BAPTISM

August 30, 2020
Americans like options – we like choices.  It’s built into our fabric – we tie it to freedom.  Many can remember the, “Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us,” jingle that Burger King introduced in 1974.  The jingle was aimed at cutting into McDonald’s Big Mac market, which had successfully introduced “Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.”  In response, Burger King focused on the fact that we like choices, so “Have it your way.”  As I recall, they later said there was some 256 ways to order the Whopper.  And yet, most of you order it the same way every time.  
285 varieties of cookies85 choices of juices95 varieties of chips230 soups120 different pasta sauces275 varieties of cereals, and no matter which one you bring home, the kids want the other one175 kinds of tea bags100 kinds of detergent 
Schwartz says the average grocery store carries 30,000 products, with 20,000 new ones arriving each year.  The toothpaste aisle – notice, I said aisle – makes you dizzy.  Someone has coined it consumer vertigo.  We like our options.  
We even like options in Christianity.  For example, go to the local Christian bookstore or christianbooks.com – how many different Bibles can there possibly be?  There are children’s bibles, teen bibles, student bibles, men’s bibles, women’s bibles, family bibles, reference bibles, study bibles, devotional bibles, small print, large print, pocket size, thin-line, paperback, hardback, bonded leather, genuine leather, interlinears, parallel bibles, topical bibles, one-year bibles, chronological bibles – and we haven’t even gotten to all the translations – KJV, ASV, NIV, ESV, NAS, RSV, NLT, NET, NKJ, NEB, the Phillips, etc. – too many to count.  We like our Christian options.
We’re Americans – we like options.  Some of us even trade in our churches like we trade in our cars – if this one wears out or something newer and better comes along – then I’ll trade in the old one.  Or, I might even drive the old one every once in awhile and try some of the newer ones – jump from place to place.  You know – take ‘em for a test drive – as if we’re consumers instead of fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.  And in our consumer-driven culture where marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry, the church of Jesus Christ has suffered. 
We are in a study of II Peter.  But, a few weeks ago, since we had not taken the Lord’s Supper in several months, I decided to take a break and teach about Communion.  So also, one week from today, we will observe the second ordinance of the church – which we’ve not been able to observe in several months.  So today, I want to talk to you about baptism.  My hope is that some of you, as followers of Christ, who have not yet been baptized, will do so.  
You see, in this time of pandemic, I’ve observed the necessity of elevating the importance of the local church – of this local church.  We can define the church as a group of ones called out of this present evil age to be followers of Christ, to assemble together for specific purposes.  From the Reformation on, some consistencies of our understanding of the church began to develop.  Most began to agree a local church is a group of people committed to the Gospel rightly taught and where the ordinances are rightly administered.  So, having looked at the Lord’s Supper, we will look at baptism today.  By the way, we refer to these as ordinances in the sense that Jesus ordained the practices – He instituted them.  
Now, as I suggested, the main verb of the Great Commission is to make disciples, and it is supported by three participles.  There is a sense in which we can measure our success in fulfilling the Great Commission by these participles.  The first of the three is to go.  In other words, take the message of the gospel with you as you go wherever you go – to make disciples of the nations – to include the people around us.  The second participle is baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And the third participle is teaching them all the things Jesus commanded.  Actually, that’s not exactly right – I left out a couple of key words.  Teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded.  So here are the measures – are we telling people about Jesus, are we seeing them become converts, being baptized, and are we seeing them obey or observe His teachings?
Going signifies Presence.  We must go to where people are – that’s what Jesus did.  Not only around the world, although it includes that, but next door, across the street, to the next office cubicle.  We could call this going, Pre-evangelism.Baptizing signifies Proclamation or Persuading.  It is sharing the claims of Christ with people who need to hear and seeing them converted – confessing faith in Jesus Christ.  We could call that Evangelism.And teaching signifies Perfecting – maturing, growing in your faith.  We could call that Post-evangelism.
This command is why, a few days later on the Day of Pentecost about 50 days after the resurrection, Peter preached his first message.  Some call it the first message of the Christian church.  The feast of Pentecost was one of those annual festivals which gathered Jews from around the world.  While Jewish in ethnicity, they were of different nationalities, speaking different languages.  But on that day, the Holy Spirit came and filled the disciples, just as Jesus promised.  And the disciples spoke in other tongues, gathering a crowd from throughout Jerusalem.  And when they arrived, each heard the wonders of God in their own language.  It was at that point Peter stood and preached the gospel.  He finished the message with these great words, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Well, those who heard it were pierced to the heart and said to Peter, “What shall we do?”  And Peter remembered the command of Jesus from a few days before, so he said, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  Peter understood the Great Commission – once they repent, baptize them.  And by the way, we see 3,000 people believed and were baptized that same day.  We’ll talk about that in a moment.
So, what is this baptism?  The Greek word is baptizo – and the word means to plunge, dip or immerse.  For example, the word was used of dying material – you would dip or immerse the material in the dye to change its color.  (Go in one color – come out another – though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.)  And so, while I don’t think it’s anything to fall on your sword about, I do believe the practice is best observed by immersion – when you baptize someone, you dip or plunge them in water.
The New Testament seems to accept that understanding.  For example, when people were being baptized by John the Baptist, we read in Mark 1 that they were being baptized in the Jordan River.  Later in that same chapter, we read when Jesus was baptized, as He came up out of the water, the Spirit of God was seen descending on Him as a dove.  In John 4, we read that John the Baptist was baptizing in Aenon, because there was much water there – kind of an interesting choice of words.  And in Acts 8, when Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch, we read they both went down into the water.  So, both the meaning of the word and the clearest practice in the New Testament was that of immersion.  That, by the way, is the how – some call it the mode.  
Now, let me make this clear – baptism is not something you do in order to be saved – but it is an act of obedience by which you demonstrate/proclaim that you are saved.  It is a picture of that which has already transpired in your life.  There are those within the realm of Christendom who say that baptism in necessary for salvation – that it is itself redemptive (ex opere operato), a means of saving grace.  But, that is not what the Scripture teaches.  Rather, it is for those who have already professed faith and know Jesus as Savior.  
First, some say household baptisms in the New Testament are an indication of infant baptism.  That is, when the Philippian jailer in Acts 16, or Stephanas in I Corinthians 1 were baptized, their households were baptized as well – and that is true.  But, let’s look closely at Acts 16.  
Do you see that?  The whole household was baptized because they believed.  We won’t take the time to look at it, but I Corinthians 1 does speak of the household of Stephanas being baptized, but I Corinthians 16 speaks of his household devoting themselves to the ministry of the saints.  The point being, these texts goes out of the way to indicate the households were old enough to believe and serve, and therefore, old enough to be baptized.
Yes – the words circumcision and baptism are used in successive verses.  But, verse 11 doesn’t speak of a physical circumcision, but of spiritual circumcision.  And please note the key words in verse 12 – buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith.  Once again, we see faith is the prerequisite for baptism. 
Finally, on this issue of paedobaptism, some say, well of course there was only believer’s baptism in the New Testament – the practice was new.  But in later generations, as believers had children, they practiced infant baptism.  I have two issues with that.  First, the New Testament was written over a period of several decades – certainly believers had children during that time – and yet not one time do we have the practice of infant baptism observed in the New Testament.
And second, in the Old Testament, when circumcision was instituted, it too was new.  And, children and adults were circumcised.  True, subsequently, any children or foreigners who came into to the covenant family were circumcised. But, there were clear instructions given to do so – to include the fact that boys were to be circumcised on the 8th day.  It was very clear – there was no ambiguity.  If God intended for us to baptize children, don’t you think the instruction would be given?  And if baptism replaced circumcision – don’t you think the New Testament, somewhere, would say so?  And don’t you think someone would have baptized a baby, unambiguously, somewhere in the New Testament?
Some of you say – what about my children?  They’ve made a profession of faith – should I let them be baptized?  I want you to know that I’ve wrestled with that question.  But I’ve come to this.  If a child understands enough to know the gospel – that is, they know they’re sinners, they know that Jesus, God in the flesh, died for them and was raised from the dead – then they know enough to be baptized.  You say, but, what if they’re not really Christians yet?  Then they’ll just get wet.  They can always be baptized again, if they later truly come to faith in Christ.  The point is – Jesus commanded His followers to be baptized.  And in the New Testament, people who became His followers were baptized immediately.  It wasn’t optional.
So again, some of you need to be baptized.  But here’s my concern.  I’ve given a lecture on the topic of baptism.  And it sounds, even to me, like I’m giving this sterile command – be baptized, because Jesus said so and the early church practiced it – so be baptized.  I don’t want to come across that way.  Rather, I want you to hear this.  Jesus, the Son of God, emptied Himself of the rightful display of His glory – He left heaven’s glory for you.  Jesus, the eternal Word, became flesh and dwelt among us.  Because He loved us.  Before you were ever born – before the creation of the world, Jesus knew you, and loved you.  And He came to die for you.  
He even gave us an example.  He Himself, God in the flesh, was baptized.  John the Baptist had enough sense to say – no way, Jesus – you should be baptizing me – not I, you.  Not only that, but remember, John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance – of what sin was Jesus repenting?  And yet He was baptized, to fulfill all righteousness – some say as an example to all those who would be His followers.  
I don’t want you to submit to the ordinance of baptism because I say so – because you have to, even though you do.  I want you to be baptized because you’ve put on Christ.  Because He died for you – and you desire, with all your heart, to identify with His death, burial and resurrection for you.  Because you want to die with Christ, being buried with Him, and you want to rise clothed in Christ, to walk in newness of life.  You want people to know – Jesus loves me, and I love Him.  I’m honored to be called His child – and I want you to know I’m His follower.  That’s why I want you to be baptized.
And so, if you’re here this morning and you’ve never been baptized, but you want to be, I want to strongly encourage you to do so.  Going back to Barry Schwartz and The Paradox of Choice.  He suggests in his book that too many choices lead to paralysis.  That while we like choice, when we have choices, many often don’t make choices.  If that’s you regarding baptism, I want to encourage you – the biblical option is to follow our Lord’s command and be baptized.