Ordinances of the Church
Christianity 101 Series
CCCAG October 6th, 2019
Several different scriptures today
Intro:
As many of you know I came from a mostly Lutheran with some Catholic influence background growing up. Although I was confirmed Lutheran, I didn't really apply myself during the confirmation classes to really learn about my faith.
I got saved as an adult when I was 23 years old. I got save in an independent Pentecostal church, whose pastor was Assembly of God and I found that many of the things I had learned growing up Lutheran didn't apply anymore.
The first thing I noticed about my first church in comparison with my Lutheran church was that there was little to no ritual involved in it at all. Say what you will about the older mainline denominations like Lutheran or Catholic, but they have some truly beautiful ritual and liturgy involved with them that when you dig down the basis behind it, always attempt o portray the Gospel message. Many find comfort in ritual and liturgy because and from Sunday to Sunday you always know what to expect.
I know that many people here come from the same kind of background. Some of you are more used to a church in which there are a lot of rituals or a lot of very set ways of doing church that have been passed down from generation to generation over hundreds of years.
Today we're going to talk about two of those rituals, and they are also found Assembly of God churches. They are known as the two ordinances of the church.
Before we go any further into this let's ask God's blessing over our time studying his word in his ways this morning
Prayer
Just as a reminder- Q&A at the end so hold your questions until then, or email me at pastorjohnoscar@gmail.com
This morning I'm going to try to explain two of the rituals that we have here as an Assembly of God church. These rituals are known as the ordinances of the church.
So, the 1st question we should tackle this morning is what the heck is an ordnance?
I. What is an ordinance?
When you and I think of an ordinance we think about a local law that is passed to maintain a certain quality of living within a community.
For example- There might be an ordinance about how long you can let your grass grow before you have to cut it. There might be another ordnance about how soon you have to clear your sidewalk in the winter or shovel the snow around the fire hydrant in front of your house.
These are not the kind of ordnance is that we're talking about this morning. We would define this differently
I like the definition for ordinance I found online:
Ordinance is a term for religious rituals whose intent is to demonstrate an adherent's faith.
Many of us who came from the mainline churches like Lutheran and Catholic, Presbyterian and others are very used to different rituals for different things that we do within the church. These rituals have been established for 100’s of years
Compared to those other expressions of Christianity the Assembly of God is only 102 years old. We really don't have a lot of ritual within our belief system or church services.
A little church history- Back in 1917 when the first General Counsel was held, they came up with 16 fundamental beliefs for those who wanted to align themselves with this new expression of Christianity called the Assemblies of God. It was birthed out of the Pentecostal revival at the turn of the century and experienced a freedom never before experienced so they saw tradition and ritual to be dangerous. They didn’t want to quench the moving of the Holy Spirit so they eliminated all ritural and ceremony except for 2 things that they called the Ordinances of the Church.
These ordinances, which are observed by most Christian church’s are Holy Communion and baptism. These two ordinances serve to really identify what we believe as a fellowship and they both point to Jesus.
So this morning we're going to look at the two rituals that we still follow in the assemblies.
The first one is
Holy Communion
I'm sure just about everybody here has been here are in this church or at another church when communion has been served. The way it served is different depending on which church you go to. Even within our fellowship you can see it done very differently for more of a very prescribed very ritualistic way of doing it to a more freestyle sharing of bread within a large loaf of bread shared amongst the people in a row and then even drinking wine out of the same cup.
Others churches have to come to the altar and kneel to receive the bread and wine directly from a pastor or priest.
As long as it is done with due reverence for what it represents and more importantly WHO it represents I have no problem with how it's done.
A little background to why we celebrate communion-
The communion we celebrate in our church’s is the fulfillment of an ancient Jewish holy day and festival called Passover
The Passover meal in ancient Judaism was one of the most sacred times in their religious calendar
The Passover meal represented the beginning of the exodus from Egypt.
In Exodus chapter 12, Moses has been in a spiritual sparring match with pharaoh of Egypt. 9 different times God told Moses to appear before Pharaoh to tell him to let God's people go.
Pharaoh would generally refuse, some type of plague would come, Pharaoh would then say they could go so the plague would disappear but as soon as it did, he reneged on his promise.
This 10th and final time Moses told him this was his last chance but Pharaoh still refused to let the people of Israel go, so Moses left and God gave him a very dire warning- God was going to kill the firstborn of everyone in Egypt.
However, The people of Israel were to slaughter a young lamb without defect and place the blood of the lamb over there door frames so that when God's death Angel came to kill the first born of Egypt, the Angel would pass them by and leave them unharmed.
They were then to eat this lamb they killed with bitter herbs- symbolizing the bitterness and cost of God bringing them out of Egypt, and unleavened bread symbolizing the haste in which they left. They were to eat the meal fully clothed like they were getting ready to leave immediately on a long journey.
Most of us know what happens next the death Angel comes and kills all the first born of Egypt but over the houses of Israel the death Angel passed over. Hence the name of this feast was called Passover.
This is what Jesus and the disciples we're celebrating when Jesus uses this biblical account of Israel leaving their life of slavery and going into the promised land and shows us the true meaning of Passover- that the Lamb of God was going to be slain for us, and then death would not be able to touch us when it comes.
Jesus used the unleavened bread- in this case, because the leaven was a symbol of sin in the Old Testament and Jesus using unleavened bread showed he was the sinless one, and wine symbolizing the blood of the lamb being shed so death has no power over us
Let’s read about it in Luke’s Gospel
Luke 22:13-21
13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And Jesus said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."
17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."
19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
The big idea here is- communion is about Jesus, and we continue this ritual and observance to this day in remembrance of HIM
Jesus’ sacrifice, death, and resurrection on the cross was a fulfillment of the Passover ritual given to the Jews in the Old Testament.
That's the biblical explanation of communion.
There are 4 beliefs concerning the bread and the wine (or grape juice).
I bring this up because you may have learned about them in either Lutheran confirmation or Catholic catechism.
Let's look at The Catholic belief 1st. The Roman Catholic Church believes that with the blessing of the priest the bread and the wine transform into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. This belief is called transubstantiation. We do not believe that here in a Protestant church as that would violate several scriptures, most importantly Hebrews 9:25-28 which says
Heb 9:25-28
Nor did he (Jesus) enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
This is why as Bible believing Protestant believers don't believe in transubstantiation. If they bread becomes the literal body of Christ every time we have communion, it would be putting Jesus back on the cross to suffer for our sins. Hebrews specifically says he suffered once, and because it was God himself on that cross, his once time sacrifice covers all of our sin for all of eternity.
Does that make sense?
Another belief seen in the Lutheran Church is called consubstantiation which holds that the physical body of Jesus is in an around the bread and wine but not part of them. It’s an idea created by Martin Luther’s who was the Father of the Protestant expression of Christianity. Luther was trained as a Catholic priest and honestly, I think it was his way of wiggling around the idea of transubstantiation with this step away from it.
There is one other idea or belief (Swing-la-isn/memorial) that I'll just bring up briefly and that is the idea that it is simply a memorial service and that the bread and the wine are symbols only with no particular spiritual significance. Our fellowship rejects that as well.
What we believe and teach is a principle called Calvinistic or Reformed View. This view, in my humble opinion, best describes what the bible says the reality of communion means.
The Calvinistic or Reformed view holds that while we observe and celebrate communion, the Holy Spirit is present in a very unique and powerful way not seen in any other time in a church meeting.
This is why the Apostle Paul tells us that we should examine ourselves before we partake in Holy Communion because we very well can grieve the Holy Spirit to the point of even risking death
Let me show you in scripture-
The Apostle Paul in his instructions to the church regarding communion said this-
1 Cor 11:27-31
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29(unworthy manner defined) For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
You remember the story of Ananias and Sapphira- who lied to Peter about their offering to the church and dropped dead. The same principle and warning is given by Paul to treat communion very seriously.
Now just to clarify -when the New Testament talks about people that are believers falling asleep it's talking about people dying and going to heaven.
This isn't something like I yelled at my spouse this morning and didn't repent now I took communion gods going to strike me dead and send me immediately to hell- it’s not like that
What it's saying is that Holy Communion is a time to make sure that our accounts with God are caught up that we have taken that moment to repent of any sin that we know what we have and to ask again for Jesus is help to live for him.
Communion is to be taken seriously, soberly, and in much fear of the LORD and reverence and appreciation for Jesus and what HE has done for us.
So that is the ordinance of communion, let’s now look at the second ordinance of the church- Baptism
II. Baptism
The English word baptism comes from the Greek word baptismo a which means to ritually wash someone and make them clean. It speaks to the total immersion of a person so that all the dirt can fall off and they rise back out of the water clean.
Later in the history of the Old Testament baptism was used for non-Jewish people that chose to convert to Judaism. These are facts not in evidence in the Bible but that we know baptisms were done for these converts through history and other writings around the time of the exile and subsequent return of the Jews from Babylon to Israel.
The first instance of baptism that we see in the Bible was done by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. The Apostle Paul is very clear that John’s baptism was that of repentance.
In other words the reason that John was baptizing people was to bring them into a right relationship with God before the Messiah was to come. Even though Jesus was of course in right relationship with God he still chose to be baptized by John as he said in order to fulfill all righteousness.
In other words, Jesus was identifying with you and I who need a baptism of repentance so that we are ready also to receive Messiah.
What I'm talking about here is not just going through the motions in the physical baptism. Baptism is meant to be a highly spiritual experience that we do out of obedience to God when we repent of our sins, die to ourselves, and accept the life that Jesus has for us.
Now what is the procedure for baptism
Let's start off by asking who can be baptized and his baptism required for Salvation?
Jesus himself lays out the prerequisite for a person being baptized in Matthew 28
Matt 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
We see the prerequisite’s here
You need to be a disciple. A disciple is a voluntary learner that's it's at the feet of a master who teaches them lives with them an molds them into a specific job or function.
The closest English equivalent we have to that is the word apprentice. Just like a disciple an apprentice is one who lives with a master of his craft and learns this craft by serving an watching and being taught by the master.
A disciple is a spiritual apprentice. When we get baptized we are voluntarily entering into a spiritual apprenticeship that will last the rest of our earthly lives where we sit at the feet of our master Jesus so HE can teach us how to become sons and daughters of God and let him mentor us in that new role and in our new ministry that he has for us within his church.
Baptism is a physical ritual or act describing and showing the world an inward change has occurred in the disciple.
We call that change being born again. We have died to our old lives we have died to our old plans we have died to our own desires and we live only for what Jesus wants.
The Christian symbolism is this -Jesus was baptized and therefore we follow his example in submitting a baptism also.
Another highly debated subject is when we get baptized. We have already answered that by explaining what it is in Matt 28. Baptism represents us symbolically following Christ into the grave by being total submersed in water and rising again into our resurrection life.
And that is an important point. Your eternal life does not start when you die from this one - your eternal life started when you gave your heart to Jesus and especially started after you followed him in obedience to be baptized.
That is why we in the Assemblies follow the immersion method of baptism and only baptize those who are old enough to understand what being born again really means.
I know that many of us came from traditions that baptize children. It was one of the things that freaked out my mom a little bit when I got saved was that it was not going to baptize my daughters, but we did dedicate them which is what we believe the Bible shows us. The reason we don't baptize children is because generally most children aren't really going to be able to mentally and cognitively understand the significance of what they're doing until they get a bit older.
So, the obvious question is, “If I was baptized as a baby or young child should I be baptized again now that I've come into a relationship with Jesus knowing what I was doing? “
The answer is yes.
The 2nd question that we touched on a moment ago “Is baptism required for Salvation?”
I say no with this stipulation or caveat. The stipulation is that you are commanded to be baptized if you have come into faith in Jesus Christ.
If you are putting it off, I would ask you why? Are you ashamed of Jesus? Are you worried about what your friends and family would say? Do you fear the opinion of man more than you desire to follow Jesus?
Those are some questions you will have to ask yourself if you say that you are now a follower of Jesus but are refusing to be baptized. It really is and should be your first public act of obedience in following Christ.
Who can baptize? Any believer in Jesus. Most church’s, even in the AG reserve that for leadership- pastors, elders, ect. However, biblically, any Christian can baptize another.
Finally, the baptismal formula if you will. This varies within Christianity a little bit but Jesus was very specific in saying that we should be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit so that we recognize and worship all 3 members of the triune godhead as equal and one.
If we were to have a baptismal here, I would ask for you to make a public confession of your faith in Jesus before the church before I would immerse you in the water. It doesn't have to be a sermon it doesn't have to be really long it doesn't have to be a Spurgeon level theology lecture. It just needs to be a public declaration of faith in Jesus Christ.
Amen?
Those are the two ordinances of the church.
Do we have any questions about Communion or Baptism?
All rise- prayer/altar call
