What Is Baptism, and How Important Is It?

let's pray in a very little while all of us will be dead and standing face to face before the King Jesus there'll be no doubts anymore and how I pray father that you would use me in this moment in this church and these songs and your word to bring that certainty forward into this age lest we play games and then suddenly we're there Oh God I beg of you forbid that any in the hearing of my voice would be unprepared to face Jesus may we give ourselves 110 percent - knowing you so that we won't find you a stranger at that day great that the drama of baptism appointed to display the glorious gospel will have its suitable effect to that end that pray in Jesus name Amen a three-part series on baptism and church membership were tonight today on the second of those last time it was the importance of church membership and in this message the focus will be on what is baptism and how important is it I want to strike a note immediately a tone a a truth I want it to be first and foremost namely that baptism gets its meaning and its importance from the death of Jesus Christ the Son of God for our sins and from his resurrection from the dead we're not talking mainly here when we talk about baptism we're not talking mainly about a religious ritual we're not talking mainly about a church tradition we're talking mainly about Christ we're talking mainly about his death we're talking mainly about his resurrection and how he has appointed that his life his death his resurrection be dramatized as people pass from death to life don't think small thoughts when you think about baptism think big thoughts when you think about baptism think huge thoughts when you think about what is being signified when a person is buried in water and comes up out of the water this is not a game this is not a charade when a husband slides a wedding ring on to his wife's finger for the first time about 30 seconds after they have become man and wife by virtue of covenant vows it's not a small thing you don't blow it off you don't say this doesn't matter let's all laugh and be stupid here that's all count this silly it's not silly it's big it's weighty it carries huge things in it that's the note I want to strike the way we're gonna approach this is by quoting from the Bethlehem Baptist Church elder affirmation of faith so that you all can remember what it is that all the elders of this church 35 of us which I'm one believe and teach about baptism you can't be an elder at this church if you don't believe this okay I'll read it to you and then we're going to unpack it biblically and spell out some implications we believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in his death and resurrection by being immersed in water in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit it is a sign of belonging to the new people of God the true Israel and an emblem of burial and cleansing signifying death to the old life of unbelief and purification from the pollution of sin so I'm gonna break that down into five pieces and put Bible underneath all of them because that's all that matters what I think doesn't matter what you think doesn't matter what God thinks really matters and he tell oldest here and so you now assess whether as I try to put Bible under these pieces whether I'm being faithful to the book first we say we believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord what we mean by that is simply he commanded it and he commanded it ordained it ordained ordinance in such a way that it becomes an ongoing practice of the church and we get that from Matthew 28:19 and 20 which goes like this go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you now the main verb in that sentence is make disciples you've got it's all surrounded by participles subordinate verbs having gone make disciples and then to defining participles baptizing and teaching so he unpacks the meaning of disciple making with two participles baptizing teaching so if you ask what does it mean to make a disciple one of the things that means is get him baptized that's what he said he said other things but that he said the timeframe of validity for that command is dictated by the promise of his help to bring it about and the promise goes like this verse 20 and behold I am with you always to the end of the age now that's the promise under girding the command or the ordinance go make disciples baptizing so how long should we do this answer as long as the promise holds it up to the end of the age so till Jesus comes our job as Christians is to so evangelize that people come to trust and be baptized that's number one number two baptism expresses union with Christ in his death and resurrection we get this from Romans 6 verses 3 and 4 I'm giving you the key verses there are others but we'll just go with the key ones Romans 6 verses 3 and 4 goes like this do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Jesus 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 the wider context of Romans that's Romans 6 the wider context of Romans would say that it would be a mistake if you concluded from this that water baptism is the instrument or the means by which we are united to Christ in Romans faith is the means by which we are united to Christ and justified therefore having been justified by faith and we're justified in union with the just one so union with Christ in the book of Romans clearly powerfully essentially is wrought through faith when you trust Jesus you're United to Jesus and when you're United to him what he is he is for you and what he is is just and righteous and pure and holy and so you become just and righteous and pure and holy in him and that's the glory of union with Christ by faith alone so I don't want to construe these verses in a way that would contradict the main message of the book namely Romans we show this faith and we signify it we symbolize it in the act of baptism here's an analogy because this text reads with strong words about things happening in Baptism at a wedding in the old words we used to say things like with this ring I thee Wed what did we mean by that when we say that with this ring I thee Wed we do not mean by that that the putting on the ring of the putting the ring on the finger makes us married at least I don't mean that when I'm involved in it no it shows the Covenant it symbolizes the Covenant but the vows the Covenant vows make the marriage and so it is with faith in baptism faith unites us to Christ baptism symbolizes the ring with this baptism I thee Wed so with this baptism you are united to Christ Paul says with that meaning I believe and the point we're focusing on here is the imagery death and burial and read it again we were buried therefore with him by baptism with baptism with this ring we were buried therefore 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 life so the imagery of baptism is most fundamentally burial death resurrection by faith were united to him and thus as he died was buried was raised we died are buried are raised and we live in him and death is behind us that's the glory of the Christian gospel when you trust Jesus your death is over this other thing stinger removed power removed gateway to paradise totally transformed hardly worth calling death anymore if you see it this way we have died with him our death was died at Calvary all the judgment of death taken there your old self of unbelief rebellion idolatry died in the new you of faith and submission and treasuring Christ came into being and you signify that when you're baptized in obedience to Jesus number three we believe this expression of union with Christ in obedience to the ordinance of the Lord we believe this expression of union with Christ in death and resurrection happens by being immersed in water stay right here at Romans 6:3 and just take the imagery seriously the most natural way to understand these words we were buried with him in Baptism and raised to walk in newness of life is that we are immersed in the tomb of the water symbolically and we are raised as we come up out of the water so the imagery is most naturally explained by immersion and the word baptizo means dip or immerse doesn't mean pour it doesn't mean sprinkle and almost all scholars whether they practice sprinkling or pouring or immersion agree that the early church immersed it's just not even argued about much anymore in the early church for the first couple of centuries that's the only thing we have evidence for there is zero evidence of anybody being sprinkled or anybody being poured over in the first couple of centuries of the Christian Church it's not what the word means it's not what the symbolism calls for and therefore we don't practice it here's a couple of pointers in that direction in acts 3 in Ex 837 remember the eunuch riding in the carriage and Philip comes up in and they talk about the meaning of Isaiah and he believes and he says see here's water what prevents me from being baptized and Philip agrees and then it says he commanded the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water and Philip in the eunuch and he baptized him that would be a hard thing to do if you were just gonna gather a little scoop of it and and sprinkle it on the head that's not what happened they went down into the water and were immersed there here's another one John 3:23 John also was baptizing in Aenon John the Baptist near Salim because water was plentiful there you don't need a lot of water if you're sprinkling I reckon I've watched a lot of infant baptism and a lot of sprinkling baptisms and I reckon you could baptize 200 people with a quart of water you stick your fingers in and the Father Son and the Holy Ghost that's not you don't need a lot of water to do that you need a jar that's not what was going on in the New Testament almost all scholars agree with this I'm not making fun of it it's just the way it was there may be other reasons for why you wouldn't want to do it that way but that's just not the way the early church did it it's not the way that fits the symbolism of Romans six number four baptism means doing this immersing in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Matthew 28:19 go therefore make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit it means that not just any immersing is baptism you know if you're playing in the swimming pool and you're just going around that's not baptism this is a sacred and holy application of the name of God in a holy appeal to God the Father God the Son God the spirit to be present to make it true what we're signifying here salvation is of the father purchased by the son applied by the spirit and therefore as you move through this drummer of your salvation you call the entire Trinity to be there with gratitude for what they've done the application of it to you now and the preservation of it only the newness of life so that they are honored as the ground of the means and the goal of it all because without the father there would be no salvation without the Sun there would be no salvation without the Holy Spirit there would be no salvation and it is so right and fitting that when we dramatize the salvation that the three persons have wrought that we do it in the name of all three of them finally number five baptism is an expression of faith and therefore for believers only this is the most significant one in what divides the way Christians do it the mode has some significance in pouring sprinkling immersing this one has greater significance so baptism is a an expression of faith and therefore for believers so let me read that key sentence again from the affirmation and then we'll look at some Scripture we believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith there's the key phrase by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in his death and resurrection so our understanding of baptism in the New Testament is that the meaning the meaning of baptism includes faith it is an act of faith an expression of faith a dramatizing of that which can only come about through faith namely union with Christ in his death in resurrection it's not something an unbeliever can do and it's not something an infant can do that's why we don't baptize babies because the meaning of baptism would be contradicted if we did so if you have your Bibles I would invite you to go to Colossians chapter 2 with me I'm choosing to go to Colossians 2 instead of a half a dozen other places we could go on this issue because of the personal relevance it has to me in my life I grew up in a Baptist Church and so you know you'd say well that's why you're about to scuzz your mom and dad were Baptists and that's why we're all what we are well maybe maybe I wouldn't deny that the influence is strong but but my schooling for years at Wheaton where I discovered there are Christians that are at Baptists and and then three years at Fuller where I was overwhelmed with reformed types good many of whom were not Baptists and were wonderful teachers and blessed influences in my lives and in three years in Germany where everybody in his brothers a Lutheran and I'm sitting in these seminars and I'm the only American I'm the only English speaker and I'm the only Baptist and everybody else there is a Lutheran and they're all looking at me when we get to first Peter in a class called for speeder the spirit and baptism and I'm trying in German to defend my views now at each of those junctures of my life this text was my life that is it's the place where I reposed I rested and I can remember looking dr. Gopal right in the face and saying Colossians 2:12 dr. Gopal Colossians 2:12 I can't get over it can't leave it don't give a rip what my daddy believed but my mom believed pastor Lawrence believed growing up I believe what God says I can't get over it and he was very respectful he didn't he didn't mock me at all he was a godly man Lutheran man so I'm gonna read it to you and show you how it has functioned for me you'll start at verse 11 of Colossians - in him Christ also in him is the him as Christ in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ and let's stop there get that strange language in front of us Paul is saying that once there was a circumcision made with hands done to the baby boys of Israel and now in the church there is a counterpart and it isn't made with hands you see that let's read again in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands this is a new spiritual meaning given to circumcision in the Christian Church it's there's no handwork here this is a reality and and what is being cut away is not a foreskin what is being cut away is the body of the flesh that means on the analogy of circumcision that Christ is cutting us free from the old body that is so used to sinning it's just dominated by saying it is lives in sin it was only sinning and he says hmm we're cutting that one off you still have a body about the old one your old man your old person thrown away that's the kind of imagery it seems to be in Paul's mind here with the the new meaning of circumcision for Christians how there's so so much significance here and you'll hear a little more of it as we go on let's keep going verse 12 having been buried now you see the sentence just continues with this part is simple and the participle could be at the same time or before sis the way the language works here you got to choose one of the other so we were circumcised having been buried with him in Baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith there it is that that those two words are everything to me through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead so we've got this imagery of spiritual circumcision in verse 11 closely connected with baptism you were circumcised having been baptized old body of flesh cut off thrown away in conversion I think spiritual circumcision is virtually synonymous with the new birth you died and you rose again in baptism that's dramatizing the new birth so baptism is a dramatization of the same thing circumcision signifies so they're really closely connected are they not therefore it's probably right now all Baptists want to say this they get nervous when they say this it's probably right to say that baptism has replaced circumcision as the mark of the people of God getting real close to the way Presbyterians argue here it's probably right to say that baptism has replaced circumcision as the outward mark of being part of the people of God in the Old Testament men start accumulate the differences now start accumulating in your mind the differences men not women no baby girls get to sign odd thing they're poor thing in one thing in the Old Testament men were circumcised to signify membership in the Old Covenant people of God and in the New Testament men and women are baptized to signify membership in the new covenant people of God got a couple of shifts their circumcision to baptism men only two men and women now that has led that correlation between circumcision and and baptism has led a lot of people like billions to believe that since circumcision was given to the male children of the people of God in the Old Covenant therefore baptism should be given to the male and female children of the people of God in the New Covenant there's the argument some of you asked me what are you gonna address why people don't believe what you believe well there it is that's the nub of the argument a sense of the continuity of covenants and since the children of covenant members at least the boys got the sign of the Covenant when they were born into a physical Jewish family therefore when a covenant member that is a Christian has a baby born it should be born into the Covenant and be a member of the Covenant and the get the sign of the Covenant which is baptism and therefore you gotta baptize babies there's the argument I think it's very complicated it it wins millions of people it must have something going for it here now my effort over the last thirty years of trying to decide what I believe about this and coming down over and over again where I started is that that argument doesn't work it doesn't work textually and it doesn't work covenant aliy it just sounds like it works let's talk text for a minute Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in Baptism in which now the which there refers to baptism right so let's just put it there in Baptism you also were raised with him through faith so in baptism the signifying of the resurrection happens through faith in baptism you're raised through faith in baptism you're raised through faith in baptism you're raised through faith that's the meaning of how it works no faith no resurrection the symbolism falls to the ground it that's the meaning of baptism in Paul's mind here in which baptism you were raised with him through faith so baptism is a drama of the death and the resurrection of Christ and gets its meaning from the faith that it expresses or the union with Christ that faith brought to pass now here's another text that shows this way of thinking is just in it's in the fibers of his brain this next text it's in Galatians chapter 3 if you want to look at it with me the Galatians chapter 3 verses 26 and 27 you talk like he does here if faith is not simply deeply woven into the meaning of baptism then I mean the faith of the person being baptized not the faith of the parents there's not a hint that anybody else's faith would give meaning to your dramatization of your death with Christ and your resurrection so here we are at Galatians 3:26 and 27 and it goes like this Galatians 3 verse 26 in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith okay your sons of God through faith that's how you become a son of God in Christ Jesus you're all sons of God through faith for a very important word here for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ now how does that work we teach our young guys here entering the ministry this method of interpretation called arcing in which we try to just understand how propositions that come back to back relate to each other and this is big you think it through in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ turn it around and put the second one first since you were baptized into Christ therefore clearly you are sons of God in Christ their faith the only way that argument works is that Paul thinks of baptism in terms of faith if won't work any other way so I conclude that in Paul's way of thinking baptism never should happen apart from faith in the one being baptized you are all sons of God through faith for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ since you were baptized into Christ therefore we know that in Christ you were all sons of God through faith because that's what baptism is so covenant only I said it's textually covenant alee a problem when the shift happened in redemptive history from Old Covenant to New Covenant old covenant with the Jews new covenant with the church when the shift happened in redemptive history from Old Covenant to New Covenant from circumcision to baptism there was a shift there were a bunch of shifts there was a shift from a focus on ethnic Israel as the people of God where only males were given the sign of membership in the people to a spiritual focus on the church of all nations not just Israel with both male and female being given the sign of membership in the people namely baptism and as you would expect with faith being essential to baptism there's a shift from the focus on spiritual birth as the pathway into the family not physical birth as the pathway into the family the parallels really do work you just have to get the dividing line at the right place of course newborns should be baptized new reborns that's the analogy baby believers he just believed quick act here let them dramatize this before the world the way Jesus said to of course there's the analogy the shift away from Israel to church men and women I mean men only to men women circumcision to baptism physical birth to spiritual birth works but if you say the real analogy is to carry over you're born into a Jewish family you're part of the Old Covenant you're born to one Christian parent you're in the church you got major problems problems with texts problems in the church problems with the Covenant the New Covenant is I will put my spirit in their heart I will cause them to walk her into my statutes that's the New Covenant that's the meaning of the New Covenant the New Covenant people are not people of the flesh they're people of the Spirit that my children are born to me means nothing about whether at that moment they're in the Covenant or a days letter they're later they're in the Covenant they are born into the Covenant when they're born again and that's when they get baptized so we can see how the meaning of baptism is woven together with membership in the people of God can't you and since the local church is an expression of the people the New Covenant global universal people of the New Covenant since the local church is an expression then baptism is very closely connected to membership in the local church in the New Testament being a Christian being baptized belonging to the New Covenant people of God and being a member in the local church were linked together if you had tried just think of Paul trying to figure this out if you had tried to pull one of those pieces out not a Christian or not baptized or not in the new covenant people or not a member of a local church it would have made no sense to Paul at all they went together to be in the covenant people is to be in one of the expressions of it to be a Christian was to be baptized some of you have played with this far - mom wait hundreds of you hundreds of you dragging your feet it's embarrassing to have bare feet and for bare feet and for the church my legs are white I'm losing my hair this is describing John Piper okay I look silly in a robe isn't that good for me I do I wear this I don't look silly well actually I do look silly for wearing this but sometimes silliness is good for you and there are a lot of other silly reasons for why we delay I'm closing baptism I conclude is important it was uncompromising these are three use and help remember it was uncompromising Lee commanded by the Lord Jesus number two it was universally administered to Christians entering the early church 3 it was uniquely connected to conversion in an unrepeatable expression of saving faith you don't get baptized a bunch of times you get baptized once because you get saved once baptism is important let's step back now we've got two messages on the table last week meaning of local church and church membership this week meaning of baptism and its relationship to local and here's my conclusion baptism is important the nature of the local church is important as a sacred expression of the universal body of Christ number two failing to be baptized is serious excluding genuine believers from the local church is serious three there are godly Bible believing Christ exalting God centered followers of Jesus who fail to see the dreadfulness of not being baptized as a believer a lot of my friends are in that category and there are godly Bible believing Christ exalting God centered followers of Jesus who failed to see the dreadfulness of excluding such people from church membership the question we should ask is not only hard to answer it's hard to formulate don't say that again I can't this is the end of my sermon last five lines left two minutes as I tried to pose it to myself one more time what should the question be that we're asking it's as hard to formulate almost as the answer is hard to give so here's my closing lines perhaps the Lord in His mercy will show us how to do both in a way that will cut the knot for his glory that is honor a seriousness of membership in the local church and honor the seriousness of baptism that's what I mean by both may the Lord grant a wisdom like Solomon's or better a wisdom like the one who was better and greater than Solomon the Lord Jesus we have the mind of Christ he doesn't want us to be paralyzed by this issue he doesn't want us to be divided on how we think about this issue and that's where I stop so I thought to myself what kind of a song do you sing at the end of a message that ends with the question I'm supposed to be strong and got conviction here and declare the answer so I I said I need a song about wisdom and I went to be thou my vision which has the verse in it be thou our wisdom or my wisdom and I wrote a new verse for it and I stuck it in so we're gonna sing it and when you get to the verse you don't recognize and I'm saying this on camera because we're all gonna sing this all three campuses we're gonna do this I'll read you the verse that I wrote and I don't think it's biased though I am biased but I'm trying not to just say anything that would be unduly biased here's the verse to teach us Oh father your wisdom to search till we embrace all your love for the church let your baptism become our sure both help us Oh Saviour to honor them both I think we could all pray that couldn't we whatever side you feel inclined toward on whether you think baptism is more at stake or any sure the church is more at stake that's where we are teach us Oh father your wisdom to search till we embrace all your love for the church let your baptism become our sure both help us so Savior to honor them both let's pray once you stand up with me on all all the campuses just go ahead and stand up father in heaven I love Bethlehem I love your church universal I love baptism and the beautiful drama that it is of being buried and rising with Christ and I love membership in the church and what it signifies and I pray for both Solomonic wisdom show us how to say bring me a sword let's cut the baby in half and even more we long for Christ's wisdom in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge so we close with a prayer to declare that you're our vision you're our wisdom you're a king you're our treasure you're our riches and we want you to give us light it's in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: Desiring God

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Keywords: Sermon, John Piper, Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Christian, Christianity, Church, Bible, Jesus Christ, God, Scripture

Id: y_JwUBkZpiM

Length: 45min 3sec (2703 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 03 2013