The Meaning Of Baptism

The Meaning of Baptism

CCCAG, July 9th, 2023

Scripture: Matthew 3:11-17

1993 was a big year for Tammie and me. It started with the birth of our oldest daughter in May. In July I decided to follow Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. In September, Tammy followed me in that decision.

Then it was New Year's Eve and we are at the watch night service of our church. It's almost midnight and Tammie and I are standing in line with the whole group of people on New Year's Eve waiting to be baptized.

Our first church was a fairly large church, could seat almost 1000 and had a built in baptistry behind the stage where everybody could watch you get baptized after you gave a brief testimony.

This whole idea of getting baptized as an adult was very different from the way I grown up as a Lutheran, and very different also for Tammie who grew up as Catholic. We both had been baptized as infants, but now had a better understanding of what baptism means and what it represents for the Christian.

Many people here may have had a similar experience. Maybe you were also baptized as an infant and you are wondering now why we talk about being baptized as a teenager or as an adult. We're going to spend a little bit of time this morning going through this ordinance of the church and explain it from a biblical point of view and even more importantly how Jesus viewed it and practiced it during his time on earth and throughout his ministry.

So turn in your bibles this morning to Matthew chapter 3.

Matthew chapter 3 introduces us to a unique man named John, known by his nickname of John the Baptizer.

John is Jesus’s first cousin who for the last several years has traveled throughout Israel to proclaim Jesus’ coming. Jesus called him the greatest of the Old Testament prophets because he was the direct forerunner to the Messiah coming on earth.

John had a very brash way about him and in that infuriated the religious establishment and the political power of his time. He routinely called religious leaders snakes and vipers and called out the sin of the political leaders of his time.

The reason we are talking about him this morning is because John also introduces us to baptism.

That’s where we start off today by looking at what John said about this idea of baptism.

Scripture-

Matt 3:11-17

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Prayer

Today before we go downstairs to baptize our two candidates, we are going to learn about the importance of baptism.

We are going to start off with the theology behind baptism.

I. Baptism, the theology

First question we ask-

A. Who should be baptized?

1. Infants or adults?

I spoke a little bit at the beginning of the different ways that people view baptism. Here in the Cooley region, we have a very large Lutheran representation, the majority of which believe in infant baptism.

Let me explain how we got there-

The idea of infant baptism wasn't seen in the early church until after 300 AD when Christianity ceased being a religion that could get you killed and turned into THE religion of the state. The church leadership, authority, and power was centralized primarily in Rome, and they began to issue different rules about how Christianity was to be practiced.

One of the unfortunate things that happened during this time is that they institutionalized the faith. What I mean by that is they stopped focusing on people having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ and instead encouraged and oftentimes forced people to have a relationship with God through the church, ran by the priest, and governed by the pope.