Baptist And Baptism

Baptist and Baptism

Matt 28:18-20

INTRO: *mud hole baptism After the great rainstorm the other night. A There was a good size hole of water in the back yard of two little boys. A 5yr old and yes younger brother was back there playing in the water. Mom looking out the kitchen window, when the older grabbed his younger brother and shoved his face in to the water hole. As the younger brother recovered and stood laughing, dripping wet.. mom came running out of the house yelling at her oldest son and grabbed him and began to shake him. “Why on Earth did you do that to your little brother? ‘We were just playing church mommy” He said. “I was baptizing him like the preacher did in church last Sunday and said I nopw baptize yo in the name of the father, the son and in-the-hole-you-goes!’

A. Deal with a topic that historically has been controversial

1. It even makes some a little uncomfortable because it is one

that has been so divisive over the years.

2. Now in recent weeks it is in the news with Baptist churches

drifting away from the ordinance and all that it means

a. There has been an ever increasing number of Baptist

Churches accepting what use to be called “Alien Baptism”

1. No not baptizing aliens from outer-space or illegal aliens

2. But accepting into the church member ship those that have been

baptized in another denomination,

a. What is wrong with that? Baptism means different things to

different denominations

1. Some it is part of salvation, or required to keep saved

b. We will see why we don’t agree, but also that baptism is a

statement of faith that one agrees with the church they are being

baptized into.. There is a need to be re-baptized so as to make that

statement of like-faith

3. Ac 19 reveals some people getting baptized a 2nd time when

their faith changed.

a. They had been baptized in John’s baptism of looking for the

coming Savior

b. But once they learned that Jesus is come. They put their faith

in Him & was baptized again.

4. I want to make clear, my goal is ALWAYS to be biblically

grounded

a. All doctrine, standards and understandings for faith is to be

based on what the BIBLE teaches

1. NOT Baptist traditions or ideology

5. While Baptists practice "believers baptism by immersion,"

a. Most other churches utilize other methods such as

sprinkling or pouring,

1. Also they will usually baptize people when they are infants.

6. In the past, this difference was seen literally as a life or

death issue.

a. Leaders of other churches often advocated executing

Baptists as dangerous heretics,

1. And Baptists were usually willing to die for their convictions.

B. Importance

** “The six-year-old told his mother that he had been baptized. Well, Mom knew he hadn’t been formally baptized, so she probed further into the issue. She asked him to explain what he meant by ‘baptized.’ Little Blake then enlightened his mom, ‘Last night in the bathtub I put my face under the water and thought about Jesus’.”

1. There are probably some people here today that think that

baptism is sticking your head under the water and thinking

about Jesus.

2. There are a handful of folks who argue that baptism was

only intended for 1st Century Christians,

a. Or that the Bible commands only spiritual baptism, not

water baptism,

b. But they don’t have much evidence to support their case &

have not been very convincing.

3. Though we differ about the mode & objects of baptism,

a. How it should be done and to whom it should be done,

b. Most Christians agree that it is important that we be

baptized.

4. After all, the Great Commission, the job that Jesus has given us,

involves going and making disciples and, v19

a. Also, because Jesus Himself was baptized by John Mt 3:13

1. Also the disciples were baptized.

5. In Acts 2:38 the Apostle Peter commands the crowd “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”

a. Throughout the Book of Acts & the rest of the NT,

1. The clear expectation is that anyone who is a Christian is going to

be baptized.

b. As far as we know, the thief on the cross is the only NT

believer who was never baptized.

1. Therefore evidence of not necessary for salvation, though

important, is NOT required to be saved

I. Standard of Baptism

A. What about infant baptism then?

1. Well, we believe the Bible teaches that an individual is to

baptized after he/she becomes a Christian