of the significance of baptism. Sanctify, Lord, sanctify our commitment to baptism. Not as an empty ritual, not merely as a symbol, but as a sign and a seal. And Lord, do exactly what You describe in Romans 6. That in our baptizing we would give public testimony to the reality that we have died to sin and we now through the power of Christ's resurrection having been raised with Him live in newness of life. Help us to live boldly as those who identify with the risen Savior. In your name, Jesus. Amen.