Baptism 2011

Dakota Community Church

July 31, 2011

Baptism 2011

Colossians 2:6-15

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

This is not some minor issue we try to cover once a year.

Baptism gets its meaning and its importance from the death of Jesus Christ.

Baptism has meaning and importance only because of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We are not mainly talking about religious ritual here.

We are not mainly talking about church tradition here.

We are talking about Jesus, his magnificent work dying for our sins and rising for our justification.

1. Hollow and deceptive philosophy

Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

We have this wonderful gift of freedom to be thankful for in Christ – justification by faith.

Do not become caught, trapped, ensnared, do not surrender freedom to HOLLOW philosophy.

How do we recognize hollow philosophy?

Ideas that depend on HUMAN TRADITION and WORLDLY PRINCIPLES rather than Christ

My mom taught me that baptism is about joining a church

There is only one church; it is comprised of all those who call on the name of Christ for salvation.

Denominations are a human invention sometimes caused by rebellious congregants, and sometimes caused by errant leadership. HT&WP not Christ

I was baptized as a child is that enough? Will my un-baptized children go to hell if they die?

All the baptisms described in the New Testament are believer baptisms.

All the commands to be baptized are given to believers and there are no mentions of infant baptism in the New Testament.

We simply cannot build a crucial church practice on biblical inference with no explicit biblical examples.

Salvation depends upon faith in Christ – not upon parental obedience. HT&WP not Christ

2. Not by men – by Christ

Colossians 2:11-12

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

Philippians 3:2-11

Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.