Rummaging through some of my old memorabilia I rediscovered a post card with the picture of a church on it. I well remember the church because it was the one where I was baptized. As a child of eight I asked Jesus to come into my heart at the altar of my small local church. It was an important time in my life and it started me on my Christian walk. The small church where I put down my spiritual roots did not have a baptistry in it. My pastor told us that it was important for new Christians to be baptized because Jesus commanded it.
As a child I told my mother that I wanted to be baptized with others and she agreed to allow me to be baptized with my friends. Most people in my church believed that if you were to be baptized it had to be by immersion. I went along with the consensus. My desire was to be whatever Jesus wanted me to be and to do whatever he wanted me to do. On the appointed Sunday afternoon our little group of Christians drove over to the big church across town that allowed us to have our baptismal service. One by one we waded out into the baptismal tank as our pastor asked us to give our testimony of faith about Jesus. Once that happened each of us was immersed…baptized…in the faith of Jesus Christ.
My water baptism was almost 64 years ago. I have been through college, seminary, and decades of pastoral ministry as well as denominational administration. My theological understanding has matured and ripened over the decades. I have a better understanding of the theological controversy about the doctrine and practice of baptism. Listening to ministers from various denominations share their views has broadened my appreciation for each of their stances. But I have discovered that the common bond is the recognition of God’s provision of his sacred salvation in each of their positions.
Personally, I have a deep appreciation for the sacrament of water baptism as a symbol of God’s covenant with a young child of eight back in Kansas City all those years ago. His baptism is still my baptism of faith in what God has done for me through Jesus Christ. When John baptized Jesus it was a visible, outward sign signifying that the word may become our own experience.
This is what I believe baptism is to me. Maybe you’ll be able to find some common ground with me in our search for greater understanding of our faith.
Baptism is a sign that my sins are forgiven (Acts 2:38).
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Let us go to Calvary to learn how we may be forgiven. And then let us linger there to learn how to forgive.”
Christians have learned that there is such a thing as “godly sorrow” as Paul wrote to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 7:10). It goes to the heart of the matter that honest repentance both recognizes the horror of sin and guilt and yet recognizes the depth of the power of saving grace through transformation of life!
“The doctrine of God’s gracious forgiveness, like all the other doctrines of grace, is grounded not only in the divine initiative (Jesus coming into the world) but, in God’s expectation of our active and persisting response to his love.” (Beacon Dictionary of Theology, p.223).
Forgiveness is our acceptance of the death and resurrection of Jesus and a changed life both theologically and practically.
We need to rejoice and maybe throw a party every time a sinner comes to God or a backslider returns to the fold!
Charles Swindoll told about a pastor who went through the public discipline of a brother in Christ in his local church. Years passed as the man walked away from God and the church. His life was a shipwreck of disgrace. Finally he realized what he had done through God’s conviction and loving counsel from friends. He wrote a note of apology to the church, pastor, and friends of that congregation. He ultimately said he was wrong and he was living a sinful life. He had rebelled and rejected God and their discipline. He wrote, “I want you to know, I see the wrong of my actions and I’ve come back.”
Swindoll asked, “Do you know what the church did?” They had a party — this same church that had disciplined him. They bought him a couple of gifts and had a prime rib dinner. It was an evening of praise as this brother was brought back into fellowship. Swindoll observed there’s not enough of that kind of action by the church.
Forgiveness is setting the prisoner free…and the prisoner is you!
Baptism is a sign of my relationship with Christ (Galatians 3:26-38).
Paul wrote, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith” (Galatians 3:26 NIV). When Jesus enters our hearts, he brings the fellowship of God into play. The grand motivation of this relationship is his love for us. John pens the reason for this relationship, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17 NIV). What’s the benefit? God living in my heart without condemning me! This also provides a future life that begins now and continues on through eternity.
One night before the great Broadway musical star, Mary Martin, was to go on stage in South Pacific, a note was handed to her. It was Oscar Hammerstein, the American librettist, theatrical producer, and director of musicals from the 1920s to 1960, who wrote the lyrics for South Pacific. “Dear Mary, A bell’s not a bell till you ring it. A song’s not a song till you sing it. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn’t love ‘til you give it away.” (James Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited).
God understood that and gave us his love so that we could enjoy his fellowship forever!
Baptism is a sign of fellowship with other believers (1Corinthians 12:13).
Baptism brings me into a holy fellowship by connecting me with others. When I was young the church I attended the people would call each other, “brother” or “sister.” That tradition has been “outgrown” by a more sophisticated church culture. The truth is we really have become brothers and sisters if we are in Christ. We have a fellowship that the world cannot understand. Christ bonds us together as nothing else can do. If the church does not have Christ at the center, then it is no more than a service club.
The fellowship of believers has been likened to a hospital for those needing spiritual and moral healing. It is a place for us to come and share together in the hurts, difficulties and tragedies of life through Christ.
The fellowship of believers is the place where people gather to invite the presence of the Holy Spirit to empower them to live holy, righteous, caring, loving lives together.
The fellowship of believers is to light the fire under one another to carry out the mission that Christ gave us, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-19 NIV).
The fellowship of believers is to be engaged in the life of the community. We are not to withdraw from the world we live in and become monastics or isolationists. As you observe the life of Jesus he continually engaged in meeting the needs of the world through healing, giving hope, breaking the caste system (think of the Samaritan woman, the tax collectors like Zacchaeus and Matthew), changing the moral culture of his society, and challenging the arrogant Pharisees. What are we doing to make a difference in our world as the fellowship of believers? How are we engaging in our community?
Paul wrote to the church of Galatians, “You, my brothers and sister, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:13-14 NIV).
Here are a few thoughts.
- Open up a free clinic in the community. Hire a parish nurse to help out the needs of the elderly.
- Provide free babysitting for mothers during the day.
- Make a jail ministry a priority.
- Have a counseling center for those in need.
- Open up the church for community meetings.
- Have free car washes at community festivals.
- Provide housing for the homeless.
- Help the hungry by providing free food or community soup nights.
- Ask the congregation to come up with other ideas.
Lighthouses are a passion for me. The reason is their function over the years. These lighthouses saved the lives of seaman by lighting the way over dangerous seacoasts. As a church our task is to help those who are navigating the dangerous coasts of life as we help light the way to safety. We do it as a group…a team…a body of saved individuals who have been rescued by the Savior, Jesus!
Conclusion
Matthew Henry was an English minister and Bible commentator who lived from 1662-1714. His father’s name was Philip and he wrote a baptismal statement that has been quoted often. The statement reads:
I take God to be my chief and highest good.
I take God the Son to be my prince and Savior.
I take God the Holy Spirit to be my sanctifier, teacher, guide, and comforter.
I take the word of God to be my rule in all my actions
and the people of God to be my people under all conditions.
I do hereby dedicate and devote to the Lord all that I am, all that I have and all I can do.
And this I do deliberately, freely, and forever. Amen.1
1. (Quoted in protevangelium.blogspot.com).