Three pastors got together for coffee one morning. Much to their surprise they discovered that all their churches had problems with bats infesting their belfries. The bats were making a terrible mess. "I got so mad," said one pastor, "I took a shotgun and fired at them. It made holes in the ceiling, but did nothing to the bats."
"I tried trapping them alive," said the second. "Then I drove 50 miles before releasing them, but they beat me back to the church."
"I haven't had any more problems," said the third.
"What did you do?" asked the others, amazed.
"I simply baptized and confirmed them," he replied. "I haven't seen them since."
If that story doesn't make you laugh, it will make you cry. It is such a common occurrence. People come to the church desiring Christian baptism and church membership. We welcome them into our fellowship, and then for six weeks or so after we welcome them into our fellowship, we don't hear anything of them. What does it mean? Or parents stand at the altar to present a child to God. They make promises to bring up that child in the household of faith and then they disappear. We rarely see them again. What did those promises mean?
On this second Sunday of the New Year our lesson from the Gospels focuses our attention on the place of baptism in our lives.
Jesus came to be baptized by John. It was an interesting act of contrition. John the Baptist admitted that he wasn't worthy to lace up Jesus' sneakers, and yet Jesus joins the crowd that is being baptized by John. It was a dramatic moment for John and even for Jesus. For there came a voice from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."
Baptism has always been at the heart of the Christian faith. It is sign and symbol that a person belongs to Christ. It is a requirement for membership in the church. It is a sacrament ” a means of grace. Why, then, do so many Christians take baptism so lightly? Perhaps we need to consider what baptism says to us.
FIRST OF ALL, BAPTISM SAYS THAT IT IS GOD WHO HAS SAVED US. Certainly it is not the water. Water is but a symbol.
The story is told of an old mountain preacher who was baptizing converts at a revival meeting. Up stepped a wiry, sharp-eyed old man who said he wanted to be baptized too. The preacher led the man into the water. He asked the usual question: Was there any reason why the ordinance of baptism should not be administered.
After a pause a tall, powerful-looking man, who was watching quietly, remarked: "Preacher, I don't want to interfere in your business, but I want to say that this is an old sinner you have got hold of, and that one dip won't do him any good; you'll have to anchor him out in deep water overnight."
The objector was right. If the hope for cleansing was based on the efforts of the water, there was going to have to be a whole lot more water used! (1) It is not water that saves us. Water is but a symbol. Water itself has no saving power. And to be frank about it, neither does the strength of our belief.
The focus in baptism is not on the believer, but on God. Grace is not something we earn, but something we receive as a free gift. Baptism symbolizes a turning from sin, but it is God who delivers us from the power of the Tempter. It is not a victory of our will but of God's. That is why we always come to Christian baptism in an act of total humility. Baptism is a symbol of God's grace freely given.
In Vienna, Austria, you will find a church in which the Hapsburgs, the former ruling family of Austria, are buried. It is said that when royal funerals finally arrive at the church for the burial rites, the mourners leading the funeral procession knock at the door to gain entrance.
"Who is it that desires admission here?" a priest asks through the locked door.
"His apostolic majesty, the emperor!" calls the guard.
"I don't know him," answers the priest.
A second knock follows and a similar question is asked. This time, the funeral guard announces the deceased as, "The highest emperor."
Again, "I don't know him," echoes throughout the vaulted burial chamber.
Finally, a third knock is heard. "Who is it?"
"A poor sinner, your brother," comes the final answer. Then the door is opened and the royal burial completed.(2)
That is the proper attitude for baptism ” total and complete humility. It is not the water that saves us. It is not our own noble intentions that save us. It is God acting out of total and complete self-giving love that accepts us just as we are. That is the first thing we need to see. It is God who saves us.
Here is the second. IT IS GOD WHO CALLS US. Baptism is a free gift from God, but the purpose of baptism is to give us a new identity.
The word baptizo was a term that was used in the first century for dipping a light-colored garment into a dye. Once the fabric was dipped into the dye, it would be changed in its identity from its original color to a new color. The act of dipping it, resulting in changing its identity, was called baptizo. It is the Greek term from which we get our English word baptism. (3) "Once we were no people," says the Old Testament writer, "but now we are God's people." Baptism is a sign of God's call to us to be new people.
Sue Monk Kidd, in her book, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, says that so often when she opens a newspaper she finds herself reading a depressing headline ” words in big letters shouting about a world threat, a crisis, another crime. There is surely a lot of bad news to read about these days. One day she opened her town's paper, however, and read a remarkable headline printed in half-inch letters. The headline read like this: "I Asked Jesus Into My Heart." This story followed:
"During the night dogs had begun to bark furiously around the home of a local couple. Usually the dogs' barking signaled something amiss, that perhaps prowlers lurked nearby. But the next morning, the couple discovered that nothing had been taken. Instead, something had been returned. Outside the front door were two car speakers that had been stolen six weeks earlier. A note attached to them read like this: `I'm sorry that I took your speakers, but now I have repented my sins and asked Jesus to forgive me. I hope you will forgive me too. I no longer take other people's belongings...God has changed me. I'm a new creature since I asked Jesus into my heart.' It was signed simply, `Saved.'" (4)
It could have been signed, "Baptized." In fact, I like "baptized" better. "Saved" connotes that we have been delivered from the power of sin, but baptism is more than that. Baptism means that we have put on new life in Christ. It means that we have not only given up old, unsavory behavior, but that we now walk in the footsteps of the One who gave his life for us. How, then, can we come for baptism or confirmation and then disappear from the life of the Christian community?
The WALL STREET JOURNAL once carried an article about the dramatic increase of fundamentalist Islam in Turkey ” a country that has been relatively secular. They quoted a young Muslim Turk:
"Our view of religion is different from yours," he said to a western visitor. "According to your rules," he continued, "religion counts only in the place where you pray. Our religion is a way of life. I have no time at all, not one minute, without Islam."
Is that how the world views the Christian faith…its rules apply to its adherents only while they are in church? Where have we missed it? Why do we not understand that baptism means the beginning of new life? To paraphrase that young Muslim: "I have no time at all, not one minute, without Christ."
Pastor Martin B. Hellriegel once returned to Hepperheim in Germany where he was born. It was also the place he had been baptized. He would go to the parish church and put his hands reverently on the baptismal font. And think deep thoughts. They were thoughts of gratitude for all that he had received, from parents, from his church ” and from God. They were thoughts of renewal, and rededication to his calling as a disciple, a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. It began with his baptism, right there, at that font. The church was ancient; generations before him had received the gift. How could he be faithless to this calling? (5) Baptism signifies that it is God who has saved us. It is God who has called us.
FINALLY, IT IS GOD WHO GOES WITH US. Just as we do not come to baptism trusting in our own merits but in God's gracious love for us, neither do we live the Christian life trusting in our own strength.
It is said that Martin Luther had his hours of doubt and despair. In such hours he would face himself and the tempter with these words, "Baptizatus sum, baptizatus sum" ” "I have been baptized, I have been baptized." Baptism is a reminder to us that we are not alone in the world. Just as Jesus heard those words at his baptism, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased," so we too hear God's voice: "You are my own child. I am with you. You are not alone."
Everyone in the small town called her Grandma Richardson. One late afternoon Grandma Richardson looked out of her window to see a group of men on her porch. It was a familiar sight in a coal town. She knew what had happened before the men told her. Her husband had been killed in a mining accident.
Years passed slowly and with great difficulty. Grandma Richardson was admired by everyone in town for her courage and unwavering faith. She and her children attended church almost every week. Then there was another knock on her door. Her older son had been killed in another mine accident.
Grandma grew older and weaker. In the spring and summer, when the weather was warm, she would sit on her front porch, rocking in her rocking chair, softly singing hymns of faith that she had learned by heart. Children would gather and listen to her tell Bible stories. Then it happened again. Another son was killed in the mine. After the funeral Grandma Richardson was again sitting on her porch rocking in her favorite chair, softly singing hymns of faith. One of the children who saw her sitting there asked her, "Grandma Richardson, aren't you sad today?"
"Yes," she replied, "I am sad, very sad. It's hard to say good-bye to someone you love, and I have had to do it three times. But," she told the children, "I have something more than sadness inside of me." She then spoke of her faith.
"Can you give us some," one of the children asked.
"Why children," Grandma Richardson answered, "I have been giving it to you for years now. It is knowing that God loves you and that He has made one promise that is a gift, the most valuable gift in the world. God promised that no matter what happens, no matter how good or bad things may be, regardless of your joy or sorrow, God will not leave you alone." (6)
That is God's promise to each of us. It goes part and parcel with our baptism. To understand that baptism is to become a new person. It is God who has saved us. It is God who calls us into a new life of service. It is God who goes with us. What good news! "Baptizatus sum" ” "I have been baptized."
1. Leewin Williams, editor, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WIT, HUMOR AND WISDOM (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1949), p. 248.
2. James W. Cox, THE MINISTER'S MANUAL, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989).
3. Charles R. Swindoll, THE GRACE AWAKENING, (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1990).
4. C. R. Gibson Co., 1988.
5. GOOD NEWS.
6. James L. Henderschedt, THE LIGHT IN THE LANTERN, (San Jose, CA: Resource Publications, Inc., 1991), pp. 63-67.