This morning, we will look at the next two of our Articles of Faith. First, we will look at the twelfth Article of Faith, which is:
XII. Baptism
Here is the description of this 12th tenet of our faith:
We believe that Christian baptism, commanded by our Lord, is a sacrament signifying acceptance of the benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ, to be administered to believers and declarative of their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, and full purpose of obedience in holiness and righteousness. Baptism being a symbol of the new covenant, young children may be baptized, upon request of parents or guardians who shall give assurance for them of necessary Christian training. Baptism may be administered by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion, according to the choice of the applicant.
The reason that I have combined two of our Articles of Faith is because they should not cause any kind of concern with anyone that has been affiliated with most denominations of Christianity. However, I do want to help some of you understand the difference between the protestant sacrament of Baptism and the Catholic practice of baptism. They are very different and are done for very different reasons.
If you come from a Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, or even the older version of the Methodist background, you are familiar with baby baptism. First of all, there is absolutely NO biblical foundation or example for baby baptism. Nowhere in the Bible do you find an example of a baby being baptized. In fact, major Lutheran and Church of England theologians, who practice baby baptism, agree that there is no biblical basis for infant baptism. It was a practice that really took hold in the 4th century as a way of connecting each person born in that particular nation as being of that nation not only civilly, but religiously.
Now, let me explain the reasoning for infant baptism. For those faiths that practice it, it is taught that the infant baptism washes away original sin, so that the baby can start fresh without the sin that it was born with. You’ll remember that we have already talked about original sin. It is the sin that all of us are born with because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. We believe that this original sin is taken care of with our complete surrender to Christ, which we call Entire Sanctification. It is a nice romantic idea that original sin can be washed away with water so that we can start fresh, but it isn’t biblical.
The Nazarene church will ‘baptize’ infants, but for a completely different reason. In fact, like Baptists, we prefer to call it baby dedications. When we do agree to baptize an infant, we try to explain that this is really just our way of telling everyone that we will bring the child up in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior and teach them the way that they should go. Babies are already covered by God. They will go to heaven if something happens to them because they do not understand the difference between right and wrong. I hope that we will soon have a few baby dedications. We want to see our families affirm that they are going to raise their children in a godly manner and in the church, and the church, in return, wants to be able to say that they will help the family in this process.
Now let’s look at true Baptism, or what is sometimes called believer’s baptism. Baptism is a command from our Lord and Savior (Matthew 28:19-20):
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
This is the Great Commission that Jesus gave to the church. We are to make disciples of all nations and then baptize them. Notice that baptism comes only after they have become followers of Christ. Baptism is not something you do to show that you are a follower of the Nazarene denomination. It is something that you should do to show that you have accepted Christ as your Savior and will follow Him. When you are baptized, you are not a follower of Pastor John Stackhouse or Pastor Greg Laurie, or any local pastor. You are a follower of Christ.
In Acts 2:38, Peter preached to the crowd and they were convicted by the Holy Spirit. They asked Peter what they should do:
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Notice again that baptism comes after repentance. Without the knowledge that you are a sinner and the repentance to show that you no longer want to walk in the flesh, baptism is meaningless. You see, Baptism is a picture of the spiritual connection to Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection. When we are baptized, we are saying that our flesh, the carnal old life that we lived prior to Jesus entering our hearts, has died with Christ. We are then raised to new life in Christ. That is baptism. The Apostle Paul tells us this exact thing in Colossians 2:11-12
In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
The last thing that I want to tell you about baptism is that it is an important act of obedience. It is so important that Jesus Christ, not needing to repent of anything, became an example by being baptized by His cousin, John the Baptist. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, and have not been baptized in response to your salvation experience, I would highly encourage you to do so.
We now move onto our thirteenth article of faith, which is:
XIII. The Lord’s Supper
Here is the explanation of this article:
We believe that the Memorial and Communion Supper instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is essentially a New Testament sacrament, declarative of His sacrificial death, through the merits of which believers have life and salvation and promise of all spiritual blessings in Christ. It is distinctively for those who are prepared for reverent appreciation of its significance, and by it they show forth the Lord’s death till He come again. It being the Communion feast, only those who have faith in Christ and love for the saints should be called to participate therein.
Let me first point out that these two articles are joined by two facts. They both symbolize the death of our Lord Jesus and the sacrifice that He made on our behalf. Secondly, they are both commanded by Jesus Himself as a response to the salvation that we have received from Him by His sacrifice. They are also tied together by the fact that they are the only sacraments recognized by the Nazarene Church and most other protestant denominations.
You have likely heard every pastor recite the lines that Jesus spoke at the last Passover meal that He had with His disciples. He told His disciples to “do this in remembrance of Me.” That is why we have Communion together. We do it in remembrance of our Lord and Savior. It is an important part of our fellowship together because it binds us together in the symbolic recollection of the sacrifice that our Lord made for each and every one of us.
In just a few moments, we are going to remember our Lord by having Communion together. Anyone that has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior may join us in Communion. However, I want to show you a verse that is not always used prior to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, but probably should be (1 Corinthians 11:23-30)
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then, eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason, many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
Wow! Paul says that we are answerable for the body and blood of our Lord! There were divisions in the church at Corinth and Paul was addressing those divisions and pointing out that those divisions showed up in their celebration of Communion. They were doing it with the wrong motives and with divisions between each other that should have been taken care of prior to them partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Some of them were getting sick and even died.
Paul tells the Corinthians to examine themselves, and I ask you to do so now, as we prepare to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Examine your hearts. Do any unconfessed sin? Ask for forgiveness now. Do you have anything against any of your brothers or sisters in this part of the Body of Christ? Get that right before we begin. Can you be united with this part of the Body of Christ? If not, you should abstain from Communion. Your heart is what God sees. It is He who judges your motives. Make sure that you are in a position spiritually to receive the sacrament of Communion…
(Invitation)
(Prayer)
*All scriptures are in NRSV unless otherwise stated.
* Humorous illustration from SermonCentral
