The Dynamics of Baptism In The Life of a Believer
MATT 28:19-20; 3:13-16; ROM 6:1-7; ACTS 2:41-47
19. “Go therefore and make disciples of call the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20. teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Mt 28:19–20.
The Baptism of Jesus
13. Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
14. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
15. But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.
16. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
17. and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Mt 3:13–17.
Romans 6
Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God
1. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2. May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
3. Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was braised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6. knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7. for he who has died is freed from sin.
8. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
10. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ro 6.
Acts 2:41–47
41. So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand 1asouls.
42. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and 1ato prayer.
43. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and 2signs were taking place through the apostles.
44. And all those who had believed 1were together and had all things in common;
45. and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
46. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread 1from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
47. praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding 1to their number day by day those who were being saved.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ac 2:41–47.
During the earthly ministry of Jesus, there were two, maybe three activities He considered vital to the walk of a believer in Christ. Not essential for salvation, yet essential in a growing relationship with Jesus Himself. The disputed one, meaning some will practice it, and others will not is “foot washing”. Foot washing was one of the last activities Jesus did on the evening He was to be betrayed. At the end of this act, He encouraged his disciples to serve likewise. The second act activity important to our growing as a believer is that of “communion” The remembering of the death of Christ affords us the opportunity to keep our relationship with God and with others clean and open. It was NEVER God intention that we refrain from communion, but that we examine ourselves before participating, making the necessary adjustments so that we CAN participate openly and without hesitation. The third activity, we celebrate today, is that of “baptism”. This is a personal act, yet one that is rich in meaning. This is what we will be looking at today – The dynamics of Baptism in the life of a believer!
Baptism is a lot like a wedding ring. Baptism is symbolic of the washing away of our sins. It is also symbolic of a new way of life. It has been said that Baptism is to the Christian faith what the wedding ring is to a marriage. It is a symbol. "Like the wedding ring, baptism draws a mark on the ground between the past and the future. Like the wedding ring, it says, "From this day forward, I stand with God."
THE PLACE OF BAPTISM IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER IN CHRIST
Matthew 28:18
18. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19. “Go therefore and make disciples of call the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20. teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
A. The basis for baptism is the authority of Jesus
1. Jesus had the authority from God the Father to send His disciples out into the world
a. They were to make disciples – Salvation
b. They were to baptize – Public declaration of salvation
c. They were to teach – instruct them in the Word of God
Baptism was a declaration that the believer was definitely identifying himself with that group of people who were called Christians and were despised and hated. To be a Christian meant something. To identify yourself with those who were called Christians meant persecution, maybe death; it meant being ostracized from your family, shunned by friends. And the one act which was the final declaration of this identification was BAPTISM. As long as a man gathered with Christians, he was tolerated, but when once he submitted to baptism, he declared to all the world, I BELONG TO THIS DESPISED GROUP, and immediately he was persecuted, hated, and despised. In baptism, therefore, the believer entered into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. A person might be a believer and keep it strictly a secret and thus avoid unpleasantness and suffering, but once he submitted to public baptism he had burned his bridges behind him. . .” (Pamphlet, Water Baptism, p. 27).
Few instances in Scripture where salvation was not followed by baptism, nor where the new believer sought to be baptized.
The Foundational Place of Baptism--Baptism was commanded by Christ-Baptism was exampled by Christ
Matthew 3:13-15
13. Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
14. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
15. But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.
Jesus identified Himself with us-Now Christ asks us to identify with Him!
Baptism is SYMBOLIC of our freedom from sin.
Romans 6:3-8
3. …do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6. knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7. for he who has died is freed from sin.
8. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
Our identification with Christ (salvation) broke the hold sin had on us.
Baptism is an illustration of that spiritual event-Going down into the water = death of Christ,
Being under the water = Burial of Christ, rising up from the water = Resurrection of Christ
Baptism is a PERSONAL PROMISE of Godly living
Romans 6:2 We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Several years ago Rick Stacy, a pastor in Michgan, baptized a man in Lake Superior.
It was late October and about 9:00 PM. Rick had been talking with Myron and his wife about accepting the Lord as their personal savior and sealing that decision with baptism into Jesus. Myron was hesitant for a long time and then finally said, “Yes, I want to accept Jesus – and I want to be baptized tonight – right now in Lake Superior. In case you don’t know Lake Superior is cold. The average temperature (year round) is about 38 degrees. This was late October and the gales of November (remember the Edmund Fitzgerald) had come early. The waves were running 3 feet high.
The water was very cold. They were going to walk out waist deep into the water, but only made it about knee deep. Rick laid Myron down and the waves washed over him as he was baptized in the name of Jesus. When they went back to Myron’s home for some hot cocoa and a hot soak for their cold feet, Rick asked him why it was so important that he do this that night in Lake Superior.
His answer: “I was in the army, an officer in the infantry during Viet Nam. I saw and did things that no man should see or do. I wanted my sins buried in the deepest and coldest place…”
SOURCE: Rick Stacy, Senior Pastor, Meridian Christian Church, Okemos, Michigan, October 2001.
Baptism does not mean we are perfect. We will always struggle with sin, but we do not have to follow our sin nature any longer
Romans 6:6-7
6. knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7. for he who has died is freed from sin.
Baptism means we have a new master, sin is no longer our master (we died to sin), Jesus is our master.
Romans 6:9-9
8. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
Baptism is a DIVINE PICTURE of our Eternal Destiny, We can NEVER be separated from God again.
We started out this life dead spiritually and “the wages of sin is death” but Salvation brings us spiritual life, a life that never ends.
1) This is why we are spiritually “EVERLASTING” beings.
2) The condition of our spiritual life continues on after our physical life ends
3) The time of our physical life is the time to determine quality of our spiritual life.
Hebrews 9:27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
2 We have an ETERNAL existence with Him
Romans 6:5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
THE FUTURE AFTER BAPTISM IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER IN CHRIST
Romans 6:11
11. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
We are to live our lives as “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Living in Christ is not continuing our present way of living. Living in Christ is living so that sin is not the ruler of our lives. The sense is do not let it continue to exercise the influence over you it once did. It is a command of God – something you are able to do!
“But” is a word of contrast “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
We are to live our lives as offerings to God
Romans 6:12-13
12. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
13. and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
We are to be “instruments of righteousness” we need to realize that our bodies are not the source of sin, but the instrument sin uses to manifest itself. And, we are to make ourselves instruments of righteousness – people though whom righteousness can flow.
In the early church Salvation, was followed by baptism, then a devotion to God’s Word, and to the importance of others through fellowship and witness.
Acts 2:41-42
41. So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
42. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Baptism does not mark the end of a journey, only a mile marker at the start of a life of obedience for Christ!
